Newspaper Transcripts
Some Selected Reports from The Windsor and Eton Express
9th July 1842
The Income Tax
On Thursday a meeting of the commissioners of the land-tax was held in the Town-hall, for the purpose of choosing commissioners for carrying into effect the act relating to the income-tax, when after a long and desultory conversation two lists were agreed on, the first being persons the least connected with trade, and the other of persons in trade, from whom the proper number of seven were to be made up in case of the non-attendance of any of the other first seven. The list consisted of Sir John Chapman, John Clode, Esq., (the mayor), Dr.Fergusson, Messrs.F.Burtt, J.Church, Thos.Adams, and Wm.Clode (of Bakeham House). The second list comprised Messrs. John Banister, R.Blunt, W.Jennings, W.Berridge, W.Legh, C.M.Snowden, and Geo.Cooper. The parties selected will have to meet on Thursday next to be sworn in.
Robbing Gardens
On Saturday night some thieves entered the garden attached to the Vicarage House, Clewer, and dug up and carried away a quantity of potatoes. A few nights previous the garden of Mr.Stevens was also robbed of a quantity of vegetables.
The Late Sir.W.L.Young, M.P. for Bucks - The remains of this deceased gentleman were interred on Monday last at Hughenden, and as a mark of respect many of the inhabitants of the town closed their shops a great portion of the day. The deceased, by his many amiable qualities, gained the esteem of all who knew him.
Representation for Bucks
The only candidate who has as yet publicly announced his intention of standing for this county, in the place of the late Sir.W.L.Young, Bart., is the Honourable W.E.Fitzmaurice, only brother of the Earl of Orkney, of Taplow, whose address to the electors will be found in our advertising columns. It is still rumoured that a Liberal candidate will be in the field to oppose Mr.Fitzmaurice, who is confidently believed is only put forward by the Duke of Buckingham with a view of occupying the present vacant seat until his Grace's son, the Marquis of Chandos, comes of age. The nomination is fixed for Friday next at Aylesbury.
Grand Fight
On Tuesday a fight took place at Ramslade, near Bracknall, between Johnny Walker and Ned Adams, both celebrated pugilists, and which ended after an hour and twenty minutes hard fighting in favour of the former. The match caused more than ordinary interest in this vicinity in consequence of Walker's being trained at Spital, and being backed by some of the sporting gentry of the neighbourhood. The head quarters on the morning of the fight was at Virginia Water, and a ring was first formed near that place, but the "beaks" disturbed the combatants. The Waste, a field near Swinley, was next pitched upon for the sport, but on inspection that spot did not appear to satisfy the "managers" and a second move was ordered to take place. The parties now proceeded to Ramslade, where the fight came off without any interruption and was witnessed by a large number of the "fancy" generally, and admirers of the "art" in this vicinity, including a good sprinkling of the aristocracy of the neighbourhood.
Aquatics
The double sculling sweepstakes between the Eton collegians was rowed on Friday, the 1st inst. Twenty-two boats started, but it was a very uninteresting match, three of the boats leading by a considerable distance, maintaining their position without a change throughout and at a great distance from each other. It was won by Heygate and Miles, Mountand Stapylton being second, and Lord Belgrave and Courtnay third.
On Monday the upper fours (gownsmen), pulled their annual match in the Water Lilly and Water Sprite, the former manned by James, Marcon, Simmonds, King, Herbert, steerer; and the Water Sprite by Tarver, Brocklebank, Moolley,mi., Polehampton, Bachelor, steerer. This was an exceedingly severe race, the boats being oar and oar to Bargeman Bush, where they fouled and became fixed for a considerable time, at last the Water Sprite broke away, but having lost her rudder was passed at Lower Hope, beaten off at the Rushes, and came in some minutes behind her opponents.
Windsor Midsummer Sessions
The following case, tried at these sessions on Saturday last, terminated at too late an hour to enable us to give a report of it, and we were therefore compelled to postpone its publication until this week.
Elijah Reeves, the keeper of a beer-shop in Russell-street, was indicted with his wife, Elizabeth Reeves, for keeping a common brothel, in another part of the indictment they were charged with keeping a disorderly house.
Mr.Williams attended for the prosecution and Mr.Carrington attended specially for the prisoners.
All females and children were ordered out of the court pending the trial, and at the request of Mr.Carrington the witnesses were ordered out of court also, to be called in as they were required to be examined.
Mr.Williams at considerable length stated the case on behalf of the borough of New Windsor, describing the disgusting scenes that have been carried on in the house of the defendants [contact me at the email address above for details of this case]
John Pickeragill, a porter in the Castle, said he resided in Russell-street, and knew the "Royal Tea Gardens," on the opposite side of the way to his house. There was a wooden gallery in the premises of the defendants, a portion of which had been closed up about two months. He had seen soldiers and girls drinking and rioting together there [.......]
Witness had seen Mr.Reeves dancing also in the room with the girls and hugging them about.[....]
The witness was cross examined by Mr.Carrington, but nothing material was elicited. The defendants had been master and matron of the Windsor Workhouse.
Mr.John Atkins, a cooper, also residing in Russell-street, gave similar testimony to the indecent and disorderly conduct [�..]
A number of other witnesses, including several policemen, were also called, from whose testimony it appeared that the most infamous scenes were permitted by Reeves in his house between soldiers and girls. It was not, however, elicited that Reeves let out beds or rooms.
Mr.Carrington then addressed the jury for the prisoners. The charge against them he said was one of a most serious nature; it was twofold, first for keeping a brothel, and secondly for keeping a disorderly house in encouraging improper characters to congregate there. It was admitted that they had been, the one the master and the other the matron of the Windsor Workhouse, therefore they must have been possessed of respectable characters, and yet the jury were now called on to affirm by their verdict that they had done all that was laid to their charge for sake of lucre and gain. He hoped they would pause well before they returned a verdict which would entail on the prisoners such serious consequences. His clients had occupied their house two years, yet it did not appear, although all those scenes that had been described by the police had so frequently occurred that Reeves had ever been summoned before the magistrates.
Surely it was the duty of the police, if it were true that such disorderly conduct had taken place, to have instantly summoned the parties before the magistrates, when he would have been fined and rendered liable to the forfeiture of his license. The jury were aware that the regulations regarding beer houses were of a very stringent nature, and that if a man kept his house open beyond certain hours, or had disorderly characters in it, he was liable to be fined, and for the second offence to lose his license. If therefore this house was so badly conducted as it had been represented, the police - efficient as he had no doubt it was - would have interposed in the matter, and have laid an information against the occupiers of it, and the license would have been forfeited ten times over. The learned counsel then proceeded to comment on the evidence, contending that there was nothing at all to implicate Mrs.Reeves, who had not been proved to be at
all cognizant of what had been represented as going on, her duty keeping to the bar or shop serving the beer, and not being sworn to be present when any act of disorder occurred either in the wooden gallery or in any other part of the premises. Then with respect to the first charge against Reeves of keeping a brothel, [..........], or indeed that any portion of the house was so used. As to the disorderly acts stated to have occurred, why when soldiers and girls met together at a public house, it was not unfrequent that after drinking together, and being in a state half-sober and half-tipsy, they might not be so scrupulous in their behaviour as they ought to be; but if anything like what had been represented had occurred, then, as he had said before, the police should have interposed and assisted Reeves to get rid of the parties from his house. The learned counsel concluded by calling on the jury with confidence to acquit the female prisoner, and he trusted they would also pause well before they found the male prisoner guilty.
The Recorder minutely summed up, and the jury, after a brief consultation, returned a verdict of Guilty against Reeves, and of Acquittal as regarded his wife.
The Learned Recorder than addressed the prisoner, stating that he had been looking over a number of testimonials of character, and he was surprised that a person who had borne a good character should so degrade himself as he had been proved to have done. After expatiating on the great injury to public morals which such persons as the prisoner caused by keeping houses and encouraging scenes of riot and profligacy , the Recorder sentenced him to pay a fine of �25 to the Queen and to be imprisoned until the fine be paid.
The prisoner was then removed in custody, but he subsequently paid the fine and was then liberated.
Windsor Police - Monday
[Before John Clode, Esq.,(Mayor) and Robert Blunt, Esq.]
Alfred Perryman was charged with embezzling the value of some fish he had been entrusted to sell for John Fullilove [?]. The case appeared however not to amount to the charge, and the magistrates dismissed it, advising them to settle it between themselves.
Saml. Till applied to the bench under the following circumstances:- A short time since he was summoned for poor's rates, when he attended and showed an agreement between him and his landlord, Robert Brown, that he rented his house at so much per week "including rates and taxes." The magistrates, however could not call on the landlord to pay the rates, but advised Till to pay, and then to tender the receipts as part payment of the rent to his landlord. He accordingly paid the rates, and on going to Brown to pay his rent he offered the receipts as part payment, and the rest of the rent in money. Brown however refused to receive less than the whole of the amount of his rent in cash, and thereby to saddle Till with the rates contrary to agreement. Brown had also said he would not let Till take away his goods until he paid the whole of the money.
The magistrates said they could not interfere in the matter. They conceived that Brown would not dare to destrain the goods under such circumstances. They advised Till to take a witness and again tender the receipts for the rates, and the remainder of the rent in money, and should Brown refuse to receive payment in that way, and seize the goods, to apply to an attorney who would bring an action against him.
Two lads, each about 9 years of age, who had been apprenticed to Jas.Hastings, master chimney sweep, applied to have their indentures cancelled. Their names were Henry Eden and James Hopkins, and appeared clean and well dressed, and had evidently been treated well by their master.
Mr.Marlin attended and explained to the bench, that by the new act regarding chimney sweeping no boy is allowed to be employed in ascending chimnies, and every boy apprenticed to the trade, on application to the magistrates, could have his indentures at once cancelled.
The boys on being questioned, said they liked the trade well enough, and said they were quite satisfied with their food, &c., but they wished to be discharged.
Their fathers also wished the indentures cancelled, though they were quite satisfied of the good treatment they had received.
Hastings said he was willing that the indentures should be cancelled as he was not allowed by the act to employ boys. He was obliged now to employ men, and to purchase machines, thereby putting him to a great deal more expense.
The magistrates having referred to the Act of Parliament, at once cancelled the indentures.
Thursday
[Before John Clode, Esq.,(Mayor) and John Banister, Esq.]
Mr.Parker of Keppel-street, again came over complain of the disorderly conduct practised at Hazlehurst's beer-shop, which is next house to his. He said his neighbour who complained with him last week had declined to come forward again, in consequence of the gross abuse he had received from Hazlehurst since the last application. He was, infact, afraid of appearing. He (Parker) had also been grossly abused and threatened with personal violence by Hazlehurst, and he feared some bodily injury from him unless he was protected.
The magistrates granted a summons for the threats, fixing Monday next for hearing it.
Eton Police - Wednesday
[Before C.Clowes, Esq., and the Rev.Thos.Carter]
Benjamin Hone [?] and Joseph Butter [?] were charged with shooting at and killing two pigeons, the property of Henry Ewer, of Iver Heath. The case had only been partly gone into when the parties agreed to settle the matter privately, which they were allowed to do.
The licence of the Five Bells public-house, at Horton, was transferred from George Taylor to Thomas Lawrence.
The parish officers of Wyrardisbury appeared to an information for neglecting to comply with an order of the Board of Guardians to pay �10 [?]. The defendants reason for non payment was that they had not received the money. They were fined 10s each besides costs.
James Coker, beershop-keeper, Gerrards-cross, was fined 20s and 20s costs, for keeping his house open and selling beer on Sunday morning before one o'clock.
John Hawkins, beershop-keeper, Upton cum-Chalvey, was fined 5s and 13s 6d costs for a similar offence.
Death of the Widow of the Right Hon. Charles James Fox
We deeply regret to have to announce the demise of this venerable and highly esteemed lady, which event took place at her residence, St.Anne's Hill, near Chertsey, yesterday morning shortly after eight o'clock. She was in her 95th year, which she would have completed had she lived until Monday next. In her the poor of the vicinity of her residence have lost a real and liberal friend, and the neighbourhood generally an excellent neighbour.
This amiable lady has survived her illustrious husband not less than thirty-eight years, he having died on the 13th of September, 1806, and was interred with great pomp in Westminster Abbey, within a few feet of his great political rival, William Pitt.
We find in the memoir of the Right.Hon.Charles James Fox, the following brief notice of the amiable lady, now-deceased. It was therein stated that she was "A widow, it was believed, who for some time had resided in his house at St.Anne's Hill; and whom after a lapse of nearly ten years he acknowledged as his wife. Some accounts state that his marriage with her took place in 1780, while according to others it did not occur until 1794. The ceremony was privately performed by special license; and whatever his reasons, Fox was evidently very reluctant to the alliance being made public, although she was handsome, accomplished, and evidently attached to him. Fox, for his part, seems to have loved her sincerely. On the 24th of January, 1799, his birthday, and the completion of his 50th year, he presented her, while at the breakfast table, with the following lines, written, it is said, extemporaneously.
"Of years I have now half a century pass'd,
And none of the fifty so bless'd as the last,
How it happens my troubles thus daily should cease,
And my happiness thus with my years should increase;
This defiance of Nature's more general laws
You alone can explain, who alone are the cause."
In proof of the domestic felicity enjoyed by Charles James Fox in the company of his excellent end affectionate lady, we here quote the words of Mr.Trotter, who was for many years the private secretary to the illustrious patriot, and who wrote his biography. Mr.Trotter says, "The assiduous care and management of Mrs.Fox rendered his rural mansion the abode of peace, elegance, and order, and had long procured her the gratitude and esteem of those private friends whose visits to Mr.Fox in his retirement at St.Ann's Hill made them the witness of this amiable woman's exemplary conduct." Her character and conduct in fact were ever so amiable as to endear her to all who knew her.
Uxbridge, Saturday, July 9.
Singular Case
A person named John Thompson, a master manufacturer of earthenware, from Ashby de la Zouch, was given in charge at the Great Western Railway Station, West Drayton, on the serious charge of presenting a pistol at the head of a young lady named Bloomfield. The particulars of this extraordinary case are as follows:- On Tuesday night last, while the passengers were awaiting the arrival of the 8 o'clock up train, the prisoner suddenly fell on one knee and presented what appeared to be a pistol at Miss Bloomfield's head, which of course very much alarmed her; she ran into the office, and had it not been for the promptness of Mr.Raggett, the station clerk, she must have fallen down. A gentlemen who was in attendance on Miss Bloomfield and another young lady, immediately wrenched the supposed pistol from the prisoner, which turned out to be an imitation one made of earthenware; it was certainly no bad resemblance to a horse pistol, being about the same size and colour;
he was immediately given in charge to metropolitan police constable Rigarisford, 175, who , on searching him, found on his person 26 sovereigns and a quantity of silver; he was then taken to the police station at Hillingdon, and the next morning brought before Sir W.Wiseman, Bart., and T.B.Dagall, Esq., Miss Bloomfield did not appear to prefer any charge against him, but the case was gone into under the section of the railway act, which imposes a penalty of 40s on any person who being in liquor or otherwise shall misconduct themselves to the annoyance of the other passengers; on being called to the bench for an explanation of his extraordinary conduct, he said he was in liquor at the time and did not know what he was doing. He was fined in the full penalty of 40s and costs, which he immediately paid, and after a suitable admonition from the bench, was discharged.
Marlow, Saturday, July 9
The town of Great Marlow was enlivened on Thursday and Friday in last week by as memorable a contest for a church rate as was ever witnessed in the parish. For above half a century previously to their present vicar being appointed the inhabitants had been subject to no impost of the kind. Tithes to the amount of �1,400 a year were thought a sufficient sum for maintaining the dignity of the church. Since then, however, another �1000 had been annually raised for the church . And further, notwithstanding there is another church in the parish and four or five dissenters meeting houses, all supported by voluntary subscription and with ministers of high moral, and religious characters, the most extraordinary methods were resorted to to procure an additional �100 a year for the said mother church. A meeting was called to make a church-rate on Thursday; the vicar took the chair, refused to put a proposal for adjourning the consideration of the rate for twelve months, and on a show of hands being called for on a motion that no rate be allowed, and that show proving adverse to his desire, a poll was demanded by his churchwarden, and every poor-rate payer forbidden to vote who had not, though poverty, paid up the rates, but a plurality to those who had, according to the Sturges Bournes act.
On Thursday the majority of the votes was against the rate. During the night and next day parties were employed in canvassing poor and old widows, paying up the rates of the needy, instilling into the minds of the superstitious and ignorant the awful consequences that would follow the church not being supported, with all the horrors fallacy and priestcraft could invent, and menacing those who were in anywise dependant upon them. So numerous were the acts of bribery, intimidation, and undue influence, that it is evident nothing but the ballot can produce a fair election of any kind in Great Marlow. 200 votes were excluded from the poll, owing to their tricks and the inconvenient time appointed by the vicar for continuing the poll. The church party therefore boast a majority of 150 to 123, or 27 votes, obtained by avarice and wealth over poverty and honest industry - a most honourable triumph truly and well worthy the dignity of the church and the conscientious supporters.
At the petty sessions at Great Marlow, on Saturday last, Henry Erans, a chimney-sweep, was fined 5s 2d, for cutting Mr.John Gibbon's grass.
A farm servant of Mr.Piercy, of Hambledon, was sent to Aylesbury gaol for a month, for leaving his masters service.
A warrant of distress was issued against the widow Bowdler for a church-rate made during her husband's life time.
An information was laid by William Crouch, sen., a haggle cart man, against Henry Stroud, a beer-shop keeper, for selling beer on a Sunday morning, (quarter of a pint), to a little girl, and he was fined �2 5s 6d, including costs.
Last Friday, Mr. and Mrs. Walker, of Great Marlow, took tickets at the Paddington station and entered the Great Western Railway train for Maidenhead; on arriving at the station at Taplow, they and a gentleman from Woburn were prevented from getting out and were carried on to the Twyford station; the gentleman from Woburn got out there, but as it was late in the evening, Mr. and Mrs.Walker having no connection in the neighbourhood, refused to leave and were carried on to Reading; there they were threatened to be given into the charge of the police unless they paid additional fare, this was refused, and a gentleman of the law, Mr.Barlett, of Reading, who had conceived himself to be previously ill treated by the company's servants, coming up at the time, although a perfect stranger to Mr.Walker, gave the conductors of the train such a lecture as led them to forego their demands and promise redress - we hope that promise will be redeemed. It is too bad for a company monopolizing such extensive road traffic so to misconduct themselves.