A GANDY STREET ACADEMY, EXETER, 1808.

In January 1808,  the war with France was the first concern of the British government.  The Exeter Flying Post of 6th January reported how the Mayor of Plymouth had been required to remove the French 'aliens' from that city:  Monsieur Lelong,  a valued French teacher,  was told he must leave.  He came to Exeter and lost no time setting up shop in Gandy Street: 

"An order was last week received from the Alien-office, directing the removal of all aliens from this place. (Plymouth) In consequence of which, the Abbé Grizellé and Monsieur Lelong, two French teachers, were obliged to leave the town on a very short notice, to the great regret of their numerous friends.  The latter gentleman has resided in Plymouth nearly 7 years, during which time he has instructed upwards of 500 scholars with the highest advantage to them, and credit to himself.  Mr. Lelong has removed to Exeter."

In the same issue of the paper, Monsieur Lelong advertised the contribution he felt he could make to Exeter society: 

"MONSIEUR LELONG, late of Plymouth, has the honor to acquaint the nobility and gentry of Exeter and its neighbourhood, that he teaches the FRENCH LANGUAGE grammatically, and hopes by his zeal and unremitted attention, to meet with encouragement, similar to what he received in the place which he has just quitted.  The terms for private tuition are three guineas per quarter.

"Mr. Lelong has also opened an Academy at his apartments at Mr. Hooper's, in gandy's-street, for the instruction of YOUNG LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, at four guineas per year, and half a guinea entrance...."

"Mr. Lelong is happy in embracing the present opportunity to return his sincere acknowledgements to his many friends at Plymouth, for the friendship and patronage he uniformly experienced during his long residence in that place, and respectfully assures them that he shall ever retain the most lively sense of gratitude for their kindness and liberality."

There must have been many French refugees in Exeter and Devon but perhaps not many able and willing to teach the language.  It seems that a good French teacher was hard to find and that Plymouth's loss was to be Exeter's gain.  I hope the guineas poured in.  M. Lelong sounds a decent, hardworking, deserving kind of  alien.

The Alien Office, set up to counter foreign influence harmful to British interests, was able to demand that the Mayor of Devon's great naval port should ferret out aliens (Frenchmen) and send them packing.  This would have been tough on M. Leland (and his family?) but no doubt he would have benefitted from being clearly a 'respectable' person.  One wonders how the authorities dealt with the under-class.

The French lessons were not to be co-educational.  M. Leland made it clear that his young gentlemen would never, on his watch, cross the paths of his young ladies.       

THE REVIEW, WOODBURY COMMON, 1800.

The grand county review of our local military defenders, 1800, took place on Woodbury Common and a reporter of The Exeter Flying Post of  3rd July was there to observe it:

"Thursday last the Queen's or 2d Dragoon Guards, the Wilts and Dorset regiments of militia, the Devonshire yeomanry and Volunteer corps, together with some troops of the Somerset yeomanry and cavalry, the whole consisting of nearly 4000 men, under the command of Major General Simcoe, were reviewed, on Woodbury Common, by Lieut. General Grenville, commanding the Western District, in the presence of a very numerous concourse of the gentry and inhabitants of the county."

It was a day out for the citizens of Exeter and for county folk who came to the common to see the troops put through their paces.  The gallant 4,000 fought a mock battle and 'the activity, skill and ardour' of the combatants impressed the reporter from The Post.  The best, however, was yet to come:

"On the summit of this ground stands a Roman encampment, around which the spectators were assembled; to which the troops retired, and fired a feu de joy (sic) in commemoration of his Majesty's late happy escape, when the bands of the different corps assembled in the centre, played God save the King, and the line joined in singing that Loyal Song, in which the late additional verse was emphatically encored.

"The different corps passed in review, and saluted the General; after which a sumptuous collation was given by Gen. Simcoe, to the officers and a numerous assembly of the gentry of the county.

"The serene weather, the grandeur of the situation, commanding a prospect of the delightful vale of Exe, Torbay, and other interesting objects, seemed to give a particular zest to the generous banquet of the Donor; and the day concluded most agreebly by a dance on the green." 

So, in 1800, people thought it was the Romans who had constructed  Woodbury Castle.

Simcoe, still in his forties, had returned from his tour as the first governor-general of  Canada in 1796. 

A madman, one James Hadfield, had tried to shoot George III at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in May, 1800.

The 'additional verse' to God save the King, that was composed impromptu by Sheridan and sung in the theatre on the very night of the assassination attempt but was sung also by 4000 west-country soldiers on Woodbury Common, went like this:  

From ev'ry latent foe
From the assassin's blow
God save the King!
O'er him thine arm extend;
For Britain's sake defend
Our father, prince and friend:
God save the King!

TOO LITTLE HUMILIATION, EXETER, 1800.

  The Exeter Flying Post (17 April 1800) protested in its columns :

"Whilst the London and most of the country newspapers record the strict observance of Good Friday, we cannot but lament that in this city it receives very little attention, some few shops indeed are shut, and though the tolling bells remind us of our duty, the churches are very thinly attended.

"The serge-market, which is usually held on a Friday, is not even altered to the Thursday or Saturday, being, perhaps, considered to be of more importance than the attending to any Divine Ordinance;  added to this the numerous carts, market horses, and carriers, which fill the streets, give this day more the appearance of a high holiday or festival, than of fasting and humiliation." 

Good Friday, even in my childhood, was a day when levity and jollity were widely frowned upon.  It would seem that, in 1800, Exeter was leading the pack in not taking too much notice of the Church's decrees that people gloom, go to church and eat fish.  Nowadays, I suspect, not one in ten citizens within the city walls, can tell you the significance of  Good Friday for 'good' Christians.

There's no logic to it, at least I don't think so, but I really dislike the word 'whilst'!

A FOOTPAD, LYMPSTONE, 1800.

 From The Exeter Flying Post,  13th March 1800:

"Friday evening last, as Mr Ducarel, of Exmouth, and Captain Welch, of the Lympstone Volunteers, were returning from this city, in a post-chaise, they were stopped about the seven mile stone by a single footpad, who, presenting a pistol, demanded their money; -  "Capt. Welsh immediately grasped the pistol, when  scuffle ensued - and in the scuffle the footpad snapped the pistol several times, but it missed fire. --- After a short contest, we are sorry to add that the villain escaped, but without having effected his purpose."

By my reckoning at the seven mile stone would have been near Upper Lympstone.  No postillion is mentioned so I imagine this was a privately-owned post-chaise being driven by one of the gentlemen.

I wonder if the hero of this piece, Captain Welch/Welsh,  (The Flying Post backs both in this short passage) could have been that same Wakelyn Welch who made his fortune in London and died at Lympstone in 1818, leaving, according to the tablet in the church porch, £200 to the poor of the parish and whose wife Elisabeth, in 1820, left funds to build the primary school there.  Her name is still on the wall somewhere.

Footpads seem always to have had evil intent;  they were highwaymen on foot but the etymology of pad, a path, is innocent enough. 

 

CHASTE AND TASTEFUL CHALKING, EXETER, 1828.

 At New Year, 1828, Lady Rolle patronised a Charity Ball for the benefit of Exeter' Deaf and Dumb Institution.  More than five hundred people of rank and fashion from the four counties were expected at Congdon's Devon and Exeter Royal Public Rooms.

The floor was chalked.  By a happy touch this was done by a a  deaf and dumb painter.   The Exeter Flying Post of 3rd January gives this account of  Mr. Bond's chalking:

"The floor was chastely and tastefully chalked by Mr. Bond, herald painter, of Verney-place. in this city, who is deaf and dumb; the front of the Orchestra being emblazoned  with the arms of R. W. Newman, Esq. High-Sheriff of Devon. In the centre of the floor at the upper end of the Room was the King's Arms, and in scrolls at the right and left, the crests of Sir R. H. Vivian and Sir T. Lethbridge;  further down the centre was the crest of the Portman family.   In the centre of the room were the arms of  the Rolle and the Clinton family's (sic) combined;  on the right of which was the Acland crest, and on the left that of the Bastard family. Still descending the room, in the centre equi-distant with that of  Portman, was the crest of the Banks' family, and on the left and right, still lower, the crests of Dickinson and Pendarves - terminating at the bottom with the City Arms, the intervals at the side containing in scrolls, the Rose, Thistle, Shamrock, and Acorn, the whole being inclosed  in a border, forming fifteen scrolls for as many sets of Quadrilles."

Chalking the dance-floor served the double purpose of  brightening the place up and stopping the dancers from falling over.  This report is a rare description of a lost art.  There is enough detail for someone with a lot of time on his hands to re-construct Mr. Bond's tour-de-force.

Herald-painting must have been a satisfying occupation.  I imagine Mr. Bond working peacefully, painting coats-of-arms on coach panels and elsewhere.  For the Ball, however, he must have spent hours shuffling about on his knees producing a work of art that was to be obliterated overnight by the feet of the five hundred dancers of rank and fashion there assembled.  I just hope he had a fair deal and went home to Verney Street in funds and happy.  

Perhaps of particular interest to experts in the field of Regency dancing might be the rare reference here to areas marked out in chalk where the quadrilles were to be danced.

Why was the Acorn chalked alongside the Shamrock, Rose and Thistle?   - Was it there to commemorate the Restoration?

The only chalking these days seems to be at Princesshay and outside the Central Station where Extinction Rebellion chalk their gloomy fears.

COARSE AND ILL-LOOKING FEMALES, EXETER, 1849.

On Easter Monday, 1849, James Landick was famously, publicly executed for highway robbery.  He was hung high on the scaffold at Exeter Gaol and an estimated forty thousand people turned up to watch. 

A correspondent, a respectable person, joined the crowd and wrote at length his impressions to The Western Times, (14th April, 1849).  He was particularly struck by the number of women who turned out for what was essentially a public holiday.  This is what he wrote:

"I looked in vain for a serious or thoughtful expression: the people were out to enjoy a holiday and a sight.

"Near to the gallows tree there were but a few females, but in Queen-street, straw bonnets were the principal covering:  the women were chiefly coarse and ill-looking, but I did see some faces in which I should have recognised in another place, the charms of respectable female loveliness; but in that place, a young, gentle, beautiful woman was, of all others, the most digusting object;  one could think of her only as the most successful and accursed bait of the tempter "a lovely apple rotten at the core."

"The poor prostitutes were, of course, out in grand state in their best attire, and fresh paint, loud in their laughter, and bold in their address, painful were they to look at, for sad is their fate;  let us in pity suppose that they were there in the way of business, and not from choice.

"I did not see any respectable people, although I had the honour of conversing with a clergyman of the Established Church, who had come 'to see the fellow scragged.' "

This correspondent, who called himself SUM ULTOR  (I am the Avenger (?),) might well, I feel, in our time, have ended up in a psychiatric secure unit, certainly on a psychiatrist's couch.   But in 1849 his view of women would have been standard. 

The word 'scrag', here meaning to hang, was a precise, if vulgar, usage.  Charles Dickens thus uses the word. 

A FUNERARY BONFIRE, EXMOUTH, 1849.

The Plymouth and Exeter Gazette" of 3rd March 1849 briefly reported a gypsy burial at Littleham Church:

"A woman named Kitty Cooper, belonging to a large band of gipsies that have for some time encamped near this town, died a short time since and on Thursday last week, the day appointed for her burial, upward of 60 gipsies, belonging to different tribes, met at the camp, and, after removing the body from the tent, it was immediately set on fire, together with all the clothes and property belonging to the deceased.  

"The body was then taken by eight of her relations, and conveyed to Littleham, where she was interred by the Rev. T. R. Rocke.

"The father and child of the deceased were deeply affected, and at the grave upwards of 300 persons were assembled to witness the ceremony."

There must have been some cultural significance to this gypsy burning of Kitty Cooper's tent and personal property.  Perhaps the Exmouth gypsies would also have wanted, as in India, to make a bonfire of her remains but felt inhibited by their residence on Exmouth common!

Another worthy Anglican parson buried Kitty and upwards of three hundred empathetic(?), local(?) people witnessed the ceremony..    

  

A DISCONSOLATE DUCK, EXETER, 1848.

 "Fowl Murder!"  Sarah Skiven's black hen had been poisoned and the reporter for The Western Times of 5th February 1848 did not resist the pun:

"RICHARD GARDNER was charged by Sarah Skiven with killing her poultry.  The complainant stated that on the 26th December she saw the defendant driving her fowls through his garden, which adjoined her's, in Paul-street, and requested him not to ill use them.

"She heard him say to his wife "I'll poison the ---- lot of them."  On the next day she saw him throwing something like crumbs of bread, which were picked up by a black fowl: - 

"'Murder most fowl, as in the best it is -/ But this most fowl, strange and unnatural' 

"The animal shivered, sickened and died.... hence this summons.

"She had also seen the defendant give one of her ducks some soaked bread, and a kick, the united effects of which had reduced the poor bird to a most disconsolate condition. - she was produced in a basket, presenting her long bill like a despairing suitor, hopeless of redress."

The Mayor of Exeter, unlike, it would seem, The Times'  reporter, took Sarah Skiven's loss seriously.  he had asked Mr. Charles Henry Kingdon, surgeon, to perform a post mortem examination on her hen and the court was satisfied that acetate of lead had been administered with malice and Richard Gardner was fined 5s and costs.    

Paul Street, Exeter, where once Sarah Skiven's fowl trepassed, now exemplifies some of the most barbarous architecture in the United Kingdom!  Bring back the chickens!

Glory to the newspaperman who gives the duck her proper pronoun and who can quote (misquote) from Hamlet!!

"NO GOOD TO SAY 'CANNOT' HERE!", EXETER, 1847.

 The Church of England liked to claim to be 'The Poor Man's Church'.  The radical Western Times, (23rd January 1847) used these four words with heavy irony to head a short column reporting the efforts of two magistrates and a clergyman at the Castle of Exeter  to extract money from poor 'dissenters' and others from Heavitree who saw no justice in being invited to pay a rate they could not afford to a church they did not respect.  Below are some excerpts from that report:

"Mary Stevenson, a Quakeress, had been summoned; but would neither pay nor answer the summons.  The Chairman said - 'Oh, she's a Quaker - they won't pay' and a warrant was granted for 12s 6d and expences."

"The wife of a labourer called Russell, said  'She would try to do it - but she had five little children and did not know how'  She was threatened with increased costs and a warrant."

"Richard Taylor, - His wife said she could not pay it. Mr Gordon told her that a warrant would be issued and the witnesses sworn and goods taken, which expenses, with auctioneer, &c. would come to 7s or 8s. .... at length she promised to pay it in three instalments."

"Thomas Manning was not able.  His wife died the other day, in child bed, leaving three infant children - and he owed a twelve months rate,  and had not 5s worth of goods in his house....He was ordered to pay 7s 10d but said he could as soon pay £7, and could not see his children starve."

"Thomas Wilson, - His wife said 'I cannot pay.'  Mr. Pitman said - 'It's no good to say cannot here' -  'Be I to starve my children?' said she.  'They have not a shoe to their foot.'"

The unsavoury trio trying these cases was fighting a losing battle.  It was issuing warrants, distraining goods, threatening poor men with prison and saddling people with punitively high 'costs', all in the name of The Church.  The injustice of the Church Rate would not go away.  It divided the country. 

Twenty-one years later the Church Rate was abolished by statute.

(The letters I keep getting from the BBC TV 'Enforcement Officer' pale to insignificance.  

But be I to starve my children?)

.

 , 

WARFARE IN QUEEN STREET, EXETER, 1846.

"JOHN SOPER and a boy named ENDACOTT were charged with a disturbance at the end of Queen-street last night.

"There is an old custom among our Exeter boys, which prescribes inveterate warfare between the youths of the different parishes,  'Young Trinity' has earned not bloodless laurels in a hundred conflicts with 'the Mary-Major', boys,'who have often been driven from their strong position on Bell-hill, and have strongly resisted the tide of advancing war, combating pro aris et focus (sic)  in the narrow defiles of Sun-lane, rallying in Market-street, but borne by superior numbers even to the Bartholomew-yard on the other side.

"It is sufficient to say that this fight was most furious;  and it took the Inspector and Milman, and four other policemen, to capture two boys.  

"They were cautioned and dismissed."

This newspaper report from The Western Times of 7th March, 1846, of street battles between gangs of  boys in Exeter is written with such detached irony that it is hard to imagine the reality. 

Did six policemen really chase around at night trying to catch warring boys who were disturbing the peace by fighting to defend 'their altars and their homes' here in Exeter?, and was there really 'inveterate warfare between the youths of the different parishes?'  How old were these youths?  How 'not bloodless' were these battles?  How many were in these 'armies'?

It seems to me that 'gangs' are back in fashion in Exeter.  I don't remember in former years having seen such large groupings of young people in the city as I now see nightly, some even 'in uniform'. (courtesy of  the Internet and Amazon?) .  On the whole though they seem to behave themselves and, as far as I can tell, they don't make any territorial claims.

 (I suspect that The Times' typesetters were not quite as familiar with Latin tags as were the  reporters!) .

A GYPSY FUNERAL, BROADCLYST, 1846.

 From  The Exeter and Devon Gazette, 24th October, 1846:

"Last week the quiet village of  Broadclist was the scene of one of those unusual occurances, - a gipsey funeral. One of the deceased was John Stanley, aged 27, a fine young man and a member of the celebrated gipsey family of that name;  the other was a girl aged 11 years.  

"The remains were followed to their final resting-place in Broadclist church-yard, by the whole tribe of gipsies in the neighbourhood, in their characteristic costume;  and a concourse of several hundred persons assembled from the surrounding country to witness the singular festival.  The funeral service of the Church was read by the Rev. P. L. Acland, incumbent of the parish."

1846 was the year George Borrow finished writing Lavengro.  It was published in 1848.

I think there must be several quiet country churches in Devon where the gipsies buried their dead.  Salcombe Regis churchyard, I happen to know, had gipsy funerals.  Where else?

It is perhaps curious that the Romany found their way to Anglican churches for a funeral service.  I think they mostly managed to marry &c. without bothering 'the Church'.  They perhaps knew which were the best parsons to approach for a good funeral.  The incumbent of Broadclyst, being an Acland, was probably liberal in all things.   It is warming to think so.

....and several hundred persons turned out to see the funeral of this fine young man and the little girl and to wonder at the tribe of gipsies in their 'romantic' attire and the Gazette thought it worth recording.

Maybe I am being romantic but this report seems to me to bear witness to a spacious, gentle and tolerant English countryside which, alas, as have the gipsies, has changed beyond recognition.