England in the Days of Old Part 6

This last act closes a long and painful chapter in our history. Many of our larger old English towns have their gruesome tales of Rebel Heads on their chief gates.

Burial at Cross Roads.

It was customary in the olden time when a person committed suicide to bury the body at the meeting of four cross roads. We are told by writers who have paid special attention to this subject, that this strange mode of burial was confined to the humbler members of society. A careful consideration of this matter, from particulars furnished by parish registers and from other old-time records and writings, confirms the statement. Shakespeare, in the grave scene in _Hamlet_, puts into the mouths of the clowns who are preparing the grave of Ophelia something to the same effect. Here are his words:--

SECOND CLOWN: But is this law?

FIRST CLOWN: Ay, marry, is't; crowner's quest law.

SECOND CLOWN: Will you ha' the truth on't If this had not been a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out o' Christian burial.

FIRST CLOWN: Why, there thou say'st; and the more pity that great folk should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves more than their even Christian (that is, their equal fellow Christian).

Bearing somewhat on this subject, there is a striking pa.s.sage in Hone's "Every Day Book." Mention is first made of a fatal duel in 1803. It appears two military officers quarrelled and fought at Primrose Hill, because their dogs had quarrelled in Hyde Park. Moralising on the fatal event, the writer concludes his reflections as follows:--"The humble suicide is buried with ignominy in a cross road, and the finger-post marks his grave for public scorn. The proud duellist reposes in a Christian grave beneath marble, proud and daring as himself." The more humane of our countrymen condemned burial at cross roads, and a much needed reform was brought about. Before reproducing the Act of Parliament respecting the burial of suicides it will not be without interest to give details of a few burials in the highways.

Mr. Simpson in his interesting volume of Derby gleanings, states that on the 10th of July, 1618, "an old incorrigible rogue cut his own throat in the County Gaol, and was buried in Green Lane, Derby." We have not any particulars of this "incorrigible rogue." He would doubtless be interred at night, and a stake driven through his body.

The parish register of West Hallam, in the same county, supplies another instance of burial at four lane ends. The entry reads thus;--"1698, Katharine, the wife of Tho. Smith, als Cutler, was found _felo de se_ by ye Coroner's inquest, and interred in ye cross ways near ye wind mill on ye same day." The local historian is silent respecting this case of suicide, and all that is now known of the poor woman's sad end is contained in the parish register.

It is recorded in a Norwich newspaper, of 1728, that the body of a hat-presser, after a verdict of _felo de se_, was accordingly buried in the highway.

Not far from Boston is a thorn tree known as the "Hawthorn tree," which is represented in a pretty picture in Pishey Thompson's well-known "History and Antiquities of Boston" (1856). It is in the parish of Fishtoft, and at the intersections of the Tower Lane and the road to Fishtoft Church by the low road to Freiston. "This tree," says Thompson, "is traditionally stated to have been originally a stake driven into the grave of a (female) suicide, who was buried at cross roads." The story is generally believed in the Boston district, although Mr. William Stevenson in a learned paper in "Bygone Lincolns.h.i.+re," vol. II., p. 212, states as far as concerns the hawthorn growing from a stake driven into the ground the tradition has no foundation in fact.

Mr. John Higson took interest in Lancas.h.i.+re lore, and from his gleanings we draw the following particulars of the suicide and burial of James Hill, a Droylsden innkeeper. He tells us that the poor fellow was inflamed with jealousy, suddenly disappeared, and about a fortnight afterwards was found hung or strangled in a tree in Newton Wood, near Hyde. A coroner's inquest p.r.o.nounced it an act of suicide, and in accordance with the verdict, the corpse was interred on the 21st May, 1774, at the three-lane-ends, near the brook, close by the present Commercial Inn, Newton Moor. Much sympathy was exhibited towards Hill in Droylsden, and a band of resolute fellows, about three o'clock on the morning of the 5th June, disinterred his remains, and re-buried them in Ashton churchyard. A woman who casually met them spread the information, and they were glad to convey back the body on the 18th of the same month, when the final interment took place at Newton Moor. A number of Droylsdenians joined to defray the expense of a gravestone, on which the following epitaph was written by Joseph Willan, of Openshaw, and was neatly engraved:--

Here is Deposited the Body of the unfortunate JAMES HILL, Late of Droylsden, who ended his Life May 6th, 1774, In the forty-second year of his age.

Unhappy Hill, with anxious Cares oppress'd, Rashly presumed to find Death his Rest.

With this vague Hope in Lonesome Wood did he Strangle himself, as Jury did agree; For which Christian burial he's denied, And is consign'd to Lie at this wayside.

Reader!

Reflect what may be the consequences of a crime, which excludes the possibility of repentance.

In old parish registers we have found records of burials at cross roads, and Lancas.h.i.+re history furnishes several examples.

It is stated in "Legends and Superst.i.tions of the County of Durham," by William Brockie, published in 1886, that in the Mile End Road, South s.h.i.+elds, at the corner of the left-hand side going northward, just adjoining Fairless's old ballast way, lies the body of a suicide, with a stake driven through it. It is, I believe, a poor baker, who put an end to his existence seventy or eighty years ago, and who was buried in this frightful manner, at midnight, in unconsecrated ground. The top of the stake used to rise a foot or two above the ground within the last thirty years, and boys used to amuse themselves by standing with one foot upon it.

Considerable consternation was caused in London towards the close of 1811 on account of certain murders. The foul deeds were committed by an Irishman called John Williams. He was arrested, and during his confinement in Coldbathfields committed suicide. His remains were buried in Cannon Street, and a stake was driven through the body.

Many curious items dealing with this custom may be found in the columns of old newspapers. The following particulars, for example, are drawn from the _Morning Post_, of 27th April, 1810:--"The officers appointed to execute the ceremony of driving the stake through the dead body of James Cowling, a deserter from the London Militia, who deprived himself of existence by cutting his throat at a public-house in Gilbert Street, Clare Market, in consequence of which a verdict of self-murder, very properly delayed the business until twelve o'clock on Wednesday night, when the deceased was buried in the cross roads at the end of Blackmoor Street, Clare Market."

The most painful case which has come under our notice occurred at Newcastle-on-Tyne. Martha Wilson, the widow of a seaman, was last seen alive by her neighbours on Sunday, the 13th April, 1817, and on the following Tuesday she was found dead, suspended from a cord tied to a nail in her room at the Trinity House. She was subject to fits of melancholy, and had threatened to destroy herself. On the Wednesday following an inquest was held, and the jury returned a verdict of _felo de se_. Her mortal remains were buried in the public highway at night, and the strange sight was watched by a large gathering of the public. After a stake had been driven through the body of the poor widow the grave was closed.

The last interment at cross roads in London of which we have been able to discover any account occurred in June, 1823, when a man named Griffiths, who had committed suicide, was buried at the junction of Eaton Street and Grosvenor Place and the King's Road. The burial took place about half-past one in the morning, and the old practice of driving a stake through the body in this case was not performed.

Perhaps the few particulars we have given will be sufficient to fully ill.u.s.trate the old-time custom of the burial of suicides at cross roads.

At last the impropriety of the proceedings was forced upon Parliament, and on the 8th July, 1823, the Royal a.s.sent was given to an Act "to alter and amend the law relating to the interment of the remains of any person found _felo de se_." The statute is brief, consisting of only two clauses, viz.:--

1. That after the pa.s.sing of this Act, it shall not be lawful for any coroner, or any other person having authority to hold inquests, to issue any warrant or other process directing the interment of the remains of persons against whom a finding of _felo de se_ shall be had, in any public highway, but that such coroner or other officer shall give directions for the private interment of the remains of such person _felo de se_, without any stake being driven through the body of such person, in the churchyard, or other burial ground of the parish or place in which the remains of such person might by the laws or custom of England be interred, if the verdict of _felo de se_ had not been found against such person; such interment to be made within twenty-four hours of the finding of the inquisition, and to take place between the hours of nine and twelve at night.

2. Provided, nevertheless, that nothing herein contained shall authorise the performing of any of the rites of Christian burial, or the interment of the remains of any such person as aforesaid; nor shall anything hereinbefore contained be taken to alter the laws or usages relating to the burial of such persons, except so far as relates to the interment of such remains in such churchyard or burial ground, at such time and in such a manner as aforesaid.

Another change was brought about in 1882 respecting the burial of suicides. We gather from "The Chronicles of Twyford," by F. J. Snell, M.A., that in the closing days of 1881 a factory operative, of irreproachable character, with his own hand took his life. The jury returned a verdict of _felo de se_, adding a rider to the effect that it was committed whilst the deceased was under great mental depression. "It was necessary," says Mr. Snell, "in order to comply with the requirements of the law, that the interment should take place between the hours of 9 p.m. and midnight, and also within twenty-four hours of the issuing of the coroner's warrant. In this case it was issued about eight o'clock in the evening. The Superintendent of the Police was obliged to arrange for the funeral the same night. Some delay was caused through the absence of the cemetery keeper from home, but about 10 p.m. two excavators commenced digging the grave in a remote corner of the cemetery, and the interment took place a few minutes before midnight." After the burial, the pastor of the church with which the poor man was a.s.sociated offered an extempore prayer. It is recorded that a large number of spectators watched with deep interest the proceedings, and that extreme indignation was felt throughout the town. In the following year, the two members for Tiverton introduced a bill into the House of Commons "to amend the law relating to the interment of any person found _felo de se_." The effect of the measure was to repeal the enactments requiring hurried burial without religious rites, and to sanction the interment "in any of the ways prescribed or authorised by the Burial Laws Amendment Act of 1880."

Detaining the Dead for Debt.

On the Continent, in Prussia for example, it was formerly the practice to detain the dead for debt. A belief long prevailed that such proceedings were legal in England, and in not a few cases, acting upon this supposition, corpses have been arrested, and in more instances precautions have been taken to avoid such painful events.

The earliest record we have found on this theme occurs in the parish register of Sparsholt, Berks.h.i.+re. "The corpse of John Matthews, of Fawler," it is stated, "was stopt on the churchway for debt, August 27, 1689. And having laine there fower days, was, by Justices' warrant, buryied in the place to prevent annoyances--but about sixe weeks after, by an Order of Sessions, taken up and buried in the churchyard by the wife of the deceased."

In the churchyard of North Wingfield, Derbys.h.i.+re, a gravestone bears the following inscription:--

In Memory of THOMAS, Son of JOHN and MARY CLAY, Who departed this life December 16th, 1724, In the 40th year of his age.

What though no mournful kindred stand Around the solemn bier, No parents wring the trembling hand, Or drop the silent tear.

No costly oak adorned with art My weary limbs enclose, No friends impart a winding sheet To deck my last repose.

The circ.u.mstances which led to the foregoing epitaph are thus narrated.

Thomas Clay was a man of intemperate habits, and at the time of his death was indebted to Adlington, the village inn-keeper, to the amount of twenty pounds. The publican resolved to seize the body; but the parents of the deceased carefully kept the door locked until the day appointed for the funeral. As soon as the door was opened, Adlington rushed into the house and seized the corpse, and placed it on a form in the open street. Clay's friends refused to pay the publican's account, and after the body had been exposed for several days, the inn-keeper buried it in a bacon chest.

This subject has received attention in the pages of _Notes and Queries_, and in the issue of May 2nd, 1896, the following appeared:--"At Brandeston, Suffolk," said a contributor, "there is a well-authenticated story of the body of the 'old squire,' Mr. John Revett or Rivett, who died in 1809, being removed secretly at night, by some of the servants and tenantry, from the library at Brandeston Hall, where it lay, to the church of Brandeston, which is in the park close by the Hall. Mr. Revett, like many of the family, had been very extravagant, keeping his own pack of hounds, etc.; and what with elections and unlimited hospitality, had got heavily into debt, and had involved the old family estate so, that Brandeston and Cretingham, which had been in the Revett family from 1480, got into Chancery after his death, and pa.s.sed out of the family in 1830, or thereabouts. The belief of the people, with whom the old squire was very popular, was that if the body was not removed to the sanctuary it would be seized for debt; hence their action." A son of one of the old servants, whose father a.s.sisted in carrying the body to the church, related the story in 1895 to the correspondent of _Notes and Queries_. It is well known in the village.

The most painful case of arresting a dead body which has come under our notice, is that of John Elliott, in 1811. The particulars are given in the "Annual Register," and also in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for that year, but not so fully nor correctly as in a newspaper report of that period, which is reproduced in the pages of _Notes and Queries_ for March 28th, 1896. The facts of the case are as follow:--John Elliott, at the time of his death, on October 3rd, 1811, was indebted to Baker, a bricklayer, and Heasman, a carpenter, a small sum for work done. These two men, with two sheriffs' officers, on Monday, October 7th, proceeded to the house where Elliott lay dead, and were there met by the son of the deceased. He stated that his father was dead. The officers informed him that they had a warrant to arrest the deceased, and asked where the body lay. The son pointed out the room, saying the door was locked, and his mother had gone out and taken the key, but was expected every minute. After waiting a few minutes, one of the men violently kicked the door, broke it open, and entered the room where the body lay in a coffin. The body was identified, and possession taken of it. The interment was fixed by the family for the following Wednesday, and at four o'clock on that day, the undertaker and his man arrived for the purpose of removing the body to Sh.o.r.editch Church for burial, but Baker and Heasman and the sheriffs' men entered the house with a sh.e.l.l, and took it into the room where the corpse lay. After asking the son to pay the debt and prevent his father's body being taken away, and he replying that he was unable to discharge it, Baker and Heasman literally crammed the naked body into the sh.e.l.l, and put it into a cart before the house, where it remained over half-an-hour, attracting to the place a large number of people who behaved in a riotous manner. The body was then removed to Heasman's house, and placed in a cellar until October 11th, when it was conveyed by him and others to Bethnal Green, and left in a burial vault.

Such are the details briefly stated that were given to the judge who tried the men who committed this outrageous public indecency. The jury, after retiring for a few minutes, returned, and awarded damages 200.

We have given at some length the foregoing case, to ill.u.s.trate the lawless condition of the country at the commencement of this century. We may congratulate ourselves on living in happier times.

It was currently reported at the death of Sheridan, in 1816, that an attempt would be made to detain his body for debt, but at his funeral no such action occurred.

Mr. John Cameron, in his work issued in 1892, under the t.i.tle of "The Parish of Campsie," states that in 1824 died the Rev. James Lapslie, vicar of the parish, who was, at the time of his death, in debt, and the proceedings of a creditor are thus related:--"On the day of the funeral,"

says Mr. Cameron, "the body was arrested at the mouth of the open grave, and further procedure barred by some legal process, until the arresting creditor had satisfaction given him for the payment of the debt owing by the deceased. Sir Samuel Stirling, sixth baronet, became security to the arresting creditor, and the body was then consigned to the grave."

Much reliable information on old-time subjects has been carefully chronicled by Mr. I. W. d.i.c.kinson, B.A., the author of "Yorks.h.i.+re Life and Character." He tells us that in the earlier years of the present century it was generally believed that a corpse could be detained for debt, and it was, in several instances in the West Riding, successfully carried out, the friends subscribing on the spot in order to be enabled to pay their last respects to the dead. Mr. d.i.c.kinson also tells me of another West Riding belief, that a doctor, summoned to a sick bed, could legally take the nearest way, even through corn fields and private grounds, or whatever else intervened, without rendering himself liable for damages.

We gather from _Notes and Queries_ of March 28th, 1896, that the fact was established in 1841, that the body of a debtor, dying in custody, cannot be detained in prison after death. It appears that Scott, gaoler of Halifax, acting for Mr. Lane Fox, the Lord of the Manor, detained the body of one of the debtors who died in prison. It was subsequently buried in the gaol in unconsecrated ground, on the refusal of the debtor's executors to pay the claims that were demanded of them. Action was taken against the gaoler, and at a trial at York a.s.sizes he was convicted of breaking the laws of his country.