Damn His Blood (48 page)

22
The tithe dispute, incidents in Oddingley, ‘Damn your blood!’, ‘Testimony of Thomas Lloyd’.
CFP
; George Parker’s legal expenses, Mary Parker,
CFP
; ‘… would give any man five Guineas who would shoot the parson’, William Colley,
CFP &
‘… it was no harm to shoot such a fellow as that’, William Chance,
CFP
.

23
‘No war, no Pitt, cheap bread’, Mike Jay,
The Unfortunate Colonel Despard
.

24
‘Baby, baby, naughty baby’, ballad taken from Robert Harvey,
War of Wars
. A French version of this popular ballad is mentioned in
Wellington Anecdotes: A collection of sayings or doings of the great Duke
(1852), whereby Napoleon’s name was substituted for Wellington’s – ‘Hush your squalling, or it may be, Wellington will come this way’. If accurate, it’s a good example of how different factions could hijack ballads and use them for their own ends.

25
‘All common men were thrilled by the sight …’, Eric Hobsbawm,
The Age of Revolution 1789–1848
.

26
‘None of the family or servants ever frequented Oddingley Church …’, John Collins,
CFP
; ‘Barnett, Banks and Captain Evans always abused Mr. Parker …’, James White,
CFP
; ‘Take that or you shall not have any one!’, and account of the argument between John Barnett and Parker, Thomas Griffin,
CFP
.

27
‘There is no more harm in shooting him than a mad dog!’, John Perkins,
CFP
.

CHAPTER 3

This chapter, documenting the quarrel at the Plough in Tibberton, is predominantly drawn from the testimony of John Perkins as recorded in
CFP
,
TWM
and
TTC
.

1
‘Perry is the liquor of this country’, Robert Southey,
Letters from England by Don Manuel Alvarez Espriella
. Other evidence in literature that Worcestershire perry was commonly sold as champagne to unwitting customers in London comes in chapter three of Henry Fielding’s
The History of Tom Jones
.

2
Details of the Birmingham Toast from R. Dent,
Old and New Birmingham
.

3
‘… a time when every newspaper poet’,
The Gentleman’s Magazine
, 1901.

4
‘Thou hast some left-handed business …’, Walter Savage Landor,
The Works of Walter Savage Landor
, Vol. II.

5
‘… with a kist [chest] or shelf full of Radical books …’, E.P. Thompson,
The Making of the English Working Class
.

6
‘I dare say the person that left it will call for it’, Elizabeth Jones,
CFP
.

7
Physical description of Richard Heming comes from E. Lees,
TWM
and
Worcester Herald
, 28 June 1806.

CHAPTER 4

1
‘The grasses, both natural and artificial …’,
Morning Chronicle
, 1 May 1806.

2
‘… hideous, whitewashed, brick structure …’, Theodore Galton,
Madeleine de S. Pol
.

3
‘Neither of us spoke’ and the account of the night-time disturbances at Oddingley Rectory, Mary Parker,
CFP
. Details about Mary Parker’s background come from Dr Gael Turnbull’s notes on the Oddingley murders, held at WRO ref. 899.1327, BA/12.133.

4
‘the grand toy-shop of Europe’,
Monthly Review
, Vol. 40. Burke’s famous description of Birmingham is somewhat misleading. The ‘toys’ referred not to children’s toys but the infinitude of small items – buttons, buckles, brass candle sticks and so on – that were manufactured in the town. For a good account of Birmingham’s thriving toy industry and the great variety of different items that it produced, see Jenny Uglow,
The Lunar Men
.

5
Account of Sadler’s voyage from
European Magazine and London review
Vol. VIII/
New Annual Register
, 1785,
New London Magazine
Vol. IV 1785.

6
‘Time was when these commons …’, Reverend Richard Warner, quoted in Roy Porter,
English Society in the Eighteenth Century
.

7
‘… tempest of war and confusion’ and ‘… in ire and chagrin …’, T.C. Tuberville,
WNC
.

8
‘They were all highly pleased …’, diary entry for 30 November 1784, James Woodforde,
The Diary of a Country Parson
.

9
Account of Reverend Skinner’s battles with the residents of Camerton comes from John Skinner,
The Journal of a Somerset Rector
. News of his suicide – ‘On Friday morning, in a state of derangement …’ – is from the
Bath Chronicle
, 17 October 1839.

10
‘Irritable, nervous, apprehensive …’, Virginia Woolf,
The Common Reader
. Virginia Woolf made the comparison between Woodforde and Skinner in
Two Parsons
– a beautiful meditation upon the act of diary-keeping and the waxing and waning of their respective fortunes.

11
‘[it] leaves no man anything in this world …’,
Cobbett’s Political Register
Vol. IX, 5 April 1806.

12
James Gillray, ‘The Friend of the People & his Petty-New-Tax-Gatherer, Paying John Bull a visit’.

CHAPTER 5

1
The account of the farmer’s meeting at the Pigeon House and the subsequent chase through the meadows is taken from the testimony of Sarah Lloyd,
CFP
.

2
‘Banks was the most violent …’, Gilbert Jones,
CFP
.

3
Examples of the mounting tensions in Oddingley throughout May and June come from the testimonies of Elizabeth Jones, Thomas Reed and Thomas Green,
CFP
.

4
‘I will swear my life against them all …’ and the clashes between the Captain and Reverend Parker in Church Lane come from the testimony of Mary Parker,
CFP
, with some supplementary details from
Papers Formerly in the Possession of the Reverend Reginald Pyndar
, WRO ref. 899.38, BA/866.

5
Information about the formation of the Worcestershire Volunteers comes from
The First Regular Worcestershire Regiment, Firm and Forester
Vol. 5 no.1, and details concerning the British recruitment crisis in 1779 are from Edward Curtis,
Organization of the British Army in the American Revolution
.

6
Samuel Evans being gazetted an officer, reported in the
London Gazette
, 30 October 1779. His subsequent promotion to lieutenant was announced in the
London Gazette
, 3 May 1780.

7
There is a good account of the ‘torrid zone’ and the physical perils of travel to the West Indies during the late eighteenth century in Mike Jay,
The Unfortunate Colonel Despard
.

8
‘Whatever his parentage …’, Mary Sherwood,
Sequel to the Oddingley Murders
.

9
‘He attends every vestry meeting …’, Charles Dickens,
Sketches By Boz
.

10
‘Damn Priestley’, detail of the Priestley Riots from R. Dent,
Old and New Birmingham, a History of the Town and Its People
.

11
Examples of the word ‘damn’ in use: ‘I am afraid that I …’, James Boswell,
The Life of Samuel Johnson
; ‘Damn his eyes’, Lord Byron
Don Juan
, Canto the Seventh, XLVI; ‘Damned lawyers and judges’, Jonathan Swift,
The Works of Jonathan Swift
; ‘Damn you!’ Charles Dickens,
Oliver Twist
. There is an excellent overview of the cultural power of bad language throughout history, and also a good section on oaths, in Geoffrey Hughes,
An Encyclopaedia of Swearing
.

12
‘… a brisk gay widow’, Clifford Morsley,
News from the English Countryside 1750–1850
.

13
‘Hence he reached the church without observation …’, Thomas Hardy,
The Mayor of Casterbridge
.

14
‘Constitution: The Independence of Great Britain’, Mike Jay,
The Unfortunate Colonel Despard
.

15
‘Take it in your right hand!’, Charles Dickens,
Great Expectations
.

CHAPTER 6

1
An overview of farming methods in the English countryside at the beginning of the nineteenth century can be found in J. Main,
The Young Farmer’s Manuel
. The account of Perkins on 24 June 1806 draws on this. The list of implements in his workshop derives from an inventory in W. Pitt,
General View of the Agriculture of the County of Worcester with Observations on its Means of Improvement
.

2
‘Oh, he had got his dying dress on’ and information about Parker’s final service at St James’ Church, E. Lees,
TWM
.

3
Scenes from the aftermath of Parker’s murder are drawn from James Tustin, John Barnett, Thomas Langford, John Perkins, Elizabeth Perkins and Susan Surman and Thomas Alsop
CFP
; Thomas Giles and John Lench,
Inq
., with supplementary details from E. Lees,
TOM
.

4
‘Six gentlemen upon the road …’, William Cowper, ‘The Diverting History of John Gilpin’,
Poems of William Cowper
.

5
‘“Stop thief! Stop thief!”’ Charles Dickens,
Oliver Twist
.

6
‘The town being alarmed’, J.M. Beattie,
Crime and the Courts in England, 1660–1800
.

7
‘… the workhorse of everyday magistrate power …’, Roy Porter,
English Society in the Eighteenth Century
.

8
Coaching timetables are from T. Eaton,
A Concise History of Worcester
and J. Tymbs,
A Brief History of Worcester
.

CHAPTER 7

1
An account of Thomas Green’s journey through Oddingley on 24 June and his visit to Church Farm, testimony of Thomas Green,
CFP
along with some supplementary facts from Anon.,
The Murdered Murderer or the Worcester Tragedy
. Events at Netherwood Farm are described by Thomas Arden,
TWM
and William Chance
CFP
.

CHAPTER 8

1
Physical description of Heming – ‘round, ruddy face and thick hanging lantern jaw’ – from
Worcester Herald
, 2 August 1806.

2
‘Heming looked very pale and confused’, Thomas Colwell,
CFP
. Other details of Colwell arriving at the rectory appear in E. Lees,
TOM
and John Perkins,
CFP
.