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The Campden Wonder |
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The following account was published in 1862 in a local newspaper, "The Cheltenham Examiner and Gloucestershire Guardian", as part of a series of articles on Gloucestershire history written by the respected local history John Goding. Goding was the author of "Norman's History of Cheltenham", published a year after this article in 1863
I have serious concerns about many aspects of this article. The account differs in significant details from the "standard" Overbury version. The article is not, of course, meant to be a work of scholarly research: it is intended to entertain the Victorian reader not to satisfy the modern investigator. But it is disappointing that a historian of Goding's reputation did not see fit to deal with the story more seriously.
I have reproduced the text of Goding's article below as faithfully as possible, and have deliberately NOT corrected a number of obvious typos, repeated words, dubious spellings etc. I suspect that the accuracy of the type-setting is commensurate with the reliability of Goding's account.
The
Cheltenham Examiner
AND
GLOUCESTERSHIRE GUARDIAN
WEDNESDAY,
FEBRUARY 19TH, 1862
CHAPTERS
IN THE HISTORY OF
GLOUCESTERSHIRE
BY
JOHN GODING
THE MURDER OF WILLIAM HARRISON
In the seventeenth century
few noblemen in the county of Gloucester possessed larger domains than Sir
Baptist Hicks, Bart., the ancester of Sir W. Hicks Bart., of Witcomb, (for many
years of the Cheltenham Magistrates,) Sir M. Hicks Beach, and Lady Cromie. Sir
Baptist Hicks accumulated his vast wealth by the calling of a mercer in London,
and more especially by supplying the Court of James I. with silks. Besides his
large landed estates, his personal wealth was immense, and he left his two
doughters £100,000 each, and also
£10,000 to found charities for the local poor. He was knighted by Charles I. in
1628, and took the additional title of Viscount, Campden, from one of the manors
.which he possessed. He lies interred along with Lady Campden, in Campden
church, where a most magnificent altar tomb with marble recumbent effigies are
erected to their memory. Viscount Campden, among
other local properties held the Rectory of Cheltenham, having effected an
exchange with King James for the personage of Campden. At the death of the
Viscount, the estates passed to Lady Campden for life. The possession of such an
extensive property required the aid of a competent steward to collect the rents.
A person of the name of William Harrison filled this responsible office for a
number of years. He was much respected
and deservedly enjoyed very general confidence in confidence of his honesty and
punctuality in business. It was on
the 6th day of , August,1660, that William Harrison departed from
his home to gather in the rents for his wealthy mistress. Weeks and months
elapsed, and yet no William Harrison returned, nor were any tidings heard of him. The
universal respect in which the steward was held excited a large amount of
sympathy towards him, and more especially on account of his bereaved wife and
family. From the mission on which he had left his house and his prolonged
absence, the conclusion was inevitable that he had been robbed and murdered. The
number of highwaymen of the 'Dick Turpin’ school at that period,
following their unlawful calling
throughout the country, excited the suspicion that the unfortunate steward had
fallen a victim to their snares. The amount of the money (nearly
£200) which it was ascertained that he had collected, must have pointed him
out as a prize worth capturing.
The absence of the steward
being prolonged, naturally caused an immense excitement at Campden. In the
village at the period of the occurrence, resided a family, tenants
of Lady Campden. They consisted of an aged, widow, named Joan Perry, and her two sons. One of
the sons, John Perry, was an half-idiot,
and the other son, Richard Perry, was an agricultural
labourer, and worked hard to support his widowed mother and idiotic brother.
There is an old adage that "fools and children speak the truth," and
so thought the villagers when they heard the poor idiot relate a confused
account of the murder of the lost steward. At length the
report of his conversation became so generally circulated, that the loca1
magistrates had an interview with him, and he solemnly deposed to the murder of
William Harrison, by his brother Richard, while his mother and himself looked
on, and afterwards joined in robbing the deceased of the money in his
possession. On this, the whole three were sent to prison, and at the ensuing
assizes, were doubly indicted for the robbery and murder. In the meantime the
most dilligent search had been made about the premises of the prisoners for the
body of the steward but without success. At length came the day of assize with
all its attendant excitement. The evidence adduced consisted of the substance of
the former deposition, which was further strengthened by the idiot boy declaring
in open court “that his mother and brother had attempted to poison him, in the
gaol, for peaching." The presiding Judge, Sir C. Turner, in summing up the
case, dwelt especially upon the fact that the house of the prisoners was the
last one that the steward was seen to enter alive, no rents having been called
for beyond that house in the village. He also told the jury of the legal
difficulty in the way of supporting the murder indictment as no body had as yet
been found to identify. In the
absence of such evidence he considered that the
charge of robbery only could be maintained at present, and intimated to the
prisoners that if they felt guilty and liked to admit the robbery, that their
lives would be spared. Acting under the advice of their counsel, they pleaded
guilty to the robbery and sentence was deffered until next assize. In the
interim no discovery had been made of the hiding place of the murdered steward,
nor of any other matter relating to the case. At the next assize the public
excitement had increased and the strongest feelings which could be given vent to
were manifested by the populace as the prisoners were escorted to the Hall of
Justice. The Judge of the circuit was Sir Robert Hyde, who considering the
length of time which had elapsed, and the non-appearance of Harrison, tried them
for the murder." A strange scene presented itself in court. The idiot
witness in a bewildered state, “retracted his his accusation, declaring that
he was mad when he made it and knew not what he said." The learned Judge in
charging the jury pointed out the depositions of the son, the plea of guilty on
the indictment of robbery, and the secretion of the body of their victim.
He considered the evidence established the capital offence most fully. The jury
after a short deliberation returned a verdict of guilty. The Judge, upon
assuming the judicial emblem of death - the black cap - passed the solemn
sentence of death, observing that the crime of which they had been convicted was
of the deepest dye - the murder of the steward of their occasional benefactor.
The interval was short between the sentence and the execution. Only
three days was allowed for the culprits to prepare for their final doom. Few
ever ascended the fatal scaffold who excited less public sympathy than Mrs.
Perry and her sons. The high esteem in which their victim was held engendered
the bitterest feelidgs against them. According to prior arrangement, John
Perry was the first executed, it being considered, by the civic authorities that
the mother had influenced her sons and ought therefore to be made an example of.
The aged convict passed into eternity with the delaration of innocence upon her
lips. The two sons next suffered; the appearance of John the idiot presented a
marked change, and from the nature of his conversation with the gaol chaplain it
was evident that an interval of reason had been allowed him. He also died
protesting his innocence. Richard the other son met his fate with great firmness
and like his particidators in guilt died
with the declaration of innocence on lips.
Mother
and sons passed to their account amid the
execrations of a rude assembly and the pen of public feeling seemed to record
that they well deserved their
fate.
At
the time this remarkable trial was in progress, it excited the attention of
that eminent resident and native literary character, Sir Thomas Overbury. That
nobleman in conjunction with Dr. Shirley, published the facts of the case, and
this led to its being down to future ages.
We
have led the reader through the trial, conviction and execution, and we now
ask the most
serious attention to the sequel of the narration. The port of Gloucester is of high antiquity, and the earliest period of
civilization its river has formed one of the highways for commercial nations.
The arrival of a vessel from a foreign country, in the reign of Charles II. was
not of that frequent occurrence as in the reign of Victoria. When, therefore it
was announced that a ship had reached Gloucester
from Lisbon at the close of the year 1663,
the citizens of the city flocked in numbers to get a view of the passengers.
Among those who landed was a person evidently of English birth, but whose
countenance bespoke that he had been a sojourner in a foreign clime. He was
observed to hold close conversation with a number of influential person and an
expression of surprise seemed manifest among the bystanders. Some of the crowd
was observed to hasten towards the old city and almost directly the Mayor,
Alderman and sub-officials, together with hundreds of the good citizens were
seen hurrying to the Severn’s side. The houses of the city were almost devoid of inhabitants, for
everybody flocked to gain a sight of the recently arrived stranger. The falling
of a bombshell in the streets of Gloucester could not have produced greater
excitement than the arrival of this passenger in the Lisbon vessel. The Mayor
and city officers having reached the ship's landing place, began to converse
with the stranger, and at the conclusion the vast assembly marched towards the
city. The stranger was the observed of an observers. The wonder-stricken
spectators followed the procession as far as the Tolsey, when the stranger entered therein accompanied by all the civic
authorities. Although the
scorching sun of the East had altered the complexion, yet his features were
recognized by all classes. The Mayor having taked the judicial chair, the
stranger, amid deathless silence, made a deposition to the following effect :-
That he was WILLIAM HARRISON, Lady Campden's steward who was supposed to have
been murdered three years ago! That when he had partly collected the rents, he
was suddenly seized by a press-gang, who forced him to the sea shore, where they
hurried him on ship board, and carried him off to Turkey; they they there sold
him as a slave to a physician, with whom he lived for nearly two years,
when, his master dying, he made his escape in a Hamburg vessel to Lisbon, and
from thence was conveyed to
Gloucester. After the usual legal formalities had been gone through, a
conveyance was provided for Harrison, and that night he embraced his wife and.
family. Lady Campden restored the long-lost steward to his situation which he
occupied for mony years afterwards and ltved to a patriarchial age. His return
was hailed with general delight, not only in the neighbourhood of his residence
but throughout the county generally. He descended to his grave with the honours
due to an honest man.
Gloucester was thrown into
a state of feverish agitation by the discovery - no wonder - the olden city
had been desecrated. For full three years had laid in the unhallowed grave of
the murderer three persons who were as innocent as the Judge who triec or the
the jury who convicted them. An aged widow with the grey hairs of more than
three score years, a poor half-witted youth, and a strong healthful men in the
prime of life upon whom the other two relied upon for support, had been
wrongfully executed. What must have been the feelings or the jury who convicted,
of the Judge who sentenced, of the authorities who executed that hapless frmily
! The case will stand a perpetual monument of the fallibility of human tribunals
and of the necessity for the abolition of the punishment by death.
" I have seen,
When after execution, judgment hath
Repented o'er his doom."
Shakespeare
Harrison states in his letter to Overbury that he had collected only £23, the same amount that Edward Plaisterer states that he had given to Harrison. The figure of £200 is not mentioned anywhere else to my knowledge.
I know of no evidence that the Perrys were tenants of Lady Campden. Overbury describes John Perry as Harrison's "manservant"
On what basis does Goding describe John Perry as a "half-idiot"? Admittedly, his various statements are somewhat confused and rambling. But they do not give the impression that Perry was retarded. They are reasonably articulate and although his behaviour seems strange, there are no obvious contradictions. The impression Perry gives is rather that of a man under stress, or struggling to concoct a story whilst trying not to reveal a secret which must remain hidden.
If John Perry was a half-idiot, why did Harrison employ him? Why did Harrison's wife choose him to send out to look for her missing husband?
Richard Perry may well have been an agricultural labourer, but I know of no evidence for this.
It is curious that Goding makes no mention of John Perry being Harrison's servant, nor of his having been sent to look for Harrison.
Goding gives the impression that at their first trial the Perry's are indicted for robbing Harrison on the occasion of his "murder". According to Overbury, they are convicted at the first trial for robbing Harrison's house several months earlier.
Where does Goding get this figure of 3 days from?
This is clearly a misprint: "John" should read "Joan".
Goding is clearly aware of Overbury's account, but if he had ever read it, I suspect he had forgotten most of it.
In his letter to Overbury, Harrison states that he landed at Dover and then went to London. It is possible, but unlikely, that he then journeyed from London to Gloucester by ship. However, Goding seems to suggest that Harrison travelled directly from Lisbon to Gloucester.
One is obliged to suspect that the tale of Harrison's return to the port of Gloucester is a pure fiction, invented solely to make the story more exciting for a Gloucestershire audience.