This is a story of 1833 Bridport. Arson had taken place but the punishment meted out to the perpetrator was much more extreme than would be considered now. It is a true story of earlier life with disastrous consequences and is not for the faint-hearted.
\nIn 1832 Bridport had suffered a number of fires, thought to be arson. Then in early 1833 there was another which destroyed eight properties in Irish Lane (now King Street) adjacent to Folly Mill Lane. Some were thatched houses and about thirty people had to vacate their beds and homes. There had been an attempt to set fire there only two or three weeks earlier. The properties would have been adjacent to the present East Street car park near Folly Mill Lane.
\nThe late Basil Short gave a lecture in the Unitarian Chapel in 1993 and much of this detail is drawn from his notes held in the Bridport Museum Local History Centre. Basil Short was formerly the Unitarian Minister in Bridport and an extra-mural local history lecturer of Bristol University.
\nThe main victim was John Follett, a flax comber, with his combing shop in Irish Lane close to his house. His garden adjoined that of the Wilkins family with their house forty yards towards Folly Mill. Thomas Wilkins was a carpenter with a sideline of twine spinning, with rates of 19s 6d in 1826, the same as Dr Giles Roberts, so not desperately poor. His eldest son, Sylvester Symes Wilkins aged 15 years was a shoemaker and had been a choir boy in St Mary\u2019s Church and attended Sunday School there. In December 1832 he received a prize for good reading and conduct. So why did Sylvester, a \u201cgood boy\u201d reasonably educated, from a comfortable home, become involved in arson.
\nThe fire commenced just after 10pm on Monday 25th February 1833 and shortly after the fire bell rang and there were cries of \u201cfire\u201d. It was a dark, wet night and the boys had run away.
\nJohn Follett said he had previously found his flax on fire and he had seen three boys, whom he identified, in his garden several times. On his oath and others, three boys were committed to prison by a warrant dated 5th March 1833, by Joseph Gundry, esq., Justice of the Borough of Bridport. The Prison Book records that 15-year-old Sylvester Wilkins (Prison no. 325) was 5ft 5ins. tall, David Fudge Curme, a 17-year-old printer (no. 326) was 5ft 2 ins., both admitted on 5th March 1833. John Middleton (no. 334) a 17-year-old shoemaker, also 5ft 2 ins., was brought to prison on 9th March. Wilkins was described as having brown hair, grey eyes, of sallow complexion with dimpled chin and pock-marked face and with a scar on his left hand, near his thumb. But he must have been thin and underweight, as will appear later.
\nThere were two judges at the trial, the Hon Sir James Allan and Hon Sir Joseph Littledale of the Westminster Courts. David Curme admitted his guilt, but offered King\u2019s Evidence against Wilkins saying \u201cLast Michaelmas Fair Wilkins said it would make a good fire and asked for help….but they would not….weeks later in the \u201cAntelope\u201d he asked again. We bought 1\/2d of tobacco and Middleton lit a pipe\u201d. However, Middleton denied responsibility on the occasion of the fire. Curme also said \u201cSylvester pulled off some thatch and put some oiled paper in the hole….he called me and took a match from his pocket and lighted it at the pipe which I had in my hand. He then set light to the oiled paper. We then came away….then heard the fire bell ringing and he could not help laughing\u201d.
\nSylvester Wilkins admitted firing Mr Follett\u2019s house but did not know why. On the subject of numerous earlier fires in the town, he knew of them, but was not responsible for them.
\nAt the Lent Assizes on 9th March 1833 the Jury found Wilkins guilty of arson but recommended mercy. However, the Judge ignored this plea, being keen to set an example by capital punishment.
\nFollowing the trial Sylvester wrote several letters from prison, we are told \u201cin a good hand\u201d, wishing his parents well, with prayers and so on. He asked for Andrew Symes Partridge, David Hodder, George Clapp, William Hallett, David Lang and James Foss Woodward to be his bearers. One assumes these were young men of about his age, perhaps fellow choirboys. He also asked for his co-defendants to attend his funeral.
\nWilkins was executed at noon on Saturday 30th March 1833 at Dorchester Gaol. The executioner attached lead \u201cmercy weights\u201d to his legs to hasten his end as otherwise, his lightness might have prolonged his hold on life. This was common with underweight victims. Some time ago Bridport Museum had a representation of Wilkins on display but this has now been placed in the store.
\nA contemporary local diarist, Maria Carter, of West Street, Bridport wrote on Sunday 31st March \u201cRev Broadley 15th chap. of Corinthians 33rd verse. A very good sermon respecting the boy that was hung yesterday\u201d. Surprisingly she does not mention the fires or the subsequent funeral.
\nBasil Short recorded that the funeral was on Good Friday at St Mary\u2019s Church, Bridport, a grand affair with the streets lined with townspeople. 2,000 people filed past the body as it returned to Bridport. The Burials Register for St Mary\u2019s, record no 668 show Sylvester Wilkins, buried on 5th April, aged 15 years, service conducted by Rev Robert Broadley.
\nNeither of Sylvester\u2019s friends, David Curme or John Middleton appear in the 1841 or 1851 Census Record Indexes, so they had probably left the area. The Wilkins family continued to live in Bridport, Thomas Wilkins was still a carpenter, aged 65 in 1851. His wife Ann was a dressmaker, aged 63 and Augustus a tailor of 27. Hezekiah was living in Bradpole aged 24. John Follett was living in Bothenhampton in 1851, still a comber.
\nBasil Short suggested that Silvestor Wilkins may have \u201cgot into bad company\u201d, perhaps easily led and obviously fascinated by fire. It is surprising that such a quiet boy, given a prize for good conduct only a year before should end in this way. It was also suggested that no one expected such a youngster to hang.
\nSo far we have not mentioned the \u201cBridport Dagger\u201d but surely the hempen noose, made in Bridport, must have been used by the hangman.
\nNowadays we might expect processions, protests outside the then gaol and marches in opposition to the extreme sentence. We live in a peaceful area and trust that the horrific acts we see on TV cease and do not reach here.
\nBridport History Society does not meet in August. We look forward to seeing you in September.<\/p>\n
Cecil Amor, Hon President, Bridport History Society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is a story of 1833 Bridport. Arson had taken place but the punishment meted out to the perpetrator was much more extreme than would be considered now. It is a true story of earlier life with disastrous consequences and is not for the faint-hearted. In 1832 Bridport had suffered a number of fires, thought […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-4337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-history-community","tag-cecil-amor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}