1903: Today saw an extension to Peterborough's growing tram network when the service to Newark began, the trams travelling along the Eastfield Road. The driver - the motorman - had to stand in an open area to drive the tram and was exposed to all weathers. He worked a ten-hour shift, six days a week, at a rate of 5d an hour, which provided him with a weekly wage of 25s. (Peterborough Advertiser)
Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.
David Thompson Myers was the last man to be publicly executed in Peterborough, hanged on 11 May 1812 at Fengate.
He was born in 1771 in Cumberland but moved to Stamford where he was a milliner and draper. Early in 1812 he was arrested and charged with 'unnatural offences' (i.e. homosexuality, at that time a crime) with a boy named Thomas Crow. On 11 March 1812 he was tried at the Lincolnshire assizes and acquitted on all charges as the only witness was the boy Crow, who was held to be of a generally bad character, and to be a liar. Unfortunately for Myers, he was then taken to Peterborough and tried again, for another instance of the same crime with the same boy, said to have been committed in Burghley Park. This time, sadly for Myers' life expectancy, there were several respectable corroborating witnesses, and he was found guilty and sentenced to death. This was the era of the ‘Bloody Code’ where over 200 'crimes' had the death penalty, including homosexuality.
A petition to the Prince Regent from his uncle, Rev John Myers was unsuccessful, and after being held in the Abbot's Gaol, he was hanged before a crowd (according to the Stamford Mercury) of 5,000 people, 1,500 more than the total population of Peterborough at the time!
His confession to the crime was printed up and sold as a souvenir.
References:
Stamford Mercury, May 8, 1812
Homosexuality in Nineteenth-Century England, sourcebook maintained by Rictor Norton
King Charles I was briefly held prisoner in the city. He was on his way to London to be imprisoned, prior to his execution. He was held in the Abbot’s Gaol, which is next to the west gate of the cathedral. There were many local supporters who included the Orme family.
One of the old wooden doors of the gaol can be seen in Peterborough Museum. The goal is currently used as a retail space.
Peterborough gaol, or jail, was based near the cathedral gateway. It was cold, damp and very dark and was described by some as being like a dungeon. It is no surprise that people tried to escape from it then.
In April 1716 William Doyson had been locked in the gaol, but he managed to escape! An advert was placed in the Stamford Mercury describing him and asking for his return. He was described as 'a middlesized man and middle-aged'. He also had 'black hair [and wore] a white frock with black horn buttons and black button holes, if not changed.' There were very specific descriptions of his scars, making note of the 'large scar on the left-hand side of his upper lip' as well as 'two scars on his left hand, like his being burnt in the hand.'
The plucky prisoner managed to escape by 'filing off his irons' suggesting he was kept in shackles. Gaoler Edward Smyth was offering a guinea and 'reasonable charges' for the return of William Doyson, which was a considerable sum equal to several days pay for a skilled tradesman and a lot more to a poor man. We can imagine that he fled pretty fast and pretty far though!
Amazingly, this wasn't the only gaolbreak at the time. William Baker, apparator to the Bishop of Lincoln, had been gaoled in Stamford by gaoler John Westwood, but had escaped on 28th March. The same reward was offered for his return.
Reference: Stamford Mercury, 5 April 1716, p. 12.
Image by StarGladVictory from Pixabay
In 1841 an almost farcical tale started to unfold in the magistrates court regarding Richard Spring junior. His father was keeper of the house of correction, the jail near to the cathedral, and Richard junior was a carpenter.
A wooden partition measuring 20 feet (6 metres) had been installed to separate the prisoners, but was taken down by Richard Jun. and turned into band boxes, which he sold and profited from. The removal of the partition had been watched by one of the prisoners and he wasn't impressed!
He asked Richard Spring Snr if he could speak to the city magistrates to report a robbery, and was granted permission. At the magistrates session, he revealed what Richard Jun had done to the partition, whilst resulted in Richard Senior's instant dismissal.
At the Easter sessions Richard Jun. was sentenced to three months in the same prison he had once stolen from! He appeared in the 1841 census as a prisoner with four other men. Let us hope that one of those men wasn't the one who tipped off the magistrates, for they would both wish for the partition was reinstalled then!
References:
1841 Census, District Peterborough Gaol, Minster Close Precincts, Northamptonshire, p. 2.
Singular Committal, Cambridge Independent Press, 6 March 1841, p. 3.
Peterborough Easter Sessions, Cambridge Independent Press, 10 April 1841, p. 3.
In 1841 an almost farcical tale started to unfold in the magistrates cou…