The 1889 case of the fifteen tramps

Tramps were a familiar sight on the roads of England in years past and their numbers increased after wars and in times of social conflict when unemployment prevented many from earning a living. However, the fate of the fifteen Scottish dock labourers who arrived in the Bourne area in 1889, practically penniless, hungry and seeking food, is a blot on our legal system and one that aroused the anger of society once the injustice that followed had been exposed.

The usual term for a tramp is vagrant which in law connotes idle and disorderly persons, rogues and vagabonds, all of which were liable to terms of imprisonment. Laws were passed against them as early as the 15th century although the distinction between vagabonds, as they were generally called, and persons who could not find employment, seems to have been confounded with those who preferred idleness and thieving. All of these early laws were eventually superseded by the Vagrancy Acts of 1824 and 1873 which were still on the statute book in 1889 and embraced all manner of conduct that might be construed as a social crime including merely wandering abroad and lodging in barns and tents or loafing about in public places and begging for alms, but in all cases "without visible means of support" and this was the yardstick by which they were judged. In other words, any action by impoverished strangers that might be regarded as a threat to the peaceful way of life of the law-abiding citizenry was liable to prosecution and the penalties were up to 14 days with hard labour or, if convicted before two justices, three months or a fine.

The men in this case were arrested after being seen on the highway south of Bourne on the afternoon of Saturday 31st August when the police had been alerted by Mr William Earle Pick, a baker, of Thurlby, who said that the men had begged a loaf of bread from him. This appears to have been their only offence yet a constable was sent to the scene and after following the men into Bourne, he sought help from other officers and took them into custody.

The following Monday, the fifteen men, all described as dock labourers, were charged with vagrancy and appeared before one of the county magistrates for the petty sessional division of Bourne at the Town Hall, Mr Christopher Gilbert Peacock of Greatford Hall, sitting alone on the bench, a normal procedure for special courts convened to hear cases outside the usual court day. They were named as: James Duncan, Francis McNallie, James Smith, James Gordon, James Gibbons, John Crawford, Charles Birch, David Dupier, Alexander Farmer, William Jones, Patrick Balan, David Lamb, David Sapern, William Shaw and James Burk.

During the court hearing, Pick gave evidence that the men had begged bread from him. They had actually asked for some food and so he gave them a loaf. They were not abusive and they told him that what he gave to one of them, he gave to all of the 15 men and it would be divided amongst them.

Superintendent Willerton Brown, who was in charge of Bourne police station, said that 13s. 7¾d. in cash was found on the prisoners who then related a pitiable story of poverty to the magistrate. They spoke with Irish accents but said they came from Dundee. Some time since, they had shipped from there to London in the hope of getting work at the docks but were not aware that there was a strike. On their arrival, they could have found work that was available but were barred from doing so by the pickets. They were destitute and had nowhere to go. They then sought relief from the strike fund but could not obtain any and consequently, wandered about London in a starving condition looking for food but with little success. They called on the Rev Mr Wainwright, Vicar of St George's Church in East London, a well known benefactor of the poor, in the hope of getting relief and were given 15 loaves of bread but when this had gone, they started tramping through the east coast ports in the hope of finding a ship that would take them back to Dundee. At every stop they made on their journey from London to Bourne, they had reported their circumstances to the police authorities and had obtained some food at different places en route.

Despite these mitigating circumstances, the magistrate used his powers to the letter of the law and found the case of vagrancy proved and the 15 defendants were sent to Lincoln prison for seven days with hard labour.

There was considerable public indignation once the sentence became known in Bourne. An immediate appeal was made by county councillor, James Derry, a known champion of the working classes, who opened a subscription fund for the relief of the men. Within a few hours, two leading citizens, Messrs William Shipley, a blacksmith, of Eastgate, and John Henry Berry, a stationer, of South Street, had collected £2 in donations from ordinary people and tradesmen and sent it to Councillor Derry to add to his fund that was being organised in Lincoln. The ministers of the various churches in the town and surrounding villages, tradesmen, mechanics and labourers, readily responded to the appeal and by noon on the following Saturday, Councillor Derry had almost £15 [almost £1,000 in today's values] to hand over to the men on their release. The total from Bourne was £4 10s. but other donations had also been made including £1 subscribed by the Lincoln bench of magistrates while a local councillor provided the men on their release with a substantial dinner. Each of them also received a pork pie and 6s. in addition to their railway fare being paid to Dundee. 

The governor of the jail spoke in high terms of the behaviour of the men who had undergone five hours of hard labour each day and the feet of one of them were so swollen from his previous walking ordeal that he was unable to wear his boots and so a new and more comfortable pair was provided.

There were also demands that the legality of the arrest and sentence be discussed by Kesteven County Council and the matter brought to the notice of the Home Office. The case also featured in many of the national daily newspapers and The Scotsman reported:

It is possible that the law is such that the Bourne magistrate had no alternative but to send these 15 men to prison, or is this an instance of justices' justice? If a gentleman tourist were to lose his way in some remote district of Scotland, and, finding himself without money, were to knock at the door of some humble cottage and ask for a scone and a cup of milk to help him on his road, would he, or could he, be clapped into gaol for the offence? Of course, those who live by begging deserve to be punished; but the law that makes every appeal to the sympathy of a fellow creature a crime does not seem to be much in accordance with human sentiment. It is to be hoped that this case will call forth an amount of sympathy which will take the practical form of providing the means for their comfortable return to their homes immediately on their release.

Meanwhile, Mr Pick, the Thurlby baker who the men had asked for bread, found himself being vilified for his actions and his standing in the village greatly diminished and so he issued a public statement in an attempt to defend himself by denying that it was he who had reported the matter to the police, a direct contradiction of the evidence presented to the court. His statement, printed by the local newspapers, said: "The police waited upon Mr Pick who verified the information that they had obtained to the effect that the men did beg a loaf of bread from him."

The incident was the talk of the town for several months afterwards and illustrated the fear that was prevalent at the time of strangers arriving in the locality, especially when they were seen to be impoverished and without means of support. As a result of this anxiety and foreboding, and a concern by residents for their property and even safety, the men became the victims of an over zealous police force and a strict magistrate who stood by the letter of the law without any humanitarian considerations. Once the miscarriage of justice had been revealed, society tried to make amends in the grand manner although it was too late to save the men from jail.

See also     William Earle Pick      Crime and Punishment

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