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A battle of Bosworth

 

Market Bosworth is a small town in Leicestershire (1846 population 1135) (1), chiefly known for its proximity to the Bosworth battlefield on which King Richard 111 lost the battle, and his life, in 1485.

The local newspaper was excited to report another fight there in 1849, under the headline “A Battle of Bosworth” (2)

                      (2)

In March 1849, Charles Skelton, a grazier, was charged with “violently assaulting” Thomas Holyland, a butcher, in Market Bosworth. The accusations included “threat to murder” and “wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm”. The newspaper report made a point of stressing that Thomas Holyland was a much older and frailer man than Charles Skelton – Thomas was in fact about 59 years old at the time, whereas censuses suggest that Charles would have been in his mid-40s.

Apparently, Thomas Holyland was known in the town as “Truck”, and the altercation started with Charles Skelton calling out, “Truck, I’ll truck you!”

Thomas made the cryptic response, ”I never stole a door!” and a fight ensued in which Thomas came off the worse.

The defence suggested that Thomas fell when Charles pushed him as he was drunk, but Thomas’s wife Ann, giving evidence, “replied indignantly that “he could take his glass as well as any other gentleman!”” It was revealed that Thomas had been offered a sum of money to drop the case, but stated that he didn’t want cash, but wanted to feel that his life was safe.

Charles Skelton was found guilty of intent to commit GBH, and was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

What was the meaning of the “truck” moniker? I wonder if Thomas, as a butcher, supplied provision to the town under the hated “truck” system. A large percentage of Leicestershire families were at the time involved in framework knitting, whereby they produced the knitted goods in their homes under contract to a manufacturer, and were paid not in cash but with vouchers to spend in a shop also owned by the manufacturer. The system was held to be responsible for the supply of poor quality goods at inflated prices, and was still widespread in Leicestershire despite the efforts of parliament to outlaw it via the 1831 Truck Act.

The enmity between the Holylands and Charles Skelton continued after this episode. In 1861, Ann Holyland and her husband, described as “two very old persons”, accused Charles in court of “calling them all the bad names imaginable,  (he) had done this many times; they were afraid they would sustain some serious injury”. Charles was reprimanded by the court.  (Thomas and Ann Holyland were in their early 70s so not what we would nowadays consider as “a very old couple”!)

Thomas Holyland was my 4xgreat grandfather and despite his fears, did live out his life safely; he eventually died in 1871 aged around 81 years. Ann predeceased him by a year.

 References:

1. Genuki. Org.uk 

2. Leicestershire Mercury 24 March 1849

3. Leicester Chronicle 03 January 1863 


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