3 days after Reggie’s death
Dover Express and East Kent News 30th? August 1929
Basil Newington, of Aylesham, pleaded guilty, to trespassing on land belonging to Lord FitzWalter in search of conies.
Frederick Hughes, gamekeeper to Lord FitzWalter, said that on August 13th about 1.30 he saw defendant and another man come away from the bank close to Bushy Ruff. He asked what they had got in the basket and defendant said it was nothing to do with him. The policeman who had been sent for came along and there was a bit of a scuffle-but got six rabbits out of the other man’s basket. The policeman took their names and addresses but the other man gave a wrong name he believed.
P.C. Honey, K.C.C., chillienden said he found the defendant detained and asked if he had any rabbits, and he replied,”I got a couple.” And when asked to produce them said “No you don’t, I shall have to pay for them.” When witness started to search him they went over on the bank together. He took six rabbits away from him.
Defendant: You did not take them off me, you took them off Jackson. The policeman said” Let’s have those __________ rabbits.” and jumped on him on the bank.
Supt. Lane said that defendant was before the court on November 3rd, 1927, and also on February 7th this year, and fined 1 pound on each occasion for poaching.
The chairman said that they were inflicting a heavier penalty this time. He would have to pay 2 pds. Or go to prison for a month.
Defendant asked for time, saying he had been off work for six weeks.
The chairman said that he could have a month, but didn’t he think he was foolish to go on like this?
Defendant: I could not see I was doing any damage walking around when they were cutting the corn.
The Chairman: You had better stop that sort of thing or you will get iate (word unreadable- brambled)-_ serious trouble.
Friday, September 30, 2005
Defendent:It was a little bolter
More Aylesham troubles week of Reggie’s death- watch for recurring characters
Dover Express and East Kent News 30th? August 1929
AYLESHAM MINERS
FARMER TELLS OF HIS TROUBLES
At the sitting of the Wingham Petty Sessions at the court house on Thursday, Bernard Allen, of Aylesham, was summoned for trespassing in search of conies at Nonington on August 16th, and pleaded not guilty.
William Whittington, under keeper to Cmdr. O. Brien, St Albans’s Park, said that at 3.30 on August 16th he saw defendant with three men coming across Old Court fields. He went to them and asked them to get to the road, which they did. A few minutes later a hare came out of the corn and defendant went on to the field and the others went on to the field again and put their dogs on to the hare.
Defendant: Hares are not conies, sir.
Witness said he went to them again and asked them to get on to the road, and they did. A few minutes later a rabbit came out of the corn and defendant went on to the field and put his dog onto the rabbit which it caught. Defendant took the rabbit from the dog and killed it, putting it into his pocket. When asked for it by Mr. Baleden, who was with witness, he refused. Witness went and fetched the constable to get defendant’s name.
How big was the rabbit?-it was about half grown.
Defendant: It was a little bolter.
Robert Baleden, Church Street Farm, Nonington, said he had the shooting rights over the ground. He was cutting a 15 acre field of corn and had two acres left to cut when the defendant and three miners came along the top of the field, where a water main had just been laid, and they were making it into a path. The four men had two dogs with them and he sent and asked them to go on the road... They were most abusive and adopted a threatening attitude. He went and told them he had suffered a lot of damage from their dogs and through miners they running through the standing corn, but if they went off nothing would be said. He started cutting again and had gone a few runs when a hare started to run over the hills towards where the miners were sitting on the bank. He stopped the tractor and shouted them to go off, which they did. He had finished cutting the field and moved out the tractor and binder*(this word not clear-brambled) when he saw the men and dogs about 200yds. From the road in a field, and the dogs were chasing a rabbit and the men were running after it. He and the last witness went up to them, and as he got there the defendant had just taken a rabbit which was alive out of the mouth of the dog, so witness said “You had better give me that rabbit.”. He said:”No,” and witness said “Don’t be silly, give me the rabbit and have no more trouble,” Whereon the defendant broke the neck off the rabbit and put it in his pocket. Witness was rather annoyed and said “You mean you are going to keep it?” and defendant said” Yes, I am” Witness said “All right,” and he and the keeper got in the car and fetched the constable. As they went along by Aylesham coming along by Old Court Firs, they found defendant sitting on a bank, beside a field of corn with the other men and the dogs. This sort of trouble they had had out their way ever since the Spring.
The Magistrates Clerk: I do not think you had better say anything about that now.
Defendant said that the witness never saw him break the rabbit’s neck.
Witness: I did.
P.C. Charman, K.C.C., Nonington said that about 3.40pm, the last witness came to him and informed him that there had been trouble with men in the corn at Church Street Farm and he went there and saw defendant sitting on a bank by the side of the road. He asked defendant for the rabbit and he said “My dog did catch a rabbit but I took it away from the dog. The rabbit being alive ran away.”
Defendant said it was just a little bolter and that’s why he let it go. My dog could not catch a rabbit; it is only a little fox terrier. As for making it go after a hare, I should not think of it.!
The chairman said that there would be a conviction.
Supt. Lane said that there was nothing known against the defendant in the district.
The Chairman, Mr. A.H. Godfrey, said that the defendant had two opportunities to keep out of trouble. He had brought himself into this deliberately and in addition to that he had told the police officer a deliberate lie when he knew he had the rabbit and had put it in his pocket. He would be fined 1pound or 14 days.
Defendant asked for time as he had been out of work sometime with boils.
The, chairman in granting time for payment, said if he came there again they would make it pretty hot for him.
* Ok, binder is correct- it was a sort of grain cutter on the tractor like this
Dover Express and East Kent News 30th? August 1929
AYLESHAM MINERS
FARMER TELLS OF HIS TROUBLES
At the sitting of the Wingham Petty Sessions at the court house on Thursday, Bernard Allen, of Aylesham, was summoned for trespassing in search of conies at Nonington on August 16th, and pleaded not guilty.
William Whittington, under keeper to Cmdr. O. Brien, St Albans’s Park, said that at 3.30 on August 16th he saw defendant with three men coming across Old Court fields. He went to them and asked them to get to the road, which they did. A few minutes later a hare came out of the corn and defendant went on to the field and the others went on to the field again and put their dogs on to the hare.
Defendant: Hares are not conies, sir.
Witness said he went to them again and asked them to get on to the road, and they did. A few minutes later a rabbit came out of the corn and defendant went on to the field and put his dog onto the rabbit which it caught. Defendant took the rabbit from the dog and killed it, putting it into his pocket. When asked for it by Mr. Baleden, who was with witness, he refused. Witness went and fetched the constable to get defendant’s name.
How big was the rabbit?-it was about half grown.
Defendant: It was a little bolter.
Robert Baleden, Church Street Farm, Nonington, said he had the shooting rights over the ground. He was cutting a 15 acre field of corn and had two acres left to cut when the defendant and three miners came along the top of the field, where a water main had just been laid, and they were making it into a path. The four men had two dogs with them and he sent and asked them to go on the road... They were most abusive and adopted a threatening attitude. He went and told them he had suffered a lot of damage from their dogs and through miners they running through the standing corn, but if they went off nothing would be said. He started cutting again and had gone a few runs when a hare started to run over the hills towards where the miners were sitting on the bank. He stopped the tractor and shouted them to go off, which they did. He had finished cutting the field and moved out the tractor and binder*(this word not clear-brambled) when he saw the men and dogs about 200yds. From the road in a field, and the dogs were chasing a rabbit and the men were running after it. He and the last witness went up to them, and as he got there the defendant had just taken a rabbit which was alive out of the mouth of the dog, so witness said “You had better give me that rabbit.”. He said:”No,” and witness said “Don’t be silly, give me the rabbit and have no more trouble,” Whereon the defendant broke the neck off the rabbit and put it in his pocket. Witness was rather annoyed and said “You mean you are going to keep it?” and defendant said” Yes, I am” Witness said “All right,” and he and the keeper got in the car and fetched the constable. As they went along by Aylesham coming along by Old Court Firs, they found defendant sitting on a bank, beside a field of corn with the other men and the dogs. This sort of trouble they had had out their way ever since the Spring.
The Magistrates Clerk: I do not think you had better say anything about that now.
Defendant said that the witness never saw him break the rabbit’s neck.
Witness: I did.
P.C. Charman, K.C.C., Nonington said that about 3.40pm, the last witness came to him and informed him that there had been trouble with men in the corn at Church Street Farm and he went there and saw defendant sitting on a bank by the side of the road. He asked defendant for the rabbit and he said “My dog did catch a rabbit but I took it away from the dog. The rabbit being alive ran away.”
Defendant said it was just a little bolter and that’s why he let it go. My dog could not catch a rabbit; it is only a little fox terrier. As for making it go after a hare, I should not think of it.!
The chairman said that there would be a conviction.
Supt. Lane said that there was nothing known against the defendant in the district.
The Chairman, Mr. A.H. Godfrey, said that the defendant had two opportunities to keep out of trouble. He had brought himself into this deliberately and in addition to that he had told the police officer a deliberate lie when he knew he had the rabbit and had put it in his pocket. He would be fined 1pound or 14 days.
Defendant asked for time as he had been out of work sometime with boils.
The, chairman in granting time for payment, said if he came there again they would make it pretty hot for him.
* Ok, binder is correct- it was a sort of grain cutter on the tractor like this
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Miner and Apple theft- Home Secretary intervenes
From Dover Express and East Kent News, Friday 23 August, 1929
THE AYLESHAM MINER AND APPLE THEFT SENTENCE
Last week at the Dover County Petty Sessions, before the following magistrates, Lord FitzWalter (Chairman), Sir Robert McCall, K.C., Cavanaugh, Messrs C.J. Burgess, H.J. May, A.T. Goodfellow, E. Bradley, Troward Harvey, H. Mackeson, E. Hinds and Miss Bomford., a miner of Aylesham, named Arthur Kinley was sentenced to 14 days imprisonment for stealing a quantity of growing apples from an orchard at Ratling Court, Nonington; on August 11th. The evidence was that at 9pm the man and three others were stealing apples in the orchard of Ratling Court. Mr. A.T. Steed caught the man and the three others ran away. It was stated that nothing was known against the defendant, who had been in the district three weeks, but the farmers in the district had suffered considerable loss by theft and other willful damage. The sentence was at once the subject of considerable criticism in the London Press, and Lord FitzWalter was singled out as the magistrate who was responsible. It will be seen that the bench consisted of magistrates who are well known Liberals, and Mr. Good fellow, a Dover Labor leader. Whether the sentence was unanimous whether the sentence was unanimous, or as the result of a vote was not known, but it is obvious that the matter is one dealt with collectively and not by one individual. There is no question that a sentence of imprisonment is not passed in these days for the first conviction for such a theft unless there are some special circumstances. The statement of the police that the farmers in the district were suffering continuous loss by theft and willful damage disclosed the position of affairs that is occurring around the mining village of Aylesham. So serious have matters become that farmers armed with shot-guns have been protecting their crops in the neighbourhood, and one of these, whilst watching a potato field , was killed by the accidental discharge of his gun. That there has grown up a feeling of hostility between the miners and the surrounding agriculturalists is undoubted. The latter, from a financial point of view, are in a good deal worse position then the miners. Mr. Elks, the miners’ agent, in a statement to the press, said that if the farmers had to sit up all night to protect their crops it looks as if the miners were not getting enough to keep them. Miners are, however, paid much higher wages then the surrounding agriculturalists.
On Sunday, the Snowdon branch of the Kent Mineworkers Association. held a meeting at which Mr. .F. Turner presided and the following resolution was passed:” That this meeting of the K.M.W.A. emphatically protest against the savage sentence imposed on Arthur Kinley by the county magistrates at Dover on Thursday. We consider the sentence is out of proportion to the offence committed and further declare that in our opinion the magistrates were actuated by prejudice and spite against Kinley simply because he is a miner.” Mr. Lowther, the secretary of the branch, has stated that this sentence, following on that of two months against Owen for striking a deputy, convinced hem there is a magisterial prejudice against the miner.
In the case referred to, of Owen, he was stood off by a deputy of Snowdon Colliery, Mr. H. Allcock, as he refused to work in the stall allotted to him. As Mr. Allcock was going home, he was waylaid by Owen, who knocked Mr. Allcock down with a blow on the nose, which bled for many hours, and then struck him on the face and chest whilst on the ground. The case was nut brought by the police, but by the assaulted deputy, for whom the solicitor who represents the colliery mine company appeared.
The Kent Mine Workers’ Association approached Mr. Cook, the Secretary of the Miners’ Federation, on the matter and he was in communication with Mr. Clynes, the Home Secretary. On Monday, Kinley, who was at Maidston Prison, was released and sent back to Aylesham by the prison Authorities, In an interview Kinley said that he and a pal took the apples for a joke and that when he heard the sentence he was so astonished that he could not defend himself. It might be pointed out that in all police court proceedings the defence is heard before the sentence, and this was the case at the court of Dover last Thursday,
In connection with the raid on this particular farm there was a previous charge before the county Magistrates against three miners for a similar robbery. The men were given a severe caution and told if the offence again took place imprisonment of whoever was caught would follow.
THE AYLESHAM MINER AND APPLE THEFT SENTENCE
Last week at the Dover County Petty Sessions, before the following magistrates, Lord FitzWalter (Chairman), Sir Robert McCall, K.C., Cavanaugh, Messrs C.J. Burgess, H.J. May, A.T. Goodfellow, E. Bradley, Troward Harvey, H. Mackeson, E. Hinds and Miss Bomford., a miner of Aylesham, named Arthur Kinley was sentenced to 14 days imprisonment for stealing a quantity of growing apples from an orchard at Ratling Court, Nonington; on August 11th. The evidence was that at 9pm the man and three others were stealing apples in the orchard of Ratling Court. Mr. A.T. Steed caught the man and the three others ran away. It was stated that nothing was known against the defendant, who had been in the district three weeks, but the farmers in the district had suffered considerable loss by theft and other willful damage. The sentence was at once the subject of considerable criticism in the London Press, and Lord FitzWalter was singled out as the magistrate who was responsible. It will be seen that the bench consisted of magistrates who are well known Liberals, and Mr. Good fellow, a Dover Labor leader. Whether the sentence was unanimous whether the sentence was unanimous, or as the result of a vote was not known, but it is obvious that the matter is one dealt with collectively and not by one individual. There is no question that a sentence of imprisonment is not passed in these days for the first conviction for such a theft unless there are some special circumstances. The statement of the police that the farmers in the district were suffering continuous loss by theft and willful damage disclosed the position of affairs that is occurring around the mining village of Aylesham. So serious have matters become that farmers armed with shot-guns have been protecting their crops in the neighbourhood, and one of these, whilst watching a potato field , was killed by the accidental discharge of his gun. That there has grown up a feeling of hostility between the miners and the surrounding agriculturalists is undoubted. The latter, from a financial point of view, are in a good deal worse position then the miners. Mr. Elks, the miners’ agent, in a statement to the press, said that if the farmers had to sit up all night to protect their crops it looks as if the miners were not getting enough to keep them. Miners are, however, paid much higher wages then the surrounding agriculturalists.
On Sunday, the Snowdon branch of the Kent Mineworkers Association. held a meeting at which Mr. .F. Turner presided and the following resolution was passed:” That this meeting of the K.M.W.A. emphatically protest against the savage sentence imposed on Arthur Kinley by the county magistrates at Dover on Thursday. We consider the sentence is out of proportion to the offence committed and further declare that in our opinion the magistrates were actuated by prejudice and spite against Kinley simply because he is a miner.” Mr. Lowther, the secretary of the branch, has stated that this sentence, following on that of two months against Owen for striking a deputy, convinced hem there is a magisterial prejudice against the miner.
In the case referred to, of Owen, he was stood off by a deputy of Snowdon Colliery, Mr. H. Allcock, as he refused to work in the stall allotted to him. As Mr. Allcock was going home, he was waylaid by Owen, who knocked Mr. Allcock down with a blow on the nose, which bled for many hours, and then struck him on the face and chest whilst on the ground. The case was nut brought by the police, but by the assaulted deputy, for whom the solicitor who represents the colliery mine company appeared.
The Kent Mine Workers’ Association approached Mr. Cook, the Secretary of the Miners’ Federation, on the matter and he was in communication with Mr. Clynes, the Home Secretary. On Monday, Kinley, who was at Maidston Prison, was released and sent back to Aylesham by the prison Authorities, In an interview Kinley said that he and a pal took the apples for a joke and that when he heard the sentence he was so astonished that he could not defend himself. It might be pointed out that in all police court proceedings the defence is heard before the sentence, and this was the case at the court of Dover last Thursday,
In connection with the raid on this particular farm there was a previous charge before the county Magistrates against three miners for a similar robbery. The men were given a severe caution and told if the offence again took place imprisonment of whoever was caught would follow.
Friday, September 23, 2005
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Detectives Wanted to solve 1929 Crime Spree
The second week of August 1929 was a difficult one for the Aylesham miner/ farmer relationship . I have a theory but I’m not going to share just yet. I want to see if you come up with a better one.
I got to know many recurring characters as I read , the East Kent Coroner, Mr W. Rutley Mowlis. kept on his toes by Aylesham all summer, the Rev. Carter was ubiquitous, I found him a bit of a busybody- but I’m rethinking that – Perhaps a hasty judgement.
Look for other recurring characters from the inquest and all the heinous trespassing and apple stealing reports I will be posting- It will be our own version of Where’s Wally.
I’ll post some more Dover Express reports for that week over the next few days.
A small thing niggling me about the inquest reports-
Why does Mr Campbell query my dad on reports of miners drunkeness appearing in the local press based on dad's evidence?. I have nothing .According to Kent library- Dover Express was the only local paper in 1929. Have I missed another source?
I got to know many recurring characters as I read , the East Kent Coroner, Mr W. Rutley Mowlis. kept on his toes by Aylesham all summer, the Rev. Carter was ubiquitous, I found him a bit of a busybody- but I’m rethinking that – Perhaps a hasty judgement.
Look for other recurring characters from the inquest and all the heinous trespassing and apple stealing reports I will be posting- It will be our own version of Where’s Wally.
I’ll post some more Dover Express reports for that week over the next few days.
A small thing niggling me about the inquest reports-
Why does Mr Campbell query my dad on reports of miners drunkeness appearing in the local press based on dad's evidence?. I have nothing .According to Kent library- Dover Express was the only local paper in 1929. Have I missed another source?
Monday, September 19, 2005
Could miners and farmers learn to get along? The story so far-
This blog was spawned when lawyer'’s dream of heaven,my lawyer issues blog became silted up with family history posts.
If you want to catch up on the story, it'’s here-
My cousin and I first thrash out our versions of the Ackholt farm story-
How Dad didn't win world War 2 and the shooting at Ackholt farm
How Uncle Cyril did not win the war either
picture of the brothers, and grandad
Reconstructing family stories- Is that the prince of cool on the far right?
We learn that the site of the familty tragedy is now called Misery farm
Who cheated at the flower show?
Death visits Aylesham -times were hard in the twenties
If you want to catch up on the story, it'’s here-
My cousin and I first thrash out our versions of the Ackholt farm story-
How Dad didn't win world War 2 and the shooting at Ackholt farm
How Uncle Cyril did not win the war either
picture of the brothers, and grandad
Reconstructing family stories- Is that the prince of cool on the far right?
We learn that the site of the familty tragedy is now called Misery farm
Who cheated at the flower show?
Death visits Aylesham -times were hard in the twenties
Friday, September 16, 2005
Thursday, September 15, 2005
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