Gallows Bell: The Murder of Joseph Burnett

Reading time: 20 minutes

…as soldiers returned from the Napoleonic Wars, newspapers highlighted the convictions of men with guns and reignited an old moral panic whereby veterans were transformed with the stroke of a pen from blood-bathed heroes to bloody villains who risked the social order.

~ Bethany Usher, Journalism and Crime, Routledge, 2024, p102

Rule, Britannia

During the Napoleonic Wars, the British radicalism inspired by the French Revolution of 1789 dissipated in the face of the threat of invasion, and a popular patriotism gripped the nation.

This was the era of Trafalgar, Waterloo and John Bull, when people conveniently forgot George III was German (at least he wasn’t French), and his son The Prince Regent wasn’t a dissolute philanderer¹.

By 1812 the British Army had a regular fighting force of 250,000 men, the Royal Navy 140,000². “Never before”, one historian has written,

…and never since, have so many Britons been given weapons.

David Cannadine, Victorious Century: The United Kingdom 1800-1906, Penguin, 2018, p74

This was the largest military operation in British history. In towns and villages across the land, most gained a rudimentary knowledge of the armed forces’ weapons and procedures. Everybody had a family member, or was acquainted with someone who had joined up. Most, therefore, had a family member or had been acquainted with someone who had been killed. Townspeople got used to the regular sight of regiments marching through their streets.

Of course, the jingoism was short-lived. The war’s conclusion heralded high unemployment, rising costs and civil unrest. The British Government realised that keeping the peace at home could only be achieved by the threat of force: in 1816 the peacetime army totalled 150,00 men, largely to

…keep the lower orders in place.

Vic Gatrell, Conspiracy on Cato Street: A Tale of Liberty and Revolution in Regency London, Cambridge University Press, 2023, p89

Already, we are into the era of the Spa Fields Riots, the Peterloo Massacre and the Cato Street Conspiracy. The old ways of law and order enforcement were to be replaced by more repressive and violent methods (the sentences got worse too)³.

The old, and what were to become the new, forces of law and order met tragically in Lostwithiel in August 1814.

Yomp

The 28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot, under General Robert Prescott, had certainly seen some action – possibly too much. From 1811 to the date of our interest, its ranks took part in the following battles on Spanish turf: Barossa (March 1811), Albuera (May 1811), Arroyo dos Molines (October 1811), Vitoria (June 1813), and in the Pyrenees (July 1813).

Crossing the border into France, the ‘Silver Tailed Dandies’, as they were known, were given little respite. They fought at Nivelle (November 1813), Nive (December 1813), Orthez (February 1814), and Toulouse (April 1814), at which point Napoleon abdicated⁴.

The Peninsular War (for the moment) being over, the 28th was then shipped to the newly-completed barracks at Birr, in central Ireland. As the image below suggests, entertainment was thin on the ground⁵. At least there would be no more fighting for a while.

Britain however was still at war, with the USA. Three weeks after stepping off in Ireland, the 28th’s footsoldiers were ordered to move again, this time to the States.

Probably feeling not much like dandies any more, the men sailed to Falmouth, and were quartered at Pendennis Castle. From there they were to march on up to Plymouth, where their vessels were waiting⁷.

800 men, horses, wagons, carts, supplies, equipment, cooks and such hangers-on as ‘camp women’ noisily set off on their stank through Cornwall’s summer countryside. Not for the last time, locals were treated to the disruptive sight of visitors from upcountry clogging the lanes and byways during the month of August.

One private of the 28th, John Simms (or Sims), was never to leave Cornwall.

Lostwydhyel: ‘tail of a wooded area’

Once the medieval “administrative centre”⁸ of Cornwall, by the time the 28th trudged through in 1814 Lostwithiel had lost much of its historic prestige. A parliamentary borough from 1268, its dwindling size (around 300 houses and a population of a thousand in 1814), and the influence of the Earls of Mount Edgcumbe meant that as a ‘rotten borough’ its status would be abolished by the 1832 Reform Act⁹.

Nevertheless, Lostwithiel could boast a mayor (which it still does), and a parish constable. This role, that of an unpaid, part-time (and much lampooned) law enforcement officer, belonged in 1814 to William Hicks, a local glazier¹⁰.

Fortunately for Hicks, keeping order in Lostwithiel wasn’t just down to him. The town also had a sergeant-at-arms (or sergeant-at-mace), who was an assistant and ceremonial macebearer of the mayor, with varied (and onerous) law enforcement duties¹¹.

Lostwithiel’s sergeant-at-arms in 1814 was Joseph Burnett, a heel maker living on Fore Street. Baptised in 1772 and married to Grace Hodge in 1794, by 1814 the Burnetts had nine children¹².

Burnett would have taken an oath on his appointment¹³, and have worn ceremonial garb when performing the duties of his office. In fact, he probably looked very much like the gentleman below:

It’s unclear how much time Burnett would have had to earn his living as a heel maker. Besides any mayoral pageantry that might be required of them, town sergeants in those days acted as bailiffs and gaolers. They were frequently summonsed by solicitors to give depositions, or to fulfil the thankless task of rounding up market traders for some transgression or other. The job was of an indeterminate duration and could be as unglamorous as throwing the local drunk in the slammer¹⁵. Any disturbance in Lostwithiel too weighty for Hicks to deal with on his own (indeed, he probably acted as a deputy), would have come under Burnett’s remit.

Joseph Burnett, therefore, was an important man in Lostwithiel. Not as important as the mayor, obviously, but maybe a more familiar representative of the government to the townspeople. How good or popular a sergeant-at-arms he was, however, is unknown.

But he didn’t lack guts.

Sunday, August 21, 1814

It’s tempting to think that, at the fag-end of the biggest war Europe had yet seen, the passing of the 28th through Lostwithiel that day elicited little excitement – at first¹⁷. Children probably didn’t cease their play to gawp at the sweating, toiling footsoldiers, or scarper from the attendant commotion.

Certainly neither Burnett nor Hicks paid them much mind. Both were at home on Sunday afternoon, possibly enjoying the sun.

And it must have been hot. Bringing up the regiment’s rear (as always), was the baggage train. To four of the soldiers present, including John Simms, 30, and Richard Rogers, 26, the presence of the King’s Arms on Fore Street was too good an opportunity to miss¹⁸.

As the last cart trundled round the bend in the road, the quartet slipped in to slake their thirst.

Time passed. Before they knew it, Simms et al were reeling drunk, and the rest of the 28th well on its way to Liskeard.

Panic must have rapidly set in. If the drunkards truly had desertion on their minds, then getting toasted in a town their regiment had recently vacated was not a sensible option going forward. Punishment for recaptured deserters was harsh. If the men failed to quickly and quietly slip back into their ranks before they were missed, as hardened veterans they knew to expect a brutal flogging, or worse, being branded²⁰.

A few slurred enquiries in the snug later, and Simms, with Rogers in tow, was rapping on William Hicks’ door. The other two soldiers were in no fit state to walk; a cart was required to get to Liskeard.

Hicks drew himself up. And just who would pay for said cart?

The government, replied Simms. Hicks’s response displayed a sounder grasp of the procedures of military requisitions than we might expect from a humble parish constable:

…officers were bound to pay for baggage carts…

Royal Cornwall Gazette, April 22 1815, p4

Probably slightly affronted, Simms nudged Rogers to cough up 12 shillings for the cart. Hicks was no mug:

Let me see the money, and I will…

Royal Cornwall Gazette, April 22 1815, p4

Their bluff called, Rogers told Hicks to go to hell, and the two men staggered off down Fore Street.

This unlooked-for turn of events had put Simms and Rogers in a bad humour. Being sent to America to fight after all they’d been through was bad enough, but now their two mates were comatose back at the pub, and they had no immediate means of returning to their unit. They were looking at thirty lashes or worse.

If they couldn’t get what they wanted by barter, well, force was next.

Muttering oaths, Simms and Rogers charged their muskets, and fixed their bayonets. It had worked in France after all.

It was getting ugly. The street nervously filled with onlookers. One of them was James Deccan, a local militiaman whose mother owned the King’s Arms. As a fellow man-of-arms, he tried to pacify the menacing soldiers.

Simms charged him with his bayonet; Deccan had sufficient combat experience – or Simms was too drunk to be effective – to parry the thrust aside.

Retreating, Simms joined Rogers in the middle of Fore Street, and they stood back-to-back in the middle of the thoroughfare, rifles raised. Deccan recognised this as

…the priming position…

Royal Cornwall Gazette, April 22 1815, p4

Suddenly, and aiming at no one in particular, Rogers pulled his trigger. The gun failed to fire, commonly known at the time as a “flash in the pan”²². One bystander had already observed that Rogers had loaded his musket poorly.

He proceeded to reload.

Enter Joseph Burnett.

Whether someone (Hicks?) had alerted him to the danger is unclear. Certainly he was in a hurry; he had only time to don his hat of office before leaving his house. A fine cloak, the key symbol of his authority, remained at home.

He must have known that, as sergeant-at-arms, it was his responsibility to diffuse the situation. And the situation was this: two armed, drunk and violent soldiers were loose on the streets. One of them had tried to fire his weapon, the other had charged a man with his bayonet. It’s a wonder no-one was dead already.

Burnett must have known he was putting himself in harm’s way.

Burnett strode toward Simms and Rogers, with Deccan and another man, Walter Davey (or Davies) warily following. Deccan nervously warned Burnett that the men would surely

…shoot some person…

Royal Cornwall Gazette, April 22 1815, p4

But Burnett was not to be put off. His people were in danger, and he must protect them.

Standing at the door of another inn, belonging to a George Reed, Burnett addressed Simms, who stood some twenty feet away:

I require the peace; come in here, and deliver your arms to me.

Royal Cornwall Gazette, April 22 1815, p4

Simms called over that he

…would be d____d if he did not shoot him first…

Royal Cornwall Gazette, April 22 1815, p4

…then rested his musket on a cart, and drew a bead on Burnett. Deccan got the hell out of the way. Davey started to move back also. Burnett realised too late that Simms wasn’t joking. Simms pulled the trigger. His aim was true.

The musket ball pierced Burnett’s waistcoat and passed straight through his chest. The bullet then struck Davey. Burnett staggered into Reed’s parlour.

The local surgeon, Burgess, was hastily summonsed, but to no avail. Burnett died at his home less than an hour later. Davey lingered until Wednesday the 24th before he too expired.

The men of Lostwithiel fell on Simms and Rogers. The latter, possibly stunned at what Simms had just done, and with, it had been observed, another defectively-loaded weapon, was easily overpowered. Simms, by now sober enough to realise that fighting his way out of town and going on the run was a better option than rejoining his regiment, fought like the devil.

But he was on his own, and with only a bayonet for protection. Both he and Rogers were probably dragged at first to the town lockup, and from thence conveyed to Bodmin Gaol.

Their two companions were presumably still stuporous back at the King’s Arms.

Gallows Bell

Burnett’s widow, Grace, had no police pension to live off – simply because a police force was yet to exist. With nine mouths to feed besides her own, Grace’s grief would have been compounded by the spectre of the workhouse, and her children being separated from her. A Quaker report from 1804 described Launceston workhouse as

…a scene of filth, rags and wretchedness…a stench almost insupportable…

James Neild, 1804²⁵

However, public sympathy for her plight was great, and a charitable subscription was organised on her behalf. In 1818 Grace remarried, to a John Cock²⁶.

What became of the widow of Walter Davey and their five children is unknown. You like to think that the hat was passed round.

On March 29 1815 Simms and Rogers were tried at Launceston Assizes for the murder of Burnett. Rogers was acquitted, and promptly burst into tears. Simms was found guilty, and “appeared unconcerned”²⁷.

The judge’s summing up is worth quoting in full:

Whether Simms’ body actually was dissected is unclear. He was publicly hanged at Launceston on March 31, presumably in the grounds of the ruined castle, thus becoming one of the last to be executed there²⁸.

His mother visited him at the last, and he finally displayed “penitence and resignation”. Launceston’s gallows bell tolled the final journey from his confinement to the noose, before which Simms stood with “contrition and manly fortitude”²⁹.

Indeed, the press made much of Burnett’s killing and Simms’ repentance. Readers in the capital knew all about the “Atrocious Murder” days after it happened, and the narrative of the sinner making his peace with God before the gallows already had a long tradition in the nascent crime journalism of the era³⁰.

Simms is buried somewhere in the grounds of Bodmin Gaol. Joseph Burnett rests in St Bartholomew’s Church, Lostwithiel³².

In 2008, Burnett’s original headstone was moved to the wall just inside the church’s main entrance:

It reads:

In memory of JOSEPH BURNETT Who was unfortunately SHOT By a Private of the 28th Regm^t When in the execution of his AS PEACE OFFICER OF THIS BOROUGH On the 21 of Augs^t 1814. AGED 42 YEARS. ALSO MARY & JANE Who were interred near this stone AND HELENA his daughter who died in Jersey.

The brass plaque beneath the engraving tells us that

Joseph Burnett’s gravestone is the oldest known memorial for a Peace Officer killed in the execution of his duty. A generous gift from the Police Mission Society enabled it to be moved to this place on 8th June 2008³³.

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References

1. See: David Cannadine, Victorious Century: The United Kingdom 1800-1906, Penguin, 2018, p74-80; and Linda Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837, Yale, 2005, p291-319.
2. Figures from Colley, Britons, p287.
3. See: Vic Gatrell, Conspiracy on Cato Street: A Tale of Liberty and Revolution in Regency London, Cambridge University Press, 2023.
4. For a brief overview of the 28th, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28th_(North_Gloucestershire)_Regiment_of_Foot. Bonaparte’s abdication in April 1814 is noted on Cannadine, Victorious Century, p69.
5. The 28th’s billeting at Birr is noted in The Sun (London), August 15 1814, p3.
6. Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birr_Barracks
7. America declared war on Great Britain in June 1812. See: Cannadine, Victorious Century, p70. The 28th’s travels is noted in The Sun (London), August 15 1814, p3, and The Star (London), August 30 1814, p4.
8. Philip Payton, Cornwall: A History, Cornwall Editions, 2004, p77.
9. Lostwithiel, however, was not Cornwall’s most notorious rotten borough; that title must go to Grampound. See my post here: https://the-cornish-historian.com/2024/01/06/the-grampound-potwallopers-corruption-in-georgian-cornwall/. For more on Lostwithiel’s medieval status, see: https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/constituencies/lostwithiel, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lostwithiel_(UK_Parliament_constituency)
10. Hicks is noted as the constable in the Royal Cornwall Gazette, April 22 1815, p4. His actual occupation is in his marriage entry in the Lostwithiel parish register: https://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/more-info/?t=marriages&id=605901. For more on the role of parish constables, see Joan Kent, “The English Village Constable, 1580-1642: The Nature and Dilemmas of the Office”, Journal of British Studies 20:2 (1981), p26-49.
11. For a brief overview of what was demanded of a sergeant-at-mace of the time, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_serjeant. For more on how law and order was enforced before the advent of the police force, see: Clive Emsley, The Great British Bobby: A History of British Policing From the 18th Century to the Present, Quercus, 2009, p13-38.
12. Burnett’s baptism record is available here: https://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/more-info/?t=baptisms&id=2218812. His occupation is noted in his and Grace’s marriage entry: https://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/more-info/?t=marriages&id=1206487. That the Burnetts resided on Fore Street is noted in Royal Cornwall Gazette, April 22 1815, p4. The size of their family is reported in the Royal Cornwall Gazette, September 10 1814, p14.
13. At Kresen Kernow is a copy of the oath taken by Richard Westron, sergeant-at-mace for Falmouth, in 1829. Ref: DCCRK/3.
14. Image from: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/thomas-brown-b-1767-sergeant-at-mace-for-poole-60253
15. William Williams, sergeant-at-mace for Grampound, was summoned to give a deposition in 1740. Kresen Kernow, ref. CF/1/4578. Edward Daniell of Truro had to do similar in 1692. Kresen Kernow, ref. BTRU/440. Helston’s Market Clerk wanted all local sergeants-at-arms to send all the traders to his office regularly from the 1780s to the 1830s. Kresen Kernow, refs. RO/4949, RO/4950, RO/4951, RO/4952, RO/4954, RO/4955, RO/4956, RO/4957. In 1822 another William Williams, the town sergeant of Penryn, died; it was noted he had been in the position for “many years”. See: Royal Cornwall Gazette, January 26 1822, p2. In 1848 Falmouth’s town sergeant, probably not for the first time, arrested a man heavily under the influence. From: Penzance Gazette, July 4 1848, p3.
16. Image from: https://www.mediastorehouse.co.uk/mary-evans-prints-online/lostwithiel-gaol-7213639.html
17. Unless otherwise stated, the main sources for this section are The Star (London), August 30 1814, p4, and the Royal Cornwall Gazette, April 22 1815, p4.
18. Certainly, the pub was named such in this period. A reference to it is made in the Cornish Gazette, September 25 1802, p1.
19. Image from: https://www.thekingsarmslostwithiel.co.uk/en-GB/photos
20. For more on military discipline in this period, see: Richard L. Blanco, “Attempts to Abolish Branding and Flogging in the Army of Victorian England Before 1881”, Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 46:187 (1968), p137-145.
21. Image from: https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1996-04-205-1
22. Royal Cornwall Gazette, April 22 1815, p4.
23. Image from: https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1972-07-6-75-1
24. Image from: https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/11406/lot/28/
25. See: https://www.workhouses.org.uk/Launceston/
26. The subscription was advertised in the Royal Cornwall Gazette, September 10 1814, p1. The details of Grace’s second marriage can be seen here: https://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/more-info/?t=marriages&id=1254956
27. Royal Cornwall Gazette, April 22 1815, p4.
28. See: https://bernarddeacon.com/2021/03/11/hang-em-high-cornish-executions/
29. The quotations are from the report of Simms’ execution in the Star (London), April 12 1815, p4.
30. See the Star (London), August 30 1814, p4, and April 12 1815, p4. For more on crime reporting in this period, see Bethany Usher, Journalism and Crime, Routledge, 2024, p64-133.
31. Images from: https://www.spookyisles.com/tyburn-tree/, and https://launcestonthen.co.uk/index.php/the-place/gallows-bell/
32. See: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/115916334/john-simms#source, and https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/139191191/joseph-burnett
33. Burnett’s entry on the Police Roll of Honour is here: https://policememorial.org.uk/memories/joseph-burnett/. See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devon_and_Cornwall_Police