Shenanigans in Pelicans (1598)

Post date: May 09, 2011 9:13:56 AM

The following is an extract from the Assize records for Kent.

'John Goslinge, servant of William Codd of Wateringbury, yeoman, indicted for felonious killing at Maidstone assizes on 17 July 1598. By an inquisition held at Wateringbury, 26 April 1598, before Thomas Willboughbeo, coroner, on the body of Jane Clive, servant of William Codd, a jury found that on 22 April Goslinge, Clive, Elizabeth Giles, John Downe and George Cooke, Codd's servants, were together in the kitchen of their master's house when Clive and Gyles, summoning all their strength, tried to bind together Goslinge's hands and feet. At this, Goslinge lost his temper and stabbed Clive in the stomach with a knive (1d) inflicting a wound from which she died on 25 April.

Guilty; allowed clergy.'

Being ''allowed clergy'' meant Goslinge had shown sufficient education to get a reduced sentence. Originally civil courts could not try members of the clergy; proving that you were clergy required simply being able to read (or bluff that you could) as there was no formal record of who was a member of the clergy. Elizabeth tried to stop this abuse (from 1575) and civil courts obtained the right to try clergy but were limited in sentences they could give them, so it was still worthwhile plea (although it could only be used once).

The house involved was The Pelicans.

For more snippets about crime in Elizabethan Wateringbury go to Warlike riot in Wateringbury; Wateringbury man sentenced to death; Wateringbury sheep rustlers; Prosecuted for not going to Church; Wateringbury Constable indicted, and Women burglars of Wateringbury

For another snippet about Pelican farm go to Suspected arson at Pelican Farm.