Wateringbury Constable Indicted for Negligence (1584)

Post date: Jun 21, 2011 9:52:8 AM

At Maidstone Assizes on 10th July 1584 George Hubberb of Wateringbury, miller, and William Large of Aylesford, labourer, were indicted for grand larceny as on 11 May 1587 at Halling they stole 3 cows (£6) from William Sutton. They are recorded as being 'at large'. In a following case Richard Collyson of Wateringbury, husbandman, 'le Bossalder ' of Wateringbury is indicted for negligent escape: on 12 May 1587 John Leveson, J.P., committed George Hubberb to Collyson's custody, but on the same day at Wateringbury he negligently allowed the suspect to escape. Verdict Unknown.

Note

• the office of 'Bossalder' (or 'constable') was responsible for the people in his area.

• Shakespeare in 'Much Ado about Nothing' comments on the tensions a local constable could be subject to when Dogberry says the most peaceable way for you, if you do take a thief, is to let him shew himself what he is, and steal out of your company'

• this is the Wateringbury 'bossalder' and is not connected with Chart whose 'dumb borsholder' hangs in Wateringbury church.

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