away beyond stonehenge stretches salisbury plain, in future to be vulgarised by military camps and man?uvres, and to become an aldershot on a larger scale, but hitherto a solitude as sublime in its own way as dartmoor and exmoor. dickens gives us his meed of appreciation of this wild country, and finds the boundless prairies of america tame by comparison.
‘now,’ he says, writing when on his visit to america, ‘a prairie is undoubtedly worth seeing, but more that one may say one has seen it, than for any sublimity it possesses in itself.... you stand upon the prairie and see the unbroken horizon all round you. you are on a great plain, which is like a sea without water. i am exceedingly fond of wild and lonely scenery, and believe that i have the faculty of being as much impressed by it as any man living. but the prairie fell, by far, short of my preconceived idea. i felt no such emotions as i do in crossing salisbury plain. the excessive flatness of the scene makes it dreary, {213}but tame. grandeur is certainly not its characteristic ... to say that the sight is a
salisbury plain
image unavailable: ancient and modern: motor cars at stonehenge, easter 1899.
ancient and modern: motor cars at stonehenge, easter 1899.
{214}
{215}
landmark in one’s existence, and awakens a new set of sensations, is sheer gammon. i would say to every man who can’t see a prairie—go to salisbury plain, marlborough downs, or any of the broad, high, open lands near the sea. many of them are fully as impressive; and salisbury plain is decidedly more so.’
salisbury plain is the very core and concentrated essence of the wild bleak scenery so characteristic of wiltshire. an elevated tract of country measuring roughly twenty-four miles from east to west, and sixteen from north to south, and comprising the district between ludgershall and westbury, and devizes and old sarum, it is by no means the plain pictured by strangers, who, misled by that geographical expression, have a mind’s-eye picture of it as being quite flat. as a matter of fact, salisbury plain is not a bit like that. it is a long series of undulating chalky downs, ‘as flat as your hand’ if you like, because the hand is anything but flat, and the simile is excellently descriptive of a rolling country that resembles the swelling contours of an outstretched palm. unproductive, exposed, and lonely, salisbury plain opposes even to this day a very effectual barrier against intercourse between north and south or east and west wiltshire, and was the lurking-place, until even so late as 1839, of highwaymen and footpads, who shared the solitudes with the bustards, and attacked and robbed those travellers whose business called them across the dreary wastes. many a malefactor has tried his prentice hand and learned his business in these wilds, and has, after robbing elsewhere, retired here from pursuit. salisbury plain,{216} in short, bred a race of highwaymen who preyed upon the neighbourhood and levied contributions from all the rich farmers and graziers who travelled between the cathedral city and other parts, and sometimes graduated with such honours that they became knights of the road at whose name travellers along the whole length of the exeter road would tremble.
among them was william davis, the ‘golden farmer,’ whom we have already met at bagshot. his career was a long one, and was continued, here and in other parts of the country, for forty years. they hanged him, at the age of sixty-nine, in 1689. his most famous exploit was on the borders of the plain, near clarendon park, when he attacked the duchess of albemarle, single-handed, and, in the presence of her numerous attendants, tore her diamond rings off her fingers, and would probably have had her watch and money as well, despite her cursing and torrents of full-flavoured abuse, had not the sound of approaching travellers warned him to fly.
‘captain’ james whitney, too, was another desperado who at times made the plain his headquarters, and harried the western roads, in the time of william the third. he was probably a son of the reverend james whitney, rector of donhead st. andrews. he raised a troop of highwaymen, and was captured at the close of 1692 after his band had been defeated in battle with the dragoon guards. he ‘met a most penitent end’ at smithfield.
thomas boulter
then there was biss, perhaps a descendant of the reverend walter biss, minister of bishopstrow, near salisbury, in the reign of charles the first. biss{217} the highwayman was hanged at salisbury in 1695, and was not succeeded by any very distinguished practitioner until boulter appeared on the scene.
the distinguished mr. thomas boulter was born of poor but dishonest parents at poulshot, near devizes, and ran a brief but brilliant and busy course which ended on the gallows outside winchester. mr. boulter’s parentage and the deeds that he did form splendid evidence to help bolster up the doctrine of heredity. he came of a very numerous clan of boulters and bisses, whose names are even to this day common at chiverell and market lavington, on the plain. his father rented a grist mill at poulshot, stole grain for years, and was publicly whipped in devizes market-place for stealing honey from an old woman’s garden. shortly after that unfortunate incident, in 1775, on returning from trowbridge, he stole a horse, the property of a mr. hall, and riding it over to andover sold it for ￡6, although worth at least ￡15. this injudicious deal aroused the suspicions of the onlookers, so that he was arrested, and being convicted was sentenced to death. but the boulters and the bisses made interest for him, so that his sentence was commuted to transportation for fourteen years.
mrs. boulter, the wife of this transported felon and the mother of the greater hero, is said to have also suffered a public whipping at the cart’s tail, and isaac blagden, his uncle, also did a little in the footpad line on salisbury plain between the intervals of agricultural labouring. he never attained eminence, having met in an early stage of his career{218} with a sad check while attempting to rob a gentleman near market lavington. the traveller drew a pistol and lodged a couple of slugs in his thigh, leaving him bleeding on the highway. some humane person passing by procured assistance, and had him conveyed to the village. the wound was cured, but he remained a cripple ever afterwards, and being unable to work was admitted into lavington workhouse. he was never prosecuted for the attempted crime.
thomas boulter, junior, the daring outlaw who shared with hawkes the title of the ‘flying highwayman,’ and whose name for very many years afterwards was used as a bogey to frighten refractory children, was born in 1748. he worked with his father, the miller, in the grist-mill at poulshot until 1774, when, his sister having opened a millinery business in the isle of wight, he joined her there, and embarked his small capital in a grocery business.
the beginning of a career
but the business did not flourish. perhaps it could not be expected to do so in the hands of so roving a blade, for he only gave it a year’s perfunctory trial, and then, being pressed for money, set out to find it on the road. he went to portsmouth, procured two brace of pistols, casting-irons for slugs, and a powder-horn, and, lying by a little while, started in the summer of 1775, on the pretence of paying his mother a visit at poulshot. setting out from southampton, mounted on horseback, he made for the exeter road, near ‘winterslow hut.’ in less than a quarter of an hour the salisbury diligence rewarded his patience and enterprise by coming{219} in sight across the downs. the perspiration oozed out of his every pore, and he was so timid that he rode past the diligence two or three times before he could muster sufficient resolution to pronounce the single word ‘stand!’ but at length he found courage in the thought that he must begin, or go home as poor as he came out, and so, turning short round, he ordered the driver to stop, and in less than two minutes had robbed the two passengers of their watches and money, saying that he was much obliged to them, for he was in great want; and so, wishing them a pleasant journey, departed in the direction of salisbury and devizes. by the time he reached poulshot he had robbed three single travellers on horseback and two on foot, and had secured a booty of nearly ￡40 and seven watches.
this filial visit coming to an end, he returned home to newport, isle of wight, by way of andover, winchester, and southampton. on his way across salisbury plain he stopped a post-chaise, several farmers on horseback, one on foot, and two countrywomen returning from market, going in sight of the last person into andover, and putting up his horse at the ‘swan,’ where he stayed for an hour.
this successful beginning fired our hero for more adventures, and the autumn of the same year found him, equipped with new pistols, a fine suit of clothes, and a horse stolen at ringwood, making his way to salisbury, with the intention of riding into the neighbourhood of exeter before commencing business. but between salisbury and blandford he could not resist the temptation of robbing a diligence and a gentleman{220} on horseback, resulting in the rather meagre booty of a gold watch, two guineas, and some silver. he then pushed on through blandford towards dorchester, robbing on the way; all in broad daylight. when night was come he thought it prudent to break off from the exeter road and lie by at cerne abbas until the next afternoon, when he regained the highway near bridport, very soon finding himself in company with a wealthy grazier who was jogging home in the same direction. the grazier found his companion so sociable that he not only expressed himself as glad of his society, but gossiped at length upon the successful day he had experienced at salisbury market, where he had sold a number of cattle at an advanced price. he was well known, he said, for carrying the finest beasts to market, and could always command a better price than his neighbours.
boulter broke in upon this self-satisfied talk with the wish that he had been so lucky in his way of business. unhappily, repeated misfortunes had at last reduced him to distress, and he had taken to the road for relieving his distresses, and was glad he had had the fortune to fall in with a gentleman who appeared so well able to assist him. suiting the action to his words, he pulled out a pistol, and begged he might have the pleasure of easing his companion of some of the wealth he had acquired at salisbury market.
robbery by wholesale
the grazier thought this was a joke and supposed that it was done to frighten him; whereupon boulter clapped the pistol close to his breast and told him he{221} should not advance a single step until he had delivered his money. in a few minutes his trembling victim had handed over, in bank-notes and cash, nearly ￡90. his watch, which he seemed to set a value upon for its antiquity, together with some bills of exchange, boulter returned, and, wishing him good-day, and observing that he should return to london, continued, instead, his journey to exeter. altogether, in this trip, he secured a booty of ￡500, in money and valuables, and spent the winter and these ill-gotten gains among his relatives on salisbury plain.
he opened his next campaign in may 1776, having first provided himself with a splendid mare named ‘black bess,’ which he stole from mr. peter delmé’s stables at erle stoke. this horse, scarce inferior to turpin’s mare of the same name, is indeed supposed to have been a descendant of hers. starting from poulshot, he rode to staines, reaching that place on the second night out. rising at four o’clock the next morning, he was on the road, in wait for the western coaches; but he was a prudent man, and at the sight of blunderbusses on their roofs, he concluded that to attack them would be a tempting of providence. accordingly, he confined his attentions to the diligences and the post-chaises, and was so active that day that he visited maidenhead, hurley, wokingham, hartley row, whitchurch, and eversley, reaching poulshot again the same night with nearly ￡200, and with the ‘hue and cry’ of five counties at his heels. his exploits on this occasion would not shame the first masters of the art of highway robbery, and{222} the performances of his mare were worthy of her distinguished ancestry. at hartley row he called for a bottle of wine, drank a glass himself, and pouring the remainder over a large toast, gave it to his steed, repeating it at whitchurch and eversley.
two months’ retirement at poulshot seemed advisable after this, but during the latter part of the summer and through the autumn he was very busy, his operations extending as far as bath and bristol. to give an account of his many robberies would require a long and detailed biography. he did not always meet with travellers willing to resign their purses without a struggle, and on those occasions he generally came off second best; as in the case of the butcher whom he met upon the plain. although boulter held a pistol at the heads of travellers, he never really meant to use it, and it was his boast, at his last hour, that he had never taken life. perhaps the butcher knew this, for when our friend presented his firearm at his head, and asked him to turn his pockets out, he said, ‘i don’t get my money so easily as to part with it in that foolish manner. if you rob me, i must go upon the highway myself before i durst go home, and that i’d rather not do.’
what was a good young highwayman, with conscientious scruples about shedding blood, to do under those circumstances? it was an undignified situation, but he retreated from it as best he could, and with the words: ‘good-night, and remember that boulter is your friend,’ disappeared.
boulter and partner
in 1777 he took a journey up to york, and was laid by the heels there, escaping the hangman by{223} enlisting, a course then left open to criminals by the government, which did not tend to bring the army into better repute. after three days in barracks he deserted, and made the best of his way southwards. reaching bristol, he found a fellow-spirit in one james caldwell, landlord of the ‘ship inn,’ milk street, and with him entered upon a new series of robberies. but, first of all, he paid a visit to his relatives at poulshot, doing some business on the way, and scouring the country round about that convenient retreat. he stopped the diligence again at ‘winterslow hut,’ emptying the pockets of all the passengers, and robbed a salisbury gentleman near andover, who, after surrendering his purse, lamented that he had nothing left to carry him home.
‘how far have you to go home?’ asked boulter.
‘to salisbury,’ said the traveller.
‘then,’ rejoined the highwayman, ‘here’s twopence, which is quite enough for so short a journey.’
boulter, according to his biographers, had the light hair and complexion of the saxon. ‘his bonhomie, not untinctured with a quiet humour, fascinated and disarmed his victims, who felt that, had he been so disposed, he could have descended upon them like the hammer of thor.’ his companion henceforward, caldwell, was of a dark complexion and ferocious disposition. together they visited the midlands in 1777, and with varying success brought that season to a close, boulter returning alone to poulshot for a short holiday from professional cares. riding on the plain early one morning, he was surprised to meet a gentlemanly-looking horseman,{224} who looked very hard at him, and who, after passing him about a hundred yards, turned round and pursued him at a gallop. ‘well,’ thought boulter, ‘this seems likely to prove a kind of adventure on which i never calculated. i am about to be stopped myself by a gentleman of the road. in what manner will it be necessary to receive the attack.’
the stranger came up rapidly, and whatever his intentions were, merely observed, ‘you ride a very fine horse; would you like to sell her?’
‘oh yes,’ replied boulter; ‘but for nothing less than fifty guineas.’
‘can she trot and gallop well?’
‘she can trot sixteen miles an hour, and gallop twenty, or she would not do for my business,’ said boulter, with a significant look.
by this time the stranger, becoming uneasy, desired to see her paces, probably thinking thus to rid himself of so mysterious a character.
‘with all my heart,’ rejoined the highwayman, ‘you shall see how she goes, but i must first be rewarded for it,’ presenting his pistol with the customary demand. that request having been complied with, boulter wished him good-morning, saying, ‘now, sir, you have seen my performance, you shall see the performance of my horse, which i doubt not will perfectly satisfy you’; and putting spur to her, was soon but a distant speck upon the plain, leaving the stranger to bewail his foolish curiosity.
a hue and cry
the winter of 1777 and the spring of 1778 were employed by boulter and caldwell in scouring salisbury plain and the neighbouring country. a{225} reward had long been offered for the apprehension of the robber who infested the district, and the appearance of a confederate now alarmed salisbury so greatly that private persons began to advertise in the local papers their readiness to supplement this sum. a public subscription, amounting to twenty guineas, was also raised at devizes, so that there was every inducement to the peasantry to make a capture. yet, strange to say, no one, either private or official persons, laid a hand on them, even though boulter appears to have been identified with the daring horseman who robbed every one crossing the plain. the following advertisement appeared 10th january 1778:—
whereas divers robberies have been lately committed on the road from devizes to salisbury, and also near the town of devizes: and as it is strongly suspected that one boulter, with an accomplice, are the persons concerned in these robberies, a reward of thirty guineas is offered for apprehending and bringing to justice the said boulter, and ten guineas for his accomplice, over and above the reward allowed by act of parliament:—to be paid, on conviction, at the bank in devizes. if either of these persons are taken in any distant part of the country, reasonable charges will also be allowed. boulter is about five feet eleven inches high, stout made, light hair, crooked nose, brownish complexion, and about thirty years of age. his accomplice, about five feet nine inches high, thin made, long favoured, black hair, and is said to be about twenty-five years of age.
this publicity did not hinder their enterprises, and speaking of boulter, a little later, the salisbury journal says: ‘the robberies he has committed{226} about salisbury, the plain, romsey, and southampton, and the several roads to london, are innumerable.’
capture of boulter
but what local law and order could not accomplish was effected at birmingham, to which town the confederates had made a journey in the spring of 1778, for the purpose of selling some of the jewellery and watches they had accumulated. boulter had approached a jew dealer on the subject, and was arrested, together with caldwell, and thrown into birmingham prison. they were sent thence to clerkenwell, from which, having already secured by bribery a jeweller’s saw and cut through his irons, he escaped, with two other prisoners, carrying the irons away with him, and hanging them in triumph on a whitethorn bush at st. pancras. with consummate impudence he took lodgings two doors away from clerkenwell prison, and, procuring a new outfit, set off down to dover, to take ship across the channel. but, unfortunately for him, the country was on the eve of a war with france, and an embargo had been laid upon all shipping. he could not even secure a small sailing-boat. hurrying off to portsmouth, he found the same difficulty, and could not even get across to the isle of wight. thence to bristol, haunted with a constant fear of being arrested; but not a single vessel was leaving that port. then it occurred to him that the desolate isle of portland was the most likely hiding-place. setting out from bristol, he reached bridport, and went to an inn to refresh himself and his horse. when he asked what he could have for dinner, he was told there was a{227} family ordinary just ready. he accordingly sat down at table, beside the landlord and three gentlemen, one of whom eyed him with a searching scrutiny, until, becoming fully satisfied that this was none other than boulter, the escaped prisoner, he beckoned the landlord out of the room, and reminded him of the duty and necessity which lay upon them of securing so notorious an offender. the landlord then returned to the dining-room and desired boulter to accompany him to an adjoining parlour, where he revealed to him the perilous state of affairs; but added, ‘as you have never done me an injury, i wish you no harm, so just pay your reckoning, and be off as quick as you can.’
boulter bade him tell the strangers that they were totally mistaken, that he was a london rider (that is to say, a commercial traveller), and that his name was white; but having no wish to be the cause of a disturbance in his house, he would take his advice and go on his way.
the landlord went back to his guests, and boulter got on his horse with all possible expedition. once fairly seated in the saddle, a single application of the spur would have launched him beyond the reach of these hungry pursuers, nor in such an emergency as this would his pistol be harmlessly pointed against those who thus sought to earn the rewards offered for his capture. alas! he had but placed his foot in the stirrup when out rushed the false landlord and his guests. they secured him, and being handed over to the authorities, he was lodged in dorchester gaol. he was arraigned at winchester with caldwell (who{228} had been removed from london) on 31st july, and both being found guilty, they were hanged at winchester, 19th august 1778.
