Bloody Murder on a Barge

River Medway from Strood, Photo by Janet Cameron

Albert Baker, aged twenty-eight, was the skipper of a barge called the East Anglia, which was owned by the London and Rochester Trading Co. Walter "Ginger" Smith, a little older at thirty-three, was his mate and they were old friends, having shared a school and similar childhood in Strood. Their first trip as barge-mates was in October, 1937, but tragically, this voyage was not to be repeated. Their friendship seemed to be a case of "opposites attract", Albert being a cheerful soul and Walter Smith rather reticent and often depressed.

The Rat Catcher

Picture: Wikipedia, Public Domain


In Victorian times, not all rat-catchers were forced to exterminate their quarry immediately. On the contrary, if they put them into a sack alive and took them to the local inn to be thrown to the dogs in the rat pit, the sport would entertain the riotous crowd and the dirty work could be done for a generous reward.

Mr. J. Watson, a resident of Princes Street in Dover, attended Dover Local Board of Health Managing Committee in 1850, presided over by the mayor of Dover and Councillors Back, Dickeson, Walter, Rutter, Stockwell, Clark and Terry.

Hermit Blewbeard and Dover Castle

Sir Thomas Cheyne was a noble with his eye on the main chance - and that was Dover Castle. The defence of the Channel coast was under fierce scrutiny at the end of January 1450. This was due to an incident on Saturday 24 January when plans for a rebellion were hatched in the villages between Dover and Sandwich.

The perpetrator of these meetings was Sir Thomas Cheyne. He had a two-pronged plan - to take Dover Castle, and to behead a number of his enemies, among them, the Bishop of Salisbury, the Abbott of Gloucester and the Duke of Christchurch, Canterbury. Many of the rebels adopted names to hide their identities, including "King of the Fairies," Queen of the Fairies," and "Robin Hood," while Cheyne himself was "The Hermit Blewbeard." (sic).

The following Monday, 26 January 200 rebels met at Eastry and by the end of the week, thousands more had joined them. Cheyne was gathering a hardy band of volunteers to help him in his attack on Dover Caste. But the rebellion only got as far as Canterbury, where St. Radigund's Abbey Hospice, located outside the city, was attacked.

Thomas Cheyne was arrested on 31 January and later hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, while Dover Castle remained unviolated. Cheyne's head was sent to London, and his quarters shared between London, Norwich and two of the ports.

No one else was executed as a result of the rebellion.

Sources:

Cameron, Janet, Murder & Crime, Dover, Tempus Publishing, 2006.

The Anti-Hero of Medway

Thirty-three year old police constable Alan George Baxter was murdered by his namesake, twenty-year-old Alan Derek Poole in June, 1951 for no good reason except Alan Poole fancied himself an anti-hero. 

            Alan Poole had been known as a ‘bad lot’ with a long history of offending.  The first recorded offence was in 1946 for office-breaking, after which he was sent to an approved school.  After absconding, he broke into a Chatham sports pavilion which resulted in three years Borstal training.  Again, Poole escaped but was arrested and sent back to Borstal.