{"id":259,"date":"2018-03-22T17:29:59","date_gmt":"2018-03-22T17:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=259"},"modified":"2025-07-15T15:36:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:36:34","slug":"timid-vicar-manslaughter-reiver-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2018\/03\/22\/timid-vicar-manslaughter-reiver-connection\/","title":{"rendered":"A timid vicar, manslaughter and a reiver connection"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tragic case of mistaken identity in Walton in April 1851 ends (in the Carlisle Journal\u2019s account) with a reminder of our reiver forebears. For the victim was William Elliot Armstrong of Sorbietrees, in Liddesdale, Scotland \u2013 today, a bed and breakfast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The tragedy was reported by newspapers the length and breadth of the UK. The Journal really went to town with the story, to the point of including woodcut illustrations (incredibly rare in provincial papers in those days).<\/p>\n

The short version is that the unfortunate Mr Armstrong had been to Brampton on business, leaving about 8pm.<\/p>\n

He knew a former servant, Ann Glendinning, now worked at Parsonage House, in Walton, and decided to call by, hoping to persuade her to go and work once more for him.<\/p>\n

A fatal mistake<\/h2>\n

Knocking on a window at 11pm maybe wasn\u2019t a bright idea on a good day. For William, it was a fatal mistake. For inside, the \u2018exceedingly timid\u2019 Reverend Joseph Smith, the Perpetual Curate of Walton, was terrified. The house stood alone, he was fearful for his wife and children, and he\u2019d had experience of vagrants knocking before \u2018more by way of intimidation than for charity.\u2019<\/p>\n

At the inquest, he said he\u2019d obtained a gun after reading reports on \u2018the Frimley murder* and other cases of that kind\u2019. He\u2019d opened his front door, and fired the gun two or three times, hoping to scare off the intruders.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t till poor William\u2019s body was found next morning that it became clear he\u2019d been hit by two of those shots.<\/p>\n

The inquest jury found it was a case of manslaughter: the Rev Smith was too distraught for the question of bail to be resolved.<\/p>\n

He was bailed, and appeared in court in August to face the charge. When the jury acquitted him, he fell to his knees and raised his hands to heaven.<\/p>\n

Handsome and popular<\/h2>\n

William Armstrong of Sorbietrees was buried in Ettleton, a tall obelisk marking the grave<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was reported that mourners formed a procession a quarter of a mile long, such was William\u2019s popularity.<\/p>\n

The Journal said he was considered one the handsomest men in Liddesdale \u2013 and the representative of a long line of ancestors, famous in their day as chiefs and leaders in the border warfare.<\/p>\n

The naming traditions<\/h2>\n

It continued that he was known locally as \u2018Sorbietrees\u2019 rather than Armstrong \u2013 in the old tradition of distinguishing people by where they lived rather than their surname.<\/p>\n

As Sir Walter Scott\u2019s old shepherd explained it<\/a>: \u201cThe folks hereabouts are a\u2019 Armstrongs and Elliots and sic like \u2013 twa or three given names\u2019 \u2013 and so for distinction\u2019s sake, the lairds and the farmers have the names of the places that live at, as, for example\u2026 o\u2019Sorbietrees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lesser folk were known by nicknames.<\/p>\n

And a look in the index of George MacDonald Fraser\u2019s excellent book about the reivers, \u00a0The Steel Bonnets<\/a>\u00a0gives plenty more examples, such as (for the Armstongs) David Bangtail, Ill Will, and the infamous Kinmont Willie.<\/p>\n

\"Tullie
The reivers display at Tullie House, Carlisle, is well worth a visit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As well as Fraser’s book, a good place to start learning about the reivers is the excellent Tullie House Museum<\/a>, in Carlisle.<\/p>\n

*The Frimley murder had taken place the previous autumn: armed burglars had broken into a vicarage, and when the Reverend George Hollest had bravely stood up to them, he\u2019d been shot and fatally wounded. The court case into that killing was held in April 1851.<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A tragic case of mistaken identity in Walton in April 1851 ends (in the Carlisle Journal\u2019s account) with a reminder of our reiver forebears. For the victim was William Elliot Armstrong of Sorbietrees, in Liddesdale, Scotland \u2013 today, a bed and breakfast. The tragedy was reported by newspapers the length and breadth of the UK. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","category-cumbria-history"],"yoast_head":"\nA timid vicar, manslaughter and a reiver connection - Cumbrian Characters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A tragic case of mistaken identity in Walton in April 1851 is a reminder of our reiver forebears. 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