The Mayor of Penzance’s Diary 1816

By Mr. Henry Boase

 The Mayor of Penzance’s Diary 1816

By Mr. Henry Boase

MR. Henry Boase was elected Mayor of Penzance in the year 1816. A partner in the
old banking firm of Batten, Carne and Boase, he did much useful work for his native
town. He was a joint founder of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall (1814) and
the Penzance Library (Morrab) in 1818, and with Dr. J. A. Paris was later President of
the Royal College of Physicians, and with Davies Gilbert, President of the Royal
Society, was one of the band of enthusiasts who put Penzance on the map as a health
resort and as a centre of culture, which reputation it has retained for many years.

He took his Mayoral duties very seriously and recorded the events day by day in a
careful manner. Fortunately his diary has been preserved, and it is most valuable as
being the only remaining record of many things which took place in this period.

There were no newspapers published in Penzance, and the Truro newspaper seldom
gave many details of events happening in other parts of the county, the diary therefore
is apparently the only source from which can now be gathered particulars of certain
occurrences in Penzance in the year 1816-17. The Mayor’s Sunday walk to church in
state, the Minister’s Sunday dinner with his Worship, the whipping of beggars out of
the town, and the assignment of apprentices were all customs which have long since
passed into history.

The Mayor’s address to the Grand Jury and Quarter Sessions shows that some things
never change.

“We have at this time to lament the prevalence of offences very disgraceful and
vexatious. I allude to the breaking of windows and lamps, the plundering of gardens,
the injuring of fences and plantations, and disorderly behaviour in the streets,
particularly on Sunday evenings. I would fain hope that these evil practices are more
the effect of juvenile folly than of deliberate malice.” He ended with a warning that
offenders would be severely punished.

The diary starts with a list of Town Council and Borough Officials, leading off with
the Recorder, Edward Boscawen, Viscount Falmouth, whose principal privilege
apparently was to provide venison and turtle for the Mayoral banquet. The Viscount
kept this appointment until 1836, when it had to be held by a barrister-at-law.

Several officials are mentioned who have disappeared in a present-day list, such as
receiver of corn returns for the assize of bread (assize meaning the fixing of quantity
or price), and inspector or searcher of hides (this official had to stamp all hides on the
tail and collect the tax on them). In addition to local supplies, cargoes were imported
from foreign countries for the tanneries then established in the town.

The superintendent of bulwark erections on the Western Green found plenty to do in

resisting the constant erosion of the sea on that exposed coast, where trouble is even
now caused to the strong sea walls erected since that day.
Two officials were styled tide waiters, i.e., officers who watched the landing of goods
to secure the payment of duties. As there is no mention of a harbour master, no doubt
they also attended to the berthing of ships.

Overseers of the poor, assessors of the poor, and lessees of the quay and market dues
also figure in the list.

The Town Clerk, John Beard, had the unenviable reputation of being always in debt
and difficulties, and gave the worthy Mayor much trouble by always petitioning for
his quarter’s salary a month before it was due.
The sexton, Sampy Reynolds, had the duty on Sundays of going round the town with
a hand-bell announcing church time, and two parish constables used to visit the public
houses to see that no one was inside drinking during the hours of divine service. A
later writer says this was a post greatly sought for!

Church-going in those days was an important function, and every Sunday a stately
procession left the Mayor’s house with the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors in their
robes, preceded by the sergeants at mace and the parson, styled Perpetual Curate of
St. Mary’s Chapel, who was always invited to dinner with the Mayor after the service.
Penzance at that time was in the ecclesiastical parish of Madron, and did not become a
separate parish until 1871, hence the parson’s title of perpetual curate.

Early entries in the diary refer to work at the extension of the quay. H. Noy, a mason,
was engaged for paving-stone laying, and hauliers were paid for carting stones from
Bosullow, nearly six miles from Penzance, the reason for this being the material
composing then fine fortress of granite raised at Chun Castle, near Bosullow, by the
folk of the Iron Age for protection against raiders.

Dr. Borlase (1750) said the walls of the castle in his day were ten to twelve feet high,
and Blight (1857) remarked with regret the removal of much stone for building
purposes. This venerable building in its sadly delapidated state is now a scheduled
monument and the vandalism of the past is no longer tolerated.

The next two entries refer to the “Fair Trade” when smuggling in Cornwall was in its
heyday.

“30th November, an excise cellar was broken open on 12th Nov., night, and 40 kegs
of spirit taken away.”

“12th Dec., a reward of £50 was offered by Excise Officer Loudon for discovery of
thieves who took 32 ankers of brandy and geneva from Excise Store at Penzance.”
When, some years earlier, the notorious smuggler, John Carter, “King of Prussia,”
broke open the excise store at Penzance and recovered his seized goods, there was no
difficulty in recognising the culprit, for when the officers arrived in the morning and
checked up what was left, they said, “John Carter is an honest man and would not take
away anything not his own
”20t.h January. Great storm and extraordinary high tide. Did damage, £5,000 at
least, to quay, shipping, boats, houses, and sea fences. Many applications for relief
from indignant sufferers. Two fishing-boats were lost and fourteen men drowned.”
There were numerous dependents and the Mayor opened a relief
fund which amounted to £430.

“2nd February. The old silver coinage had got so thin and worn that new coins were
issued by the mint and were exchanged for old in all Cornish towns from 13th Feb. to
27th Feb. Four chests of new coins arrived and were lodged in Penzance bank and
watched over by the Sergeants-at Mace every night.”

“10th Feby. The exchange of old silver occupied every day and every hour, that it was
with difficulty I found leisure for urgent business of the town.”

“Issued warrant against Charles Beard for enticing away the Vicar’s dog.”

(Probably son of the unfortunate Town Clerk: the eldest son, John Ley Beard, died in
Madron Workhouse in 1865).

“5th April, Market. Very rainy and stormy. Few complaints, and these settled ‘pie
poudre.’” This court, sometimes called the Court of Dusty Foot, had jurisdiction in
cases arising at fairs and markets to do prompt justice to the buyers and sellers on the
spot.

“4th April. Backed a warrant of Sir Rose Price against John Guy, carter, for irregular
driving.”
“28th April. Fined a jowster 6d. for leaving his horse in the street.” These are the only
two recorded cases of traffic offences in the year. A contrast to the present day when
so much time and trouble is caused in the police courts on these matters.

“28th May. The Collector of Customs with the Comptroller and Landing Waiter of
Penzance were suspended and an enquiry made by Government into their conduct at
the wreck of the brig “Resolution” at Porthleven in January last, when it was said they
did not do their utmost to save the cargo from being plundered by the Breage and
Germoe wreckers. The cargo of the ship was wine. They were acquitted at the enquiry
and reinstated.”

The Breage and Germoe tinners had a terrible reputation as instanced by the rhyme
well known in Cornwall in that day
“God keep us from rocks and shelving sands,
And save us from Breage and Germoe men’s hands.”

And no doubt the customs men thought discretion the better part of valour in the wine
wreck.

“26th May. The Midsummer Eve bonfires have long been a source of danger to the
town and I give notice that they must be held on the Western Green.” The notice was,
however, ignored, and the celebrations took place in the streets as usual. The practice
continued well on into the 19th century, and was only brought to an end by the fire
insurance companies declining liability for damage caused by the bonfires, torches,
and fireworks.

“4th June. Mr. Tremenheere on the occasion of the Corpus Christi Fair being held in
the Green Market, complained that one of the showmen’s booths was blocking the
footpaths. It was ordered to be removed, but as it could not be taken down and re-
erected without great loss and be in time for the fair, it was agreed that the showman
should not exhibit until the afternoon and not make any noise until the cattle fair
should be over. Later in the day Mr. Burgess, shopkeeper, complained that a caravan
of wild beasts was placed too near his shop, and the Sergeant-at-Mace was instructed
to see that due space was left.”

Next day there was a further complaint, this time from the market gardeners, who
probably regarded the Green Market as their peculiar property. They said their usual
ground was now occupied by wild beasts, and that other stalls were encroaching on
the highway. The Mayor appealed to everybody to be as accommodating as possible
on the occasion of the fair, but there were accidents and quarrels to be settled as best
he could on the following two or three days — cases brought before the Justices, and
fines inflicted for refusal to accept these apprentices.

Canon H. R. Jennings in Notes on Madron Morvah and Penzance records a curious

story in this connection. The Overseers of Madron purchased ground in 1820 for
extension of the churchyard. The funds in hand were insufficient to pay for it and they
adopted an ingenious plan to meet the deficit. They assigned parish apprentices on
eight of the principal landowners and on their refusal to accept them they were duly
fined by the magistrates £10 each, and the necessary amount was met without
demands on the general ratepayers.

“22nd August. Ordered the usual allowance of one guinea to the jury in a suicide
case, for refreshments.”

Vagrants found in the town had short shrift, for on 22nd ordered to be whipped out of
the town. How the small boys must have enjoyed this sight! There are several
references in the diary to the “Beggars’ Hotel,” but no indication as to its
whereabouts.

One of the last entries in the diary is the following:

“30th September. Affidavits against Mr. Richard Oxnam for debts of £1,400 and
£2,600 and upwards.”

This must have been a painful duty to the worthy Mayor, for Mr. Oxnam was an
aforetime partner in the bank with which Mr. Boase was connected.

Mr. George Clement Boase, a descendant of the Mayor, to whom we are

indebted for the preservation of the diary, gives in his book Collectanea Cornubiensis
a note on this matter, “Penzance Bank was founded in 1795 as Oxnam, Batten and Co.
Later the partners were John Batten, merchant, Wm. Carne, merchant, Richard
Oxnam, merchant, until 1810, when Oxnam retired and the firm became Batten,
Carne and Boase. This contined until Boase’s retirement in 1823, when it was known
as Batten, Carne and Carne, coming to grief in the nineties and taken over by Bolitho
and Co. Oxnam at one time had considerable property in shipping and mines. He built
and resided at Rosehill, a large house westward of Penzance, and was High Sheriff of
Cornwall in 1810, but got into great financial difficulties, and at the suit of Mr.
George John, solicitor, was sent to the King’s Bench prison for many years from
1817. He died at Penzance in 1844.”

Note.

Mr. Boase mentions in his diary the sending of his two sons, with several other boys
from the district, to Roscoff in Brittany by the Bristol packet to attend the college at
St. Pol de Leon to learn the language. On arrival they were met by the Mayor of
Roscoff, who had been a pupil at a school at Ragennis; Mousehole, kept by a Mr.
Alexander Rowe. At that time the “Fair Trade” was flourishing and Roscoff was well
known to Cornish adventurers in that contraband trade. There is no evidence that Mr.
Boase himself was concerned in it, but writers of that period mention that magistrates,
clergy and other gentry were ready customers for illicit goods brought across in the
luggers. Recent Cornish visitors to Roscoff and St. Pol have found both of these
connections with Cornwall well remembered there.