VICTORIAN RURAL POLICEMAN Mini Project 2017

Home , Chittlehamholt, Filleigh, North Devon, South Molton

Rural Constabularies were established following the Royal Commission which met between 1836 and 1839, the County Police Act of 1839 and the amending Act of 1840. In 1856 the County and Borough Police Act made the establishing of a police force mandatory for all counties and boroughs. All the police men in the mini project are listed as Police Constables in the 1881 census. The purpose of the project is to find out more about these rural policemen – who they were, how they lived and do they fit the quotations.

FACHRS Ref: WATC01 Researcher Name: Timothy M Clark

Policeman’s Name: STEPHEN CLARK Age in 1881 Census: 41

Source: - RG Number: 11 Piece: 2240 Folio: Page: 14 Reg. District: South Molton Parish: Warkleigh County Devon

Migration, Employment and Social Status Information from each census about Stephen Clark and the household he lived in:

Born 22 November 1839 at Malborough, South Devon, birth registered at Kingsbridge. Second son of William Steer Clark, mariner, and Sarah nee Jarvis, both Devon born, as were the 3 previous generations.

YEAR 1841 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911 CENSUS H107 RG 9 RG 10 RG 11 RG 12 RG 13 PIECE 248 1412 2090 2240 1772 2144 FOLIO 92 23 104 PAGE 1 14 7 1 17 REG DIS 6 Upton South Molton South Molton Newport, St PARISH Malborough Tormoham Paignton Warkleigh Chittlehambolt John

ADDRESS Buckley 12 Queen Warkleigh Village 20 Victoria 3 Hobbs Cottages Street Villa Street TOWN Salcombe Newton South Molton South Molton Barnstaple Barnstaple Abbot COUNTY Devon Devon Devon Devon Devon Devon RELATIONSHIP Son Head Head Head Head Head TO HEAD AGE 1 21 Absent 41 51 61 71 OCCUPATION Labourer A mariner at Water Bailiff Pensioner Retired Retired Policeman one time and P C Policeman Pensioner WIFE’s NAME Mary Jane Mary Jane Mary Jane Mary Jane Mary Jane Mary Jane Clark nee Clark nee Clark nee Clark nee Clark nee Clark nee Salter Salter Salter Salter Salter Salter NO OF 1 2 3 1Granddaughter CHILDREN Is this a Police No House? OTHER RG10/2090/7 PC 245 of Last recorded Blind for 5 Blind 15 years information Polsham Devon case as a PC years Road,Paignton Constabulary October 1893 Dec’d 17 April 1917 Stephen Recorded absent from January 1873 Census. At sea? Stephen Clarke Policeman of the Devon Constabulary and Water Bailiff.

1840 His father died in April 1840 of inflammatory fever age 34 and his mother Sarah was left a widow with one small child and a 4 month old baby. The 1841 Census for Buckley, a creekside hamlet of Malborough , Salcombe, Devon shows Head of the household, Sarah, a washerwoman with William age 3 and Stephen age 1, all born in the county.

FACHRS ID: WATC01

PC Stephen Clark Researcher: Timothy Clark By 1858 Stephen Clark had gone up the coast to the next big town Torquay. There he met Mary Jane Salter from Totnes at a fete in Torquay and, according to their eldest granddaughter Maud, they ran off together and were married at Totnes aged 20 and 22. [Stephen Clark 1858 q4 Totnes 5b 332] Maud’s memories of family life were very clear and every story she told, when checked against official records, has proved to be true and correct in every detail. She lived with her grandparents at one point. Mary Jane’s family were still in the town, just inland from Torquay, living in one of a row of very small houses called Moorashes. On the wedding certificate her father, William Salter’s occupation was given as fisherman and Stephen’s father as sailor.

The 1861 census places the couple at Queen Street Torquay, Stephen a labourer age 21 born Batson, Salcombe and Mary Jane age 23 born Totnes. With them was a first child William S Clark age 6m born Torquay. Family Search has a mis-transcribed version of this census entry, ascribing it to Tormoham Devonshire instead of Paignton, although other content is correct. By the time the next child arrived they had moved to Stokenham near Salcombe. Stephen junior was born there in 1863.

The 1871 census (RG10 /2090/7) places Mary Jane and the children back on the south coast in Polsham Rd, Paignton, nearer to her own family in Totnes. She is named as head of the household and as a laundress. The boys were 10 and 8. At some point during their marriage Maud said that Stephen was working as a sailor and this may account for his absence from the family at this time. She said that during a journey across the Bay of Biscay his ship was wrecked and he came home across Spain and France taking 6 months to do so. By the time he arrived home he had been assumed dead and Mary Jane was in mourning for him. Maud’s information is backed by a story from descendents of Mary Jane’s family who emigrated to Canada and who said they were sometimes visited by a relation who was a sailor. In later years Maud’s fireside had a collection of large sea shells which were brought home by her grandfather. Stokenham is as near to Dartmoor as anywhere along the Devon coast and this fits with another of Maud’s stories about Stephen’s two boys. William dressed up in clothes from the wash house (his mother was a laundress) and added some straw to fill them out and he then pretended to be Rogers, a prisoner who had escaped from Princeton Prison on the moor. They also used to ride the whirl pools on the river in their mother’s wash bowls.

In 1873 another child is born to Mary Jane and Stephen Clark(e) this time in the village of Warkleigh in North Devon so somewhere between 1863 and 1873 the entire family had left the south coast and Stephen had a new occupation. He became a police constable and water bailiff for the River Taw and Torridge which begins on the north side of Dartmoor and runs in the valley, following the A377 and the Exeter to Barnstaple railway line, joining the sea at Barnstaple. He was described in 1873 as County Constabulary (constable 245) and Water Bailiff and in 1882 he said in a court case ‘I am a water-bailiff in the employment of the Conservators of the Taw and Torridge, and have been so for ten years.’ His exact period of police service is not known, or how the two jobs related to one another. His police duties that came to court are reported in the North Devon Journal: 3 June 1880 suicide, 30 September 1875 animal cruelty, 2 December 1875 committed to Assizes, 18 November 1880, stealing, 7 April 1887 stealing barley, etc. and 10 October 1893 drunkeness.

He testified in many cases of poaching e.g. North Devon Journal 9 January 1873 for salmon, 18 March 1886 including fixing nets, 11 March 1875 failing to protect salmon, 16 November 1876 netting salmon, 11 May 1882, 18 January 1883 and 18 February 1886 taking unseasonable salmon, 22 May 1884 weir height, 21 February 1878, 19 February 1885 and 21 January 1886 possession of a gaff. The South Molton Gazette of 3rd November 1874 also reports a case of possession of a gaff with his deposition as water bailiff. The Board of Conservators considered his request to receive travel expenses (North Devon Journal 20 May 1875).

His eldest son William Stephen (RN Number 94019) age21 was 3 years in to a 10 year engagement with the Royal Navy, then serving on HMS Royal Adelaide at Devenport, Plymouth. Their second son Stephen, age 18, was in 1881 an apprenticed domestic gardener at Filleigh, near South Molton in the employ of Lord Fortescue and was housed with other employees in a bothy (RG11/224/110). FACHRS ID: WATC01

PC Stephen Clark Researcher: Timothy Clark Stephen had the unenviable duty as a policeman of having to testify in court in a burglary case involving his sons. The North Devon Journal of 19 March 1885 reports:-

Southmolton - At the Town Hall on Monday WM. CLARKE, of Chittlehamholt, was brought up in custody charged with having committed a burglary at Preston House, the residence of Wilson Hoare, Esq., on the 4th inst. Prisoner was remanded for a week. On Tuesday (son) STEPHEN CLARKE was charged with receiving some articles of plate missed from Preston House, knowing the same to have been stolen. Prisoner was remanded till Monday, bail being accepted.

The North Devon Herald 23 April 1885 reports that William who had come home on 4 February, discharged from the Royal Navy for petty offences such as drunkenness and leaving his ship, was given 20 months imprisonment with hard labour for burglary. His brother Stephen living at Alresford, Hants, and employed as a gardener to Lord Ashburton was implicated but cleared having been sent some of the stolen goods but he had insisted, if stolen, the goods must be returned.

The1881 Census RG11/2240/92 shows the family living at Warkleigh Villa,

Household Role Sex Age Birthplace Stephen Clark Head M 41 Salcombe, Devon, England Mary Jane Clark Wife F 44 Totnes, Devon, England Albert Clark Son M 7 Satterleigh, Devon, England Emily Clark Daughter F 5 Warkleigh, Devon, England

James Jervis Clark Son M 2 Warkleigh, Devon, England By the time of the 1891 census Stephen was described as a pensioner but his name still appeared in court cases in connection with his police work in October 1893. His connections with the river Taw still continued and his grand daughter said that after a day’s otter hunting, perhaps standing in cold water for a long time, he found the following day that he had lost his sight. This can be confirmed and dated to 1896 by a note in the 1901 census that he had been blind for 5 years. Family sources say that he then became a representative for a national tea company, walking the lanes and selling the tea.

The 1901 Census shows Stephen and Mary in their retirement at 20 Victoria Street, Newport, Barnstaple, their grand daughter who remembered them so well, living with them. They survived to celebrate their golden wedding in the town.

The 1911 Census for 3 Hobbs Cottages, Barnstaple shows:-

Household Role Sex Age Birthplace Stephen Clarke Head M 71 Salcombe, Devonshire

Mary Jane Clarke Wife F 74 Totnes, Devonshire

Maud Clarke Granddaughter F 10 Barnstaple, Devonshire

52 years married, 8 children born, 5 survived (William, Stephen. Albert, Emily and James Jarvis)

Mary Jane Clarke died 22 March 1916 at Barnstaple

Stephen Clark died 17 April 1917 at Barnstaple.

FACHRS ID: WATC01

PC Stephen Clark Researcher: Timothy Clark