Violent Crime at Great Linford
A sentence of death
Roll back the years and the severity of sentences can be seen to become increasingly harsh, though sentences of death appear to be few and far between in Great Linford. One case that did make the newspapers in 1816 was that of William Joyce, who fired a pistol at, but did not hit, Richard Bacchus. The case details of the trial which was held at Aylesbury are scant, but it appears that William, accompanied by a Joseph Joyce, so perhaps a brother, had broken into the dwelling house of Ricard Bacchus and violently beat him, as well as discharging a firearm. Unfortunately the newspaper accounts available do not explain the circumstances of this frightening home invasion, but we do know that William Joyce was sentenced to death, though he was afterwards reprieved, presumably to serve a sentence in jail instead.
A murder in Great Linford
Cases of murder appear to mercifully few and far between in Great Linford, but there is one well reported crime that had the papers abuzz in 1920, with the incident described as causing “a sensation” in the village. The victim was a 67 year old man named William Samuel Townsend, a casual labourer who at the time was in the employ of Lodge Farm. On the fateful day, Friday September 17th, Townsend and a man named Charles Henry Daniels (born and resident in Newport Pagnell) were working together when a quarrel broke out between the pair. In subsequent reporting of the inquest held the following Monday, several witnesses described how the two came to blows.
Townsend was working on a rick (a large pile of crops) passing up sheaves of corn to Daniels who was on a threshing machine. Daniels was critical of the way Townsend was passing up the sheaves, an argument that simmered throughout the morning, until at about 11am Townsend climbed up on the machine and struck Daniels on the jaw. Daniels returned the punch, toppling Townsend onto the rick and then to the ground. “Come down off the machine and we’ll settle it” demanded Townsend, who made an attempt to climb back up, but Daniels stayed put and for a time an uneasy peace was restored.
At about 1pm the farm labourers stopped for lunch and Townsend with fists clenched confronted Daniels, declaring, “we will have it out now”, but at 21 years of age Daniels had the advantage against the much older man, knocking Townsend to the ground with what the attending Doctor described as, “a terrible blow.” When a Superintendent Dibden arrived on the scene he found the victim dead on the floor with a bruise behind and under the left ear, and an additional injury over the left eye which it seems likely he had received from the earlier fall from the rick.
Brought back before the magistrates at Newport Pagnell, Daniels was remanded on a charge of manslaughter, a downgrading from the murder charge at the inquest. He did not request bail, and as Daniels was an epileptic and had already had several fits in custody, his solicitor requested that he be incarcerated awaiting trial at Northampton Prison Hospital.
On Friday 24th September, Daniels was brought back before the magistrates courts, and in what one paper described as a “Fiasco” he was acquitted. Daniels solicitor successfully argued that Daniels had not intended to kill Townsend and was sorry for what had happened. It had been previously reported that it was Daniels who had jumped on a bike and rode off for a doctor, so arguably not the action of a man indifferent to Townsend’s fate, though it does seem fair to say that the blame for the unfortunate incident was at the very least shared between both men, if indeed not tilted toward Townsend for striking the first blow. The bench apparently felt the same, and after retiring to consider their verdict returned to announce that though the police had been perfectly justified in bringing the charge, they were inclined to give Daniels the benefit of the doubt and therefore dismissed the case against him.
William Townsend was buried alongside his wife Eliza (she had predeceased him in 1907) in Great Linford Churchyard, where their memorial stone can still be seen. Charles Henry Daniels slips into obscurity from this time on, though we know he had been discharged from the Army in 1915 on medical grounds, which suggests that his epilepsy was war related.
Townsend was working on a rick (a large pile of crops) passing up sheaves of corn to Daniels who was on a threshing machine. Daniels was critical of the way Townsend was passing up the sheaves, an argument that simmered throughout the morning, until at about 11am Townsend climbed up on the machine and struck Daniels on the jaw. Daniels returned the punch, toppling Townsend onto the rick and then to the ground. “Come down off the machine and we’ll settle it” demanded Townsend, who made an attempt to climb back up, but Daniels stayed put and for a time an uneasy peace was restored.
At about 1pm the farm labourers stopped for lunch and Townsend with fists clenched confronted Daniels, declaring, “we will have it out now”, but at 21 years of age Daniels had the advantage against the much older man, knocking Townsend to the ground with what the attending Doctor described as, “a terrible blow.” When a Superintendent Dibden arrived on the scene he found the victim dead on the floor with a bruise behind and under the left ear, and an additional injury over the left eye which it seems likely he had received from the earlier fall from the rick.
Brought back before the magistrates at Newport Pagnell, Daniels was remanded on a charge of manslaughter, a downgrading from the murder charge at the inquest. He did not request bail, and as Daniels was an epileptic and had already had several fits in custody, his solicitor requested that he be incarcerated awaiting trial at Northampton Prison Hospital.
On Friday 24th September, Daniels was brought back before the magistrates courts, and in what one paper described as a “Fiasco” he was acquitted. Daniels solicitor successfully argued that Daniels had not intended to kill Townsend and was sorry for what had happened. It had been previously reported that it was Daniels who had jumped on a bike and rode off for a doctor, so arguably not the action of a man indifferent to Townsend’s fate, though it does seem fair to say that the blame for the unfortunate incident was at the very least shared between both men, if indeed not tilted toward Townsend for striking the first blow. The bench apparently felt the same, and after retiring to consider their verdict returned to announce that though the police had been perfectly justified in bringing the charge, they were inclined to give Daniels the benefit of the doubt and therefore dismissed the case against him.
William Townsend was buried alongside his wife Eliza (she had predeceased him in 1907) in Great Linford Churchyard, where their memorial stone can still be seen. Charles Henry Daniels slips into obscurity from this time on, though we know he had been discharged from the Army in 1915 on medical grounds, which suggests that his epilepsy was war related.
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