22 September 1731: Death of a mad mule-baiter
John Hobson. 1877. The Journal of Mr. John Hobson, Late of Dodworth Green. Yorkshire Diaries and Autobiographies in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Ed. Charles Jackson. Durham: Surtees Society. A (morbid) compendium of everyday England. It is sometimes unclear whether the date given is that of an occurrence or that on which news reached his capacious ears. Get it:
.Excerpt
Richard Haigh, of Mapplewell, a lunatic, who used to go about baiting a mule, found dead in his bed.
To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.
Abbreviations:
- ER: East Riding
- GM: Greater Manchester
- NR: North Riding
- NY: North Yorkshire
- SY: South Yorkshire
- WR: West Riding
- WY: West Yorkshire
Comment
Comment
The footnote is good:
Bull, bear, and badger baitings were some of the rude and cruel amusements of the days gone by; but mule-baiting is something unusual. Surtees, however, quotes an ordinance from the Barnard Castle court-rolls, 1764, by which certain objectionable horses, etc., taken upon the common or moor, were to be sent to the owners, and the byelawmen to have one shilling for each animal; in default, the said horses were to be baited at the public bull-ring for one hour, and, after so baiting, the byelawmen should be entitled to one shilling. (‘Hist. Durham,’ vol. iv. p. 78 n.) In 1682 a savage horse who had killed several people and horses, was baited with dogs at his majesty’s bear-barden, the Hope, on the Bank side. He beat the dogs; but the mob clamouring for his death, as per advertisement, he was stabbed to death with a sword. (G.R. Jesse, ‘Notes and Queries,’ 4th S. vol. xii. p. 273.)
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Original
Richard Haigh, of Mapplewell, a lunatic, who used to go about baiting a mule, found dead in his bed.
21 words.
Tags
Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.
- Animal welfare (2)
· - Baiting (blood sport) (1) ·
- Hobson, John (32), enthusiastically morbid diarist of Dodworth Green (Barnsley), the date of whose own death is unknown ·
- Horse (71) ·
- London (74) ·
- Mapplewell (2) ·
- Mental disorder (13) ·
- Mule (1) ·
- Robert Surtees (antiquarian) (1) ·
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