EXCHANGE OF INSULTS
I hesitate to write another story about the Brimpton and Newbury Goddards, but as they are actively being researched it was bound to happen. The Friends of Newtown Road Cemetery in Newbury are amassing a large pile of files, and each entry in a file represents something about the life of someone who was interred in the cemetery between 1850 and 1950, mainly from The Newbury Weekly News which began in 1867. The following is an example of what has been found: On Thursday 1 July 1875 Jesse Breeze was returning from working in the hay fields and met Jahn Goddard, to whom he had not spoken for three months. Goddard shouted to him the remark that he could see that Breeze was having to beg for work since everyone now knew he was dishonest. Further insults were exchanged until the irate Breeze hit out and punched Goddard. Goddard said that he would make him pay for it and reported the incident to the police. As his cousin was the borough police superintendent he probably thought he would get a sympathetic hearing. The Police Court was not impressed and decided that Breeze had hit Goddard but that he had been severely provoked. He was fined 1s [5p] with 11s. 6d. [57p) costs. But look behind the bare facts of the case. Both Breeze and Goddard were in their early forties and well matched physically. Breeze said he had sickness in the family and he was under stress. Goddard, I would imagine, was not very intelligent and did not realise that he was provoking Breeze and went too far. At the time he was married with children, but seven years later he died in the Cholsey Asylum, the Berkshire Mental Hospital of the day. He was not buried in the Newbury cemetery, but his name was added to the memorial on his father Richard's grave, which already had his mother's name upon it. Just a small incident — a verbal exchange followed by an assault — but into which a lot more can be read. Certainly no one would have thought at the time that 140 years later it might be worth remembering! Julie of Newbury |
