Arson and assault vs social ambition

Introduction

Victorian Bournemouth (120) marks the second of several articles analysing a riot which happened on Windham Road, Springbourne, in 1878. Arthur Adams, a Springbourne tailor, had given evidence in court leading to the conviction of local criminals. In revenge, that day, they came to burn his house and assault him. This article explores the social profile of the established perpetrators: Henry Cobb, Joseph Cobb, James Dymott, Tom ‘Mouthy’ Williams, James Symonds alias Scammell. It suggests that the assault may have represented a wider struggle for social control in the area.

Victorian Bournemouth (120): the Cobbs

Family background

Henry Cobb came from a rural, labouring background. His like-named father came from the rural hinterland near Wimborne, his mother, Elizabeth Weeks, from just across the Wiltshire border, children of labourers. They married in Bournemouth, young immigrants, although Henry’s birth may have preceded this ceremony. Visiting their household in 1861, then accompanied by his grandmother, he had Elizabeth’s maiden name. By this time, they also had a legitimate child. The family lived on Terrace Road, an area where many labouring people lived at the time. It drew the attention of physicians for its insanitary conditions. Ten years later, Henry junior, now having his father’s name of Cobb, had joined the larger family. They had moved to Springbourne, another concentration of working people, but covering a larger area than Terrace Road. Evidence from Petty Sessions records suggests that Springbourne society had a regular experience of drunkenness and violent assault.

A life of crime

During his teens Henry Cobb, junior, began to come up against the law. A man of this name served a prison sentence in the summer of 1878, perhaps not his first. The Dorchester prison record lists him as ‘fraudulently enlisting’ in the 75th Foot Regiment, then stationed in the town. On the evidence of Arthur Adams, on Guy Fawkes night, Cobb threw a stone which injured the policeman. He also threatened to slice off his ear. This evidence convicted him, angering him and his brother Joseph enough to lead the fiery assault on the Adams household that same day. Joseph escaped prosecution, continuing to live in the area for many years. Henry, however, continued to offend after serving his sentence. His name appeared in press court reports in 1880 and 1887, once for trespass, once for another assault on a policeman. Thereafter, he disappeared from documentary sight. 

Victorian Bournemouth (120): Dymott, Symonds, and Williams

James Dymott

Dymott’s background and history resembled that of Henry Cobb. A rural native, a carpenter’s son, he had worked in an iron foundry and as a slater. A man so-called committed at least two serious crimes at Southampton in 1871. One involved stealing a gun, another included violent assault against a woman. During the mid 1870s, he may have received convictions for damage to property and drunkenness, contributing to Springbourne’s violent society. Dymott broke a door and smashed glass at the Hare and Hounds pub, located on Windham Road. He also damaged Stephen Joy’s house, another Springbourne resident, a carpenter. During 1876, he again caused trouble in the Hare and Hounds, this time in the company of Thomas Williams. After time in prison for his part in the Adams assault, he may have chosen a quieter life. The census shows him serving before the mast over the next thirty years. 

James Symonds, Thomas Williams

Less certainty exists about the other two defendants, but Symonds, perhaps once a painter, may have defaulted to violence. Once, apprehended as a trespasser, while hunting rabbits with a ferret in the New Forest, Symonds, alias Scammell, threatened to assault the gamekeeper. In background and behaviour, therefore, this man resembled Henry Cobb and James Dymott. Many men bore the name of Thomas Williams. Evidence about the man in question, however, gives clues to the texture of Springbourne’s society more than his identity. His nickname, “Mouthy Tom”, suggests that witnesses attributed to him some local reputation. They also referred to a “Bob King”. Williams perhaps drew false confidence from his reputation. Returning to Springbourne later, after absconding before the trial, he found the police waiting to arrest him. Robert King also absconded but, perhaps less trusting than Williams, he appears not to have returned to Springbourne.

Victorian Bournemouth (120): analysis and discussion

Analysis

Thus, the defendants appear to have shared several factors. They belonged to working families stretching back over several generations. Most had immigrated to Bournemouth from rural settlements, although at least one Bournemouth native featured in the gang. In addition, they shared similar ages – twenties – and did not appear to have wives or children. Their work involved both skilled and unskilled labour, but none counted amongst those striving for middling respectability. In fact, rather than working to establish order, their regular criminal activity suggests the opposite. The police brought charges and achieved convictions for crimes that involved personal assault, most often against another male, and damage to property, often in drink. The assaults often took place against authority figures, police, or gamekeepers, or a proxy in Arthur Adams. In addition to the Hare and Hounds public house, Dymott damaged the properties occupied by Stephen Joy (builder) and Adams (tailor). 

Discussion

The defendants appeared to form a friendship group which ranged across Springbourne and Bournemouth. Although slight evidence, use of the nicknames perhaps suggests the criminal community at Springbourne may have resembled in part that attested as playing a dominant role in the East End of London during the 1960s. Men, based in drinking houses, acquired a veneer of celebrity for their exploits, in part aimed at challenging established authority. Thus, on the surface, the attempt to incinerate Arthur Adams’s house may have consisted of vengeful payback to his giving evidence in court. On the other hand, it may have reflected a broader background of social struggle. Springbourne society also consisted of several kinship groups transplanted from rural origins, occupying the same neighbourhood. Some, including the Adams group, sought middling respectability in return for commercial success. Such aspiration would have challenged celebrity criminals having a different social agenda.

Takeaway

Victorian Bournemouth (120) has explored the personal and social profiles of the men charged and convicted for fomenting and participating in the Windham Road riot. It has found that they shared many social commonalities. As members of an informal gang, they may have enjoyed a measure of notoriety, if not celebrity, amongst some members of Springbourne’s community. Ambitious middling people, however, represented a threat to this regime. Arson and assault offered an immediate way to confront such a challenge.

References

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