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to view a picture of the person280. Godfrey
BURDETT was born about 1766 in Horbury, Wakefield, Yorkshire.
He was christened on 26 Sep 1766 in Horbury, Wakefield, Yorkshire.
He assisted an officer of Excise on 24 Apr 1784 in Maidstone, Kent.
Godfrey was mentioned in the trial of Benjamin Spice and others at the Old Bailey
on 14 December 1785. He was noted as being an "officer's son" and as
being a visitor at the house of the local officer of Excise, Thomas Brock. He
was called to his assistance to apprehend smugglers of two four gallon casks
of Holland Geneva. There were eighteen to twenty men in all (armed with sticks)
and Godfrey Burdett was ordered to fire with both pistols. His own testimony
follows:- "GODFREY BURDETT sworn. I was on a visit to Mr. Brock in April
last, at his house, I am an officer's son, not an officer; on the 24th of April
last, we went to the bottom of the orchard, and when we came to the cottage house
I heard Carter say, down with your tubs, I directly retreated to the bottom of
the orchard, I saw Carter and Brock have hold of a man, and Brock came back and
said, there are some more men in the road, Carter and me went up to the Roebuck
and turned back, and a man followed Carter and us, some blows passed between
Carter and Brock and the man got away into the road, I did not rightly see him,
then we went into the road, and Carter and I directly went up towards the Roebuck,
thinking to meet more as we saw some men up the road, I cannot tell the number
that were there then, more gathered together after to the amount of eighteen
or twenty, a man followed Mr. Carter and I down, he swore we should not have
the tubs, I cannot tell who he was, there were more men behind him that were
up the road, some blows passed between Carter and the foremost man, and then
they directly cried out, it is only Brock and his men, and they directly jumped
into a hop-garden and broke down the poles, and came over into the road again.
Had these people you saw when you first went up, or had they not any sticks before
they went into the orchard? - They had sticks, very large sticks, such as the
footpads walk with.
What size might they be? - About the bigness of a fork stave.
Do you know how many people you saw at first? - I do not.
Were there more than three? - Yes, six or seven.
How many of these six or seven were armed with sticks? - I cannot tell, more
than three or four had sticks, one man came rather before the rest, swearing
we should not have the tubs; and he struck with a stick at Mr. Carter, and Mr.
Brock; and Mr. Carter knocked that man down, whoever he was, on the bank; I did
not know any of the men, I was quite a stranger to the country; after that they
said it was only Brock with his men.
What did they do then? - They went into the hop-yard for the poles, then they
came into the road again, and cried d - n their eyes murder them; and then Brock
said he would fire on them, and they said, fire on, and be d - d; directly Mr.
Brock ordered to fire, and we did fire; my pistols were loaded with slugs, and
the others with balls, and they cried fire on, and be d - d; after that Mr. Brock
turned and fired his pistol, then we were forced to retreat, and they threw their
sticks at us, and one of them hit me on the arm and leg.
Mr. Garrow. There had been a scuffle between the officers and men, who were carrying
the casks? - Yes, when I came down, that was in the orchard of the Roebuck.
How many yards off the house? - About ten or twenty yards.
Did you make a great deal of bustle in that scuffle? - No, not much, I was not
down at first; I heard Carter say, down with your tubs."
A "Not Guilty" verdict was given.
In 1797 he was an Officer of Excise in Yoxford, Suffolk. A trial
was held at the Old Bailey on 14 April 1801 in which Godfrey Burdett was a key
witness. The original text gives a flavour of the evidence given "RICHARD
HARNELL, otherwise LITTLE DICK, was again indicted for obstructing, on the 31st
of July, in the 37th year of his Majesty's reign, Godfrey Burdett, an officer
of the Excise; and Orris Gooch , an officer of the Customs; being on shore in
the due execution of their respective offices, in seizing and securing five hundred
gallons of foreign geneva, liable to be seized by them .
(The indictment was stated by Mr. Jackson, and the case opened by Mr. Attorney
General).
GODFREY BURDETT sworn. - Examined by Mr. Fielding. I am an Excise-officer, at
Yoxford: On the 31st of July, 1797. I went to a place called the Cross-bow, between
Yoxford and Wangford, we had intelligence of a parcel of smugglers; Mr. Gooch
and I met with them in the afternoon, coming off Lowestoffe Beach, there appeared
to be seven or eight carts, and twenty or thirty men, that was between one and
three o'clock in the morning; the carts came off the beach on to the turnpike
road; I rode up, and found them loaded with half ankers; Mr. Gooch and I rode
in amongst them, and cut off three carts; I struck at a man with a white stick,
and struck it out of his hand; a man upon a cart immediately struck at me; I
returned the blow, and struck him off the cart; I did not know any one them;
we tracked the carts to Lord Rous's Park.
Q. That was the first seizure; be so good as come to the second? - A. Before
we got to Lord Rous's Park the prisoner passed us in a cart; I am sure of his
person, I knew him very well; he had been sent back with one of the carts, and
when I saw him he had got the cutter's men in the cart; he called us b-rs; we
went up to Lord Rous's Lodge, and let them pass us, they were huzzaing; we went
on, and in Lord Rous's Park we found to the number of sixty or seventy half ankers,
I counted thirty in one lot; Mr. Gooch immediately went off for a waggon to convey
them away, and while he was gone, I saw the smuggling carts coming from the White-hart,
at Blithborough; I ordered one of the waggons that we had hired, to bring the
half ankers out of the wood; we slaved a half anker, we knocked the head in,
on purpose to taste it, it was foreign geneva; I told him I should seize that
tub, and the rest of the tubs that were in the wood; I ordered my men to load
the waggon, and when we had got about twenty half ankers in the waggon, the smugglers
appeared upon the hill, in five carts they were about two hundred yards from
us when I first saw them; when they saw us they huzzaed, d-d their eyes, and
said they were glad to see us; I asked them what they wanted; the prisoner replied
that he wanted to go past, he said the King's highway was as free for them as
for us; he then said, d-n your eyes we want the tubs, and the tubs we will have;
they immediately surrounded us, and blocked us in between the waggon and the
pales, and their carts; Dick then jumped down off the cart, and said, d-n their
eyes they are fixed; we charged them with our swords, and then we forced out
between the carts, and we left the tubs behind; I told them they had got the
tubs, but if they offered to move them I would fire at them; one of the sailors,
with a straw hat on, came immediately up to me, and said, d-n your eyes shoot;
he unbuttoned to his shirt, and said, here is a breast to shoot at; we then fired
at them several times, and they retreated; they then charged us with pitchforks,
and bludgeons, up the hill, and stoned us till we got loaded again, and then
we drove them back again, and so we kept on for nearly half an hour; then they
holloaed out that we should have twenty tubs; I then consulted Mr. Gooch, and
we found we had only one cartridge a-piece left; then we said we would accept
of twenty tubs; Little Dick's reply was, d-n your eyes we will not give you twenty;
we then fired at them again, and then they agreed to give us twenty, and we carried
them off; when we parted, he said to Mr. Gooch, d-n your eyes I will mark you;
upon which I told him he would have to answer for the whole, for I knew him very
well; I had seen him several times at Bawdsey, in Suffolk, he used to be along
with a man that went by the name of Frenchman, I am sure that is the man; there
were two foreigners in the party that could not speak a word of English, they
assisted in picking up stones for them.
Cross-examined by Mr. Gurney. Q. Have you always been as certain as you are to
day? - A. I am certain to the man now at the bar."
The defendant was found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment for three years
on board the hulks with hard labour.
He signed a will in 1832. A codicil was made on 11 April 1836.
He left nine freehold cottages, 3 copyhold cottages and one copyhold estate in
Essex. Between 1832 and 1836 he was a Gentleman and Land Owner in Saffron Walden,
Essex. He died on 20 May 1836 in Saffron Walden, Essex.
Godfrey
BURDETT and Tamar SHERWOOD were married before 1790. Tamar
SHERWOOD was born about 1764. She died on 19 Dec 1821 in Saffron
Walden, Essex. Godfrey BURDETT and Tamar SHERWOOD had the following
children:
+350 | i. | Godfrey BURDETT. |
+351 | ii. | John BURDETT. |
