The Brancaster Verdict continued . . . .
The judge summed up. It would not be necessary to call any witnesses for the
defence, "I don't know what your impression, gentlemen of the jury, will be but such
is my opinion: It does not appear to me that there is the slightest evidence upon
which Mr. Reeve is to be branded with infamy or to support his character by calling
witnesses. . . The evidence has failed utterly to sustain the charge. There is no
reason by Mr. Reeve should not be restored to society without the slightest stain upon
him".
The jury obediently returned a verdict of 'Not Guilty' which was greeted
with applause.
__________________________________________________________
BRANCASTER
____
by W. CURSON
On Wednesday, September 18th, 1833,
At Mr. Simms" Warehouse, Brancaster aforesaid,
For the benefit of the Owners and Underwriters,
ELEVEN POCKETS of KENT HOPS, part
of the Cargo of the Sloop Earl of Wemyss,
stranded in the late gale.
the Sale begins at Two o'clock precisely,
For further particulars apply to Mr. Mingay, Agent, Thornham
______________________________________________
So what had happened to all the cash and jewels which had disappeared from
the wreck of the 'Earl of Wemyss'? Four months later a second trial took
place. Robert Allen, the ship's steward and James Ward, the cook, were accused with
Mr. Oakes, a local farmer who had been put in charge of the wreck, of plundering Mrs.
Pyne's possessions.
This time the witnesses were even more specific. John Cutting, whose
mother kept The Ship where the shipwrecked sailors and their passengers had taken refuge,
had seen Captain Nesbitt's son, the steward and a local girl, Fanny Parker, smashing open
a jewel box in the brewhouse of the Inn. Thomas Fiddement had seen them in The
Lifeboat public house with more jewellery. Charles Large said they had asked him
"where they could happen on a girl".
The judge instructed the jury that there was no case for Oakes or Ward to
answer. Allen, the steward, was asked for his defence. Witness after witness -
David Reid (Chief mate of the Earl of Wemyss), John Oakes, Joseph Neal, Law Simms Jr.,
Fanny Parker, George Moss (for the ship's owners) and Captain Nesbitt himself all
testified. Allen was acquitted.
Which seems to have been the end of the affair. I have been unable
to trace any civil action again the Leith Shipping Company, the owners of the 'Earl of
Wemyss' or against Captain Nesbitt for negligence.
There remains only that memorial near the north wall of Brancaster
churchyard. If the Norwich verdicts were correct, then the inscription (described in
the first instalment of this tale) is a gross libel which has remained there for one
hundred and fifty years - carved in stone.
Post Script
Newman Reeve's son, Simms Reeve, grew up to be one of Norfolk's leading lawyers.
He was High Sheriff of Norwich (but refused nomination as Mayor) and Recorder
of Yarmouth. He died in 1919. His sister, Anne, died in Cobham House, Burnham
Market in 1913. She is buried in Westgate churchyard, not far from her great
grandfather, John Raven, (the story of his murder will be re-produced on this website
shortly - with the permission of Bernard Phillips).
Simms Reeve's Nephew, Edmund Reeve, died in 1944, founder and senior
partner of Mills and Reeve, the Norwich solicitors whose centenary was celebrated in 1980.
There are many other descendants; several of them have helped to
write this story.
The End
_______
© Bernard Phillips
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