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In 1983 a local history book was published that was primarily the history of East Budleigh but the chapter about Otterton included a paragraph that intrigued me, some of you may have encountered it. (1)  This concerned a man who murdered his wife in a fit of intoxication, was tried and condemned to death, to be put in a cage hauled up into a tree on Woodbury Common and left to be starved to death. It was said that fees paid to the watchers are to be found in the old records of the Church.  No names or dates are mentioned, or details of where the information was found. The inference was that he was tried by a local court and the sentence swiftly carried out.

I was a regular visitor to the Devon Record Office at that time and during one visit came across some notes made by Dr T.N. Brushfield on the contents of Otterton’s Parish Book, dated 1745. (2) This related to the expenses incurred from the prosecution of one “Dyer”, and gave the name of the unfortunate wife, Ann, and mentioned a guide to Dyers “Gibbet”.  My interest was keen, my family had intermarried with the Dyers and I had a lot of information regarding them already.

A week later I was back again this time with the history book and the photocopy of Brushfield’s notes, a long chat with the archivists put me off a bit – they felt that a murder would have been tried at the Assizes, that there would be details of such Assizes and that such practices were from an earlier time frame.

After ascertaining that the West Country Studies Library held no newspapers covering 1745, I found out where he may have fitted into the Dyer family, whom he married, children etc. and put him on the back burner.

Over the years I gleaned more information on Thomas Dyer and the arrival of the internet during the 1990’s enabled a much wider scope for research.

The Dyer family first appear in Otterton’s Church Registers as a family unit in the 1680’s, children of Humphrey Dyer (3) – most of whom are traceable down through the generations, the Dyers that stayed in Otterton were Butchers. However I cannot be sure who this Thomas Dyer descended from, he would seem too young to be Thomas the son of Humphrey, born in 1684, perhaps the son of one of Humphrey’s children but not baptised in Otterton, or any of our neighbouring parishes, that I can find.  

A Thomas Dyer of Otterton signed the Oath of Allegiance in 1723, signing next to Richard Dyer of Otterton(4), Richard was one of the younger sons of Humphrey Dyer.

A Thomas Dyer married Ann Marwood at St Peter’s Cathedral, Exeter on the 22nd. March 1732. (5)

Ann could be the daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Marwood, baptized at Otterton on the 1st. January 1710/11 (3)

Children of Thomas Dyer recorded in Otterton are (3) 

1739 Aug 16 Thomas    s/o Thomas and Anne at Otterton

1739  Aug 26 Burial:  Thomas Dyer an infant

1740 Jan 28 Thomas     s/o Thomas and Anne at Otterton

1743 Jan 13 Mary          d/o  Thomas and Anne at Otterton

It was quite fashionable for people to marry in the Cathedral at this time and we find many people of Otterton doing so in the registers.  I do wonder at the gap between marriage and baptisms, they may have lived and had children elsewhere or this may not be the right marriage, the only local parish that I was unable to check is Exmouth (Littleham) as their registers are missing from 1704 -1744

The murder took place in October 1745, Ann Dyer was buried in Otterton on the 25 October 1745. (3)   Thomas certainly absconded, he put quite a distance between himself and Otterton, as several Newspapers of the day report:

General Evening Post (London), Tuesday November 19th. 1745 

“On Tuesday morning, Thomas Dyer of Otterton in the county of Devon, Butcher, was brought to the New Gaol, Southwick from Guilford, by Mr. John Kent, Post-Master of Ottery St Mary in that County, attended by a strong guard, to which gaol he was committed by Sir Mow Molineaux, Knt. and Robert Austin Esq., Justices of the Peace for the county of Surrey, for the barbarous murder of his wife.”

 (Also reported by the St James’ Evening Post and the London Evening Post)

An interesting side note is that during November 1745, the New Gaol, Southwick was where the Jacobite Rebels were held, following the Battle of Culloden, before meeting their horrific ends on Kennington Common. (6)

How long he was held there we don’t know, but he was back in Exeter Gaol in time for the Western Circuit Assize Court when it sat in March 1746.  His trial began on Monday 17th. March, details of the trial proceedings no longer exist, the National Archives has some papers from the Summer Assizes only, what does exist are the Court Calendar books from where this information comes.  He was executed on Friday 11th. April 1746, notes state that unless otherwise stated executions were carried out at the Gallows at Heavitree, there are no notes by his name. (7)

So there are the facts of the case, this appears to be what happened to Thomas Dyer.  It is possible that his dead body was displayed in a cage as a deterrent to others. Watchers were often paid to ensure that relatives didn’t remove the body for burial.

Is the man in a cage connected, or is it a story from a bygone age that has become folklore with the increasing years?

Researched © Roz Hickman, 2006

References  

(1) Raleighs Birthplace – The Story of East Budleigh – Lillian Sheppard 1983

(2) Otterton Parish File - Devon Record Office

(3) Otterton Baptism Register

(4) Oaths of Allegiance – Friends of Devon Achieves – Devon Record Office

(5) St Peters Cathedral Registers

(6) The Times (London)

(7) The National Achieves –ASSI 2/21-22-26

OT-B-00002  Biography any