Introduction

George Cheverton was a rogue and chancer who was often in court on charges of not paying his debts, drunkenness, or brawling. These incidents undoubtedly cast a shadow on his reputation. However, he managed to hold the position of landlord at various inns, including the Swan Inn, Misterton, from 1858 to 1869, the Quicksilver Mail, Yeovil, in 1869, and the Oxford Inn, Yeovil, from 1871 to 1877.

Early life

His parents came from East Coker. After marrying in 1812, they lived at East Coker until the early 1820s, when they moved to Lopen, where George was born in 1824.[1] His mother was a widow by 1851, but no record of her husband’s death has been found.[2] Towards the end of her life, she lived in one of the East Coker almshouses.[3] George spent his youth and early manhood in Ilminster where he learned the trade of carpentry.[4]

An opportunistic marriage

On 25 April 1858, George married Mary Ann Webb at Misterton.[5] One month earlier, her father, William Simeon Webb, the landlord of the Swan Inn, Misterton, had died, leaving five houses, livestock, stock in trade and the payout of his life assurance policy.[6] After deducting mortgages and expenses, the value of his estate was about £450.[7] Mary, as one of the four residuary legatees, probably inherited about £80.[8] Mary’s mother left the Swan Inn and moved to London to run a coffee house at 7 Gray’s Inn Lane.[9] After running the New Inn at Misterton for a few years, George and Mary became the tenants of the Swan Inn.[10] They were at the Swan Inn in November 1862 when George was fined 10s and costs for having deficient measures.[11]

Cheverton enjoyed his role as a landlord and often combined business with pleasure. In 1866, 1867 and 1868, he had a refreshment booth at the West Somerset Steeplechases.[12] In 1867, he ran a bar at Bridport Regatta and in 1868, he organised a picnic at Misterton.[13]

He kept horses at Misterton and raced them. In February 1866, a race between his horse “Creeping Jane” and a bay horse owned by Mr Newbery attracted a large crowd and many bets. When Creeping Jane lost, Cheverton wanted a rematch at a later date, but Newbury declined, saying he had sold his horse.[14] In September 1868, a farmer named John Ireland found two horses owned by Cheverton gazing in his field. As he led them away, Cheverton came up to him, flourished a stick over his head and used threats. Ireland summoned him for assault, and Crewkerne magistrates found him guilty and fined him 5s and costs.[15]

Thieves, prostitutes, and poachers

Cheverton lived beyond his means, and by 1868, he was in financial difficulties. By Christmas time 1868, he had decided to take on the tenancy of the Quicksilver Mail, Yeovil. Its previous tenant, Fred Vickery, had lost his licence due to allegations that his pub harboured thieves, prostitutes, and poachers.[16] Cheverton saw this as an opportunity to make a fresh start.

However, Cheverton’s debts caught up with him.  In March 1869, the Somerset Trading Company brought an action against him at Crewkerne County Court to recover £2-4s-2d for coal, and on 18 June 1869, he was adjudged bankrupt.[17]

A quarrel over a saw

Cheverton decided that it was time to move again. He arranged with John James Bennett, an auctioneer of Salisbury, to sell his furniture and effects by auction on 22 November 1869 and pay the proceeds directly to Joseph Arnold, the landlord of the Butchers’ Arms, Salisbury, as payment for his business.[18] The licence was transferred from Arnold to Cheverton on 6 December 1869.[19]

After the sale, Bennett and Cheverton quarrelled and became bitter enemies. Cheverton accused Bennett of providing a false account of the sale and inflating the cost of the Butchers’ Arms by adding in items that Arnold never owned. Bennett, in turn, took a brass-backed handsaw from Cheverton and sold it for 2s 6d. As an agent for the brewery, he also engaged a bailiff to collect rent from Cheverton after one month, despite the pub being on a yearly tenancy.[20]

In April 1870, Cheverton reported the theft of the saw, deliberately exaggerating its value so that the case had to be held at the Quarter Sessions, increasing Bennett’s legal costs. In the end, Bennett was acquitted, but not before he had endured four days in prison.[21]

As soon as his annual lease expired, Cheverton left Salisbury, transferring his licence to William Everett on 5 December 1870.[22]

Turbulent years at the Oxford Inn

In March 1871, Cheverton took on the licence of the Oxford Inn at Yeovil, where he remained until 1877.[23] While there, he occasionally ran off-site bars as he had at Misterton. On 11 June 1872, he erected a “commodious shed” at Stoford Fair offering refreshments at “moderate prices” and on 23 March 1874, he was one of the caterers at the West Somerset Steeplechases and Races at West Chinnock.[24]

In 1873, he fell from his trap and hit his head.[25] The accident occurred as he was returning from East Coker on the evening of Friday, 4 April 1873. At the bottom of Hendford Hill, his horse and trap collided with a horse and cart driven by a butcher from East Chinnock named James Stembridge. Cheverton fell from his trap and suffered minor head injuries. He summoned Stembridge for reckless driving, but Stembridge blamed the accident on Cheverton’s drunkenness. He said Cheverton had ample room to pass him but had pulled his reins in the wrong direction. He called James Vagg as a witness, who confirmed that Cheverton was staggering before he left East Coker. The magistrates dismissed the case.

In 1874, Cheverton’s personal life took a turn for the worse when his wife left him and moved to London to be close to their adult children. He published a notice in the local newspaper that he would not be answerable for her debts.[26] Her departure would undoubtedly have troubled him and altered how the community saw him. In April 1881, his wife and son lived at 40 Hart Street, Covent Garden.[27]

In July 1874, Cheverton gave evidence as a witness at Yeovil County Sessions.[28] Thomas Patten of East Coker summoned PC Nathaniel Cox for unlawfully entering and searching his house without a warrant. Cox had searched the house because Chiverton strongly suspected Patten’s daughter of having stolen a bullock’s tongue from him while employed at his pub. The magistrates dismissed the charge because they decided the evidence against Cox was insufficient. Two years later, Cox was beaten to death in Netherton Lane by three men who he stopped unlawfully.[29]

By late 1877, Cheverton had sizeable debts. On 13 December 1877, the auctioneer, Mr W H Hodges, sold his furniture, cider, casks, waggons, carts, other effects and twelve tons of hay by auction to satisfy a county court judgement.[30] He left the inn, which for many months remained empty while the owner, Joseph Bruton, contemplated demolishing it.[31]

When Cheverton obtained the probate for his late mother’s will on 2 March 1880, he described himself as a “General Dealer” of “Higher Key in the parish of Yeovil.[32] As he was the residuary legatee, his mother’s estate was only worth £100, and there were other beneficiaries; his inheritance was small.

Brawling and politics at East Coker

Cheverton may have used the money to rent a house at East Coker. On the Boxing Day afternoon of 1880, the East Coker landowner, Mr Troyte-Bullock, heard a tremendous commotion outside the grounds of his house. On going to investigate, he found two men fighting and Cheverton lying on his back, drunk and calling out foul language. When Yeovil magistrates heard the case, Cheverton maintained that he fell due to rheumatism while trying to separate the other two men. The magistrates fined Cheverton 10s and costs.[33]

By April 1881, he certainly lived at East Coker, as the census shows him at Burton, East Coker, living with a married couple as lodgers.[34]

His financial delinquency continued as before. In August 1882, a Sherborne solicitor sued him to recover £4 16s owed for professional services.[35]

He remained active at East Coker. When the village celebrated Edward Troyte-Bullock’s coming of age, Cheverton erected an arch with the motto “Long Life and Happiness to the Son and Heir.”[36] In November 1885, he attended a Conservative meeting at Gould’s factory, West Coker, and in July 1891, a Liberal meeting at Yeovil Liberal Club.[37] In August 1890, he attended a supper given by the Ancient Order of Foresters at the Foresters Arms.[38]

Final years

After living for several years at East Coker, Cheverton spent his last few years at Hardington Mandeville, where he rented a house in the High Street.[39] The 1891 census records him as an employed carpenter, which would indicate a return to his old trade. On 24 April 1895, he was found dead in bed by neighbours who climbed through his bedroom window to gain entry. He was 71.  At the inquest held at the New Inn three days later, witnesses said he had fallen from his trap about a fortnight earlier. The jury found that he had died as a result of injuries sustained from the fall.[40] Cheverton’s wife instructed Mr Redwood, the auctioneer, to sell her husband’s goods and effects. The sale took place on the evening of Monday, 13 May 1895 and included a “rare lot of Carpenter’s tools.”[41]

References

[1] East Coker Marriage register; East Coker Baptism registers; Lopen Baptism registers.

[2] HO107, piece 1927, folio 127 p15.

[3] RG9, piece 1640, folio 8, page 9; RG10, piece 2410, folio 5, page 2.

[4] HO107, piece 929, book 19, folio 42, page 8: HO107, piece 1927, folio 127 p15.

[5] Misterton Marriage register.

[6] The will of William Simeon Webb of Misterton, dated 6 March 1858, proved at Taunton on 14 July 1858.

[7] The grant of probate of the will of William Simeon Webb of Misterton.

[8] William Simeon Webb left his wife his livestock, three-quarters of his furniture and trade stock and £60.

[9] Pulman’s Weekly News and Advertiser, 6 September 1859 p.2.

[10] RG9.piece 1363, folio 11, page 16.

[11] Sherborne Mercury, 18 November 1862, p.6.

[12] Pulman’s Weekly News and Advertiser, 3 April 1866, p.1; Western Gazette, 12 April 1867, p.5; Pulman’s Weekly News and Advertiser, 31 March 1868, p.4.

[13] Bridport News, 17 August 1867, p.5; Pulman’s Weekly News and Advertiser, 28 July 1868, p.2.

[14] Western Gazette, 16 February 1866 p.7.

[15] Western Gazette, 26 September 1868, p.6.

[16] Taunton Courier, and Western Advertiser, 7 October 1868, p.3.

[17] Western Gazette, 19 March 1869, p 7; Western Gazette, 30 July 1869, p. 4.

[18] Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 10 December 1870, p.8.

[19] Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 11 Dec 1869, p. 8.

[20] Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 23 July 1870, p.7.

[21] Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 23 July 1870, p.7.

[22] Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 10 December 1870, p.8.

[23] Western Gazette, 10 March 1871, p.7.

[24] Western Gazette, 7 June 1872, p.5; Western Gazette, 27 March 1874, p.3.

[25] Western Gazette, 9 May 1873, p.7.

[26] Pulman’s Weekly News and Advertiser, 21 April 1874, p.2.

[27] RG11, piece 333, folio 73, p17.

[28] Western Gazette, 3 July 1874, p.3.

[29] Western Gazette, 23 March 1877, p.7.

[30] Pulman’s Weekly News and Advertiser, 11 Dec 1877, p.2.

[31] Western Gazette, 5 April 1878, p.5; Western Gazette, 3 May 1878, p.5.

[32] Grant of probate of the will of Martha Cheverton at Taunton on 2 March 1880.

[33] Western Gazette, 7 January 1881, p.3.

[34] RG11, piece 2389, folio 17, page 4.

[35] Western Gazette, 4 August 1882, p.6.

[36] Western Gazette, 21 September 1883, p.7.

[37] Western Gazette, 20 November 1885, p.8; Western Chronicle, 7 August 1891, p.3.

[38] Western Gazette, 6 August 1890, p.6.

[39] RG12, piece 1895, folio 107, p.7.

[40] Pulman’s Weekly News and Advertiser, 30 April 1895, p.6.

[41] Western Gazette, 10 May 1895, p.1.