The last bonfire to be burnt on Cowes High Street was set ablaze on 5th November 1869.
At that time, it was common to burn effigies of unpopular figures on Guy Fawkes night. In 1869, the effigy to be burnt was that of Tom Jones, proprietor of the Fountain Hotel. His effigy was paraded around the town together with a banner depicting his associate Jack Smith ‘the Printer’s Devil’, who was responsible for the Isle of Wight Herald. It was then placed immediately in front of the Fountain Hotel under a heap of wood shavings and tar barrels reportedly stolen from Ratsey’s Yard.
The Police were at first powerless to prevent the crowd from setting fire to the bonfire because of their numbers – estimated to have been between 1 and 2 thousand. When the forces of law and order finally intervened, this provoked a bloody riot.
Local author Harry Guy – who wrote Memories of a Cowes Born Lad – described the scenes he had witnessed as a child:
“All hell broke loose. The Square was soon like a slaughter house and you could not find a square inch of ground that was not covered in blood.”
In the aftermath of the riot, 6 men were sentenced to 4 months imprisonment at Winchester. They were: labourers John Newnham, Henry Fellows and Biatha Woolacott; seamen Robert Allen and Edward Lashmoore; and blacksmith William Moore.
In court, Police Inspector Horan said he had seen around 1 thousand persons coming from the direction of Shooters Hill carrying banners, flags and flaming torches. PC Thomas Hunt estimated the crowd at 2 thousand.
3 of the accused – Moore, Fellows and Lashmore – were said to have blackened their faces to avoid recognition.
Bonfire night in Cowes in the 19th century appears to have been a lawless occasion. 5 years previously – in 1864 – a bill was passed prohibiting processions and letting off fireworks in the town in early November.
This seems to have provoked the local hooligans into even greater acts of daring. That year, a crowd of young men and boys rampaged through Cowes carrying torches, forcing the Police to take action but to little avail. It was said that a ‘state of terror’ existed in the town.
Windows of the houses and shops through the High Street were smashed, including 28 at the Fountain Hotel, 11 at a local greengrocer’s and several more at a local butcher’s.
Great story.
So Caulkheads were rascals back in those days, can’t blame
overnors like they do these days.