Image to go in here of Diary Page. Currently unavailable.
Larkbarrow in 1892.
This page from Robert Tait Little’s diary tells us that on September 30th, 1892 the “Larkborough” shepherd, Peter Murray, was ‘apprehended and taken to Dulverton’. John Blackmore was temporary shepherd at Larkborough until December 13th when another Scot – John Hewitt – arrived to take up the post of the shepherd for the Larkborough herding. Just over one month from his arrest, Peter Murray left Exmoor on the 9th of November,1892 and returned to Scotland. Note: Larksborough is Robert Tait Little’s spelling of Larkbarrow. (For more on RTL’s Diaries go to https://hoaroakcottage.org/robert-tait-little)
What is the story behind this diary entry about Peter Murray at Larkbarrow? Research undertaken by Roger A Burton – a great friend to the Friends of Hoar Oak Cottage – tells us that Frederic Knight (the wealthy Exmoor landowner during the 19th century) accused Peter Murray of stealing 2 hindquarters of sheep and had him arrested. Peter was held prisoner, went to trial in Dulverton, was found guilty and charged with theft. He was ordered to pay a £2 fine or to be sentenced to one month’s imprisonment (without hard labour). He was dismissed from his job as Shepherd on the Larkbarrow herding.
What happened to his wife and family left back on the Exmoor hills during this terrible time is not recorded. However, we do know that Murray chose to do his one month of imprisonment. It seems probable this was because the family couldn’t pay the £2 fine which, in 1892, was around £160 in modern day value. Agricultural wages were low generally and on Exmoor were even lower than elsewhere. Agricultural workers lived in ‘grinding poverty’ according to a paper about Devons Farm Labourers in the Victorian Period published in 1987 by Greg Finch and which can be found on this website: https://devonassociation.org.uk. It is not at all surprising that some of these Exmoor shepherds might be tempted to pinch a bit of mutton for their family – perhaps when delivering several haunches of venison to the Knight ‘big house’ in Simonsbath for a weekend shooting party or similar. Neither is It surprising the Murray couldn’t pay the fine of £2.
So, Peter Murray went to jail, ‘did his time’ and on release from prison left Exmoor and returned to Scotland. How that return to Scotland was organised or financed is not known. What we do know is that the new shepherd imported from Scotland was John Hewitt and a note in Robert Tait Little’s diary tells us that four railway tickets (for Hewitt, his wife and children) cost £1.18.00 (current value circa £155). The cost for transporting their furniture was £3.9.6 – nearly £300 in current value. These costs were paid by the Knight Estate. This tells us about how much it would cost Peter Murray and his family to try and get back to Scotland. If, as seems likely, the Murrays couldn’t pay the £160 fine how could they possibly pay nearly the same amount for rail tickets back to Scotland? Perhaps they sold all their furniture and belongings in the farmhouse at Larkbarrow. Might that have raised enough to cover their costs back to Scotland? Perhaps the local arrangements for social support might have helped the Murrays? But Parish Relief in the 1890s was very limited – especially for people not from the county – although sometimes offered contributions to travel costs to get people returned to their home county. Perhaps the other Scottish families on Exmoor at the time pitched in to help their country fellows out.
This is a new research rabbit hole for The Friends to go down and discover what happened next to Peter Murray and his family. The stories of other Scottish shepherds who had to leave Exmoor, that have already been researched by The Friends, can be found on https://hoaroakcottage.org/Renwick and https://hoaroakcottage.org/Davidson and https://hoaroakcottage.org/Jackson
We hope to perhaps add the Murray family to this list in the future. For now – if anyone knows more about their story do, please, get in touch on info@clients.jacobstow.com
Thanks for research undertaken by Nicky Rowberry, Nora Solesbury, Jim Baldwin and Roger A Burton.
The historic environment record for Larkbarrow Farm can be found on https://www.exmoorher.co.uk/monument/MSO7018