The History of Margaret Catchpole, a Suffolk Girl

by Richard Cobbold

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Poems by Mrs. Elizabeth Cobbold, with a Memoir of the Author. Ipswich: Printed and sold by J. Raw in the Butter Market, 1825.

[2] The three most talked of books by Elizabeth Cobbold were:—The Mince Pye, an Heroic Epistle, humbly addressed to the Sovereign Dainty of a British Feast, by Caroline Petty Pasty, 1800. Cliff Valentines, 1813. An Ode to the Victory of Waterloo, 1815. The suggestion is made in the Dictionary of National Biography that she was descended on the mother’s side from Edmund Waller the poet, but this is exceedingly improbable.

[3] Dr. Spencer Cobbold, of Batheston, Somerset, a grandson of Richard Cobbold, and the son of T. Spencer Cobbold, M.D. (1828-1886), the distinguished helminthologist, who was the youngest F.R.S. of his day. He had made some original investigations concerning Entozoa, and was the author of many books on “Parasites" and kindred subjects.

[4] At the Tower Church. He lived at St. Margaret’s Green.

[5] Public Men of Ipswich and East Suffolk, by Richard Gowing. Ipswich: W. J. Scopes, 1875.

[6] The following books by Richard Cobbold are in the British Museum Library:—

Valentine Verses, or Lines of Truth, Love, and Virtue	1827
A Sermon on Matthew xiv	1829
The Spirit of the Litany of the Church of England. A Poem	1833
The History of Margaret Catchpole, a Suffolk Girl. 2 vols.	1845
Mary Anne Wellington. A Soldier’s Daughter, Wife and Widow. 3 vols.	1846
Zenon the Martyr. 3 vols.	1847
The Young Man’s Home, or The Penitent’s Return	1848
The Character of Woman. A Lecture	1848
A Voice from the Mount	1848
A Sermon on Genesis i. 3	1849
Conversations between J. Rye and Mr. Parr	1848
The Comforter, or Short Addresses from the Book of Job	1850
A Father’s Legacy. The Proverbs of Solomon in Prose and Verse	1850
Freston Tower, or The Early Days of Cardinal Wolsey. 3 vols.	1850
Courtland: a Novel. By the Daughter of Mary Anne Wellington. 3 vols.	1852
The Union Child’s Belief	1855
J. H. Steggall. A Real History of a Suffolk Man	1857
Canticles of Life	1858

[7] The Secretary of the Borough of Ipswich Museum and Free Library.

[8] The punishment of death for horse-stealing was abolished in 1832, but in 1833 a little boy of nine who pushed a stick through a cracked window and pulled out some painters’ colours worth twopence was sentenced to death. Since 1838 no person has been hanged in England for any offence other than murder. See Spencer Walpole’s History of England from the Conclusion of the Great War in 1815.

[9] The writer of these pages, one of the sons of that excellent woman, was born on the 9th of September following.

[10] All traces of Edward Catchpole having been lost, the author is obliged to Henry T. Bourne, Esq., of Alford, in Lincolnshire, for making known to him, since the publication of the work, the circumstances which are here briefly narrated.

Edward Catchpole went into Lincolnshire, and resided some time at Sutton-in-the-Marsh. He was always fond of the sea, and for some years became mate of the Argus revenue cutter. In this vessel, he was present at the rescue of an English coal brig, from the Star, French privateer; and having put men on board the brig, sufficient to carry her into port, he pursued the privateer, brought her to close quarters, and having only twenty-seven men on board the cutter, he was overpowered, and at ten o’clock at night compelled to surrender, as the privateer had eighty-six men against him.

This was on the 18th September, 1807. He was made prisoner, and having spent seven years in confinement, he made his escape, and reached home in safety.

He was afterwards appointed chief officer of the coastguard, at Sutton-in-the-Marsh, in the county of Lincoln. Though a very brave man, and a steady officer, he did not appear to have any very serious notions of religion, until he was compelled by a serious wound to keep at home. It was the blessing of God to him, and others, that this accident happened to him, for his mind appears to have been awakened to a deep sense of his past sins, and his soul very much aroused to inquiry, by the kindness of an excellent neighbour, who dressed his wounds for him, and did her best endeavours to pour in consolation upon his broken heart.

He became sensible of his need of a Saviour; and never after forsook the help he found in his necessity, but became useful and exemplary, and even the means, by the blessing of God, of saving others of his comrades and companions. He died on the 17th of December, 1836, after affording to all around him, a Christian example of patience under suffering affliction.

He was interred in the churchyard at Sutton, and a stone at the head of his grave contains the following inscription:—

IN MEMORY OF
EDWARD CATCHPOLE,
A NATIVE OF IPSWICH,
IN THE COUNTY OF SUFFOLK,
AND LATE CHIEF OFFICER OF THE
COASTGUARD
STATIONED AT THIS PLACE,
WHO DIED DECEMBER THE 17TH, 1836,
AGED 58 YEARS.

Sutton-in-the-Marsh, Jan. 1847.

[11] The specimens in question may be seen distinguished by a label attached to them with the following words:—

Manura Superba.
"Lyra, or Botany Bay Pheasant.

"These beautiful birds were sent to the late Mrs. Cobbold, of the Cliff, by Margaret Catchpole, a female servant, who stole a coach-horse from the late John Cobbold, Esq., and rode it up to London in one night. She was in the act of selling the horse when she was taken. She was in man’s apparel. She was tried at Bury in 1797, and received sentence of death, which sentence, owing to the entreaties of the prosecutor, was changed to seven years’ transportation; but breaking out of gaol, she was afterwards transported for life.

"Presented to this Museum by R. K. Cobbold, Esq.”

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:

The intent of the corrections listed below is to restore the text to the author’s intent, as best as that can be surmised. Usually, a space is left where a missing character should have appeared. Spelling varies and has been retained, with the exceptions noted below.

[p. 108]	[">[Why he has got”
[p. 150]	and be industrious[.]
[p. 171]	they treat me scurvily[?/!]
[p. 264]	Did you ever see a better shape[?]
[p. 310]	the escape of any prisoner from the g[oa/ao]l
[p. 415]	in order to [] my introduction: missing word
[p. 417]	and came over to England[,/.]
[p. 420]	Bishop[s'/'s]