Errol F I Roberts

Thomas Post - the

shepherd poet of Wye

 Thomas Post - the shepherd poet of Wye

Thomas Post, aged 83 taken from his book of poems published by The Kentish Express in 1903

An Introduction to the man, his life and poetry

In Wye, we are fond of restating the obvious fact that we live in a very beautiful part of England. You will also probably know that we are very proud of
the associations with education. It is not surprising therefore that Wye attracts people with, for want of a better word, an artistic bent. Aphra Benn, in
the 17th century, is often identified as both a (temporary) resident and an early female writer of plays and essays. More recently we were lucky to have
the late Pat McNeill, a consummate story-teller whose tales of her early life were frequently accompanied by her own sketches. Today we have Robert
Graham, whose poems have focused on the immediate and current Wye environment. These are but a few of the talents we know and we must
apologise for acknowledged omissions for the sake of getting on with our immediate task.

Poetry has not always been the preserve of the affluent with time to spare. In the United Kingdom, John Clare was recognised, during his lifetime, as a
peasant or farmer poet. Clare was born in 1793, just after the French Revolution, into a poor Norfolk family. His father was a jobbing labourer whose
income was both small and infrequent. John received some formal education up to the age of ten when he too was set to work on the land. He was a
very inquisitive child and loved the fenland with its great skies and the intimate natural life in the marshland. He managed to collect a few coins to
purchase a poetry book and immediately he had finished it started to write his own poetry. Amazingly he became famous in his lifetime, even
frequenting the London publishing houses and engaging in correspondence with the literati of the time. Unfortunately he spent the last twenty-odd
years in a mental asylum, though he continued to write and his poems were collected by his warder and friend. I am glad to say that he is remembered
in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey.

But we too, in Wye, have our own working-class poet, Thomas Post. I prefer to call him a ‘shepherd poet’ because that was he was, for most of his life,
just that – a shepherd. He first came to my attention when I was investigating our local churchyard and some of the nineteenth century paintings of the
charnel house, then in the corner of the churchyard. We noted that it was common for sheep to be grazed in the cemetery and that in one picture there
was confirmation of this fact. A local diarist (Ben Gallaway) wrote,

“On Monday mornings if you took notice you would have seen a venerable old gentleman in a smock driving a flock of
sheep into the Churchyard to feed and keep the grass down, they were duly taken out on Saturdays so as not to impede
the progress of the worshippers to Church.”

photograph of the elderly poet as well as a short biography. We think that it is important to re-instate that biography along
with some other facts about his life and time in Wye.
 Wye Churchyard from Wye College buildings (C. Jeyns,
August 1884) note the sheep grazing in the churchyard
(Thanks to the late Dorothy Colter for allowing this
photograph of the original painting)

The Post family had been residents in Kent since the Middle Ages. In the Canterbury marriage records there are two licences
issued for a John Post and two for a Thomas Post between 1619 and 1643; resident in Hinxhill, Newchurch, Pluckley and
Marden! It appears that the family sojourned in Canterbury as well as villages bordering Romney Marsh. Like many old
families there is a repetition of forenames and Thomas’ father – William Post – carried that name as, subsequently did Thomas’
son. William Post, Thomas’ father married his mother, Elizabeth Mary Mercer, in Aldington on June 6th 1816. There were two
witnesses to their wedding – Martha Quested and Cephas Quested. The latter was almost certainly the leader of a band of
smugglers - the Aldington Gang, also known as the South Kents or Blues (from the colour of the smocks or clothing they
usually wore) 1. It is a fact that soldiers and seamen once discharged from the forces were often in dire economic
circumstances. Unsurprisingly, a life of crime was a risk that was worth taking and, along the south coast, smuggling was
regarded almost as an opportunity. Clearly, in 1816 Cephas and his wife were regarded as suitable witnesses in church, indeed,
the records show that Cephas had held the rank of Captain but, in 1821, just three years after Thomas was born and five years

1 This was probably the last major gang of smugglers in Kent. It was centred on the hamlet of Aldington and operated along the coast between

Rye and Deal, making good use of the Romney Marsh for transporting smuggled goods inland. The gang was probably formed sometime prior
to 1820, when men returning from the Napoleonic Wars turned to smuggling as a way of making money in an otherwise depressed employment
market. The core of the gang comprised some twenty or so close associates who were deployed as fighting parties to protect those carrying tubs
of contraband goods from the boats across the beaches and into the marshes. They were armed with firearms and long ash staves or ‘batts’ and
they received twenty shillings each a night for their dangerous work. The rest of the gang, upwards of eighty locals, received about seven shillings
a night to carry the tubs from the beach to carts waiting inshore. Cephas Quested is thought by some to have been the gang’s leader in its early
days, with George Ransley taking on that role from about 1822. In February 1821 a group of Blockade Men came across 200 smugglers at
Camber Sands. The gang managed to unload their goods but were chased by the blockade force across the marsh to Brookland. Five men died
and more than twenty were wounded in the ensuing ‘Battle of Brookland’. During the battle, Cephas Quested approached a midshipman,
mistaking him for a member of the gang, and handed him a musket telling him to ‘blow an officer’s brains out’. The midshipman took the musket,
turned it on Quested and arrested him. Quested was hanged on 4 July 1821, having refused to betray his colleagues by turning King’s Evidence.
Soon after, George Ransley appears as the gang’s leader. At this time, the gang’s headquarters were at the Walnut Tree Inn (which continues to
serve the local bitter to Aldington’s inhabitants today.
after the wedding ceremony, Cephas was arrested during a smuggling confrontation with excise men. He was taken to London
to be tried, found guilty and hanged on July 4th 1821.

Thomas Post was born in 1818 in Aldington and, sometime in his mature years, he made his way to Wye and to further
employment, probably as a shepherd. In 1841 (UK Census) Thomas was living at home , in Church Street, with his parents,
William and Elizabeth, his brother Edward (25) and sister, Elenor (15). His father was identified as an agricultural labourer. In
the 1891 UK Census he and his wife, Susannah, are living just outside Wye in the hamlet of Withersdane. Their house is, in
fact identified as 'The Post House' - an eponymous name for the dwelling of the Posts and certainly not a Post-Office. We
believe that this house was at the most southerly end of Withersdane close by a path that ran to The Hermitage. By this time he
occupies the position of Farm Bailiff, a more important role than a simple shepherd.

But, in the 1901 UK Census, Thomas, now 82 and classified as a 'General Labourer' were living at 71 Bridge Street. The
accompanying photograph shows the exterior of the cottages (now combined to form one unit (70-73)). It is easy to imagine
the rather cramped living conditions where the Posts and their niece lived. In the house along with the niece, Sarah Urben, an
unmarried woman of 37 was a little girl, Marion Reid. The niece hailed from Kensington (London) and the child was from
Hastings (Sussex). In the UK Census there are frequent references to 'nurse child'. This appellation was associated with a
practice quite common in Victorian England but, thankfully, now abolished. When, for some reason, a parent, often a single
mother, found it impossible to maintain herself and her child she might find foster parents willing to take charge of an infant's
upbringing. Often this involved a financial arrangement and was frequently the source of much abuse. We have no indication
of the financial arrangements in place for little Marion but we do have evidence of an earlier contract. The arrangement is
interesting because, in 1898 the Posts, just three years earlier, were called as witnesses in an alleged case of infanticide!

71-73 Bridge Street, Wye - home of the posts in 1901

Nick Billingham tells this story in his book "Stratford Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths" (2006). In Chapter 9 Billingham
tells the details of what he calls the The Drybank Farm Murder, although, truth be told, the indictment for murder was not
proven. From the details reported in the press from The Assizes, Midland Circuit (March 14th 1898 ) at Warwick, on Thursday,
Friday, and Saturday, before the Lord Chief Justice, we gather the following:

Elizabeth Brandish 34, a trained nurse, was charged with the wilful murder of Rees Thomas Brandish, a
child, between two and three years of age. Mr. Dugdale, QC., and Mr. Russell Griffiths were for the
prosecution: and Mr. Hugo Young and Mr. Robert Noble for the defence. It appeared that in September, 1895,
the prisoner bought a child, nine week child, to the house of a Mrs Post, at Wye, Kent. She said that her name
was Edwards, and that the child was hers and it was agreed that Mrs Post shouId keep the child in return for
a payment of 5s. per week. The child remained with Mrs Post until September, 1897. When the prisoner
returned and expressed the intention of taking the little boy with her and leaving it with her own relatives in
Warwickshire. Accordingly, on September 10 the prisoner and the child left Wye for Charing Cross, Mrs.
Post's niece accompanying them to Ashford. Their luggage consisted of a parcel and an empty tin bonnet-box,
which the prisoner had bought in Ashford. About 5 o'clock in afternoon of that day the prisoner was brought
to the Albany Street Police-station in London with the child and the bonnet-box. She was in a helpless
condition, and said that she had taken some brandy at Euston which was too strong for her. After she had
recovered herself the sergeant and the police matron, at her request, saw her off to Bletchley, where she and
 the child spent the night at the Railway Hotel. The next day she arrived from Bletchley at Towcester, on her
way to Stratford-on-Avon. She had to wait there nearly two hours for a train, and the child seemed fretful she
changed her third-class ticket for a second-class, saying that the child would be troublesome to other
passengers and she and the child with the bonnet-box left Towcester by the 7:10 train for Stratford-on-Avon.
They were alone in the compartment and were noticed by the guard at the first station. The train stopped at
every station, and at one of them the guard observed that the curtains were drawn across the carriage
windows. At Ettington, the station before Stratford-on-Avon, the prisoner alighted. She was alone and seemed
flurried, and had, in addition to the bonnet-box, which, by its weight, appeared to be empty, a large bundle
under her cloak. The guard, who had forgotten the existence of the child, looked into the carriage to see if she
had dropped anything out of her bundle, as it seemed loosely done up. He now swore that there was no sign of
the child at Ettington. She left the station carrying the box in one hand and the bundle, which seemed heavy,
under the other arm. Later she hailed a carrier on the road it was then dark - and asked him to take her to
Drybank Farm, which he did. She was then carrying a small parcel and the bonnet-box, which was very
heavy. On arriving at Drybank Farm the prisoner carried the box and parcel up to her bed-room. On
September 13 she packed a large box which belonged to her and which she had left at Drybank. Her sister-in-
law noticed that she put the bonnet-box which she had brought with her on the 11th inside the large box, and
took it away with her. She then went by rail to Clent, where she usually lodged, taking her large box with her.
On September 16 she returned to Drybank, bringing the large box, and stayed till September 18. The large
box during this visit remained on the ground floor in a room opening into the garden, as she said she would
not want anything out of it. On the 18th she returned to Clent, taking the large box with her. It was noticed
both at Drybank and at Clent that the large box was much lighter on the 18th than it had been on the 13th and
16th. During this time she had written to the Posts saying that the child was well and happy. But something
having aroused their suspicions, they made inquiries, and found that no child had arrived at Ettington. The
police were communicated with, and on October 22 the prisoner told Police-Sergeant Narramore, to whom
she was engaged to be married, that she had had an illegitimate chid in 1895, and that she had, while on her
holiday in September, taken it from Ashford and given it at Towcester to a woman who had promised to adopt
it, but that she had not got the woman's name and address. She also gave Narramore the bonnet-box and
asked him to paint the inside of it for her. He did so, and noticed that the inside was rusty and seemed to have
been scrubbed with soda and water. The prisoner was arrested on November 9. On November 13 the body of
a child was found buried in the garden at Drybank Farm It was perfectly naked, and was doubled up, and had
been surrounded with quicklime. When the prisoner was told of the discovery of the body she telegraphed
from the gaol to the police at Ettington :-" My brother or wife know nothing. 'Will make statement." In age,
sex, size, number and position of teeth, and colour and texture of hair the body found resembled the prisoner's
child, but owing to the action of the lime the features were obliterated, and there was no means of exact
identification. It appeared to have been buried about two months. There were signs of pressure on the front of
the neck and chest, from which the medical men formed the opinion that the cause of death was suffocation.
Dr. Stevenson, of Guy's Hospital, however, who was called as an expert witness for the prosecution, admitted
that these signs might have been caused after death. For the defence it was contended that there was no
sufficient evidence of the identity of the body or of the cause of death to enable the jury to form a conclusion
whether the body was that of the prisoner's child or whether, if so, it had met with a violent death. It was also
urged that it was unlikely that the prisoner, if she had intended to murder the child, would have chosen such a
time and place for so doing, and that the story was consistent either with the natural death of the child on the
journey and the concealment of its body by the prisoner, or with the prisoner's own story that she had handed
over the child to a woman to be adopted by her. The Lord Chief Justice summed up on Saturday, and the jury
disagreed as to their verdict. They were accordingly discharged.
Then, at a retrial later in the year and reported in The Times of July 30th 1898 for The Midland Circuit Assizes we read;
At Warwick, before Mr. Justice Darling, the hearing of the case against Elizabeth Brandish, who Was charged
with the wilful murder of Rees Thomas Brandish, a child between two and three years of age, under
circumstances already reported, was begun on Tuesday and concluded on Thursday. Mr. Dugdale, Q.C., and
Mr. Russell Griffith were counsel for the prosecution; and Mr. Hugo Young, Q.C., and Mr. Robert Noble
counsel for the prisoner. The evidence showed that in September, 1895, the prisoner brought a nine weeks old
child to the house of a Mrs. Post at Wye, in Kent. 'The child was left in Mrs. Post's charge in return for a
payment of 5s. a Week. In September, 1897, the prisoner returned to Wye, and on the 10th of that month took
away the child, ostensibly to place it with her own relatives in Warwickshire. Mrs. Post's niece accompanied
them to Ashford, en route to London, and their luggage was only a parcel and an empty tin bonnet box bought
by Brandish in Ashford. 'The child was with the prisoner at Towcester, but at Ettington, the last station before
Stratford-on- Avon, she was alone, seemed disturbed in manner, and had besides the bonnet box, which
weighed like an empty one, a large bundle under her cloak. After reaching her brother's farm she wrote to the
Posts, in accordance with a promise, saying that the child was well and happy. Their suspicions were,
however, aroused. They found that no child had arrived at Ettington, and the police were communicated with.
Brandish was arrested on November 9, and four days later the body of a child was found buried among some
 rows of kidney beans in the garden of her brother's farm. It was naked and doubled up, and had been buried
18ins deep in quicklime. The prisoner, on being told of this, wired from gaol to the police at Ettington, " My
brother or wife know nothing. Will make statement." No statement was made. In age, sex, size, number and
position of teeth, and colour and texture of hair the body found resembled that of prisoner's child, but the
features were destroyed by the lime and exact identification could not be sworn to. The body might well have
been buried about two months. There were signs of pressure on the front of the neck and chest, but none
anywhere else, and these were said by the medical men to point to death by suffocation. Dr. Stevenson, of
Guy's Hospital, who was called as an expert witness by the Crown, admitted that these signs might have been
caused after death by pressure, or be due to post mortem changes. For the defence Mr. Hugo Young pointed
out that the evidence of the prosecution was inconclusive, both as to the identity of the body with that of the
prisoner's little son, and as to its having come to a violent end, and he specially urged upon the jury that if
they were satisfied that the body was that of Rees Brandish, and that he was alive when the train left
Towcester, it was yet quite reasonable to consider that he had died naturally in a paroxysm of coughing, and
was when dead concealed and disposed of by the prisoner. Such an hypothesis was consistent both with the
previous and the subsequent conduct of the prisoner, who, finding herself alone with the dead child, might
well be driven to the folly of concealment by the fear of being charged with injuring it and by the hope of
hiding her shame and its consequences from the respectable man she wished to marry. This explanation was
the only safe one to adopt in face of the refusal of the medical witnesses to swear to death by violence. His
Lordship having summed up at considerable length, the jury retired and, after an absence of an hour and fifty
minutes, returned into court with a verdict of Not Guilty. The prisoner was therefore discharged.
Several years ago, a contemporary journalist and author contacted me asking after details of the Post family. Clearly there is no
question of any complicity either of the Posts nor of Sarah Urben, their niece, in this tragic tale but there are historical
questions. It appears that Elizabeth Brandish, before turning up at Wye to collect her child, went to Dover, apparently in the
hope of taking a packet boat to France or Belgium. She possibly stayed in rooms made available by The Methodist
Congregation but, despite our inquiries (through Rev. John Mackie, a Methodist minister living in Wye), we were not able to
confirm this. The terrible consequences of having birthed a child out of wedlock is an indictment of Victorian values when the
woman's virtue was able to be destroyed and the father appears to have disappeared, leaving women, like Elizabeth to bear the
attribution of guilt even sin. http://www.criminalhistorian.com/death-at-drybank-the-murder-of-rees-brandish/

On a much lighter note, Thomas and his relatives in Aldington were enthusiastic bell-ringers and in The Bellringers News and
Ringers of Saturday, March 8, 1884 an article on the Aldington Church bells appeared in which Thomas and his son, William,
were identified as being very effective and proficient bellringers. Indeed, Thomas had participated in several record-making
peals. The article identifies on the fifth of six tablets in the bell-tower at Aldington, the following reference;
Fifth Tablet.— “ On Easter Monday, March 29th, 1880. Three True and Complete Peals were rung in this tower, viz. : 720
Kent Treble Bob, 720 Oxford Treble Bob, 720 Plain Bob. 28 minutes each peal. Ringers : Charles Slingsby, Treble; Thomas
Post, 2 ; William Hyder, 3 ; Frederick Slingsby, 4 ; Edward Hyder (conductor), 5 ; William Post, Tenor.”

In 1903 the most important aspect of Thomas' life for us was the publication of his book of poems and the foregoing notes give
some idea of the man and the sources of his inspiration for his poetry. He appears to have enjoyed a long and devoted
association with the church, he had work that carried him from place to place across a rich and interesting countryside. He was
a family man who enjoyed the pleasures and rewards of a happy and stable family life. Finally he integrated himself into both
his original village - Aldington - as well as his new home in Wye. Not surprisingly, then, he writes about these things - his
faith, his loyalty and his love of the seasons and the countryside.
The editor of The Kentish Express in 1899 was Charles Igglesden who was an ardent recorder of much local history and
characterised Kent in a series of famous sketches. He wrote this praiseworthy Preface to Thomas Post's book of poems:

It was on a cold December day of 1899 that I first saw Thomas Post. As Editor of the Kentish Express I had
instituted a War Fund for the benefit of the sufferers by the Anglo-Boer War, and one day an old gentleman-
one of Nature's true gentlemen-walked into my office. He had trudged into Ashford from the village of Wye, a
distance of four miles. Old and weather-beaten he looked, and the stick he carried scarcely sufficed to keep
him upright. But though storm and rain and hard outdoor work had made havoc with his frame, a glance at
his sparkling, though deep-set, eyes proved that his intelligence was in no way dimmed. And when he spoke it
was equally apparent that his mind was as clear as minds of men half his age. For he had then lived over
four-score years. "I have come," said he, "to see if I can help your War Fund. I have no money, but everyone
should do his little bit. I wish to help if you will only let me." Then from his capacious pocket he drew the
scroll of manuscript. "There," said he, his eyes glistening with pardonable pride, "I wrote these lines myself. I
should like to sell them and give the money to the soldiers' widows and orphans." The offer was accepted, the
poem was printed, and this good-hearted old fellow tramped the country far and near, and gave the entire
proceeds of the sale of his verses to the War Fund. They will be found in this volume under the title of "When
Briton fought Boer."
 Since that. December day in 1899, I have seen Thomas Post on many occasions, and he's always the
same-profoundly grateful for the least kindness, honest to the back-bone, strong in his faith, content with
his present life and hopeful of the future. He is entirely self-educated, and after spending a few years in the
Army, became a shepherd. Rhyming has come naturally to him-a gift which in a highly-educated man might
have led to the loftiest steps of the ladder of fame. But for the alteration of a word here and there, the verses
in the volume are left just as he wrote them - crude, but strangely flavoured with the intense earnestness that
characterises their author. The manuscript was written in capital letters only, as these are the only letters
he understands.
In conclusion, I might add that Thomas Post is a famous old bellringer, having rung peals in fifty-three
different churches in Kent during the past seventy years. Even as a child he had a marked predilection for
bells, and he tells of the days of his boyhood when lie produced his first chimes on tome old scythes he had
found in an outbuilding at home. The most notable event of his career was the establishment of a ringing
record for East Kent in May 1846. This took place at St. Leonard's Tower, Hythe, where 13,440 changes were
rung in seven hours fifty-five minutes. The chiming was commenced at eight o'clock in the morning, and the
ringers kept steadily on for just upon eight hours without rest or refreshment.
It is to be hoped that some benefit from the sale of this book may be reaped by this sturdy old Man of Kent.
CHARLES IGGLESDEN.
Ashford, December 31st, 1902.
So how might Thomas Post compare, in style, quality and sensitivity for the subject with the much more
renowned John Clare? Firstly, I would like to show a poem of each poet that celebrates springtime.

THE TIME IS COME

The time is come, the month of May,

The little lambs they run and play,
The time is come, it is the spring,
The time is come and birds do sing.

In the fields we see the flowers,

And then they come, the happy hours,
The sun it shines and shines more bright,
And then it comes, our heart's delight.

The time is come, the month of June,

The time is come to be in tune,
In the fields we see the grass,
The time is come, it grows so fast.

The time is come, it is July,

The time is come for all to try;
The time is come, so hot we say,
The time is come, to hay boys, hay!

The time is come, the Sabbath day.

The time is come to watch and pray,
The time is come, the church bells call
To praise the Lord, yes, one and all.

The time is come, I must confess,

The time is come we all want rest.

Thomas Post
Collected Poems (1903)

FROM 'APRIL'

I
NOW infant April joins the Spring,
And views the watery sky,
 As youngling linnet tries its wing,
And fears at first to fly;
With timid step she ventures on,
And hardly dares to smile,
Till blossoms open one by one,
And sunny hours beguile.

II
But finer days are coming yet,
With scenes more sweet to charm,
And suns arrive that rise and set
Bright strangers to a storm:
Then, as the birds with louder song
Each morning's glory cheer,
With bolder step she speeds along,
And loses all her fear.

III
In wanton gambols, like a child,
She tends her early toils,
And seeks the buds along the wild,
That blossoms while she smiles;
Or, laughing on, with nought to chide,
She races with the Hours,
Or sports by Nature's lovely side,
And fills her lap with flowers...

John Clare
The Shepherd's Calendar (1827)

I am sure that you will enjoy the picture these poems paint of the countryside of your grand- and great-grand
parents in Wye and of a typical rural community in Victorian England. The sentiments that are expressed may
now seem strange - where has the simple Christian values and sentiments gone, where also the pride in King
and country? However, for our interest, it is the collection of poems that are exciting because they, like the
description given above, speak to us across more than a century in the language of the (not-so) common man.
Now, in the company of John Clare we can take another look at some of Thomas Post’s poetry. His poetry is
not so erudite as Clare’s, whose own poetry was not as filled with neo-classical attributions as Keats’, who,
incidentally, was also born a poor Cockney, but it does show a close perception of contemporary Wye and its
nature. We make no apology to add this piece about Thomas because it is, perhaps, for too long that such
working poets have been neglected and with that neglect the contribution they made to our heritage.

Sad to tell, there is no record of his burial in Wye. His son, William, is buried in Aldington and it is not
unlikely that he and his wife are interred there too, unfortunately, access to the the church records for Thomas
and his family in Aldington have not been easy to come by. In addition, it is quite likely that the Post family
were Methodists and may be interred elsewhere than in the Parish of Wye and Hinxhill.

The following Images of Thomas Post's published poems. My thanks to Mr. Ian Cooling for allowing
me to copy this.