Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/133

. v. FEB. io, 1906.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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officials, ^and followed by all the riff-raff of St. John's and its environs," he was ordered to find bail for his appearance at the next sessions, the amount of his recognizances being 5,0001. This substantial sum did not, however prevent him from again breaking his bond, for having drawn bills to the amount of his recognizances, so as to protect his sureties from loss (to his credit be it said), he proceeded on board his ship and quitted Antigua.

In one of the old record books kept in the Court House at St. John's occurs an entry of the indictment presented against the Right Hon. Thomas Pitt, Lord Camelford, Baron of Boconnoc in the county of Cornwall, and James Brown, in the old Court of King's Bench and Grand Sessions of the Peace held for the island of Antigua at St. John's on 25 Sept., 1798, for conspiring to assault and assaulting George "Kittoe," Esquire. A true bill having been found by the grand jury, and neither of the accused appearing when "called out," "their proctor," Mr. Horsford, stated that they were absent on the king's service, and the indictment was ordered to be " continued over" to the next sessions. A later entry in the same volume shows that the case was proceeded with on 25 March, 1799, when, as neither of the de- fendants appeared when "called out," their recognizances were, on the motion of Mr. Burke, H.M.'s Solicitor-General, ordered to be estreated, those of Lord Camelford being himself in 3.000J. and two sureties in 1.500J. Those for Brown were 200J. and 100J. re- spectively.

Of course Lord Camelford was tried by court-martial for killing Lieut. Peterson. An account of the matter appears in * The Annual Register' for 1798, on p. 10 of the 'Chronicle' section. A letter received from Antigua is there printed, containing par- ticulars very similar to those given by Mrs. Lanaghan in her book, but adding that during the dispute a dozen of Peterson's men from the Perdrix had come up armed, and that Lord Camelford had brought up half as many of his marines. It further stated that Lord Camelford gave himself up as a prisoner to Capt. Neatson, of the Beaver sloop of war, in which ship he was carried to the admiral in Fort Royal Bay, and there tried and acquitted. Two of Peterson's brothers were stated to be in Antigua, collecting evidence for the purpose of seeing what could be done against Lord Camelford in a civil court of justice. The coroner's inquest on Mr. Peterson brought in a verdict of " Lost his life in a mutiny."

Fort Royal Bay was in Martinique, which had then been captured from the French, and the sentence of the court-martial fully bore out Lord Camelford's action and the verdict of the coroner's jury. It stated that it was

" unanimously of opinion that the very extra- ordinary and manifest disobedience of Lieut. Peterson, both before at the instant of his death, to the lawful orders of Lord Camelford, the senior officer at English Harbour at that time, and the violent measures taken by Lieut. Peterson to re- sist the same by arming the Perdrix's ship com- pany, were acts of mutiny highly injurious to the discipline of his Majesty's service. The Court do therefore unanimously adjudge that the Right Honourable Lord Camelford be honourably ac- quitted, and he is hereby unanimously and honour- ably acquitted accordingly."

What Lord Camelford's ultimate fate was ? is, I believe, doubtful. I have seen it stated somewhere that he was killed in a duel in Barbados; but I have been recently informed by the Hon. A. W. Holmes A'Court, who now fills Mr. Kitto's place, that Lord Camelford, who had gone to Switzerland, was followed thither by a brother of Peterson's, who, having picked a quarrel with him, shot him in a duel. By a curious coincidence Mr. A'Court tells me that on a recent visit to Bermuda he saw in a local paper an adver- tisement or notice asking for information relative to the burial-place of Lord Camel- ford.

Mr. A'Court, who has recently retired from the office of Superintendent of Public Works in Antigua, should feel quite at home- in charge of this fine old naval yard, for he- is the great-nephew of that Admiral A'Court younger brother of the first Lord Heytes- bury who as a midshipman of H.M.S. Blanche cruising off St. Domingo in Novem- ber, 1803, earned great distinction for him- self by cutting out (assisted only by seven seamen and one marine) a French armed schooner lying becalmed, having on board half a dozen guns and forty soldiers besides, her crew ; but, notwithstanding the odds against him, A'Court carried the schooner in triumph to the Blanche. This almost in- credible story is well told in a recent number of The Windsor Magazine t and shows what kind of spirit actuated British seamen in the days of the great hero the centenary of whose death has just been celebrated all over the world. J. S. UDAL, F.S.A.

Antigua, W.I.

GUINEAS. All the lexicographers appear to agree that guinea the name of the gold coin, first coined in England in 16G3 is. derived from the place-name Guinea, the