Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/318

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. x. OCT. 17, m*.

" The lady who has got it into her head that she is the rightful owner of the forfeited Derwent- water estates, and whose conduct a few months since attracted general attention, has again made her appearance at Dilston, near Newcastle, and taken possession of a cottage. It is expected she will be ejected, but she may do as she did before, and pitch her tent on the high road." The Times, 11 May, 1869, p. 11, col. 5.

" Amelia Ratclif/c, Appellant, v. Patiinson, Respondent.

" This was a most extraordinary case. It was an appeal by Miss Katcliffe, a lady claiming to be a descendant of the unfortunate Katcliffe, Earl of Derwentwater, who was executed for treason in the reign of George II. (for participation in the Scotch rebellion), against her conviction by magistrates for trespass on the highway in her assertion of her alleged right to his estates, which had been forfeited to the Crown, and granted to Greenwich Hospital. She had taken possession of Dilston Castle, an old castle which had formed part of the estates of Derwentwater, and, being expelled, she had ' pitched her tent,' so to speak, in the road opposite the castle, having raised a kind of wooden hut on the side of the road. For this she was convicted as for a trespass, and she had appealed.

" Mr. Mellish (with him Mr. Kemplay) argued for the lady, the appellant.

" Mr. Manisty and Mr. Forbes were for the respondent.

" After a brief hearing,

" The Court affirmed the conviction." The Times, 31 May, 1869, p. 11, col. 2.

" The ' Countess of Denoentwater ' Again.

" As Mr. C. G. Grey, of Dilston, the receiver of the Greenwich Hospital rents at Haydon Bridge, was being paid by the tenants at the" Anchor Inn, on Wednesday, the Countess of Derwentwater marched into the room at the head of a number of her ' retainers.' She was richly apparelled, and wore a massive gold chain round her neck, and had a sword suspended by her side. Being there to represent the Barony of Langley, her ' ladyship ' sat down upon the sofa and told Mr. Grey that he had no right to receive the rents of her tenants, as her advertisement had now become law by not being contradicted. Mr. Grey very shortly had her ' ladyship's ' attendants expelled leaving her by herself, when she was seized by Mr. Goodrich and Mr. Glover, Mr. Grey telling them to put her out also. When they seized her by the body and by the arms she took hold of the hilt of her sword, intending to take it out to defend herself, but it was caught hold of by Mr. Glover, Mr. Havelock, and others, and broken in two it never having been out of the scabbard. In the melee the ' Countess ' was struck severely on the shoulder. She was forced out of the room, and then retired to another room upstairs, followed by Mr. Hunter, her acting bailiff. Mr. Havelock and Mr. Cowling (Mr. Grey's groom) then followed her, accompanied by Mr. Grey, when the ' Coun- tess ' asserts Mr. Grey said, ' Now, you are brave men, come and help me to push her down stairs.' Mr. Grey denies that he made use of such an expression, but states that after the ' Countess's ' sword was broken she took up a huge stick and

struck him very severely several times over the knuckles with it. They then forcibly removed her from the room, and pushed her down the stairs, which caused her to fall against the table at the bottom, hurting her very much. Her ' ladyship ' afterwards went into the room which she had engaged for herself, when Mr. C. W. Thomson, Dilston Haugh, and others, together with Police-constable Hall, the constable stationed in the village, followed her. Efforts were made to turn her out, and Mr. Thomson (the ' Countess ' stated) made use of insulting language towards her, but she quietly replied that she was above his sneers, adding that they could not put her out of that room, she having previously engaged it. The ' Countess ' left about half-past five o'clock in her carriage, and as she drove away from the Anchor Inn her departure was greeted with cheers by the concourse of people that had assembled in front of the inn." The Echo, 19 Nov., 1869, p. 3, col. 2.

The Countess was adjudicated bankrupt 24 March, 1871. From 25 Nov., 1872, until July, 1873, she was imprisoned in Newcastle Gaol for contempt of court. In 1874 she made a raid on the Whittonstall estates, and had to pay heavy damages. She died of bronchitis at 53, Cutlers Hall Road, Ben- fieldside, Lanchester, near Durham, 26 Feb., 1880, aged 49 (according to her coffin -plate). She is buried at Blackball Cemetery, co. Dur- ham. In March, 1 870, and again in May, 1 871, her " heirlooms " had been sold at Newcastle, including several copies of a lithographed pedigree which showed ' The Title of Lady Amelia to the Derwentwater Estates.' The result of the latter auction was 275?., though the effects had been valued by the lady herself at 200,0002.

Bibliography : ' A Complete Account of the Claims of the Countess Amelia Matilda Mary Tudor Radcliffe to the Estates of Derwentwater,' printed by Fordyce, New- castle, 1868. ' Jottings of Original Matter from the Diary of Amelia, Countess and Heiress of Darwentwater, and from the Journal of John, 4th Earl of Darwentwater/ London, 1869. ' The Countess of Darwent- water's Appeal to the Sheriff of Newcastle,' Observer offices, Gateshead-on-Tyne, 1873, pp. 16. ' The Heirs of Dilston and Derwent- water,' by S. S. Jones, 1869. Gillow's ' English Catholics,' vol. ii. pp. 49-50. A very interesting account of this famous case is given in The Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore, April and May, 1888 (with portrait). A. G. Bradley's ' Romance of Northumberland,' pp. 193-9, has a specially good account given to Mr. Bradley, I believe, by Mr. Grey, the agent for the Greenwich estates. Tomlin- son's ' Guide to Northumberland,' pp. 126-7, also is useful. Mr. H. H. E. Craster's