POACHER WARS

The Coke bowler referred to by Roger Field [The poacher wars, December issue], for which Edward Coke paid 12 shillings after proving its worth by jumping on it twice on the pavement outside Lock & Co in St James’s, was worn not only by keepers. It was adopted in the hunting field, where top hats were often swept off by wind and low branches, and also made its way to the Wild West, where cowboys, outlaws and lawmen found it stayed on at the gallop rather better than Hollywood’s 10-gallon hats.

The poacher wars were indeed violent. After two keepers were killed on the Stocks estate near Tring in 1891, two poachers were hanged and a third sentenced to 20 years’ hard labour. The case was

turned into a novel, Marcella, by Mary Humphry Ward, who had pleaded for the accused in court.

And at Margam Castle near Port Talbot, the ghost of Robert Scott, a keeper shot by a poacher in 1898, is said to ascend the staircase, slam doors and rage round the grounds throwing rocks. Carrying only a stout stick and challenging local bully and army deserter Joseph Lewis, he had taken both barrels. Within days Lewis was heard boasting in the pub and was arrested. He was hanged in Swansea prison on 30 August, and 3,000 people gathered outside to greet the black flag that announced the execution, a measure of respect for the murdered Scott.

Ian Morton Highworth, Wiltshire