"The Curate and the Farmer's Boy"

The ancient church of St. Mary the Virgin in the Wiltshire village of Winterbourne Gunner is "delightfully situated" on the east bank of the River Bourne. A Victorian visitor described it as a beautiful church, "if only in its simplicity." It was there in 1887, that a new curate arrived, the Rev Robert Alexander Morgan, just ordained at Durham. The rectory was very near the church, but over a footbridge to the west bank of the river, opposite Manor Farm, where lived John Blake Sutton and his large family. 

It was a small village and, for some reason, the curate and the farmer did not mesh. On a summer's evening that August, the Rev. Morgan was returning from the Post Office along the "public road" when someone threw a stone over a hedge nearly hitting him. The curate scrambled up an embankment and chased down three little boys: 8-year old Charles Sutton, his brother Albert (there were seven Suttons) and William Hill. Who threw the stone, the curate demanded? William grassed, "Charlie, you better tell the truth." Charlie admitted he was the guilty party. 

The next day, the Rev Morgan wrote an extraordinary letter that was soon published in hundreds of newspapers. 

"Dear Sir (he addressed it to Mr. Sutton) As I passed up the road yesterday evening, a stone was thrown over the hedge at me by one of your boys. I shall not tolerate such conduct, and after the demonstration of your own profound ignorance and want of breeding on last Saturday, I have decided that if you will not teach your boys better manners, I shall."

Morgan demanded an apology within seven days or he would instruct his counsel to bring a case to the magistrates.

"You should bear in mind,' his letter continued, 'that there is a great gulf between your position and mine and if you do not teach your children how to conduct themselves properly, you must, like other parents similarly situated, take the consequences."  

No apology was forthcoming and, on 23 August, the remarkable assault case was heard in Salisbury, just a stone's throw away. (Sorry) The Rev. Morgan recounted his experience of the evening of 9 August. He narrowly escaped serious injury. He was able to capture his assailants and "the defendant" admitted being the perpetrator of the deed. Asked to explain his letter to the boy's father, Morgan said it was "no stronger than what Mr. Sutton deserved." 

William Hill, one of "the Winterbourne Gunner Three" was called. He admitted seeing Charlie throw the stone but he wasn't throwing it at anyone. Boys throwing stones, it was, nothing more, swore young William. The magistrates agreed and dismissed the charges. By way of chastening Mr. Morgan for his feelings of superiority, the curate was ordered to pay farmer Sutton's solicitor's bill of £1, 1s.

The story of "The Curate and the Farmer's Boy" was in  papers across Britain, and the curate's "singular letter" much commented upon. The verdict was generally approved although it was hoped that "this early visit to the magistrates will not turn Master Charles into a hardened offender, and that he will, in future, be careful to look before he throws stones." 

The Rev. Morgan remained in the Bourne Valley for another year or so before emigrating to Australia.