258
NOTES * AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vm. SEPT. 28, 1901.
mendacity, has, in his page on the alleged
capture of the Dutch fleet by cavalry, himself
fallen into this same mistake of place ; he
states that the fleet was
yards off Amsterdam."
lying one hundred
- j-.i.j~"' _ -|
One French historian has related the sur- render of the fleet truly : * La Revolution Francaise en Hollande' (Paris, 1895) is anony- mous, but I understand that this excellent work is by M. Legrand, formerly ambassador at the Hague. Most of the original docu- ments are given or quoted in Capt. I . de Bas s 4 De overgave van de Bataafsche vloot in 1795.' EDWARD NICHOLSON.
1, Huskisson Street, Liverpool.
THE TURVIN COINERS.
ON the border hills of Yorkshire there is
a district between Halifax and Manchester
which has been known from time immemorial
as Turvin. It is part of the beautiful Cragg
Vale, through which runs a great highroad
leading over Blackstone-edge to Littleborough.
To-day it is fairly well inhabited, possessing
a church, schools, gentlemen's residences,
rows of cottage houses, and here and there a
farmstead. A century and a half ago it was
a wild, lonely, and little- visited locality, for
in those days there were no large factories,
no railway or canal in the neighbouring
Calderdale, no village of any size or import-
ance. It was a solitary, rugged, and densely
wooded country. The denizens of these hills
and valleys bore a wild and rough character
in keeping with the spot that gave them
birth. Here for twenty years lived a notorious
gang of coiners. Everybody knew of their
proceedings and whereabouts, yet no one
would inform against their nefarious
practices, and the excise officers were power-
less to bring the culprits to justice. Their
capture caused no little stir and excitement
in the country, for though they had long been
suspected by the authorities, they had suc-
ceeded in eluding detection.
The chief of this famous band of coiners was " King David," so called because he was the leader, and unquestionably the most able and talented man among them. His real name was David Hartley. He is said to have learnt the mysteries and craft of coining in the town of Birmingham. Whilst travelling in that part of England he made the acquaint- ance of a set of men whose business consisted in clipping the current coin of the realm, and turning the clipped grains into payable money. It speaks not a little for the art- fulness of the man that he was able to worm himself into the good graces of these fellows
and to pick up the secrets of their craft.
When Hartley returned to his native hills he
set up business on his own account. He had
no difficulty in forming a confederacy among
his relatives and neighbours. The induce-
ments he held out were tempting and the
promised gains large.
They began by clipping the edges of guineas with a pair of scissors, cautiously and in very small quantities at first. The gold-dust thus clipped and filed they melted down into one mass, from which they made new pieces. These pieces resembled Portuguese coins of the value of 27s. or 36s. The coiners had no proper screw presses, but fixed their dies or stamps for impressing coins in heavy blocks. Huge sledge-hammers were used for making an impression. The people of the district freely offered undipped guineas for sale to the coiners, which Hartley and his confederates readily purchased.
Some of them went into another branch of the business, so to speak, and prosecuted a good trade in the v?&y of plating base and inferior metals. No doubt this enterprise proved lucrative.
As I have said, the leader of the gang was known as " King David." The coiners seem to have delighted in assuming rather high-sounding names, or it may be that their neighbours bestowed these titles as in some measure indicative of the office or perhaps cunning of the confederates. One of them was known as "Great Tom," or "Conjuror Tom," an appellation given him on account of his dexterity in the work he practised so successfully for a score of years. So great was his renown, and so notable his skill in the clipping and coining art, people began to think that he could "conjure" money. "Great Tom" was a woollen manufacturer the township of Wadsworth. Another
in
prominent man was the "Duke of Edin- purgh," known by that title as a coiner, but in real life as David Greenwood. This man lived at Hill-top in Erringden. His fate will be alluded to later.
These nefarious practices were carried on for twenty years. Old people have told how something like awe crept over men as they listened in the silence of the night and heard the clang of the coiners' hammers reverbera- ting from hill to hill, and breaking so eerily the hushed stillness. Strangers heard with bated breath, knew the work those bold and reckless men had in hand knew, but dared not approach, dared hardly whisper of it on the spot. So cleverly did the coiners manage their business, and so well screened were they by their neighbours, not to mention
