Bloodie Bones
Page 26
Gabey
A foolish fellow.
Game Laws
A series of statutes stretching back to the Middle Ages to control the hunting of wild animals, which based the right to hunt on a property qualification. Amongst other things, the various statutes define types of game and hunting seasons, and regulate the sale of game.
Hell-Fire Club
A secret eighteenth-century organisation whose male, aristocratic members indulged in orgies, pagan rituals and heavy drinking.
Humbugging
To impose upon or trick someone, or (as here) to delay or avoid getting on with the business in hand.
Necessary house
A privy or latrine.
Small beer
A weak beer for everyday drinking.
The Earl of the Plough
One of many folklore figures evoked during episodes of social revolt, the Earl of the Plough was possibly associated with the rural celebration Plough Monday, when a plough was dragged around the village. Many of the figures had their origins in similar rural rituals and mummers’ performances. Perhaps the most well-known was Captain Swing, who led the agricultural labourers’ riots against the introduction of threshing machines which deprived them of their jobs in the 1820s and 1830s. Similar folklore figures which represented a challenge to repressive authority (and which are mentioned in Bloodie Bones) were Robin Hood, who needs no explanation, and Jack Straw, who was a rebel leader during the 1381 rebellion. The fictitious Bloodie Bones of Barcombe is one such figure, intended to strike fear into the hearts of the enemies of the people, and also disguise the protesters’ identities.
The Fancy
Followers of boxing. (Also used of other sports, e.g. pigeon fanciers.)
The London Corresponding
Society
A radical men’s organisation founded by shoemaker Thomas Hardy (1752–1832) in 1792. The LCS called for universal male suffrage and annual parliaments, and welcomed the French Revolution. As its name suggests, it was in constant contact with radicals in other parts of the country. However, the government took increasingly repressive measures against it, finally outlawing it in 1799. (Dan Foster will meet the LCS again in the second Dan Foster novel.)
The Riot Act
The Riot Act of 1714 made it a capital offence if more than a dozen people refused to disperse within one hour of being ordered to do so by a magistrate, who read out the relevant section of the Act and was empowered to call troops to his assistance. Today we still talk of ‘reading someone the riot act’.
Tipstaff
A staff carried by certain officials as a badge of office. The one carried by Bow Street officers was six–seven inches long with a crown-shaped top, and could be of wood, brass, or even silver. Some were hollow with a top that unscrewed so that the officer could place a magistrate’s warrant inside it.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank all the people who have given me help and support in the writing of this book. Special thanks go to Sanjida O’Connell and Ali Reynolds of ARC Editorial; to my ‘beta readers’, Debbie Young and Martine Bailey; to my sister, Glynis van Uden; to Catherine Hunt and Antonio Moreno for the Spanish; and to Helen Hart and the wonderful team at SilverWood Books. And a very special thank you to my husband, Gerard, who has been at my side in sickness and health; who tracked down the most obscure books when I needed them for research; and who knows a thing or two about colons and semi-colons.
Other Titles in the Dan Foster Mystery Series
The Butcher’s Block
The Fatal Coin
For news of forthcoming books, offers and events sign up for my newsletter here
Bow Street Runners and bare-knuckle fighters, radicals and pickpockets, resurrection men and bluestockings…
Find out more about Dan Foster’s world here
About the Author
Lucienne Boyce has always been fascinated by the Georgian era. In 2006 she gained an MA in English Literature with the Open University specialising in eighteenth-century literature. In 2012 she published her first historical novel, To The Fair Land (SilverWood Books), an eighteenth-century thriller set in Bristol and the South Seas. Bloodie Bones, the first Dan Foster Mystery, was published in 2015. In 2016 Bloodie Bones was joint winner of the Historical Novel Society Indie Award.
Lucienne also writes non-fiction and in 2013 published The Bristol Suffragettes (SilverWood Books), a history of the suffragette movement in Bristol and the south west. She is currently working on the next Dan Foster Mystery.
*
Want to know more?
Find Lucienne Boyce on Twitter: @LucienneWrite
You can also stay up-to-date by visiting her website at lucienneboyce.com
Copyright Notice
Published in 2015 by SilverWood Books
SilverWood Books Ltd
14 Small Street, Bristol, BS1 1DE
www.silverwoodbooks.co.uk
Copyright © Lucienne Boyce 2015
The right of Lucienne Boyce to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the copyright holder.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN 978-1-78132-360-1 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-78132-361-8 (ebook)