The Life of George Borrow | Page 5

battle, and the two factions were soon fighting furiously midst
collapsing stalls and tumbled merchandise. Women shrieked and
fainted, men shouted and struck out grimly, whilst the stall-holders, in a
frenzy of grief and despair, wrung their hands helplessly as they saw
their goods being trampled to ruin beneath the feet of the contestants.
Slowly the men of Liskeard were borne back by their more numerous
opponents. They wavered, and just as defeat seemed inevitable, there
arrived upon the scene a young man who, on seeing his townsmen in
danger of being beaten, placed himself at their head and charged down
upon the enemy, forcing them back by the impetuosity of his attack.
The new arrival was a man of fine physique, above the medium height
and a magnificent fighter, who, later in life, was to achieve something
of which a Mendoza or a Belcher might have been proud. He fought
strongly and silently, inspiring his fellow townsmen by his example.
The new leader had entirely turned the tide of battle, but just as the
defeat of the men of Menheniot seemed certain, a diversion was created
by the arrival of the local constables. Now that their own villagers were
on the verge of disaster, there was no longer any reason why they
should remain in the background. They made a determined effort to
arrest the leader of the Liskeard contingent, and were promptly
knocked down by him.
At that moment Mr Edmund Hambley, a much-respected maltster and
the headborough of Liskeard, was attracted to the spot. Seeing in the
person of the outrageous leader of the battle one of his own apprentices,
he stepped forward and threatened him with arrest. Goaded to
desperation by the scornful attitude of the young man, the

master-maltster laid hands upon him, and instantly shared the fate of
the constables. With great courage and determination the headborough
rose to his feet and again attempted to enforce his authority, but with no
better result. When he picked himself up for a second time, it was to
pass from the scene of his humiliation and, incidentally, out of the life
of the young man who had defied his authority.
The young apprentice was Thomas Borrow (born December 1758),
eighth and posthumous child of John Borrow and of Mary his wife, of
Trethinnick (the House on the Hill), in the neighbouring parish of St
Cleer, two and a half miles north of Liskeard. At the age of fifteen,
Thomas had begun to work upon his father's farm. At nineteen he was
apprenticed to Edmund Hambley, maltster, of Liskeard, who five years
later, in his official capacity as Constable of the Hundred of Liskeard,
was to be publicly defied and twice knocked down by his insubordinate
apprentice.
A trifling affair in itself, this village fracas was to have a lasting effect
upon the career of Thomas Borrow. He was given to understand by his
kinsmen that he need not look to them for sympathy or assistance in his
wrongdoing. The Borrows of Trethinnick could trace back further than
the parish registers record (1678). They were godly and law-abiding
people, who had stood for the king and lost blood and harvests in his
cause. If a son of the house disgrace himself, the responsibility must be
his, not theirs. In the opinion of his family, Thomas Borrow had, by his
vigorous conduct towards the headborough, who was also his master,
placed himself outside the radius of their sympathy. At this period
Trethinnick, a farm of some fifty acres in extent, was in the hands of
Henry, Thomas' eldest brother, who since his mother's death, ten years
before, had assumed the responsibility of launching his youngest
brother upon the world.
Fearful of the result of his assault on the headborough, Thomas Borrow
left St Cleer with great suddenness, and for five months disappeared
entirely. On 29th December he presented himself as a recruit before
Captain Morshead, {3a} in command of a detachment of the
Coldstream Guards, at that time stationed in the duchy.
Thomas Borrow was no stranger to military training. For five years he
had been in the Yeomanry Militia, which involved a short annual
training. In the regimental records he is credited with five years "former

service." He remained for eight years with the Coldstream Guards,
most of the time being passed in London barracks. He had no money
with which to purchase a commission, and his rise was slow and
deliberate. At the end of nine months he was promoted to the rank of
corporal, and five years later he became a sergeant. In 1792 he was
transferred as Sergeant-Major to the First, or West Norfolk Regiment of
Militia, whose headquarters were at East Dereham in Norfolk.
It was just previous to this transfer that Sergeant Borrow had his