, Cap. 71, entitled an act for the
speedily completing the Militia of Great Britain and increasing the same
under certain delimitations and restrictions (14th Aug. 1807)."
The thirty-six men were taken as follows:--
8 from Middleton.
5 " Kirby Misperton.
16 " Pickering.
1 " Ellerburne.
1 " Levisham.
3 " Sinnington.
1 " Thornton.
Jonathan Goodall, a farmer of Middleton, induced Geo. Thompson of
Pickering, a farmer's servant, 30 years old, to stand for him, paying him
L42.
Wm. Newton, a farmer of Middleton, had to pay Geo. Allen, a linen draper
of Richmond, L47, 5s. as substitute.
The smallest amount paid was L20, and the largest sum was L47, 5s.
Substitutes seem to have been hard to find in the neighbourhood of
Pickering, and those few whose names appear had to be heavily paid. George
Barnfather, a farm servant of Kirby Misperton agreed to serve as a
substitute on payment of L42, and a cartwright of Goathland agreed for the
same sum, while men from Manchester or Leeds were ready to accept half
that amount.
The extreme reluctance to serve of a certain Ben Wilson, a sweep of
Middleton, is shown in a story told of him by a very old inhabitant of
Pickering whose memory is in no way impaired by her years. She tells us
that this Wilson on hearing of his ill-luck seized a carving-knife and
going to the churchyard put his right hand on a gate-post and fiercely cut
off the two fingers required for firing a rifle.
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