Ebenezer Phillips & the pub parrot
Fact checking a family legend
In all families there must be interesting stories handed down to each new generation to store away in their memories, ready to be retold one day to their own children. Growing up we were told our fair share of tales, amongst those we can still recall are links to Mayor Phillips of the Chartist Uprising fame, that Skinner Street in Newport was named after our family, and that somewhere on our mother’s side was a Duchess.
As interesting as these stories are, the one that really caught out attention was the shooting of a parrot in a pub. The story as we were told it was that a great-uncle had returned from the Boer war with his firearm and one night had shot a parrot in the Cross Hands pub in Somerton.
Well, after much investigation we were pleased to find that there was actually some truth to this tale, and also please that no parrots were shot! The relative concerned was Ebenezer Phillips, who was the grandfather of our nanna Catherine Phillips. Ebenezer was somewhat of a colourful character from Nash and spent the last 25 years of his life as the tenant farmer of Bryngwyn Farm on Nash Road in Newport.
Ebenezer had been widowed in 1896, at the age of 50, following the death of his wife Catherine. Four years later at the age of 54 Ebenezer remarried, his bride was 30-year-old Kate from Kent who was living in lodgings on Chepstow Road in Newport. Kate then went to live with Ebenezer and his youngest son Fred at Bryngwyn Farm.
Ebenezer and Kate were three weeks into their marriage when they took a trip to Newport to celebrate their nuptials. They travelled in a dogcart (two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle) pulled by a fresh horse. They had visited Kate’s former lodgings on Chepstow Road to collect some of her possessions and then a pub in the area. Some drinks were consumed and they ended up at the George Hotel in Maindee.
Ebenezer was refused a whiskey at the George as he was too drunk. He responded by pulling out a loaded revolver from his pocket and shooting at a glass display case containing a number of stuffed birds. They then left the George and travelled to the Cross Hands pub. Ebenezer was a regular at the pub and Mr Puttock, the landlord, was happy to serve him. He was arrested later that night and charged with being drunk in possession of a loaded revolver. The case went to court and garnered significant coverage in the papers.
The case for the prosecution seemed pretty open and shut. They produced a waitress from the George Hotel who had seen him fire a weapon at the display case. Mr Davies, the defence barrister, won some laughs in court when he pointed out that his client had only shot a dead duck. Mr Davies also claimed that drawing the revolver would have been only natural for any man with one in his pocket!
The prosecution also produced two police officers who had seen Ebenzer drunk at the Cross Hands. Inspcctor Brooks and PC Tanner told the court that Ebenezer had made two futile attempts to get in his cart before getting assistance from Kate and the landlord. PC Tanner also reportd that Kate had to drive the pair home to Bryngwyn Farm as Ebenezer was in no fit state.
The defence mounted a spirited case, they claimed that their client wasn’t drunk and had only consumed a whiskey, a brandy, and a glass of wine during the whole trip. Ebenezer told the court that he had no idea the gun was loaded and was just fiddling with it when it went off accidently. Further to this he had only stopped at the Cross Hands to order bottles for home and so Kate could meet up with a cousin. He ended up drinking a brandy that Kate had ordered to calm her nerves, but hadn’t consumed.
A witness was called who told the court that Ebenezer had a “peculiar manner and people might take him to be tipsy when he really was not.” The landlord at the Cross Hands also told the police that Ebenezer was not drunk and could drink a lot more than that!
The star witness turned out to be Ebenezer’s new wife Kate. She told the court that the revolver actually belonged to her and was amongst her possessions when they visited her former lodgings earlier in the day. She said she had bought it whilst living in Boulogne some eight years earlier and that Ebenezer had put it in his pocket. Kate claimed that a young nephew had loaded the weapon and Ebenezer had no idea it contained bullets. As unlikely as this defence might appear the judge decided to give the defendant the benefit of the doubt!
He was fined 10 shillings for his drunkenness in the Cross Hands but was acquitted of the charges relating to the revolver. The Judge did though suggest Ebenezer should be more careful in the future. Kate even applied for the weapon to be returned to her which the judge granted. The court was also told that Ebenezer would pay for the damage caused at the George Hotel.
So, there we have it, the case of Ebenezer Phillips and the shooting of a dead duck. We have no idea where the Boer war elements of the story came from or indeed the live parrot. Ebenezer was in his 50s when the Boer war started and had no history of military service. We can only be thankful that if Ebenezer really didn’t know the gun was loaded, that he aimed at a dead duck rather than a person, or this would have been a very different story.
This court appearance was far from a one off for Ebenezer who had experienced several brushes with the law. It did however prove to be one his last hurrahs, he died two years later in 1902 leaving his substantial estate to two local farmers.