Fulwood Barracks and McCaffery's
Ghost
Fulwood Barracks
Preston
|
In 1861 Private Patrick McCaffery, aged 19, of the 32nd Regiment was
serving with the 11th Depot Battalion under the command of Colonel
Hugh Crofton who had commanded the 20th Regiment of Foot during the
Crimean War and had led his men in the battles of the Alma, Sevastopol
and Inkerman.
In the last he was severely wounded and invalided out. He spent the
next two years retired on half pay until he was offered command of
the training Depot at Fulwood, which he eagerly accepted. The Adjutant,
Captain John Hanham. had purchased, for £ 1,800, a captaincy
in the 9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot. After being wounded during
the Sikh Wars he was posted as adjutant of the depot at Fulwood. There
he appears to have been something of a disagreeable, domineering martinet,
to the extent that even the Commanding Officer seemed to have been
under his influence and McCaffery, an indifferent soldier and a loner,
was usually in trouble.
On Friday 13th September the young soldier was on sentry duty outside
the officers' quarters when the Adjutant ordered him to take the names
of some children who were suspected of breaking windows. McCaffery
obeyed, but with obvious reluctance and consequent lack of success.
He was accordingly charged, and sentenced by Colonel Crofton the following
day to be confined to barracks for 14 days. Later that morning McCaffery
saw the two officers walking across the Infantry Square and, loading
his rifle, he knelt on the footpath outside K Block (the East Wing,
since demolished), aimed and fired. The first percussion cap did not
explode, so he deliberately replaced it and fired again at a range
of 65 yards, "the bullet struck Colonel Crofton in his right
breast and, passing through that region, then went into Adjutant Hanham's
left arm, entered his breast and lodged in his spine. Adjutant Hanham
put his hand upon the wound and then coolly walked off to the officers'
quarters. Colonel Crofton stepped back a few paces, threw up his arms
and said "Oh my God, I am shot". He then walked up to his
own quarters with the aid of a little assistance", at least according
to one account in the Extraordinary edition of the 'Preston Mercury'.
Colonel Crofton died at 11 p.m. the following evening and Captain
Hanham died on the Monday at 11.30 a.m.
M'Caffrey's trial was set for the Liverpool Assizes,
where he appeared in December. The result was a foregone conclusion,
though the defence was particularly inept. The sentence was carried
out on Saturday, 11 January 1862, in front of Kirkdale Gaol, at Liverpool.
This is part of the account of the scene from the 'Liverpool Mercury'
(13 January):
"Immediately after the clock had struck twelve, the wretched
culprit, followed by Calcraft [the hangman], walked, apparently firmly,
upon the scaffold, whithe he was accompanied by Father Lanns, reciting
prayers suitable to the occasion. A smile seemed to play upon his
youthful countenance as he took a farewell look at this world. He
was dressed in the prison garb, consisting of a grey jacket and trowsers.
His mild countenance and boyish appearance elicited the sympathy on
the part of the immense crowd. As soon as Calcraft, who was dressed
in a suit of good black, had produced the white cap, the priest took
from his breast a small crucifix, which the wretched culprit kissed
with much fervour. His lips were observed to move in prayer until
the rope was adjusted round his neck. The priest then shook him by
the hand, Calcraft also bade him farewell in a similar manner, and
everything being arranged, the bolt was withdrawn, and the unfortunate
young man was launched into eternity, having been kept standing at
the trap a much longer time than usual. He seemed to suffer a good
deal, his struggles being great. The last words he uttered were -
'Blessed Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I give you my heart and soul. Jesus
and Mary, have mercy on me!' When the bolt was drawn, shrieks burst
from many of the spectators, and several of the females left the ground
weeping and wringing their hands, apparently suffering intense agony
at the spectacle they had witnessed. Thus ended the mortal career
of one of the youngest criminals that ever expiated his guilt upon
the public scaffold. After hanging an hour on the scaffold the body
was cut down, and in the course of the afternoon was interred within
the precincts of the gaol. Calcraft completed his disgusting task
amid yells, hisses, and fearful imprecations from the mob. It is supposed
that there were between 30,000 and 40,000 persons on the ground. It
was remarked that there were only three or four soldiers present to
witness the execution."
The sympathies of the crowd were clearly with M'Caffery, and the presence
of so few soldiers can also be taken to be a favourable manifestation.
Soon after the crime, an attempt was made to engage popular feeling
for the victims [via a song that styled them 'heroes']. However, it
was the home-made production which found the popular ear amongst the
large Catholic Irish population of the North West, to such an extent
that it continued to circulate for a century or more afterwards, for
most of the time without the assistence of print.
Patrick McCaffery was born in Co. Kildare in October
1842. His father was an asylum governor who, upon being cleared of
charges of misconduct, took off alone for America. Mrs. McCaffery
was unable to support the boy, so she sent him to England to stay
with a friend, Mrs. Murphy of Mossley near Manchester, where, at the
age of 12, he started work in the mill. After a while he left the
mill and drifted to Liverpool where he seems to have had occasional
minor brushes with the police. During this time he befriended a police
constable who was to reappear briefly later in his life. Eventually
he returned to Mossley and was employed in a Stalybridge cotton mill
as a piecer. It was this job that he left on October 10th 1860 to
take the Queen's shilling and enlist in the 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment
of Foot (Light Infantry). After enlistment he was sent to Fulwood
to train with 11 Depot Battalion and then posted to 12 Coy, the 32nd
Regiment.
The melancholy story gave rise to a halfpenny ballad whose mildly
subversive lyrics were rumoured to have been 'banned' by the military
authorities, while the ghost of McCaffery was said to haunt the old
Officers' Mess.
