William Belt
William John Belt | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 3 February 1892 | (aged 65)
Resting place | Highgate Cemetery |
Occupation | Barrister |
William John Belt (1826–1892) was an English barrister and antiquarian best known for his erratic behaviour in later life which was widely reported by popular newspapers for the amusement of their readers.
Early life
Belt was born on 12 June 1826 at 40 Great Ormond Street, Bloomsbury, the fifth son of Robert Belt, a barrister and commissioner of bankruptcy of Bossall Hall, in Yorkshire, and his second wife, Margaret Gordon (1785–1872), daughter of Captain Peter Gordon, a naval officer in the service of the East India Company. He had an elder sister, Margaret Ann, and a younger sister, Elizabeth. Their father died in December 1839.[1]
Belt matriculated at
On 28 November 1865 in Hove, Sussex he married Sibella Marianne Garratt (6 November 1825 – 15 February 1878) the only daughter of Sibella and William Garratt, a retired barrister also of Lincoln's Inn.[4]
Belt and the police
Bloomsbury's proximity to Inns of Court had made it a popular district for lawyers and their families to live since it was first laid out for housing in the 18th century, largely by Wriothesley Russell, 3rd Duke of Bedford. But by 1869 when the Belts moved to 102 Gower Street, Bloomsbury[5] it was no longer a fashionable suburb of London.[6] This was to become all too clear when four years later, in 1873, Belt had his first run-in with the police when walking to his chambers in Stone's Buildings, Chancery Lane, a 25-minute walk.
His story, is that on 27 October he had enjoyed lunch at home with his wife, and during the walk to his office he had passed two young girls playing with a skipping rope. He gave one of them a two penny piece, and offered the other a sixpence to buy sweets, but she was shy and ran away. Seeing them again a little further on he persuaded the other girl to accept the sixpence, whereupon he said to them "I hope you may always be as happy as you are today." A little further on he was laughed at and jostled by two men, who claimed he was drunk and threatened to "thrash" him. Belt found a policeman nearby and pointed out the men, asking for protection and their names be taken, only to be accused by the constable of "being drunk and causing an obstruction". Belt replied that he was a barrister and continued his walk to work, but was followed by the policeman and a crowd of 20 or 30 boys all shouting that he was drunk. The policeman finally decided to arrest him, as one boy shouted out "that's right, take away the nasty fellow, I saw him inveigling some children". Protesting, Belt was marched off to Hunter Street Police Station where he was held for three hours before a charge of being
Belt's wife Sibella died at Gower Street in 1878, a loss which may account for his next brush with the law the following year. On a Saturday evening in May 1879 two police constables were patrolling the
He said he had been riding on the Embankment to meet up with his old regiment, The Devil's Own, at
In 1886 Belt was back in Bow Street Police Court, on the wrong side of the dock, charged with assault with a gun. A builder, William Wheeler, had been at work on building in Gower Mews, behind Belt's house in Gower Street. Also in the Mews was a boy and a man called Edward Ingram. Belt was seen at one of his back windows with something like a gun in his hand, which he put to his shoulder. A click was heard, and Wheeler felt something on his leg, but no hole was made in his trousers. He picked up a pellet and was showing it to Ingram, when Belt again pointed the gun, another click was heard, and Ingram was struck on the waistcoat. Belt admitted firing the gun, but asserted that the boy had aggravated him. Since the incident it was ascertained that the gun was not as dangerous a weapon as was at first supposed, but an air gun which Belt said he kept for shooting cats. The magistrate ordered Belt to pay in each case a fine of £4 and £1 costs, making a total of £10.[9]
Interests
Belt was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London[10] and in 1880 became a member of the Society of Biblical Archaeology.[11]
After the death of his wife in 1878,[12] Belt wrote two short books, Reminiscences, 1854. Rome, Latium, Etruria, published in 1883,[13] in verse about his earlier experiences in Rome and two years later published The Story of Bossall Hall and Manor.[14]
Later life
The directory Men-at-the-bar said of Belt in 1885 that he was an equity draftsman and conveyancer.[15]
Belt was always proud of his manor in Yorkshire, but by 1890 the family may have been in financial difficulties, because Bossall Hall was sold to Sir James Walker, 2nd Baronet of Sand Hutton.[16]
Belt died at 102 Gower Street two years later on 3 February 1892[17] and was buried on the west side of Highgate Cemetery. He left the modest sum of £1,334, equivalent to £183,241 in 2023, and probate was granted to his elder sister Margaret Ann, wife of the Reverend Bury Capel.[18]
References
- ^ Transactions of the Banffshire Field Club (undated), pp. 32–36, banffshirefieldclub.org.uk, accessed 11 April 2021
- ^ "BELT, William John" in John Archibald Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses Part II 1752–1900, vol. 2 (Cambridge University Press, 1940), p. 226
- ^ "Calls to the Bar, Hilary Term 1861". The Law Magazine & Law Review. XI: 102. 1861. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
- ^ "England Marriages, 1538–1973". www.familysearch.org. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
- ^ "Survey of London, Vol 21, part 3, pp. 78–84". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
- ^ a b Ingleby, Matt. "ENCOUNTERING THE BLOOMSBURY BARRISTER'SWIFE:A PHENOMENON OF LOCAL LITERARY HISTORY" (PDF). www.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
- ^ "THE ALLEGED OUTRAGE ON A BARRISTER BY THE LONDON POLICE. INVESTIGATION AT BOW-STREET". www.library.wales. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
- ^ "Police Intelligence Lambeth". Retrieved 10 April 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "A barrister and his air-gun". Retrieved 10 April 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Address by the President", 23 April 1892, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London, 2nd series vol. XIV (1893), p. 129
- ^ Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, 10th session (1880), p. 49
- ^ "Sibella Marianne Belt" in England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915', ancestry.co.uk, accessed 10 April 2021 (subscription required)
- ^ William John Belt, Reminiscences, 1854. Rome, Latium, Etruria (London: John Sampson, 1883 - 23 pages)
- ^ William John Belt, The Story of Bossall Hall and Manor: With Supplement from Early Chronicles (London: John Sampson, 1885 - 62 pages)
- ^ Joseph Foster, Men-at-the-bar: A Biographical Hand-list of the Members of the Various Inns of Court (London: Hazell, Watson, & Viney, 1885), p. 32
- ^ "A grand, 10,000sq ft hall in Yorkshire with moat, and a secret garden". www.countrylife.co.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
- ^ "The Law Times, 13 February 1892, Deaths". 1892. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
- ^ Wills and Administrations, England and Wales (1892), p. 185
Bibliography
Belt, William John (1883). Reminiscences, 1854. Rome, Latium, Etruria. [In verse.] York: J Sampson.
Belt, William John (1885). The Story of Bossall Hall and Manor With Supplement from Early Chronicles. York: John Sampson.