Fraudulent Cases: Demon Drummer of Tedworth 1662

Question 1

Who was John Mompesson?

Answer 1

He was a landowner and JP in Tedworth (Wiltshire-Hampshire border).

Question 2

What was Mompesson acting as in March 1662?

Answer 2

Acted as a commissioned officer in the county militia, intervening in the case of William Drury.

Question 3

Who was William Drury?

Answer 3

He was an ex-soldier and a drummer.

Question 4

What was Drury doing?

Answer 4

He was attempting to raise alms for the poor but was doing so fraudulently - he was using a forged pass.

Question 5

What did Drury use his drum for?

Answer 5

It was to alert people to his cause.

Question 6

How was Drury’s fraud discovered?

Answer 6

1. He demanded money off a constable who became suspicious.

2. Mompesson reviewed his pass and realised that the signatured were forgeries.

Question 7

Why did Drury need a pass anyway?

Answer 7

Passes were so that people travelling from parish to parish (eg, entertainers) weren’t arrested for vagrancy.

Question 8

What did Mompesson order and confiscate?

Answer 8

He ordered for Drury’s arrest and confiscated his drum.

Drury was later released

Question 9

What happened when the drum was sent to the Mompesson house?

Answer 9

Disturbances occurred.

Question 10

What were the recorded disturbances? (5)

Answer 10

1. Thumpings heard along with the sound of a drum playing military marches.
2. Sounds of scratching and dog panting.
3. Strange light and sulphurous smells.
4. Objects thrown and horses injured.
5. Xmas Day: Mompesson’s mother’s Bible was found buried beneath the hearth’s ashes.

Question 11

What is the importance of the sulphurous smells?

Answer 11

The smell is linked to Brimstone - this was associated with the devil.

Question 12

Why was Drury being held in Gloucester?

Answer 12

Pig stealing.

Question 13

Did the disturbances cease during Drury’s imprisonment in Gloucester?

Answer 13

NO

Question 14

The disturbances led to the house becoming what?

Answer 14

An attraction - people would go to see the disturbances for themselves.

Question 15

Why was interest around the house heightened further?

Answer 15

There was a rumour that Drury had told a fellow inmate that he had bewitched Mompesson.

Question 16

What demonstrates the far reaching publicity of this case?

Answer 16

The King’s representatives were sent to investigate the house.

Question 17

Joseph Glanvill’s involvement:

What was different between Glanvill’s account of the case and the one in the newspapers?

Answer 17

Glanvill did not mention Mompesson.

Question 18

Joseph Glanvill’s involvement:

What did he do in January 1663?

Answer 18

He investigated the house himself and professed to have heard noises.
He interviewed eyewitnesses - they blamed Drury and the use of magic.

Question 19

Joseph Glanvill’s involvement:

April 1663: What did Glanvill say happened to the disturbances when Drury was sentenced to deportation?

Answer 19

He said that the disturbances ceased for awhile but that Drury had used supernatural powers to escape.

Question 20

What happened after Drury escaped his deportation?

Answer 20

He escaped on the Severn, was caught and tried for witchcraft, acquitted but then deported anyway for theft.

Question 21

What happened once Drury had been deported?

Answer 21

The disturbances started up again and continued for several years.

Question 22

Were people completely believing of the case?

Answer 22

No, scepticism had developed immediately.

Question 23

What did Glanvill try and persuade the Royal Society with?

Answer 23

He tried to persuade them that they could study witchcraft rationally and scientifically - many actually supported this but his book was not published by them.

Question 24

How did John Webster counter Joseph Glanvill?

Answer 24

He said the whole case was fraudulent and that Mompesson was behind it.

Question 25

What demonstrates the impact of the case and Webster?

Answer 25

Webster’s book (The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, 1677) was published by the Royal Society, showing a lack of support in supernatural belief.

Question 26

Which famous author criticised Glanvill’s account and who did he inspire?

Answer 26

Balthasar Bekker in “The World Bewitched” (1692-4).

This inspired John Beaumont.

Question 27

What does Beaumont claim about the case?

Answer 27

He claims the servants did it to scare Mompesson’s mother.

Question 28

What may have exacerbated Mompesson’s dislike for Drury?

Answer 28

Drury had served in the Parliamentarian army, whilst Mompesson was a Royalist.
Further, Drury was raising alms for disabled soldiers but only Royalists were allowed this, but Drury lied about being in the Royalist army.

Question 29

Who originally put forward the spiritual explanation?

Answer 29

Locals and neighbours.

Mompesson’s view was shaped by those around him - he originally suspected burglary.

Question 30

What made this case important?

Answer 30

The case was revisited a lot over the ensuing decades, provoking wider debate on the reality of supernatural forces.
Further, as great thinkers began to approach witchcraft with a more critical eye, they became suspicious of Mompesson.

Question 31

What shows a lack of impact with this case?

Answer 31

At the time, practically everyone believed it to be the result of supernatural forces.
It wasn’t until years later that scepticism actually arose from it.