Hellish Fiends, and Brutish Men

One night in early November 1784, the bodies of Tom and Henry (Harry) Dunsdon were removed from the gibbets, which had displayed them as a warning to others who chose the path of lawlessness. The brothers had hung in chains, their bodies open to the elements, in Wychwood Forest, just outside the west Oxfordshire village of Fulbrook.
Today, the oak tree from which the Dunsdons were suspended for three months after their August 1784 execution at Gloucester is still visible to travellers driving the A361 between Burford and Shipton-under-Wychwood.
For most of their criminal career, Tom and Harry had been joined by their older brother Dick. Dick had suffered a death equally as harrowing as his brothers and one that must have had a profound impact on them.
The Dunsdons (sometimes seen as Dunston) used a cottage at Icomb, just over the Gloucestershire border, as a base, from where they carried out robbery, theft and burglaries.
Their most successful robbery was holding up the Gloucester to Oxford stagecoach; their haul netted them £500 (about £45000 today), enough to buy them 47 horses or 100 cows. But apparently, this was not enough money for the Dunsdons.
A local character, Sampson Pratley, fought with one of the Dunston brothers at the Royal Oak Inn at Field Assarts, equidistant from Leafield and Asthall Leigh. The contest was to decide who was the strongest. Pratley was the victor; he never received the spoils of his win—a sack of potatoes, as the authorities had apprehended Tom and Harry, and they were awaiting execution at Gloucester.
Another story regarding the Dunsdon brothers, which is possibly apocryphal, tells of them burying a body early one morning; an onlooker spotted them, not wishing to be reported to the authorities; they killed the man and placed him in the same grave.
The episode in which the brothers are best known occurred at Tangley Hall, a manor house about three miles north of Burford, near Fifield. The siblings gathered at the Bird in Hand Inn at Capps’ Lodge to discuss their plans to rob the residence. Capps’ Lodge was the place where Tom and Harry were later to be hung in chains.
It is difficult to understand why the brothers decided to formulate their plan to rob Tangley Hall in such a public setting as a tavern, especially when they had a cottage in which they could plot and plan in private. As might be surmised, the brothers were overheard, and word quickly reached the hall.
The brothers planned to force open the Judas hole on the front door of Tangley Hall. A Judas hole is usually described as a peephole, big enough for someone inside to look out without opening the door. Presumably, the one at Tangley Hall was larger as Dick thrust his arm through the aperture in an attempt to gain entrance.
The brothers were unaware that those in residence at Tangley Hall had been forewarned of the plan to rob the hall. The hall’s butler and a local constable waited to pounce as Dick put an exploratory arm through the Judas hole. Dick’s arm was grabbed and secured with a rope to the door handle.
Those inside the door heard Dick cry out in panic, ‘Cut!Cut!’ Either Tom or Harry wielded a sword and, while trying to cut the rope, endeavoured to sever Dick’s arm instead.
With blood coursing from Dick’s wound, Tom and Harry managed to bundle the older man onto his horse and away from Tangley Hall. Whether they managed to find a doctor or attempted to administer to Dick themselves is unknown; whatever the case, Dick died soon after.
The two younger Dunsdon brothers’ criminal career was halted in 1784. The Whitsuntide Fair was held every May; the last was staged in 1826. The 1784 event was a particularly raucous affair.
The Fair was held at the Bird in Hand at Capps’ Lodge, where fairgoers gathered to watch and gamble on horse races. At the 1784 Fair, Tom and Harry were said to be boasting of their exploits and got into a dispute with the inn’s landlord. The boys stated that, ’No-one wouldn’t take them.’ The landlord responded that he could take them without too much trouble.
One of the brothers produced a pistol and snapped off a shot at the landlord. According to sources, the pistol ball struck a ha’penny in his waistcoat and saved his life. The barman, William Harding, was also shot and succumbed to his injuries.
The brothers were captured by the patrons of the Bird In Hand and carried off by the authorities to await trial at Gloucester.
On Friday, 6 August 1784, Thomas and Henry Dunsdon were executed at Gloucester for the murder of William Harding at the Bird in Hand Inn at Capps’ Lodge.
According to the Leeds Intelligencer and Yorkshire General Advertiser, on the morning of their execution, the Dunsdons ‘appeared very penitent.’ The newspaper added, ‘Henry was particularly free in acknowledging that a life, so ill spent as his, could expect an exit no less miserable.’
In their report on the brothers’ execution, the paper said that Henry ‘endeavoured to exculpate his brother, as having been free from those villanies, that had marked his own conduct.’
As the nooses were placed around the Dunsdons’ necks, Henry said to Tom, who had injured his leg, possibly when the pair were captured at Capps’ Lodge, ‘Come, Tom…you have but one leg; but you have but a very little time to stand.’

The man transporting the Dunsdons’ remains back to Oxfordshire stopped at the George Inn in Burford, one of the pair’s favourite watering holes. The building is now an antiques centre and is reputed to be haunted, perhaps by the unquiet spirits of Harry and Tom Dunsdon.

© Mark Young 2024

Sources

Websites
https://www.darkoxfordshire.co.uk
Charlbury.info
Gloucestershirelive.co.uk
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Highwaymen/
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=504674.0
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/

Newspapers

https://www.newspapers.com/article/jacksons-oxford-journal-dunsdons-bodies/136659989/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-leeds-intelligencer-and-yorkshire-ge/136658525/
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/761263.stand-deliver/