Staveleys of Camelford, Cornwall

Camelford, Cornwall

The Staveleys of Camelford, Cornwall were previously from Bideford, Devon. William Staveley married Mary, and had a son William Henry Wackerell Staveley in Camelford in 1823. The following article from The Times is thought to reference WHW Staveley's father, William, as the article was published the same year that William Henry Wackerell Staveley was born:

CORNWALL, March 26, 1823

DOE, ON THE DEMISE OF COCK, AGAINST DENT.

This was an ejectment brought by Mr. Cock, and agent of the Marquis of Hertford, against the defendant, who is an agent of the Earl of Darlington, to recover possession of three fields adjoining the borough of Camelford, and which are part of the tenement which gave rise to the three indictments that had previously been tried.

Mr. Sergeant PELL, who conducted the case against the present plaintiff, in the former trials in which he was defendant, now advocated his claims to the fields in question. The learned sergeant alluded to this in his opening address, and humorously claimed the lawyer's priviledge of acting "Jack on both sides," alternately, without losing sight of propriety or the interests of his several clients. The present action, like the indictments which had preceded it, arose out of the contest which is now carried on with much spirit between the Earl of Darlington, and the Marquis of Hertford, for the patronage of the borough of Camelford. It appears to be the intention of the Marquis of Hertford, as soon as the younger Phillips comes of age, which will be in a few months, to erect, on these fields, houses to be occupied by persons who will thus be rendered worthy and independent electors of the said borough, and who, as in duty bound, will support the nominees of their noble patron against the pretensions of the nominees of the Earl of Darlington. The friends of the Earl got possession of these fields in the manner stated in the report of the former trials, and the attempt of Mr. Cock and the friends of the Marquis to regain possession led to the expensive suits which occupied so large a share of the time of the Court at the present assizes.

Edward Harvey lives at Camelford, was told by Dr. Stavely that the three fields in question were let to Mr. Cock; frequently saw Cock's horse in the fields since November last. Stavely succeeded Mr. Rosevear, in the possession of the house and land of Culloden; he (Staveley) left it on the 23d of December last.

James Cock, a labourer, was employed by the plaintiff to repair the hedges, &c. of the three fields in question. Saw Stavely whilst he was doing so, who said he was glad that the fences between his fields and Cock's were to be made up.

William Herring is an apprentice to Mr. Stavely, who lived at Culloden from June to Christmas last. There were five fields besides a garden; saw Mr. Cock's horse in the fields, and saw Mr. Stavely assist Cock to catch the horse. Cock took possession of the fields in November last -- This closed the case for the plaintiff.

Mr GASELEE addressed the Jury for the defendant: the present battle of Culloden would be longer and fully as obstinately contested as the battle of the same name was in the last century, and the event of which had proved decisive of the claims of the House of Stuart to the Crown of those realms. He should prove that neither Mr. Stavely nor Mr. Cock had any legal claim to the possession of Culloden, and then there would be an end of the present action.

Mr. John Rosevear occupied Culloden for 18 years; his lease expired at Lady day, 1822, since which time he has held the premises as tenant-at-will. He never let any part of the premises to Mr. Cock; he let the house and garden to Mr. Staveley, at Lady day or Midsummer, 1822; Mr. Stavely refused to take the ground. About Midsummer, 1822, witness let the fields to Mr. Waten, an attorney, an agent of Lord Darlington.

On his cross-examination he admitted, after some hesitation, that he was in the interest of Lord Darlington, at Camelford. In the course of a long and severe cross-examination he persisted in stating that he had not sold a cow-shed which he had erected on the premises, to Stavely, nor had let the fields either to Stavely or Cock.

James Harvey was called by the plaintiff's counsel to contradict the last witness: he stated that he was present when Mr. Rosevear gave Stavely possession of the whole of the premises called Culloden; that he offered to sell Stavely the cow-shed; that witness agreed to give Stavely 11l. a year for the three fields in question; that he took possession of these fields, but paid no rent, as Mr. Rosevear had put sheep into them, and suspecting there might be some trouble about them, he would have nothing to do with them.

Mr. Sergeant PELL, for the plaintiff, for some time amused the Court by his strictures on borough contests and the mysteries of borough patronage; he was very severe on Mr. Rosevear, who, he contended, was wholly unworth of credit, as he was an avaowed partisan.

His Lordship, after animadverting on the way in which Courts of Justice were sometimes occupied by very tirival matters connected with borough contests, recapitulated the conflicting evidence given by Rosevear and Harvey, and left it to the jury to decide which party was most entitled to credit -- The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff

Dr. William Staveley's son, William Henry Wackerell Staveley, became a Surgeon Dentist, and married Frances SIMS, the daughter of Richard Littleworth Sims, in 1844 in Reading, Berkshire.