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In a letter to the Hertfordshire Express, with the above title, in c1870, Francis Lucas of Hitchin described the demise of a footpad come highwayman called Clibburn (aka Clements) during a robbery:

“Clibburn constantly attended Hertford market as a trader. He was a remarkably large and powerful man, and several robberies on the highway, which had been lately committed by a stalwart ruffian, haunting the roads about Hertford at night, who had always hitherto succeeded by some means or other in escaping recognition by his victims, had come to be ascribed to him.

It was on Saturday, the 28th December, 1782 on the road between Brumfield and Datchworth that Clibburn was killed. He was shot through the pit of the stomach by a man named North, commonly called, from the roughness and thickness of his hair, "Shock" or "Shock North," who was a barn-tasker to Mr. Benjamin Whittenbury.

Mr Whittenbury [of Queen Hoo Hall] had gone to Hertford market and was taking the money for some wheat which he had sold, when he noticed Clibburn, eyeing him closely. A servant of Mr Whittenbury happened to be in the town with a gun, which he had been taking to be repaired. His master sought him out, and imparted to him privately his conviction that Clibburn meant to waylay him, and his own determination not to avoid the encounter. He would go home he said, by a byway and lodge his money in safety. He felt assured that the danger would await him at a certain part of the road which he indicated to the servant; to a point between that and Hertford he would come round through the fields, and from thence take his ordinary route to his house on foot.

Two of Clibburn's sons (one armed with a gun) aided in the attack upon Whittenbury, the one who had the gun was captured before he got home to his father's cottage at Wareside, the other escaped. It does not appear that either during the struggle or in his attempt to escape the son who was taken, fired. On the contrary, when on his trial, he said he only agreed to take the gun to prevent his father or his other brother taking it, as he knew either of them would shoot with it, if resisted. He was convicted and executed.

Clibburn and his two sons (assisted occasionally by Clibburn's wife in male attire) with faces blacked, had for some time robbed on the roads about Hertford, and many persons had been cruelly maltreated by them. The wife was tried and acquitted, the other son does not appear to have been taken, and is said to have become an honest industrious man.

In Clibburn's cottage a great quantity of property was discovered.

The body of Clibburn was taken to the public-house [now called the Horns], on Bull's Green, and lay in a shed there all night awaiting an inquest, but on the next day (Sunday) was dragged up and down the Green and through the furze bushes by the brutal rabble, which the tidings of the occurrence had brought together.

A cup was presented to Mr Whittenbury by the Lord Lieutenant of the County. It was inscribed as follows:— ‘This Cup the gift of James, Earl of Salisbury, Lord Lieutenant, to Mr Benjamin Whittenbury, of Queen Hoo Hall, presented this 31st day of January, 1783, in consideration of his spirited behaviour on Saturday, 28th Dec. 1782 in risking his life and securing Joseph Clibburn, the son, after having been instrumental in shooting Walter Clibburn, the father, a most notorious and infamous offender by which means County of Hertford was delivered from the depredations of a most desperate set of villains’.”

Information Source: The Lawson Thompson scrapbooks in the care of Hitchin Museum and Art Gallery.

Created: Fri, 16 Jul 2010, Updated: Thu, 19 Jan 2012