Jedburgh's three-penny drama!

EWAN LAMB recalls a "Remarkable Scotch Trial" involving six potentially suspect half pennies

Back in the 1780s, with George the Third on the British throne, gangs of counterfeiters were forging massive quantities of fake copper coins, causing mayhem for the nation's shopkeepers and traders and posing difficulties for the Royal Mint.

The number of dud half-pennies had become so large that during the three years prior to 1785 many individuals declined to handle or use that particular denomination of 'coin of His Majesty'.

In the Scottish Borders town of Jedburgh and elsewhere groups of businessmen formed illegal associations to "refuse without distinction all half-pennies".

What happened next would lead to a series of court cases culminating in a judgement by Scotland's Court of Session, all over the princely sum of threepence [in old money].

This version of the saga relies on a contemporary account in The Gentleman's Magazine, a London-based publication which headlined their article 'A Remarkable Scotch Trial'.

After Jedburgh's traders formed their ha'penny boycotting association an individual called John Hall, described as the tackman of the tollbar at Newton, entered the shop of John Billerwell who also happened to be the royal burgh's Dean of Guild - head of the local merchants' corporation and a magistrate of sorts.

Hall tried to buy some tobacco from Billerwell for which he offered six of those extremely controversial half pennies, all bearing the image of George III.

According to the magazine: "The shopkeeper knocked the coins out of Hall's hand, and then took them from the floor, and returned them to Hall with a good deal of abusive language, saying he would have nothing to do with half-pence of the present reign, and took back his tobacco".

John Hall was not a happy man. With the assistance of the local Procurator Fiscal he promoted an action against Billerwell for damages and expenses.

The sheriff decided the defendant [Billerwell], as keeper of a public shop, "was bound to deliver the tobacco demanded; to accept in payment the true coin of George III; and that the refusal was therefore illegal".

Billerwell was found liable for one penny in damages together with the full costs of the case. But this was just the beginning of a somewhat sensational journey through the legal process,

The Gentleman's Magazine takes up the story:

"The matter was referred to the Court of Session where the Lord Ordinary ordered the half pence offered in payment to be submitted to assay makers in Edinburgh to see if they were genuine.Their report concluded they could not say if they were real or counterfeit.

"The coins were then sent to the Mint in London for inspection and a report which said 'The said half pence are not without suspicion though we believe them to be good. They had lost the nicer marks by which the question might be determined with certainty.

"In consulting with the assay makers, gravers and other money makers of that office, they had good reason to believe the six coins were genuine".

The report persuaded the court to assoilzie (acquit) Billerwell with expenses due to neither of the parties.

The submission of a further challenge resulted in the extraordinary case being placed before the 'whole Lords'.

"Billerwell claimed in evidence that no-one was bound to dispense of his goods until he was perfectly satisfied with what he received in return.

"The Court of Session took up the cause of the illegal association and were pleased to adhere to the Lord Ordinary's decision so far as John Hall, the private petitioner was concerned. But they found the combination entered into by Billerwell, not to receive in payment the copper coins of his present Majesty, was improper and illegal.

"They fined him £5 sterling to the poor of the parish of Jedburgh, and found him liable for expenses as decided by the Procurator Fiscal (£16 sterling). Billerwell petitioned against this decision, but the court refused the same and adhered to their decision".

So, in the end, Billerwell paid a heavy price for what started out as a dispute over a trifling sum of money. The £5 donation to the paupers of Jedburgh equated to £791 in 2019 values, according to the Bank of England inflation calculator. And by the same measure the costs of £16 equal £2,531 in today's money.

Next time a shopkeeper in England's deep south holds your Scottish banknote up to the light before rejecting it, a trip to the nearest prosecuter's office might be the answer!