Visitors to St Mary's Church in Reigate can still see the touching gravestone commemorating Catherine Bird, a young woman who died in 1714. Yet few realise that until the nineteenth century there was another monument on the wall above it. It commemorated her husband, Lieutenant Edward Bird, who was hanged for murder. The disappearance of his memorial has largely erased one of Reigate's most remarkable stories.
Catherine Bird died during the smallpox epidemic of 1714 at the age of just twenty-seven. Her monument survives in the floor of the south chancel and bears a moving epitaph adapted from Ben Jonson's famous tribute to the Countess of Pembroke:
Underneath this stone doth lye
As much Vertue as could dye;
Which, when alive, did vigour give
To as much Beauty as could live.
The memorial to her husband, Lieutenant Edward Bird (1693–1719), now crudely hacked from the wall.
Edward was the nephew of Reigate's vicar, John Bird. Educated at Westminster School and Eton College, he became an officer in the Marquis of Winchester's Regiment of Horse and appeared destined for a distinguished career. Instead, he ended his life on the gallows.
Edward's memorial attracted attention long after his death. Written in 1864, Black's Guide Book for Tourists: Surrey described it as "an astounding military monument, this worthy is presented in armour, with a notable wig, a baton in his hand, and warlike instruments in the background.’
The half-length relief was mounted on a large heart-shaped slab of white marble. Around Bird's neck was a sculpted cravat, later mistaken in local folklore for the hangman's rope that ended his life.
Edward Bird's downfall began during the early hours of 25 September 1718.
After an evening of heavy drinking, he arrived with a female companion at Mr Seedwell's bagnio in Silver Street, Westminster. Although a bagnio originally meant a bathhouse, by the eighteenth century the term was often used for establishments where private rooms could be rented discreetly by the hour.
Around two o'clock in the morning Bird demanded a hot bath. When the servant Samuel Loxton was delayed while attending another customer, Bird flew into a rage.
He assaulted one servant so violently that four ribs were broken, then turned on those trying to calm him. Drawing his sword, he stabbed Samuel Loxton in the chest.
The surgeon described the victim’s wounds:
Surgeon deposed, that he being sent for, found (Loxton) quite dead, and searching found two wounds in his breast, slanting 5 or 6 Inches, and another betwixt 1st and 2nd Rib…4 Fingers deep and he did verily believe (this) was the cause of his Death.’
Bird was tried for murder at the Old Bailey in January 1719.
His defence rested on two arguments. He claimed he had acted in self-defence after being attacked by the bathhouse staff, and he argued that because the bagnio was a house of ill repute, its employees were people of questionable character whose evidence should not be believed.
The jury rejected both arguments and found him guilty, but King George I was persuaded by Bird's influential family to commute the death sentence to transportation overseas. It appeared that wealth and connections had saved him.
The story did not end there. Samuel Loxton's widow, Diana, exercised a little-known legal right known as an Appeal of Murder. Unlike the criminal prosecution brought by the Crown, this was a private legal action that allowed a victim's closest relative to seek justice personally.
Bird's family tried desperately to stop her. His lawyers argued that Diana had no right to bring the case because her marriage was allegedly invalid. At the same time, she was reportedly offered 100 guineas immediately and a further £2,000 if she abandoned the proceedings. Other witnesses were allegedly offered money to change their evidence.
Diana refused every offer.
Because a royal pardon could not extinguish a private appeal, the case proceeded. She won, Bird's reprieve was overturned, and the original death sentence was restored.
For contemporaries it was an extraordinary result. A wealthy army officer had failed to escape justice through influence, money or royal favour.
While imprisoned, Bird concentrated on defending his reputation. He published a lengthy pamphlet arguing that he had been the victim of malicious prosecution.
The chaplain of Newgate Prison later complained that, although he made repeated visits,
‘I found him always so busie, sometimes in Writing, and at other times with Company, that I could hardly have any Opportunity to speak to him of his Future State.’Death.’
Bird also made two unsuccessful attempts to take his own life before execution but on 23 February 1719 he was hanged at Tyburn. As a gentleman, he was granted the privilege of travelling to the gallows in a private mourning coach rather than the open cart used for ordinary prisoners. Friends then brought back his body to Reigate for burial.
Edward's grieving mother commissioned the remarkable heart-shaped monument in St Mary's Church. Contemporary accounts claimed that she returned every year to mourn alone beside her son's grave.
For generations visitors could see the monuments of husband and wife standing together but today only Catherine's survives. Edward's has disappeared, leaving behind little more than descriptions and an extraordinary story of crime, privilege and justice in Georgian England.
Edward Bird's prosecution became one of the best-known examples of the medieval Appeal of Murder, a legal procedure that allowed private citizens to challenge even a royal pardon.
Although Parliament abolished the practice in 1819, legal historians continue to study Bird's case because it demonstrated that, at least on occasion, even the influence of the Crown and the social standing of a gentleman could not strip private citizens of their personal right to seek retribution for murder.
British History Online (BHO)
‘Parishes: Reigate’, in A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3, ed. H.E. Malden (London, 1911), pp. 229–245. british-history.ac.ukOld Bailey Proceedings Online
Trial of Edward Bird (t17190115-37, 15th January 1719) and Ordinary of Newgate's Account (oa17190223, 23rd February 1719).
Available online via oldbaileyonline.orgEton College Archives
Biographical Entries: Edward Bird (1693–1719). etoncollege.comSurrey Archaeological Collections
‘The Account Book of John Bird, Vicar of Reigate’, Surrey History, Vol. V, No. 3.Black, Adam & Charles
Black’s Guide Book for Tourists: Surrey (Edinburgh: A. & C. Black, 1864)Image: Two Bloods of Humour, returning from the Bagnio, after having Kept it up (1772)