It was common for the Stirlingshire hunt to meet outside of the Star and Garter Hotel throughout the Nineteenth Century. This would consist of rich aristocrats and the well-to-do of the day. It was typical to end a hunt at the Star and Garter with an evening meal, often resulting in rowdy behaviour.
One night in November of 1849 led to a legal trial with the railway authorities and members of the hunt. The crime? Malicious mischief. This was perpetrated by a party of seven boisterous men, the main culprit being Sir William Don. A twenty-four year old who had been educated at Eton, joined the British army as a Cornet and had left with a large debt. Most of his money he inherited from his father went to pay it off .
On this night Sir William had drunk a large amount of wine, as did the others of his party. This group lived in Edinburgh and had decided to take the 11:10pm train home from the recently opened Linlithgow Station. The trains ran at a slower pace back then, and a train from Linlithgow to Edinburgh could take as long as two and half hours. Sir William and his crew staggered up towards the station, Sir William lobbing boiled potatoes at the window panes, breaking several of them in the process. As they entered Sir William took down a notice from and placed it on top of the small stove that Mr Young, the Stationmaster, had going.
This is when the commotion started. While Mr Young was trying to serve other customers tickets, Captain Stirling, a member of the hunt, kept putting the gas lamps out around the station. The Captain then jumped behind the counter and started playing with the telegraph machine. When told to stop, the Captain threatened Mr Young with a large ruler he picked up and rattled the Captain’s hat with it. You can picture the scene, Mr Young running around frantically trying to keep the lamps lit, while drunk men ran around singing loudly and smoking cigars. Lord Kennedy asked Mr Young for a ticket, to which he asked for him to be patient while he tried to relight the lamps. Kennedy knocked off Mr Young’s hat and to get his own back, Mr Young returned the gesture.
Things didn’t get any better on the train. The compartment could not hold more than six people, so Captain Stewart lay on the floor. The passengers got up to some more of tricks by throwing a bell, a rug and a pair of curtains out of the window. In amongst all this Captain Stewart kicked out the lamp that was on the roof. To correct this Sir William climbed out of the window, while the train was still moving, got onto the roof corrected the lamp and climbed back into the compartment.
After three trials throughout January to April, Sir William was charged with malicious mischief, reckless mischief and breach of the peace. Luckily enough for Sir William, the jury found the case ‘not proven’, scarcely an endorsement of the judiciary of the time.
For more information and other fascinating stories, join us for a guided walk around Linlithgow. We meet every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and Saturday at 10.30. Booking essential. Buy tickets here.
