MURDER OF THE HARTGILLS 175 



severe is their sufficient condemnation ; l)ut the 

 hanging of Charles, Lord Stourton, in 1556, is an 

 exception. The affair for which he was put to death 

 was the murder of the two Hartgills, father and son, 

 at Kihnington, Somerset, and it affords an unusually 

 instructive glimpse into the manners of the period. 

 It seems that William Hartoill had Ions; been steward 

 to the previous Lord Stourton, the father of Charles. 

 Like most stewards, he had profited by his steward- 

 ship, over and above his salary, to a considerable 

 extent. There was no friendship wasted between 

 him and the new lord, but the quarrels which had 

 taken place between William Hartgill and his son 

 on the one side, and Charles, Lord Stourton, and his 

 servants on the other, finally came to a head when 

 mv lord demanded a written undertakino; from his 

 mother that she would never marry again, and that 

 Hartoill should be bond for the undertakino; beino- 

 kept. The widowed Lady Stourton was residing at 

 tlie Hartoills' house when this demand was made. 

 She refused to have anything to do with such a 

 paper, and Hartgill bluntly declined as well. Lord 

 Stourton would then appear to have determined on 

 revenge for this defeat, and eventually, after the 

 Hartgills had been on several occasions waylaid, 

 threatened, and attacked by his servants, he conceived 

 the devilish plan of a pretended reconciliation over 

 this and other disputes in the village churchyard of 

 Kilmington, the occasion to be used as a means of 

 taking them off their guard, and finally disposing of 

 them. The two victims were suspicious of this 

 apparent friendliness ; but, unhappily for them. 



