New light on the ‘Drummer of Tedworth’: conflicting narratives of witchcraft in Restoration England
By Michael Hunter
Historical Research, Volume 78, Issue 201 (2005)
Abstract: This article presents hitherto unpublished early texts concerning the ‘Drummer of Tedworth’, a poltergeist case that occurred in 1662–3 and became famous not least due to its promotion by Joseph Glanvill in his demonological work, Saducismus Triumphatus. The new documents show how responses to the events at Tedworth evolved from anxious piety on the part of their victim, John Mompesson, to confident apologetic by Glanvill, before they were further affected by the emergence of articulate scepticism about the case.
Introduction: The case of the ‘Drummer of Tedworth’ is one of the most famous episodes in the history of witchcraft. It involved a poltergeist which, in the early sixteen-sixties, haunted the house of John Mompesson, a landowner, excise officer and commission officer in the militia, who lived at North Tidworth on the Wiltshire-Hampshire border. In March 1662, Mompesson intervened in the case of a drummer, William Drury, who had requested money from the local constable at the neighbouring village of Ludgershall on the basis of a pass which turned out to be counterfeit. Mompesson had the man arrested (although he was later freed) and his drum confiscated; subsequently, in April, it was sent to his house at Tidworth. Thereafter, he and his family were assaulted by thumpings, tattoos of the drum and other noises. There were also scratchings, panting like a dog, sulphurous and other smells, and strange lights; in addition, objects were thrown around the room, beds were elevated, horses lamed and the like. These disturbances continued over several months into 1663, despite the fact that for part of this time Drury was incarcerated at Gloucester on a charge of theft. Meanwhile, the case became well known, and many people visited Mompesson’s house to witness the strange occurrences for themselves.
The notoriety of the case stems largely from its central position in one of the most famous works on demonology ever published, that by the divine and apologist for the new philosophy, Joseph Glanvill. A lengthy narrative of the Tedworth case first appeared in the version of Glanvill’s book entitled A Blow at Modern Sadducism. In Some Philosophical Considerations about Witchcraft, published in 1668, and it remained equally prominent in the omnibus Saducismus Triumphatus: or, Full and Plain Evidence Concerning Witches and Apparitions (1681), brought out after Glanvill’s death by his mentor, the Cambridge Platonist, Henry More, who had encouraged Glanvill in his investigation of the case in the first place. Not only was the case prominent in the various editions of Glanvill’s own book, it was further propagated by subsequent, more derivative demonologists, such as the New England cleric, Increase Mather, in his Essay for the Recording of Illustrious Providences (1684), and the Scot, George Sinclair, in his Satans Invisible World Discovered (1685).
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