Episode Summary:

Podcast: HistoryExtra
Title: "The streets will run with blood!": the uprising that shook Victorian Britain
Date: February 18, 2026
Host: Spencer Mizzen
Guest: Ian Brecken, novelist, teacher, university lecturer, and historical researcher
Main Theme:
A riveting exploration of the Bossenden Wood uprising of 1838—the last battle fought on English soil—focusing on the enigmatic figure Sir William Courtenay (aka John Nicholls Tom), the social, religious, and political currents that fed his insurrection, and the aftermath that echoed through Victorian Britain.

Overview

This episode delves into the dramatic but little-known rural uprising of 1838 in Kent, England, where a charismatic and mysterious leader named Sir William Courtenay led laborers in open rebellion. Host Spencer Mizzen and guest Ian Brecken dissect the events, personalities, social tensions, and historical implications, offering fresh insights into a singularly bloody chapter of Victorian England.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Bossenden Wood Uprising: What Happened?

• Setting: Late May 1838, Bossenden Wood near Canterbury (01:13).
• Event Summary:
  • Sir William Courtenay (real name John Nicholls Tom) gathered local laborers, preaching both social and religious revolution.
  • Authorities, alarmed by increasing unrest, summoned the army.
  • The “battle” lasted only about three minutes but ended with multiple deaths, including Courtenay, followers, and soldiers.

Quote:
"The two sides met in a clearing in the forest and a battle followed. I mean, it's debatable whether it was a battle or not, how you would define it. It lasted probably no more than about three minutes, but... at the end of it, not only the so-called John Nicholls Tom, but several of his followers and a couple of the military side as well lay dead on the floor."
—Ian Brecken (01:37)

2. Who Was Sir William Courtenay (John Nicholls Tom)?

• Origins: Born John Nicholls Tom, son of Cornish innkeepers near Truro.
• Transformations:
  • Left home in 1832; re-emerged in Canterbury as various personas: Count Moses Rothschild, then Sir William Percy Honeywood Courtenay.
  • Dressed flamboyantly, boasted of vast wealth, claimed grand titles, adopted an extravagant look—impressive beard, military coat, sword.
• Political Ambitions: Attempted to run for Parliament on a radical, populist platform in the charged context of post-Reform Act Britain.

Quote:
"He was going under a different name, he had a different appearance, different clothing, and seemed to have become or taken on this completely different owner... He was a very big man anyway, six foot tall, very powerfully built, and he had an enormous beard which was very rare at the time."
—Ian Brecken (03:11)

3. From Political Outsider to Religious Revolutionary

• After Failed Elections:
  • Imprisoned for perjury, spent time in an asylum, later emerged transformed again.
  • Shifted focus to rural Kent, donned laborer's garb, preached apocalyptic and egalitarian visions.
• Religious Reinvention:
  • Cast himself as a lay preacher, then began claiming he was the second coming of Christ.

Quote:
"We've seen it even in our own time... people who've tried to make a go at a political career, it hasn't worked, and then they've suddenly found God, or, in the case of John Nicholstom, actually decided that he was God or the Son of God."
—Ian Brecken (08:03)

4. Courtenay’s Charisma and the Power of Millenarianism

• Charisma: Able to attract support across social classes, not just among the poorest.
• Religious Context:
  • Early Victorian culture steeped in Christianity, ripe for prophetic or millenarian figures.
  • Belief in the impending Second Coming was common—millenarianism undergirded Courtenay’s revolutionary message.

Quote:
"He was a kind of hellfire preacher and showman combined, and you can see why a lot of people were very taken in by that, because their lives were hard."
—Ian Brecken (10:09)

Quote:
"This belief in the millennium... was very widely held across society... John Nichols Tom did... to slightly change it for his own uses. He turned the idea of the millennium into a revolutionary moment. He said, this is the day of Judgment... the streets will run with blood..."
—Ian Brecken (12:46)

5. The Authorities Respond

• Slow Official Reaction:
  • Communication slow; officials took time to grasp the seriousness of the threat.
  • Lack of professional police in rural areas; legal protocols hampered immediate action.
• Triggering Event:
  • Courtenay killed the brother of a special constable at Bosenden Farm, heightening the crisis.
  • Following this, he led his followers on a march, attempting to ignite wider rebellion (15:33–17:49).

Quote:
"He comes out of the farmhouse... with a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other, and murders this constable's brother... stood before his disciples with his bloodied sword raised above his head and this mad look in his eyes, saying, 'I'm one greater than Samson, I am the only true savior of the world and you're all my lambs.'"
—Ian Brecken (16:38)

6. The Battle and Its Aftermath

• Military Tactics:
  • 45th Regiment, recently returned from Burma, used colonial anti-insurgency tactics.
  • Young and mostly inexperienced recruits faced a band of zealots.
• Ferocity and Fallout:
  • Despite being outnumbered and poorly armed, Courtenay’s group charged the soldiers, resulting in a brief but brutal exchange.
  • Afterward, significant numbers were arrested; a few were transported to Australia or jailed.

Quote:
"One of [the officers] said it was the fiercest fighting he'd ever seen. So it was pretty rough, although brief. And at the end of it... the whole clearing was spattered with blood."
—Ian Brecken (20:48)

Quote:
"They were all liable for first degree murder, even though some of them were only just bystanders, which seems extraordinary to us now. But eventually they whittled down the number to only three who were punished by transportation to Australia."
—Ian Brecken (21:41)

7. Political and Social Repercussions

• Response in Westminster:
  • Initial political finger-pointing and investigations, but no major policy changes.
  • Chartists initially claimed Courtenay as a martyr but soon focused on more politically-useful incidents (23:03).
• Media and Middle-Class Fascination:
  • The uprising sparked a new, somewhat patronizing curiosity among elites about rural working-class lives.
  • Early echoes of social anthropology and the emergence of the “eye of the state” studying the poor.

Quote:
"It was a sort of anthropological exercise that he was doing... the eye of the controlling elite, looking down at the lower classes, but also trying to look inside... trying to work out what they're thinking and maybe what they're going to do next."
—Ian Brecken (25:13)

8. Legacy and Historical Memory

• Is it the Last Battle on English Soil?
  • The term is contested, but Brecken defends its use, based on the nature and scale of the conflict (27:31).
• Courtenay’s Relevance Today:
  • His fluid identity and blend of spectacle, religious fervor, and revolt against authority foreshadow many modern themes.

Quote:
"He has this slightly protean feel about him. He's almost too large a character to be constrained by his era and he seems just as fitting in our own than then."
—Ian Brecken (28:43)

Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• Courtenay’s Appearance:
  "This huge black beard, long hair. He's said to look a little bit like Jesus, which I think suggests that very few long haired bearded men were around at the time." (03:41)

• Violent Charisma:
  "They appeared to be possessed by a form of fanaticism that was fairly terrifying... especially when, after firing their first volley, they were then charged by these men in a fury who attacked them with their clubs and sticks." (18:55)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:13] Introduction to the Bossenden Wood Uprising
• [03:11] Who was John Nicholls Tom/Sir William Courtenay?
• [05:37] Political Context & His Election Campaign
• [07:20] From Failed Politician to Religious Revolutionary
• [09:20] Courtenay’s Charisma and his Appeal
• [11:30] The Era’s Millenarian Religious Climate
• [15:41] Authorities’ Slow Response
• [16:38] The Trigger: Courtenay’s First Killing
• [17:49] The Battle: Military Intervention and Combat
• [21:30] Aftermath: Arrests, Trials, and Punishment
• [23:08] Parliamentary and Political Responses
• [25:13] The Middle-Class Fascination and Social Anthropology
• [27:31] “The Last Battle on English Soil?” Debate
• [28:43] The Modern Relevance of Sir William Courtenay

Conclusion

The episode paints a vivid, sometimes shocking portrait of a forgotten insurrection, tying together questions of identity, faith, class tension, and the unpredictability of history. Ian Brecken’s research brings immediacy to the 1838 clash, while also pondering why its echoes—of messianic populism, manufactured personas, and religious-political fusion—still ring familiar nearly two centuries later.