When was the last armed rising on British soil

A.� If you discount football hooliganism and anarchists' May Day riots, the answer is 1838 at Bossenden Wood, near Faversham, Kent.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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Q.� Go on.

A.� It all surrounded a self-styled Messiah called John Nichols Thom. He preferred to call himself Sir William Percy Honeywood Courtenay, Knight of Malta and heir to the Kentish estates of Sir Edward Hales.

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Q.� And was there any substance to this

A.� No. Thom was a Cornish publican's son, born in 1799 - although he said he was 2,000 years old. He was, to put not too fine a point on it, raving mad. He turned up in Canterbury in 1832 and stood as a Parliamentary candidate. He campaigned in a crimson velvet suit with gold lace and tassels, carrying a sword.

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Q.� Any luck

A.� He got 374 votes, not enough to win the seat. In defeat, he elevated himself to the peerage by assuming the title Lord Viscount William Courtenay of Powderham.

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Q.� And what did that bring him

A.� Grief. He was soon tried for perjury and spent the next four years in Barming Asylum near Maidstone, being freed on the petition of his devoted father.

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Q.� So how did he put forward his messianic views

A.� After release, he went to lodge with the Culver family at Bossenden Farm at Dunkirk, a remote spot near Faversham. He started to champion the farmworkers who were unhappy about the Poor Law Act (1834) that ended outdoor relief of poverty for the able-bodied. (It meant anyone unable to keep themselves had to go into the workhouse). In the course of his campaigning, the charming Courtenay persuaded the locals - showing them the stigmata on his hands - that he was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

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Q.� They believed him

A.� Yes, especially the farmwomen, but also some of the smaller landowners. Suitably inspired, his followers paraded a banner around the surrounding countryside, until a farmer asked the authorities to arrest them. A summons was issued and Constable John Mears, his brother Nicholas and a third man set out to serve it.

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Q.� This sounds ominous.

A.� Yes. Nicholas Mears confronted Courtenay, who shot him, stabbed him and flung the body into a ditch. Courtenay's disciples were astounded and many were at the point of deserting, until Courtenay administered a 'sacrament' of bread and water and promised to lead them to glory. He also said they would each receive 50-acre estates.

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Q.� But that didn't happen

A.� Right. Within a few hours, 100 men of the 45th Foot regiment came from Canterbury to arrest Courtenay, and in the brief battle that followed Courtenay shot and killed a young officer, Lieutenant Bennet. Eight people died in the short, violent battle, including Courtenay. The bodies were taken to the Red Lion at Hernhill (still there - and a lovely pub!) where relic-hunters ripped their hero's bloodstained shirt to shreds. Others tore pieces of bark from the oak tree against which he fell.

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Q. So the funeral was a spectacle

A. Yes. Thousands of sightseers came to see him in his coffin. The authorities originally ordered the casket to be sealed, but then relented - so that his followers could see he was definitely dead. The vicar would not allow any of the rioters' coffins inside the church and conducted the service by the door - omitting the part of the ritual that refers to everlasting life in heaven.

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Q.� And the grave

A.� Unmarked and now lost. After he was buried in Hernhill churchyard, a watch was kept to protect the body from grave-robbers. He had told his followers that he would rise again. He did not.

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Q.� A conclusion to this sorry tale

A.� Twenty-five of the rioters were arrested, some transported for life, others jailed. An investigation showed the village of Dunkirk possessed 'nothing calculated to inspire any regard for order and law ... it is not to be wondered that the people fell into pernicious courses'. The solution was to build a church. It still stands - but in the early 1980s it was made redundant and sold though lack of use.

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By Steve Cunningham