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59-507: James Hackman (baptized 13 December 1752, hanged 19 April 1779), briefly Rector of Wiveton in Norfolk , was the man who murdered Martha Ray , singer and mistress of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich . Baptized on 13 December 1752 at Gosport , Hampshire , Hackman was the son of William and Mary Hackman. His father had served in the Royal Navy as a lieutenant . Hackman was apprenticed to

118-567: A deacon in the Church of England and on 28 February a priest . On 1 March 1779 he was instituted as Rector of Wiveton , a place that he may never have visited. In about 1775, while he was a serving army officer, Hackman visited Lord Sandwich 's house at Hinchingbrooke and met his host's mistress, Martha Ray . She was "a lady of an elegant person, great sweetness of manners, and of a remarkable judgement and execution in vocal and instrumental music" who had lived with Lord Sandwich as his wife since

177-399: A mercer , and although according to some accounts he became a member of St John's College, Cambridge , no record of this can be traced at Cambridge . In 1772, Hackman was purchased a commission as an ensign in the 68th Regiment of Foot , and in 1776 was promoted lieutenant, but by early 1777 he had resigned from the army to become a cleric . On 24 February 1779, Hackman was ordained

236-418: A further example, the pastor of a parish ( parochus ) is pastor (not rector) over both his parish and the parish church. Finally, a president of a Catholic university is rector over the university and, if a priest, often the rector of any church that the university may operate, on the basis that it is not a canonical establishment of a parish (c. 557 §3). In some religious congregations of priests, rector

295-409: A mission (that is, a congregation which is not self-supporting). "Associate priests" are priests hired by the parish to supplement the rector in his or her duties while "assistant priests" are priests resident in the congregation who help on a volunteer basis. The positions of "vicar" and "curate" are not recognized in the canons of the national church. However, some diocesan canons do define "vicar" as

354-399: A mission or quasi-parish, a seminary or house of studies, a university , a hospital, or a community of clerics or religious. If a rector appointed as his employee someone to perform the duties of his office, i.e. to act for him "vicariously", that employee was termed his vicar . Thus, the tithes of a parish are the legal property of the person who holds the office of rector. They are not

413-477: A mourning coach, accompanied by the sheriff's officer and two fellow clergymen, the Rev. Moses Porter, a curate friend from Clapham , and the Rev. John Villette, the chaplain of Newgate Prison . James Boswell later denied rumours that he had also been in the coach. At Tyburn, "Hackman... behaved with great fortitude; no appearances of fear were to be perceived, but very evident signs of contrition and repentance". His body

472-776: A rector as priest also had glebe lands attached to the parish. The rector was then responsible for the repair of the chancel of his church—the part dedicated to the sacred offices—while the rest of the building was the responsibility of the parish. This rectorial responsibility persists, in perpetuity, with the occupiers of the original rectorial land where it has been sold. This is called chancel repair liability , and affects institutional, corporate and private owners of land once owned by around 5,200 churches in England and Wales. (See also Church of England structure .) The traditional titles of rector and vicar continue in English use today, although

531-560: A rector. Rector general is the title given to the superior general of certain religious orders, e.g. the Clerics Regular of the Mother of God , Pallottines . There are some other uses of this title, such as for residence hall directors, such as Father George Rozum CSC, at the University of Notre Dame which were once (and to some extent still are) run in a seminary-like fashion. This title

590-566: A stranger to the pangs I now feel. May heaven protect my beloved woman, and forgive this act, which alone could relieve me from a world of misery I have long endured. Oh! if it should ever be in your power to do her any act of friendship, remember your faithful friend, J. Hackman. Mr Justice Blackstone , presiding at the trial, summed up the case against Hackman. He told the jury that the crime of murder did not demand "a long form of deliberation" and that Hackman's letter to Frederick Booth showed "a coolness and deliberation which no ways accorded with

649-481: A sum to leave you, to convince you of my great regard: you was my only friend. I have hid one circumstance from you, which gives me great pain. I owe Mr. Knight, of Gosport, 100 ℓ. for which he has the writings of my houses; but I hope in God, when they are sold, and all other matters collected, there will be nearly enough to settle our account. May Almighty God bless you and yours with comfort and happiness; and may you ever be

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708-501: A team to run a group of parishes and churches. In such a team arrangement, the senior priest holds the title "Team Rector", whilst other incumbent priests in the team are entitled "Team Vicar". In the Deanery of Jersey , which is part of the Church of England, a rector is appointed to one of the island's twelve historic parishes and as such has a role in the civil parish administration alongside

767-556: Is dealt with sympathetically. He is represented as a man of sensibility suffering from an extreme case of unrequited love who descends into suicidal and homicidal despair, even to the point that the reader is invited to identify with Hackman rather than with his victim. Samuel Johnson and Topham Beauclerk debated whether Hackman had meant to kill only himself. Johnson believed that the two pistols Hackman took with him to Covent Garden meant that he intended there to be two deaths. Boswell himself (who had visited Hackman in prison) wrote that

826-479: Is now a common third form of title in the contemporary Church of England, and is applied to the parish priest of a parish in which presentation to the living has been suspended—a process by which the bishop takes temporary responsibility for the appointment of the parish priest, regardless of who holds the legal rights of patronage in that parish. From the middle of the twentieth century the Church of England has developed team ministries, in which several priests work in

885-449: Is recorded as saying: I was standing at the post. Just as the play broke up I saw two ladies and a gentleman coming out of the playhouse; a gentleman in black followed them. Lady Sandwich's coach was called. When the carriage came up, the gentleman handed the other lady into the carriage; the lady that was shot stood behind. Before the gentleman could come back to hand her into the carriage the gentleman in black came up, laid hold of her by

944-399: Is the title of the local superior of a house or community of the order. For instance, a community of several dozen Jesuit priests might include the pastor and priests assigned to a parish church next door, the faculty of a Jesuit high school across the street, and the priests in an administrative office down the block. However, the community as a local installation of Jesuit priests is headed by

1003-620: Is used similarly at the University of Portland , another institution of the Congregation of Holy Cross . The Pope is called "rector of the world" during the discontinued papal coronation ceremony that was once part of the papal inauguration . Permanent rector is an obsolete term used in the United States prior to the codification of the 1917 Code of Canon Law . Canon Law grants a type of tenure to pastors ( parochus ) of parishes, giving them certain rights against arbitrary removal by

1062-517: The Anglican Church of Canada rectors are officially licensed as incumbents to express the diocesan polity of employment of clergy. In the Episcopal Church in the United States of America , the "rector" is the priest elected to head a self-supporting parish. A priest who is appointed by the bishop to head a parish in the absence of a rector is termed a "priest-in-charge", as is a priest leading

1121-402: The Church of England consisted of rectors, vicars , and perpetual curates . Parish churches and their incumbent clergy were supported by tithes , a form of local tax levied on the personal as well as agricultural output of the parish. A rector received direct payment of both the greater and lesser tithes of his parish, whilst a vicar received only the lesser tithes (the greater tithes going to

1180-476: The coroner . On 16 April 1779, just nine days after the event, Hackman was tried for murder at the Old Bailey . Despite having previously decided to plead guilty, in the event he pleaded not guilty, explaining that "the justice of my country ought to be satisfied by suffering my offence to be proved". John McNamara gave evidence that on the evening of 7 April, he believed at some time after 11.00 am he came out of

1239-498: The Constable; the parish also takes full responsibility (through levy of rates) for maintaining the church. Vicars are appointed to district churches, have no civil administrative roles by right, and their churches' upkeep is resourced by the members of the congregation. In the Church of Ireland , Scottish Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada , most parish priests are called rectors, not vicars. However, in some dioceses of

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1298-516: The Sandwich Islands after him (now known as the Hawaiian Islands ). Hackman struck up a friendship with Martha Ray (who was several years older than he was) and was later reported to have become besotted with her. They may have become lovers and discussed marriage, but this is disputed. Although rich, Sandwich was usually in debt and offered Martha Ray no financial security. However, whatever

1357-533: The Shakspeare tavern. He did not see Hackman at the time, but after he had been arrested, asked him what had possessed him, and he answered "that it was not a proper place to ask that question, or something to that effect... I asked him his name, and I understood from him that his name was Hackman; I think he pronounced his name with an H. I asked him if he knew anybody. He said, he knew a Mr. Booth, in Craven-street in

1416-465: The Strand, and desired he might be sent for. He desired to see the lady. I did not tell him she was dead; somebody else did. I objected to his seeing her at that time. I had her removed into another room. From the great quantity of blood I had about me I got sick, and was obliged to go home. I know no more about it." Mary Anderson, a fruit seller, gave evidence that she was standing close by the carriage. She

1475-457: The age of seventeen and had given birth to nine of his children. Sandwich also had a wife, from whom he was separated, who was considered mad and who lived in an apartment at Windsor Castle . This was the same Lord Sandwich who is said to have called for a piece of beef between two pieces of bread, thus originating the word " sandwich ". He was a patron of the explorer Captain James Cook , who named

1534-417: The bishop delegates the day-to-day operation of the cathedral to a priest, who is often incorrectly called a rector but whose specific title is plebanus or "people's pastor", especially if the cathedral operates as a parish church. Therefore, because a priest is designated head of a cathedral parish, he cannot be both rector and pastor, as a rector cannot canonically hold title over a parish (c. 556). As

1593-513: The bishop of their diocese. In order to preserve their flexibility and authority in assigning priests to parishes, bishops in the United States until that time did not actually appoint priests as pastors, but as "permanent rectors" of their parishes: the "permanent" gave the priest a degree of confidence in the security in his assignment, but the "rector" rather than "pastor" preserved the bishop's absolute authority to reassign clergy. Hence, many older parishes list among their early leaders priests with

1652-442: The case showed "the dreadful effects that the passion of Love may produce". In his Mind-Forg'd Manacles (1987), the social historian Roy Porter argues that Hackman was well aware of the madness of his passion. In The Luck of Barry Lyndon , Thackeray has his protagonist describe having met Hackman 'at one of Mrs Cornely's balls, at Carlisle House, Soho'. A mezzotint of Hackman by Robert Laurie , after Robert Dighton ,

1711-453: The compulsory employment of able-bodied but indolent paupers. Built in 1618, it was enlarged in 1655, and during the reign of Queen Anne , its regime was extended to cover the incarceration of criminals. In 1834 the original Bridewell was replaced by a larger prison, on a different site, 8 acres (32,000 m ) in area, south of Victoria Street and close to Vauxhall Bridge Road. The new prison, designed by Robert Abraham and costing £186,000,

1770-468: The gown, and pulled out of his pocket two pistols; he shot the right hand pistol at her, and the other at himself. She fell with her hand so [describing it as being on her forehead] and died before she could be got to the first lamp; I believe she died immediately, for her head hung directly. At first I was frightened at the report of the pistol, and ran away. He fired another pistol, and dropped immediately. They fell feet to feet. He beat himself violently over

1829-567: The head with his pistols, and desired somebody would kill him. Anderson said she had identified Hackman in Tothill Fields Bridewell the next day and she did so again in court, pointing to the prisoner. Richard Blandy, a constable, gave evidence that he had been coming from Drury-Lane house and that as he came by the piazzas in Covent Garden he heard two pistol shots and then heard somebody say two people were killed. Approaching, he saw

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1888-451: The ideas of insanity". Hackman was convicted and sentenced to be hanged. In a newspaper report of the trial, Hackman was described as five feet nine inches tall, "very genteely made, and of a most polite Address". After the trial, James Boswell told Frederick Booth that Hackman had behaved "with Decency, Propriety, and in such a Manner as to interest everyone present". Hackman was hanged at Tyburn on 19 April 1779. He travelled there in

1947-407: The lay holder, or impropriator , of the living). A perpetual curate held the cure of souls in an area which had not yet been formally or legally constituted as a parish, and received neither greater nor lesser tithes, but only a small stipend in return for his duties. Perpetual curates tended to have a lower social status, and were often quite poorly remunerated. Quite commonly, parishes that had

2006-597: The murder fascinated much of London during April 1779. At first, given Sandwich's position as First Lord of the Admiralty , a political motive was suspected. Not long before, Sandwich and Martha Ray had found themselves fleeing from Admiralty House , where a mob was rioting against the government and in particular against what it saw as the mistreatment of Admiral Keppel . The affair inspired Sir Herbert Croft 's epistolary novel Love and Madness (1780), an imagined correspondence between Hackman and Martha Ray. In this, Hackman

2065-418: The night of the murder. He found the wound to be mortal, could find no sign of life, and pronounced the woman dead. The wound was in the 'centra coronalis' (the crown of the head ) and the ball had come out under the left ear. Hackman gave evidence for himself, reading a prepared statement to the court, which was probably written by the lawyer and writer James Boswell , who although not professionally engaged

2124-446: The only officials who exercise their functions using the title of rector. Since the term rector refers to the function of the particular office, a number of officials are not referred to as rectors even though they are rectors in actual practice. The diocesan bishop, for instance, is himself a rector, since he presides over both an ecclesiastical organization (the diocese ) and an ecclesiastical building (his cathedral ). In many dioceses,

2183-517: The other he then tried to kill himself but made only a flesh wound. He then beat himself with both discharged pistols until he was arrested and taken, with Ray's body, into a tavern in St James's Street . Two letters were found on Hackman, one addressed to his brother-in-law, Frederick Booth, and a love letter to Ray: both later appeared in evidence at the murder trial. When Lord Sandwich heard what had happened, he "wept exceedingly". On 14 April 1779, Ray

2242-531: The playhouse with Ray, and having seen her "in some difficulties at the playhouse", offered his help in handing her to her carriage. She took his arm. As they came out of the passage into the Covent Garden playhouse and were two steps from the carriage, he heard the report of a pistol, while Miss Ray was still holding his right arm with her left hand. She fell instantly. He thought the pistol had been "fired out of wantonness" and that Miss Ray had fainted. He knelt to help her, but found blood on his hands, and got her into

2301-433: The postnominal letters "P.R." (as in, a plaque listing all of the pastors of a parish, with "Rev. John Smith, P.R."). This practice was discontinued and today priests are normally assigned as pastors of parishes, and bishops in practice reassign them at will (though there are still questions about the canonical legality of this). In Anglican churches, a rector is a type of parish priest . Historically, parish priests in

2360-484: The priest-in-charge of a mission; and "curate" is often used for assistants, being entirely analogous to the English situation. In schools affiliated with the Anglican church the title "rector" is sometimes used in secondary schools and boarding schools, where the headmaster is often a priest. Tothill Fields Bridewell Tothill Fields Bridewell (also known as Tothill Fields Prison and Westminster Bridewell )

2419-480: The prison. Originally the Bridewell comprised three separate gaols for untried male prisoners and debtors, male convicts, and women. Inmates were put to work oakum -picking and treading the treadmill , and it operated on the silent/separate system . However, due to poor management, the regime was changed in 1850 and the Bridewell then housed only women and convicted boys under the age of seventeen. The second prison

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2478-516: The prisoner's pocket and found two letters, which he gave to Mr Campbell, master of the Shakspeare tavern. He could say nothing else about the letters. James Mahon, an apothecary, gave evidence that he lived at the corner of Bow Street. Coming through the piazzas in Covent-Garden, he heard two pistols go off. Going back, he saw a gentleman lying on the ground, with a pistol in his left hand, beating himself violently and bleeding copiously. The prisoner

2537-714: The property of his vicar, who is not an office-holder but an employee, remunerated by a stipend, i.e. a salary, payable by his employer the rector. A parish vicar is the agent of his rector, whilst, higher up the scale, the Pope is called the Vicar of Christ , acting vicariously for the ultimate superior in the ecclesiastical hierarchy. The 1983 Code of Canon Law , for the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, explicitly mentions as special cases three offices of rectors: However, these are not

2596-424: The punishment which the laws of my country appoint for my crime; but being already too unhappy to feel a punishment in death, or a satisfaction in life, I submit myself with penitence and patience to the disposal and judgement of Almighty God, and to the consequences of this enquiry into my conduct and intention. Hackman's defence counsel submitted to the court that Hackman was insane and that the killing of Martha Ray

2655-479: The record: My dear Frederick, When this reaches you I shall be no more, but do not let my unhappy fate distress you too much; I have strove against it as long as possible, but it now overpowers me. You well know where my affections were placed; my having by some means or other lost her's [ sic ] (an idea which I could not support) has driven me to madness. The world will condemn me, but your good heart will pity me. God bless you my dear Fred. Would I had

2714-443: The roles and the conditions of employment of the two titles are now essentially the same. Which of the titles is held by the parish priest is largely historical, some parishes having a rector and others a vicar. Owing to the origins of the terms, parishes with a rector are often of more notable historical importance or prominence than parishes with a vicar. The title of perpetual curate was abolished in 1968. However, "Priest-in-charge"

2773-455: The surgeon had Hackman and a pistol in his hand. A Mr Mahon had given Blandy the pistol and asked him to take care of the prisoner and to take him to Mahon's house. The prisoner was bloody, wounded in the head, and very faint. When Blandy came to the corner by the Red Lion, the door was shut, and he was then asked to take the prisoner back to the Shakspeare tavern, where Mr Mahon was. Blandy searched

2832-413: The theatre with William Hanger, 3rd Baron Coleraine , he left, fetched two pistols, and waited in the nearby Bedford Coffee House in Covent Garden. (The London Encyclopedia, first published 1983 by Macmillan London Limited). After Ray and Galli came out of the theatre, Hackman approached them just as they were about to get into their carriage. He put one pistol to Ray's forehead and shot her dead. With

2891-442: The will to destroy her who was ever dearer to me than life, was never mine till a momentary phrensy overcame me, and induced me to commit the deed I now deplore. The letter, which I meant for my brother-in-law after my decease, will have its due weight as to this point with good men. Before this dreadful act, I trust nothing will be found in the tenor of my life which the common charity of mankind will not excuse. I have no wish to avoid

2950-687: Was a prison located in the Westminster area of central London between 1618 and 1884. It was named "Bridewell" after the Bridewell Palace , which during the 16th century had become one of the City of London 's most important prisons. Tothill Fields later became the Westminster House of Correction . Like its City counterpart, the Westminster Bridewell was intended as a "house of correction" for

3009-428: Was between Hackman and Martha Ray ended when he was posted to Ireland . On 7 April 1779, a few weeks after his ordination as a priest of the Church of England, Hackman followed Martha Ray to Covent Garden , where she had gone to watch a performance of Isaac Bickerstaffe 's comic opera Love in a Village with her friend and fellow singer Caterina Galli . Suspecting that Ray had a new lover, when Hackman saw her in

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3068-534: Was circular in plan (following Jeremy Bentham 's " panopticon "), so that warders could supervise prisoners from a central point, and had a capacity of 900 prisoners. After it was completed, the old prison was demolished. At the back of Middlesex Guildhall in Little Sanctuary is the 17th-century "Stone Gateway", positioned there by the Greater London Council in 1969. This is the only visible remnant of

3127-493: Was closely associated with the defence. The statement afterwards appeared in all the newspapers. Hackman admitted that he had killed Ray, but he claimed he had only meant to kill himself. He said: I stand here this day the most wretched of human beings, and confess myself criminal in a high degree; yet while I acknowledge with shame and repentance, that my determination against my own life was formal and complete, I protest, with that regard to truth which becomes my situation, that

3186-465: Was entombed inside the parish church of Elstree , Hertfordshire , but her body was later moved into the cemetery. On the instructions of Lord Sandwich, she was buried in the clothes she had been wearing when killed. Hackman was quickly committed to the Tothill Fields Bridewell . As "James Hackman, Clerk", he was indicted for "the wilful murther of Martha Ray, spinster" on the inquisition of

3245-461: Was later publicly dissected at Surgeons' Hall , London. Hackman's case became famous, and The Newgate Calendar later noted that: This shocking and truly lamentable case interested all ranks of people, who pitied the murderer's fate, conceived him stimulated to commit the horrid crime through love and madness. Pamphlets and poems were written on the occasion, and the crime was long the common topic of conversation. Horace Walpole remarked that

3304-588: Was published in 1779. Another engraving of Hackman (artist unknown) was used as an illustration in The Case and Memoirs of the Late Rev. Mr James Hackman (1779). Rector (ecclesiastical) In ancient times bishops, as rulers of cities and provinces, especially in the Papal States , were called rectors, as were administrators of the patrimony of the Church (e.g. rector Siciliae ). The Latin term rector

3363-419: Was the gentleman. Mahon had taken the pistol away from him and given it to the constable, asking him to take the prisoner to his house for the wound to be dressed. He had seen nothing of the lady until two or three minutes later he saw her lying at the bar, with a mortal wound, and said he could not help her. Dennis O'Bryan, a surgeon, gave evidence that he had examined Miss Ray's body at the Shakspeare tavern on

3422-402: Was unpremeditated, as shown by the letter to her found on him. William Halliburton was sworn and produced the other letter found in the prisoner's pocket, which he said he had had from Booth. Mahon identified it as a letter taken from the prisoner, which he said Booth had opened and read in his presence. The letter, addressed to "Frederick Booth, Esq. Craven street, in the Strand", was read into

3481-576: Was used by Pope Gregory I in Regula Pastoralis as equivalent to the Latin term pastor (shepherd). In the Roman Catholic Church , a rector is a person who holds the office of presiding over an ecclesiastical institution. The institution may be a particular building—such as a church (called his rectory church ) or shrine —or it may be an organization, such as a parish,

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