"Mad Thom's" Pardon - Archaeologia Cantiana

builds, lives in, or perhaps serves in a bower. If the former, "builder" is possibly the nearest equivalent and the name becomes cognate with Bowerman and probably Boorman.
   The S.A.C. article quoted above also gives the following:

    Ricardus atte Boure was M.P. for Horsham borough 1320 and
      was perhaps ancestor of the Borers who were so early settled
      in that neighbourhood. Temp. Edward III Robert atte Boure

     occurs in a Subsidy Roll for the Hundred of Framfield, and
      William atte Boure and John atte Boure for the Hundred of
      Hartfield ......... John Bourer and Alice his wife in 1383 founded
     a Chantry, which was formerly at the end of the north aisle of
     the church of Pagham, in the rape of Chichester.
     Bowrah, in many Sussex parish registers, is, or was, the
     synonym for Borer.

                                       CECIL A. V. BOWRA

"Mad Thom's" Pardon

AN interesting document which lately came into my possession, and is now in the library of the Kent Archæological Society, is the Free Pardon granted to William Courtenay in 1837 by Queen Victoria. It must be one of the earliest documents signed by the Queen, as it is dated a little over three months after her accession, and the seal used is that of her predecessor, William IV. It reads:—
"Victoria R. Whereas William Courtenay was at the Summer Assizes 1833 holden in and for the County of Kent convicted of Perjury, and sentenced to be Imprisoned Three Months and then Transported seven years for the same we in consideration of some circumstances humbly represented unto us are Graciously pleased to Extend our Grace and Mercy unto him, and to Grant him Our Free Pardon for his said crime.
Our Will and Pleasure Therefore is that you cause him the said William Courtenay to be forthwith discharged

out of Custody, and for doing so this shall be your Warrant. Given at our Court at St. James's the third day of October 1837 in the First year of our Reign.
                           By Her Majesty's Command, J. Russell.
   To our trusty and well-beloved The Superintendent of the Lunatic Asylum for the County of Kent, and all others whom it may concern."
   This document recalls a curious incident in Kentish History, when in 1832, an eccentric person known in London by the name of Thompson was staying at the Rose Inn at Canterbury as "Count Rothschild." This name he afterwards changed to "Sir William Honeywood Courtenay, Knight of Malta," and later, when he appeared as a candidate for the first election under the Reform Bill, "Lord Viscount William Courtenay of Powderham." He was really John Nichols Thom, the son of a Cornish publican, and was on the verge of