A Blue Bowl Picture

A picture of the Cock Road Gang ? You decide

People sometimes wonder whether the group outside the Blue Bowl in the well-known picture are members of the Cock Road gang.

The best source of information is George Elliott because it was his picture as far I always understood.

In ‘Stories of King’s Chase’ Vol. 1, George is uncharacteristically cautious. He describes the picture as follows:

The person on horseback is said to be Richard Bryant. You can tell him “because his ears stick out” ‘.

 He’s obviously quoting somebody else. But if the fount of all knowledge feels the need for a caveat in the caption, then that’s got to mean something. 

As far as |I know, there’s not enough evidence to conclude that the people in the picture are anything to do with the Cock Road Gang.

George told me about the picture back in the 90s, and one of my copies of it is

endorsed in his hand: ‘Print of 1878’. Underneath, I’ve added, as a result of checking with George, that it was the reproduction of a painting – photographer and painter unknown.

In our book, ‘The Blue Bowl in Fact and Fiction’, I had to be just as careful in describing the same picture which was on the cover of that book (2001):

‘The scene is hard to date. Unproveable stories include the horseman being Dick Boy, and the bearded man…being the pub landlord.’

So we have a horseman said to be Richard Bryant, and an unproveable Dick Boy. Nothing about the gang.

The next question, therefore, is whether there’s any evidence that Richard Bryant or Dick Boy is connected with the gang.

The best evidence would be a document or a personal testament.

The first thing to say is that there are two men called Dick Boy in local lore. We can discount one man straight away. The one in the pamphlet about ‘Richard Haynes alias Dick-Boy… Who was executed at Bristol, Friday, April 25^th’. This was printed in 1800 so it’s contemporary, but sadly there’s nothing in the pamphlet, to say that this particular Dick Boy had anything to do with the Cock Road Gang or the Blue Bowl.

The case of Richard Bryant is different. In his 1880s ‘History of Bitton’ (p215 note 2), speaking of the gang, the Rev. Ellacombe writes ‘ Richard Bryant (the noted “Dick Boy”) was of this gang…’ This is about as good as it gets. The personal testament of a noted local historian, and priest, writing of contemporary events. But there’s nothing in this or other accounts about Bryant’s appearance to tie him up with George Elliott’s big-eared horseman outside the Blue Bowl. So still no proof that it’s the Cock Road Gang.

Other accounts don’t add to this. Here is a list of all of the publications referring to The Cock Road Gang and Dick Boy:

1)    1800      Richard Haynes alias Dick-Boy       by W Matthews

2)    1853     The Successful Merchant                  by William Arthur

3)    1880s    The History of Bitton                       by H N Ellacombe    Sources given

4)    1890s    The History of Kingswood Forest    by H Braine

5)    1930s    Unbeaten Tracks                               by P E Barnes

6)    1960s     Dick Boy                                          by D Vinter

7)    1970      The Cock Road Gang                       by L Wyatt              Sources given

8)    1970/80 The Cock Road Gang                       by P Lindegaard      Sources given

9)    1980s     The Cock Road Gang                       by G Elliott and John Snell

10)   2001     The Blue Bowl in Fact and Fiction   by G Elliott and B Iles  Bibliog.

11)  2003      The Cock Road Gang                        by I Bishop

Nos. I and 6 are about Richard Haynes.

No. 2 is the closest in time to the Cock Road Gang.

No. 3, as stated, is a sound source connecting Dick Boy Richard Bryant to the gang.

Nos.4 and 5 give only hear-say stories.

Nos 7 and 8 are comprehensive but make no reference to Dick Boy.

No. 9 is a much longer treatment but there’s still no mention of Dick Boy.

No. 10 has a chapter including lore about Dick Boy and the gang.

No. 11 runs to 104 pages, but there is no reference to Dick Boy.

The clincher for me though is that the picture is too late for the Cock Road Gang. This is subject to two assumptions. One, that it is a scene contemporary with the date of  the print which George reckoned to be 1878; two, that 1837 is an accurate date for  the end of the gang, as indicated in Ian Bishop’s book. Though there are no annotations, the author seems to cover and add to all Wyatt and Lindegaard’s  research, but I wish he had added Dick Boy too – just to dismiss him, if nothing else.

So bang goes the Cock Road Gang outside the Blue Bowl. This can be the only conclusion unless a Victorian dress expert comes forward to prove that the picture may have been contemporary with them. And even then, more information – ideally pictures -would be required to prove that there are actually members of the the gang in this picture.

  Brian Iles   April 2015