John Nichols Thom - Battle and Death

Battle and Death

The authorities had had enough. The same day they sent 100 soldiers of the 45th Foot regiment to the village of Dunkirk to arrest Thom and his followers. Troops surrounded the woods and the commanding officer, Armstrong, demanded they surrender. Thom would have none of it and shot and killed Lieutenant Henry Boswell Bennett, who was leading his troops. Soldiers of the 45th opened fire and killed Thom and nine of his followers. After a brief struggle, Thom's remaining followers dispersed, but the soldiers captured twenty-five of them. Local constable George Catt, who had accompanied the troops, also died in the clash.

Thom's body was taken to Hernhill. Before the inquest, Thom's remaining disciples tore his bloody shirt on his body and divided it for relics. The coroner, having heard the rumour that Thom would rise on the third day, ordered his heart removed and pickled in a jar. The pickled heart survived until the 1950s. On 5 June, when Thom and his dead followers were buried in an unmarked grave in Hernhill churchyard, watchmen guarded the grave for some time in case of fervent grave robbers.