On This Day in Wembury — 9 January 1940
At Plympton magistrates’ court, a dispute between two Plymouth men over land and trapping rights at Wembury turned violent. Edwin Gaunt, of Moor View Terrace, Mutley, accused Albert Edward Camp, of Millbay Road, of assault after a quarrel about a dog caught in a rabbit trap on Camp’s land. Gaunt alleged Camp struck him with a leather-wrapped object “the size of a golf ball” and cried out, “You’re using a cosh.” Camp denied this, insisting it had been a fair fight. The magistrates dismissed the case.
Reflection: Rural life around Wembury often brought simmering tensions to the surface — over tenancy, animals, or rights of access to land. This case, with its mix of accusations, counterclaims, and the magistrates’ decision to let it rest, shows how neighbourly disputes could escalate even in wartime. It also reminds us how the countryside was far from peaceful in 1940, as strained tempers and wartime pressures spilled into the local courts.
Source: Western Morning News, 9 January 1940
