On This Day in Wembury — 10 April 1934
At Plympton Magistrates’ Court, 17-year-old Peter Cyril Trevor Roper of Wembury was fined £6 and ordered to pay 4 shillings costs after being found guilty of causing suffering to a dog by shooting it.
On 18 March 1934, Peter Staples of Compton reported hearing two gunshots at Wembury Bay and seeing a red setter howling in pain. He told the court he saw Roper lower his gun just yards away from the animal. The dog’s owner, Phillip Arthur Kember of Wembury, described the injuries, while Charles T. Murch of Plymstock confirmed there were 21 pellet wounds in the dog’s right side.
Roper, defended by Mr. D. F. Nash, denied deliberately shooting the animal. He claimed he had only intended to frighten it away to protect his chickens, believing them to be in danger. Giving evidence himself, the youth said he did not aim at the dog, which eventually recovered.
Source: Western Morning News, 10 April 1934
Even in the 1930s, the law took animal welfare seriously — though today, the punishment would likely be much harsher. The case also reminds us how common shotguns were in rural households, and how disputes over dogs, livestock, and fields could end up before the courts. Wembury’s reputation as a peaceful village masks these flashes of youthful misjudgment and hard lessons learned under the watch of the magistrates.