The town and districts around Rotherham regularly celebrated village feasts which were meant to celebrate and unify members of the community. Held on the same month every year, the villages celebrated with flags in all the principal streets. Usually a fun-fair would attend, with swings, cocoanut shies and sweet stalls and often would include sports activities where local teams competed with each other with hurdles, races and tug-of-war games. Undoubtedly it was a time for enjoyment and merriment, but in reality however they were often occasions for drunkenness, debauchery and the settling of old scores. This was aided by the fact that they were usually held on village greens or in fields in close proximity to local public houses. On Monday 21 August 1837 Rawmarsh celebrated its own annual feast where thankfully the weather had been kind. About 11 pm a group of men were still drinking at a public house, which was run by a Mr Dickinson, when suddenly a cry of ‘murder’ was heard from outside. Two men, Benjamin Baynes and William Brown went out to see what the problem was, and saw several persons in the middle of the road attacking a man on the floor. Baynes approached the group, hoping to put a stop to the fight, but before he could say a word a man came up to him and stabbed him. Baynes dropped to the ground and cried out to Brown ‘I am a dead man’. Brown could not believe the speed with what had just happened to his friend. He had clearly seen two men, who he knew to be George Evans aged 19 years and William Wilson aged 22, stab his friend without any provocation. Suddenly the two men were in front of him and they lashed out at him and before he could cry out, he too was stabbed. Surgeon Mr Blythman of Swinton was quickly called to attend to both Baynes and Brown, and he found that Baynes had two serious wounds which had been inflicted with considerable force. One of them had opened up his cheek, but the worst was about three inches long on his left side, from which a portion of bowel was protruding. Thankfully Brown had only minor injuries, which were quickly treated by the surgeon. The police were called, but they found that  it was very difficult to get an accurate picture of the events of the stabbing as they took what statements they could from witnesses.

Early the next morning Chief Constable Mr John Bland of Rotherham arrested George Evans at Elsecar near Barnsley, who strongly denied the charge of attempted murder. He claimed that rather than stabbing anyone else, he himself had been attacked whilst was walking home from the feast by some men he did not know. Despite his denial, Mr Bland arrested him and placed him in the custody of Police Sergeant Henry Womack, who took him to a public house belonging to George Hirst at Elsecar. Bland ordered Womack to keep Evans there, whilst he went the short distance to Tankersley in search of the other prisoner, William Wilson. When he was charged, Wilson also flatly denied the stabbing, stating that it was Evans who had stabbed both men. He told Bland that he had nothing to do with either of the attacks. On the contrary he had been on his way home from the feast when he was overtaken by Evans, who admitted to stabbing the two men. Meanwhile back at Elsecar, almost as soon as Mr Bland had left the public house, Evans made a determined assault on the police sergeant and succeeded in escaping. Womack doggedly pursued his prisoner and managed to find him a short distance away, hiding in a wood. Witnesses then described what they saw as ‘a desperate fight’ taking place between Womack and Evans. A local man called Benjamin Hartley intervened and held the police sergeant back whilst his prisoner ran off and disappeared. For several weeks Evans was on the run, and the police were unable to find him, despite several reported sightings. It was not until Monday 3 September when Evans was finally recaptured at a house in Elsecar. However once again the prisoner had no intention of being taken into custody quietly, and there was another desperate struggle to get him in handcuffs. It was only with the greatest difficulty that he was finally subdued and brought into the police cells at Rotherham. By this time Benjamin Hartley was also in custody at Rotherham charged with aiding Evans, a prisoner to make good his escape.

George Evans and William Wilson were brought into the court at Rotherham on Monday 4 September 1837 in front of magistrates Dr Milner and John Fullerton Esq., on a charge of ‘cutting with intent to murder’.  Several witnesses gave evidence of the stabbing, including one called James McCabe and the man arrested for aiding Evans to escape, Benjamin Hartley. They stated that Evans had clearly confessed to both of them that he had stabbed both Baynes and Brown. Wilson’s defence also placed the guilt securely on Evans shoulders, but nevertheless despite the strong evidence, both prisoners were found guilty and committed to take their trial at York assizes. Meanwhile on 13 November Benjamin Baynes, one of the victims who had been stabbed, was also brought into Rotherham court before magistrates, Rev. W Alderson, Col. Fullerton and Viscount Howard. He was charged with an assault upon a woman called Alice Thompson and stealing a pair of shoes from her house. The assault was particularly despicable as she was someone who had taken pity on him and who had tried to help him after he had been attacked. Baynes was charged with an intent to commit rape on her, found guilty and ordered to appear at the West Riding Sessions to take his trial. On Friday 12 January 1838 Benjamin Baynes was given three months imprisonment for this assault on Mrs Thompson.

The names of George Evans and William Wilson were on the calendar for the Assizes in March 1838, but the Grand Jury found that there was simply not enough evidence against Wilson, and he was quickly discharged. As a result of this, only Evans was brought before QC Thomas Starkie Esq., at York on Saturday 10 March. Evans defence counsel’s tactics was to blacken the character of his accuser Baynes, who through skilful cross examination, was forced to admit in court of the attempt to commit rape on Mrs Thompson. The second man stabbed in the attack, William Brown, gave evidence that he had witnessed the stabbing of his friend Baynes, and had clearly identified Evans as the attacker. The surgeon, Mr Blythman told the court that the injured man’s wounds were so serious that he did not expect him to live. Police Sergeant Womack and Constable John Wild gave evidence of the amount of violent resistance offered by the prisoner, when he was apprehended. Evans pleaded not guilty to the charge and claimed that he had not resisted arrest, but had been merely defending himself. To almost everyone’s surprise, including that of the prisoner himself, he was found not guilty and acquitted.

The holding of these local feasts continued for many years, but acts of violence during the celebrations was becoming such a common element to the occasion that later that year a local newspaper commented upon it. The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent dated Saturday 24 August 1838 reported:

‘last Sunday was Rawmarsh Feast and it is reported to have passed off more orderly than is usually the case, there not being any pitched battles, which all to often have disgraced this occasion’

The tradition of holding village feasts eventually disappeared during modern times and the reason was not hard to find. In all probability the ‘pitched battles’ where old scores were settled had finally become too much for the local authorities and the holding of such celebrations gradually faded.