Tonbridge Daily Snippet

The ghost of Jacobus (James) Cawthorn is said to roam through Tonbridge School on the anniversary of his death in 1761.

In 1743 he came to Tonbridge School and gained a reputation for  his strictness and severity. He was a great lover of fine arts, music, poetry and was known to be harsh at school.  Cawthorn had a habit of throwing a book of Virgil or Shakespeare to floor in a challenge to the boys to debate. He was also a great lover of the fine arts, music and poetry. On the death of his twin children he wrote the poem known as 'A Father's Extempore Consolation'. The verse was full of emotion and beauty so this can only indicate there was some sensitivity in the man.

Cawthorn was an accomplished horseman and was known to ride from
Tonbridge to London.  While riding over Quarry Hill he stopped to allow
his horse to take a drink from a pond and it stumbled and threw him. 
Cawthorn's only injury was a broken leg but only days later he died. He
is buried under the School Gallery in The Parish Church.

It is now said that every year at midnight on April 15, the anniversary of his death, that Cawthorne's ghostly steps and clanking chains can be heard roaming through Tonbridge School dormitories.

Don't we all love a good ghost story.