Mad Tom's Rising - Ian Breckon ****

By Brian Clegg

Although most of the non-fiction I read is science-based, sometimes another subject catches my eye, often obscure but interesting bits of history. This was the case with Ian Breckon’s book. John Nicholls Tom was a nineteenth century individual who shifted around the spectrum from ‘a character’ to ‘mentally ill’. He adopted a few pseudonyms before settling on Sir William Courtney, in whose guise he was initially a bit like an 1830s Count Binface, putting himself forward as an MP in seats where he was highly unlikely to win.

Soon, though, with a religious mania that eventually led to him claiming to be Jesus Christ returned to earth, he would first be put in an asylum after perjuring himself, and then began to lead an increasing group of followers around a rural part of Kent. This came to a head when a murder committed by Tom led to a showdown with troops in what is described as the last battle fought on English soil, though it only lasted 3 minutes once the soldiers were in place, almost inevitably ending with Tom’s death.

He was, without doubt a flamboyant character with a full beard at a time when pretty well all men were clean shaven and wearing outlandish clothes. Sir William (the book switches repeatedly between using his real name and his pseudonym, pointing out that his later actions were very much linked to the Sir William persona) seemed capable of inspiring the kind of following to extremes in others that would become familiar with cult leaders.

Breckon tells the story well, bringing in various contemporary sources, historians who have written about Tom’s rebellion and visiting sites himself around the woodland clearing where the battle took place. While Breckon is meticulous, I think Samantha Harvey, author of the wildly overrated Orbital, goes over the top in her assessment on the cover of the book calling it a ‘gripping, shimmering tale of an enigma’. But it is true that Breckon has an evocative turn of phrase and generally makes the account readable. All too often we just don’t know the detail, and he has to resort to some speculation. 

The only small issue I have (apart from over-long chapters) is that we get rather too many names of various followers and the magistrates and landowners who try to stop Tom to easily keep track of – just occasionally it felt like there was too much information provided that didn’t add much to the narrative.

Overall, this was an engaging exploration of a widely forgotten incident in our history and well worth a look.

You can buy Mad Tom’s Rising from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com and Bookshop.org

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Now Appearing is the blog of science writer Brian Clegg (www.brianclegg.net), author of Inflight Science, Before the Big Bang and The God Effect.