2-369-390 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The death of Thom, alias Sir William Courtenay, Dunkirk, Kent, 1838. Born in Cornwall, John Nichols Thom declared himself the 'saviour of the world' and became a wandering preacher in Kent, speaking against tax laws. Known as 'Mad Tom', as well as his self-styled title of Sir William Percy Honeywood Courtenay of Powderham, the heir to the Earl of Devon, the King of Jerusalem and Knight of Malta, he was killed leading his followers in the last battle to be fought on British soil, the Battle of Bossenden Wood, on 31st May 1838. A print from Cassell's Illustrated History of England.