Image from Wikimedia – used under creative commons

Claud Cathcart Strachan Carnegie is the magistrate presiding over Bideford County Sessions Court in Barefoot on the Cobbles. He was born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire in 1849, to a Scottish family of some repute. His wife, Mary Breakenridge, was Canadian and their two children were born in Scotland. Carnegie held the rank of major in the 5th Brigade, Scottish Division of the Royal Artillery and was a JP for both Forfarshire in Scotland and Devon. He lived in the twenty four roomed mansion, Clevelands, in Northam, which has now been demolished and replaced by a housing estate. The census returns show that he habitually employed eight live-in servants. He was renowned for his good works and was a patron of the local hospital. He died in 1930.

There could not have been a greater contrast between Carnegie, a member of the gentry and those who were on trial in his court room. He was articulate, well-connected and rich, with a life-style that was far removed from the fisherman and his wife who stand before him in the final chapter of the novel.

‘Then Carnegie had announced, ‘There are some twenty witnesses to be called. We are not ready to go on with the case today and the defendants will, I understand, be legally represented. It is only fair that they should have time to prepare their case.’ ’

Barefoot on the Cobbles will be published on 17 November 2018. More information about the novel can be found here. Copies will be available at various events in the weeks following the launch or can be pre-ordered from Blue Poppy Publishing or the author.