The following paragraph refers to Charles Hartwell:
The whole village was alarmed, including the clerk, one Sunday when, about midnight, the tenor bell was heard solemnly tolling. The clerk, with some supporters and a lantern, unlocked the door, and found the village idiot – silly C – in the tower ringing the bell. It appeared that, after service, the clerk had extinguished the lights and locked up for the night about eight o’clock. C, who had gone to sleep in the gallery with his head upon his arms before him on the desk, slumbered on until he woke in alarm some four hours later, to find himself alone and the church in total darkness, but he was intelligent enough to remember the bell and get his release.
Charles Hartwell was born at Badsey in 1840, the eldest of six children of William Hartwell, an agricultural labourer, and his wife, Sarah (née Knight). Charles’ family, the Hartwells, had lived in Badsey since the 18th century.
Charles was described in census returns as an idiot from childhood. He lived in the parental home until the death of his parents in 1889 and 1893 respectively. Charles ended his days in Evesham Union.