Sickle

Object Name:

Sickle

Object ID:

1890.001.01

Place of Origin:

Ridgeway, England

Date:

1685-1695

Description:

Sickle. Curved steel blade with turned wooden handle. Stamped "--J. HUTTON" on blade and "SB" on end of handle. Tip of blade broken off. Mounted in deep glazed frame (24" x 17.5") along with photograph of silhouette of William Locke (great-grandson of Capt. Locke) and photograph of George Locke, as well as label describing history of sickle.

Material:

Metal
Steel
Wood

Dimensions:

W-4.5 L-15.5 Dia-1.5 inches

Provenance:

Sickle used and broken by Captain John Locke (1627-1696) when he fought his last battle against eight Indians.

John Locke came from Yorkshire, England, about 1640 and in 1665 was living with his family at Locke's Neck, south of Rye Harbor, NH. He was noted for the daring and success with which he fought the Indians, foiling their many attempts to destroy the settlers, hence was correspondingly hated by them. On one of their raids from the east, landing on the coast near Locke's Neck, they concealed their canoes in the bushes and went inland to surprise their intended victims. Locke discovered their canoes and cut generous slashes in them where the cuts would not be seen at first glance. The Indians, returning from their murderous expedition, pushed off only to find themselves sinking, thereby losing nearly all their plunder, stores, and firearms and making it necessary for them to escape overland, suffering many hardships and losing some of their band. On August 26th, 1696, a party of eight Indians came from the eastward with the express purpose of killing Locke, and surprising him as he was reaping grain in his field north of the harbor, mortally wounded him with his own gun, which he had left leaning against a rock some distance away. They then returned without further damage. One account says that when the Indians ran up to scalp Locke, the latter had strength enough left to cut off the nose off one with the sickle he had been using, which act was seen by one of his sons who had secreted himself in the grain. Years after when peace was restored, the same son who saw his father killed met an Indian minus a nose while both were out hunting, and who when questioned said, "Old Locke cut it off." He explained that they tried to take him alive but he fought so they were compelled to kill him. Whereupon the son shot the Indian and avenged his father's death.

Richard Hutton (c.1666-1733) was a sicklesmith in Ridgeway, England, starting c. 1687. His sons, Joseph (1699-1775) and Charles (1701-1784), succeeded their father as sickle makers in the 1720s.

Credit Line:

Gift of George Locke and Harvey Locke

People:

Locke, John (1627-1696), Locke, William (1758-1828), Locke, George (1816-1903), Locke, Harvey (1824-1908)