Peter the Wild Boy
The remains of a shirt collar around his neck showed the feral boy had once been in someone’s care. Unable to communicate he scampered on all fours, surviving on what he could forage in the forest.
This story starts with a shirt collar and ends with a leather collar.
Out hunting
In 1725, whilst on a hunting trip in the forest near his former home in Hanover, King George I (1660 - 1727), hunting party came across a feral boy of unknown age or parentage. He was said to “exhibit uncivilised behaviour’ and was unable to communicate.
He was brought to England and lived at Hampton Court in the care of Mrs Titchbourn, a close friend of Queen Sophia, and was given a handsome annual pension of £35.
The interior designer and painter William Kent included a depiction of Peter in a large painting of King George I’s court that today hangs on the east wall of the King’s Staircase at Kensington Palace in London. Peter is shown wearing a green coat and holding oak leaves and acorns in his right hand. You can see it in the video link below.
Mrs Titchbourn usually spent a few weeks every summer at the house of Mr James Fenn, a yeoman farmer at Axter's End, in the parish of Northchurch, Berkhamsted, which is how he came to live in the Chilterns. After the death of James Fenn he was transferred to the care of James's brother, Thomas, and that is where Peter lived with the several successive tenants of that farm until his death in 1785. He was about 72 years of age.
It’s a small collar
He used to go walkabout and was found locked up in a prison in Norwich, over 120 miles away. He was returned to Thomas Fenn’s farm, but had a special leather collar with his name “Peter the Wild Man” and address inscribed, should he ever stray again.
Flowers are still placed at his simple headstone in the cemetery of St Mary’s Church in Northchurch, Berkhamsted. “Peter The Wild Boy born c. 1713 and died 22nd February 1785”.
It is because of his notoriety that his story survives. In 2013, on the advice of English Heritage, the grave was given the Grade II listing it deserves. Inside the church you can find a commemorative plaque.
Quick Links
What does it mean to be a human being? Lucy Worsley explores in this 5 minute video.
For all its genteel market town facade, Berkhamsted has had some extraordinary residents. Explore what was once part of the Norman ring of steel encircling London, Berkhamsted Castle.