Thomas Creed had quite a reputation amongst the licensed trade in Ipswich so it was no surprise to see him in court in October 1855; however, on this occasion he was prosecuting the landlord of the Currier's Arms, Frederick Pipe, for assault. Creed told the court that he had spent most of an afternoon in Pipe's house drinking beer and porter with a number of fellow workmen. When he went to pay and found he owed 3s 2d a "disturbance occurred" and he claimed that he had "his face slapped and knocked about shamefully", in addition to which he was made to leave his shoes behind for security. Pipe in his defence told the court of how Creed had on several occasions annoyed him and he had in the past physically thrown his accuser into the street…