Sepia Saturday: burglary

This week's Sepia Saturday prompt picture reminded me of a story my grandmother Kathleen told about her parents returning home one evening and finding a burglar in the house.

Musee McCord Museum : Alexander Ramsay's Paint Store, Recollet Street, Montreal, QC, 1868. The left hand image is a detail from the big picture.

My father also retold the story in his biography of Arthur Murray Cudmore (1870-1951), part of Chapter 7 of For the Love of the Land: The History of the Cudmore Family, compiled by Elsie Ritchie in 2000.

A man broke in [at home] but was disturbed by the family returning. The intruder took refuge under a bed on the upper floor, but his hiding place could be seen from the doorway because of a mirror. "Arthur, get your gun!" urged his wife. "You can't shoot a man when he's under a bed", was the reply. Rather than await the outcome of the debate, the burglar jumped through the window, slid down a connecting roof and made his escape. The few pieces he had taken were recovered later.

The house of my great grandparents at 64 Pennington Terrace North Adelaide. Photograph  from Google Streetview.

The incident was reported in the local newspaper, though the story was a little bit different from my father's account.

ROBBERIES REPORTED CLEARED UP (1931, July 7). Advertiser and Register (Adelaide, SA : 1931), p. 9. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35671047

HOUSEBREAKING ADMITTED (1931, July 16). Advertiser and Register (Adelaide, SA : 1931), p. 10. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35673028

Six years later there was another burglary from my great grandparents' house.

THIEVES POSE AS PLUMBERS (1937, May 27). Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), p. 44. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92483295

T is for trial for theft

Court records from the Old Bailey give insights into criminals, crimes and the victims of crime. Nearly 200,000 trials from London's central criminal court dating from 1674 to 1913 have been digitised. Three quarters of the cases are for theft.

Herbert Joseph Champion de Crespigny (1805-1881) was my second cousin five times removed, the second youngest child of Sir William and Lady Sarah Champion de Crespigny; younger brother of Augustus and Heaton, about whom I wrote recently.

Herbert was a lawyer, educated at Cambridge. In 1822 he was admitted to the Middle Temple, one of the four inns of court entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers. He was called to the bar in 1832.

In 1838 Herbert was driving his gig, a light two-wheeled spring carriage pulled by one horse, in Weymouth Street, London. This street links High Street, Marylebone, and Harley Street and Portland Place.

Herbert's carriage overturned and Herbert broke his leg. He was carried into a nearby house. He alleged that during the incident one of his assistants stole a key and some money from him.

A gig, c 1815-1830 - a few years before Herbert's journey along Weymouth Street.
Oil painting of a Stanhope gig carrying two well-dressed gentlemen, drawn by a white horse. Gigs were used by people who often needed to make short quick journeys with minimum fatigue to the horse. From Wikimedia Commons.

2313. WILLIAM LYONS was indicted for stealing, on the 7th of September, 1 key, value 3d.; 3 shillings, 1 sixpence, and 1 four-penny piece; the goods and monies of Herbert Joseph Champion de Crespigny, from his person.
HERBERT JOSEPH CHAMPION DE CRESPIGNY . I live at Ewell, in Surrey. On the 7th of September, I was driving my gig in Weymouth-street—my gig was overturned and I broke my leg in two places—I was carried on a shutter to a house, and when in the bed-room I saw the prisoner there—he helped to take off my things—I had a key and about three or four shillings in my waistcoat pocket—I looked very hard at the prisoner—he seemed to look as if I should know him—he wanted to take my pin out of my shirt—I would not let him—I asked if he was a tailor living near there who had done some things for me—he said he was—but he is not—he was taken for something else, and then my pockets were searched and this money was missed—there were two sixpences and a few-penny piece that I had marked, and this key of my writing desk—I had marked one sixpence and one fourpence, the other sixpence I had not marked, but I can swear to it.
ROBERT KEBRUNT . (police-constable D 56.) The prisoner was given to me—I found on him a sovereign and several shillings, sixpences, and four pence—I found these that are identified, and the key—he was taken on another charge.
Prisoner. I had been out drinking, and assisted to take the gentleman to the house—I did not know what I had about me then, but I did the next day—I said I had been taking various small change—I am a glove-cleaner—I picked up the diamond pin belonging to the gentleman, and gave it him—I was very much intoxicated when I was taken. Witness. He was drunk.
GUILTY . Aged 25.— Confined Six Months. (from Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 7.2, 21 April 2016), October 1838, trial of WILLIAM LYONS (t18381022-2313).)

The coins, 3 shillings, 1 sixpence, and 1 four-penny piece [a groat], seem small in value. Using a measuring worth calculator, in 2014, the relative value of £0 3s 10d from 1838lies between £15.44 to £641.90. The "real price" of the value of the coins is £15.44, obtained by multiplying £0.19 by the percentage increase in an index of the average cost of things a household buys from 1838 to 2014.The economic power value of those coins in income or wealth is calculated as £641.90 ($AUD1187). The economic power value calculation is based on the value relative to the total economy.

The theft of a key and $1,000 would not result in imprisonment for six months in the present day.

Related posts

• George Bowyer transported for pickpocketing: Herbert's grandfather Claude de Crespigny was the victim of a pickpocket.
• O is for Old Bailey records: Herbert's father William accused his coachman of stealing harness. The coachman was found not guilty.

P is for Plymouth's peccancy protection payment provocation

At N is for nuptials in Norwich I wrote about Heaton Champion de Crespigny (1796-1858), my second cousin five times removed.

Heaton's mother, Lady Sarah Champion de Crespigny née Windsor, was the daughter of the 4th Earl of Plymouth, sister to the 5th Earl, and aunt to the 6th Earl. Heaton was thus a cousin to Other Windsor, 6th Earl of Plymouth (1789-1833).

Other Archer Windsor (1789–1833), 6th Earl of Plymouth. Portrait at Kelmarsh Hall. Image from http://artuk.org/discover/artworks/other-archer-windsor-17891833-6th-earl-of-plymouth-49153

In early October 1828 the Bath Chronicle reported that Heaton de Crespigny had fled to Paris to avoid being called as a witness against his former friend in the court case initiated by Heaton's father, Sir William de Crespigny. I have previously written about the court case and the duel fought by Heaton.

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette 2 October 1828 page 2 from FindMyPast.com.au

Image (and subsequent newspaper images) reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

© THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

It seems he was still in Paris through November 1828.

Salisbury and Winchester Journal 1 December 1828 page 2 retrieved through FindMyPast.com.au

Though the court case was still underway, it seems that in early December Heaton returned from Paris. On 10 December 1828 Heaton was committed for trial in Melton Mowbray for attempting to defraud the Earl of Plymouth.

From the Morning Chronicle of 12 December 1828, page 3:

Newspapers across England reported on the bizarre case. It was suggested that Heaton was in a state of derangement when he composed the letter to his cousin.

Evening Mail 15 December 1828 page 4 from FindMyPast.com.au

London Courier and Evening Gazette 18 December 1828 page 3 from http://search.findmypast.com.au

The story of Heaton's arrest was revised later in December.

Hampshire Advertiser 20 December 1828 page 1 from FindMyPast.com.au

The next assizes were not due to be held until the following March. However, Heaton's friends and family managed to have him moved from Leicester to London.

London Courier and Evening Gazette 22 December 1828 page 3 from FindMyPast.com.au

Heaton was granted bail in London and then taken to a lunatic asylum by his friends.

Bury and Norwich Post 31 December 1828 page 4 from FindMyPast.com.au

The Earl of Plymouth agreed to drop the charges against him if Heaton left England.

Royal Cornwall Gazette 3 January 1829 page 2 from FindMyPast.com.au

At the Leicester Assizes in August the case was finally dropped.

Evening Mail 17 August 1829 page 2 from FindMypast.com.au

During 1829 Heaton's name was not out of the news, for the case between his father and Mr Long Wellesley still continued.


Related posts

• N is for nuptials in Norwich
• Q is for quarrelling including a duel concerning a duel fought by Heaton in 1828 and a related court case in 1829
• I is for interested in India concerning Eyre, the oldest son of Heaton
• J is for jaundiced in Jamaica concerning Augustus, the oldest brother of Heaton
• O is for Old Bailey records concerning a court case involving Heaton's father William
• Sepia Saturday: coach rides concerning an attack on Heaton's mother lady Sarah and one of her children while travelling in a coach

BRAVE BOY IN SHOOT-OUT WITH BUSHRANGER, LATEST NEWS

The bushranger Morgan shooting McGinnerty F Cubbitt - circa 1864 Wood engraving

In 1864, my great-great-grandfather, Philip de Crespigny (1850-1927), then only 14, took a shot at a prowler, missed, and was grazed on the shoulder when the suspicious-looking stranger fired back.

This anyway was how he reported the incident to his father, Philip Robert Champion Crespigny (1817-1889), the Talbot goldfields warden and police magistrate. A manhunt was begun, with the prowler initially thought to be 'Mad Dog' Morgan, a bushranger from the neighbouring colony of New South Wales.

DARING ATTEMPT TO MURDER THE SON OF MR P. C. CRESPIGNY, P.M. (1864, August 18). The Star (Ballarat, Vic. : 1855 - 1864), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66347371

The Melbourne Punch was more than a little sceptical:
(with a helpful note that the surname is pronounced Crepny)

THE CRESPIGNY LEGEND. (1864, August 25). Melbourne Punch (Vic. : 1855 - 1900), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article176532918

and the Bendigo Advertiser frankly disbelieved the tale:

ANOTHER VERSION. (1864, August 25). Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 - 1918), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88006055

Philip Robert Champion Crespigny leapt to his son's defence. His boy was telling the truth, he said, and he offered a reward of a hundred pounds for the apprehension of the prowler:

THE LATE ATTEMPT TO SHOOT MR. CRESPIGNY'S SON. (1864, August 31). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 7. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5747472

NEWS AND NOTES. (1864, September 10). The Star (Ballarat, Vic. : 1855 - 1864), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66347964

Nothing came of this, however, and Punch continued to milk the incident for laughs:

NOTES AND QUERIES. (1864, September 15). Melbourne Punch (Vic. : 1855 - 1900), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article176533045

Related posts:

• Australian arrival of the Champion Crespigny family on the 'Cambodia' 31 March 1852
• Wedding Wednesday: Philip Champion de Crespigny married Annie Frances Chauncy 25 October 1877
• de Crespigny - Beggs 1891 wedding  
• The Bank of Victoria in Collins Street  

O is for Old Bailey records

I have written once before about the proceedings of the Old Bailey, London's Central Criminal Court, which are online at oldbaileyonline.org in a useful searchable format.

In my previous blog entry, at http://ayfamilyhistory.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/george-bowyer-transported-for.html, I wrote about the theft of a pocket handkerchief from my fifth great uncle, Claude Crespigny. The thief was transported as a convict to Australia, which seems a very harsh punishment for a minor theft. It appears he did not survive the voyage.

In 1789 Claude Crespigny's son, William (1765-1829), accused his former coachman, William Hayward, of stealing some used harness from him. (Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 7.0, 15 April 2014), January 1790, trial of WILLIAM HAYWARD (t17900113-104).)

The Old Bailey Sessions House by John Ellis, 1790. Image from http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/The-old-bailey.jsp

William Crespigny had dismissed his coachman and then travelled from London to his country house in Berkshire. Some weeks later he sent to his coach house in Little Portland Mews in London for the harness. The harness did not come. The harness, which had William's crest on it, was probably about two or three months old.

The question in the trial was what arrangement he had made with his coachman.

When this coachman was engaged, did you make a bargain with him? - I did of course.

Does it happen to you, among the coachmen you have employed, to recollect the terms of that bargain? - Perfectly.

I will trouble you to state them: I believe at first he asked twenty six guineas? - I do not recollect.

This will be very important; I must trouble you to tax your recollection; I believe in the end, the standing wages agreed on, was twenty two guineas, together with other articles? - Yes.

One guinea for boots? - My memory does not serve me.

One guinea for breeches; does your memory serve you to that? - I cannot say.

Do you recollect whether he was to have the old wheels, in order to make up this sum? - I perfectly recollect he was not to have them; I never allowed either old wheels or old harnesses to any coachman; I do not remember that any thing was said about it.

Was any thing said about the old harness? - Nothing to my recollection; I can venture to say, to the best of my recollection, upon oath, that nothing was said; I mean to swear that if any thing was said, that I never agreed to it.

Explain to me what these articles were that were to make up the twenty-two guineas, to be twenty-six guineas? - I believe I gave him twenty-five guineas a year, to the best of my recollection; I do not keep such a very minute recollection.

I must not compliment away a man's liberty? - I think it was twenty-five guineas a year.

Court. I understood you, the agreement was twenty-two guineas a year wages; what other agreement did you make besides? - I believe there were boots and breeches, and a number of et cetera's which the coachmen generally have, but I will not say on my oath.

Mr. Garrow. Pray do not be in a hurry, Mr. Crespigny, the boots and breeches we know all the world over, are two guineas; and the old wheels, though they cost us eight pounds, sell for one? - I know nothing about the old wheels; I never made any agreement for them.

Did your former coachman account for the old wheels? - No, never: I believe they were the first wheels I had ever wore out.

The trial was a trial by jury. William Hayward was found not guilty. There seemed to be reasonable doubt as to whether Hayward was entitled to the old harness as a perquisite, as much his right as his wages. However, the court was at pains to point out that Hayward's acquittal was not setting a precedent: "it is by no means to be understood that servants have a civil right to lay hold of the property of their masters and keep it as wages."

William Crespigny's memory issues are similar to those of Arthur Sinodinos at the recent ICAC hearings, represented in this cartoon about Arthur the bilby at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cartoon/2014/apr/07/australia-australian-politics?CMP=ema_632 .

A pirate in the family tree

Sir Henry Mainwaring (1587-1653) was an English seaman who spent some of his career as a pirate on the Barbary coast. He was afterwards pardoned and knighted by King James.

My son, who is studying history, came across the pirate Henry Mainwaring and asked if we were related to him.  I replied that I did not think so, but I decided to check for a relationship.  Henry Mainwaring, I discovered, is my third cousin eleven times removed, a relative indeed, though not a close one.

The common ancestor of me and the pirate is Sir John Mainwaring (1470-1515) my 13 times great grandfather.  Sir John had gone to the French wars in the train of the Earl of Shrewsbury. He was knighted at Tournai in 1513. ( Metcalfe, Walter Charles, ed., Book of Knights Banneret, Knights of the Bath et., IV Henry VI to 1660, London (1885) page 50 ) Sir John Mainwaring was Henry Mainwaring's great great grandfather.

Henry Mainwaring was the second son of Sir George Mainwaring and Ann More.  Henry studied at Oxford University. In 1604, about seventeen years old, he was admitted to the Inner Temple as a lawyer.

It is not clear how Henry became a seaman, but in 1610, at the age of about twenty-three, he was commissioned by the Lord High Admiral, Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, to capture the pirate Peter Easton, who had been raiding Newfoundland.  Mainwaring was unsuccessful.  He was then given a letter of marque, becoming a privateer against Spanish shipping in the West Indies.  En route there he decided instead to attack Spanish shipping from the coast of Morocco.


View Larger Map

Mainwaring was based at La Marmora, present day Mehdya, on the Morocco coast near Rabat, for four years from 1612. He had a fleet of thirty captured Spanish ships.  He claimed that he never attacked English ships.  The French and Spanish governments complained about Mainwaring to the English government and King James I sent an envoy with an offer of a free pardon if he promised to give up piracy. He was pardoned in 1616 and all those who served under him were granted an amnesty.

Later, Mainwaring became a hunter of pirates. He wrote a book on piracy, Discourse of Pirates, which he dedicated to the King.  He was knighted on 20 March 1618 and became one of King James's courtiers and a friend of the King.

In 1620 he was appointed Lieutenant of Dover Castle and Deputy Warden of the Cinque Ports. In 1621 he was elected Member of Parliament for Dover. Around this time Mainwaring wrote the Seaman’s Dictionary. It was not published until 1644 but manuscript copies were distributed before then. It is considered the first authoritative treatise in seamanship.

Mainwaring offended Lord Zouche, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and was dismissed from his post at Dover Castle. Mainwaring sought the patronage of the Duke of Buckingham. At that time Buckingham was Lord High Admiral and it has been asserted that Buckingham and his masters made a serious attempt to reform the naval administration, and that in this Mainwaring played a considerable part. However Buckingham was assassinated in 1628 and Mainwaring lost his patron.

Mainwaring was not wealthy, and after Buckingham's death, he attempted to improve his fortunes by marrying a rich widow.  She rejected him and in 1630 he eloped with a twenty-three year old heiress.  His father-in-law refused to provide a dowry until Mainwaring had made a settlement. Mainwaring's wife died in 1633 and their only daughter died about 1640. Mainwaring was outlawed for debt in 1641. In 1651 an assessment of his worth in considering his debt stated that his entire property consisted of ‘a horse and wearing apparel to the value of £8’.

Mainwaring had joined the navy as a captain in 1636.  He was a Vice-Admiral by 1639.


During the English Civil War (1642-1651), Mainwaring joined the King at Oxford. Later he served with Royalist fleet.  He was with the sixteen-year-old Prince Charles, later King Charles II, at Jersey in 1646.


Mainwaring died in 1653, leaving no will.  He was buried at St Giles, Camberwell.  No gravestone, if there was one, has survived.


References and further reading

E. Hunt, “MAINWARING, SIR HENRY,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed March 20, 2014, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mainwaring_henry_1E.html.

Mainwaring, G. E. (ed.). 1920. The Life and Works of Sir Henry Mainwaring. London: The Council of the Navy Records Society. https://archive.org/details/henrymainwaring02manwuoft

Pringle, Patrick Jolly Roger : the story of the great age of piracy. Dover Publications, 2012. pages 43-45 retrieved from Google Books http://books.google.com.au/books?id=WqXDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT43

Thrush Andrew "MAINWARING, Sir Henry (1586/7-1653), of Dover Castle, Kent; later of Camberwell, Surr." The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790, 1964. Member Biographies from The History of Parliament Online. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. <http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/mainwaring-sir-henry-15867-1653>

"SIR HENRY MAINWARING.*." The Spectator Archive. The Spectator, 19 Feb. 1921. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. <http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/19th-february-1921/19/sir-henry-mainwaring>.

(Library Assistant), Nabila. "The Seaman's Dictionary: 'This Book Shall Make a Man Understand'" Royal Museums Greenwich. National Maritime Museum, 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. <http://www.rmg.co.uk/researchers/collections/by-type/archive-and-library/item-of-the-month/previous/the-seaman%27s-dictionary>

PEN PICTURES OF THE PAST. IN PIRATE DAYS. (1914, July 9). Cobram Courier (Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 6. Retrieved March 21, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129536151 

Trove Tuesday: George Taylor (1800 - 1826) killed by aborigines in Tasmania

DREADFUL MURDERS. (1826, November 17). Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser (Hobart, Tas. : 1825 - 1827), p. 3. Retrieved August 29, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2448903

George Taylor (1800 - 1826) was my 4th great grand uncle.

His murder was reported in more detail the next day.  

THE BLACK NATIVES,. (1826, November 18). Hobart Town Gazette (Tas. : 1825 - 1827), p. 2. Retrieved August 29, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8790357

A hundred years after the arrival of the Taylor family in Australia, there was a feature on the family history in the Launceston Examiner.  George's death and burial were remembered. 

   

SPEARED BY BLACKS. (1923, January 11). Examiner(Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), p. 2 Edition: DAILY. Retrieved August 29, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51204155

George Bowyer transported for pickpocketing

The proceedings of the Old Bailey, London's Central Criminal Court are online at oldbaileyonline.org in a useful searchable format.  My attention was brought to this resource by a talk given by Joshua Taylor in Melbourne which was sponsored by findmypast.com.au .

Browsing for my forebears, whether victims or villains, I came across an item where George Bowyer was found guilty of pickpocketing and sentenced to seven years transportation. (Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 7.0, 17 August 2013), July 1790, trial of GEORGE BOWYER (t17900707-35).)

The trial was on 7 July 1790 and the victim, Claude Crespigny, described how he was alerted to the theft by a footman and pursued the thief.

CLAUDE CRESPIGNY , Esq. sworn.
On the 2d of June last, about noon, under Newcastle-house , a footman told me I was robbed, and pointed to the prisoner, and called to him; and in King-street I came up to him; I never lost sight of him; towards the end of Gate-street, a man caught him in his arms; and he had thrown my handkerchief into a passage; I saw him make a motion with his right arm, as he was running, before he was stopped: I stooped passing by the passage, and picked up my handkerchief; that was in the pursuit, scarcely stopping in my career: he was instantly stopped within a few yards of that passage: I saw my initials, and No. 14, on the handkerchief: the prisoner was taken to Bow-street.

Newcastle House  is a mansion in Lincoln's Inn Fields in central London, England. It was one of the two largest houses built in London's largest square. It was rebuilt after a fire in 1688.  In 1790, at the time of the crime, half the house was purchased by James Farrer ; the firm of solicitors Farrer & Co still occupy the building. (Newcastle House. (2013, April 5). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:10, August 17, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Newcastle_House&oldid=548786613)

Newcastle House in Lincolns' Inn Fields, London. John Bowles, 1754. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.  The building looks very similar today as can be seen from street view on Google maps.

From Google maps: the route can still be walked today.  In distance it equals 1/10th of a mile and would take 2 minutes to walk.

George Bowyer was found guilty and sentenced to 7 years transportation. He was transported with the third fleet setting sail in January 1791 sailing on the Albermarle. (Ancestry.com. Australian Convict Transportation Registers – Third Fleet, 1791 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: Home Office: Convict Transportation Registers; (The National Archives Microfilm Publication HO11); The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England.)

The Albermarle left Portsmouth on  27 March 1791 with 282 male convicts and six female convicts.  She was one of eleven ships in the convoy.  Not long after departure there was a mutiny, but it was foiled and the perpetrators executed.  In the mean time the ship fell behind the fleet.  The voyage lasted 200 days.  There were 32 deaths of male convicts on the voyage. (Convict Ship Albemarle 1791 from http://www.jenwilletts.com/convict_ship_albemarle_1791.htm retrieved 17 August 2013).

It is not certain what became of George Bowyer.  I can find no further reference to him.  He may have been one of the 32 men who died on the voyage.  No lists of those men are available.

Transportation to Australia seems a very harsh punishment for the pickpocketing of a handkerchief, even a silk handkerchief.

Claude Champion Crespigny (1734-1818) was my fifth great uncle.  He lived at Lincolns inn Fields at the end of his life, and was Receiver of the Droits of Admiralty and Director of the South Sea Company.  He was the first Champion de Crespigny baronet, having been created baronet after entertaining the Prince of Wales, later George IV, at his house at Camberwell. At the time of the incident he would have been 55 years old.

Claude Champion Crespigny

Gerald Mainwaring (1854 - ? )

Gerald Mainwaring born about 1854 was the sixth of ten children of the Reverend Charles Henry Mainwaring (1819 - 1878) and his wife Jane née Delves-Broughton (1824 - 1873).

Charles Henry and Jane married in 1847.  He was the fifth child (fourth son) of Admiral Rowland Mainwaring of Whitmore Hall in Staffordshire (1783 - 1862).

Lancaster Gazette 16 October 1847 page 3

Charles Henry had been ordained in 1845 and tool up took up residence at the rectory as curate of Whitmore in 1846. He was inducted as rector of Whitmore in 1868 following the death of the incumbent the Reverend John Brazier.

In 1861 Gerald aged 6 was living at Whitmore rectory with his father, nine siblings and a governess, cook, three housemaids and another female servant. His mother was away from home.

Source Citation: Class: RG 9; Piece: 1915; Folio: 4; Page: 2; GSU roll: 542886. Source Information:

Ancestry.com. 1861 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

 In 1871 Gerald was not at home with his parents and 8 siblings. Also missing from the family home was Cecil.

Source Citation: Class: RG10; Piece: 2830; Folio: 4; Page: 1; GSU roll: 836372. Source Information:

Ancestry.com. 1871 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

At the time of the census, Cecil and Gerald were at Rossall College or Northern Church of England School near Thornton, Lancashire. ( Source Citation: Class: RG10;  Piece: 4224;  Folio: 149;  Page: 11;  GSU roll: 846962. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1871 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.)

Rossall School was founded in 1844. In 1865 in the book The Great Schools of England by Howard Staunton, Rossal School is described as having 

the object as its prospectus informs us of giving an education to the sons of clergymen and others similar to that of the Great Public Schools of a more comprehensive character and at less cost.  (http://books.google.com.au/books?id=pLMAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA491 )

The school could cater for 400 boys and in the 1871 census filled a twenty page enumeration book with pupils and staff members (25 to a page).

Rossall School in 1904.  The archway was built in 1867.

As a side note, stone from Rossall can be found in the cloisters of Canberra Grammar School, where my brother, son and nephews went to school, along with stones from Eton, Westminster, St Paul's, and ten other schools.

Gerald's mother Jane died on 30 June 1873 at the age of 51.

Gerald's father died in 1878 at Whitmore age 58.

The oldest daughter Ethel Mary Mainwaring (1848 - 1932) married William Robert Parker-Jervis in 1877.

The second daughter Maude Mainwaring (1849 - 1924) in 1881 was visiting her sister Julia and husband.  In 1886 Maude married Edward Swynfen Parker Jervis of Little Aston Hall; he was her sister Ethel's father-in-law, that is the father of William Robert Parker Jervis.

The oldest son Rowland Broughton Mainwaring (1850 - 1926) had entered the army in 1871.  He had a distinguished career and served as a general in World War 1. He married in 1880 but died without issue. In 1873 he was in Africa serving in the Third Ashanti War as a Lieutenant in the 2/23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

The second son Henry Arthur Mainwaring   (1852 - 1877) died in Cordoba, Argentina aged 25.

Cecil Charles Mainwaring (1853 - 1877) died age 24 near Toronto, Canada.  His occupation at time of death was a clerk.

Administration of the estates of Henry and Cecil was granted to Edward Delves Broughton of Wistaston Hall who was the sole acting executor of the will of their father.

Pauline Jane Mainwaring (1854 - 1909) married Robert Burton in 1891.  In 1881 she accompanied her brother Percy on a visit to Angus Obbard and his wife.  Obbard was a clergyman living in Sussex.

Gerald was tried for murder in 1879 (more on that later). Before 1879 he had been 3 or 4 years in America, one report stated he was successfully farming at Manitoba in Canada. There is a shipping record for 1875 for a Mr Mainwaring sailing to Quebec on the Nova Scotia but there is not enough information to identify him as a member of the family or otherwise.

Julia Sophia Henrietta Mainwaring (1857 - 1943) married Walter Neil Jervis at Clifton Derbyshire in April 1879.  Apparently it was for this wedding that Gerald Mainwaring returned from Canada.

Pall Mall Gazette 1 May 1879 page 3

The fifth son Percy Edward Mainwaring (1858 - 1927) studied at Pembroke College, Oxford.  He became Rector of Whitmore in 1885.

The sixth son Gordon Louis Mainwaring (1860 - 1901) was on the 1881 census an articled clerk (law) living in lodgings in Nantwich.  In 1891 he was living with two of his sisters at Clifton Cross, Derbyshire, and was of independent means.

Murder of Police Constable Moss by Gerald Mainwaring in July 1879

As mentioned above, Gerald was in Manitoba farming from the mid 1870s.  He returned to England  in April 1879 to attend his sister Julia's wedding.  In July he was due to return to Canada but before doing so decided to go on a spree in Derby.  He became very drunk, was apprehended by the police when driving a trap very fast through the town.  He was apprehended by the police together with a female companion.  When the police were searching the female companion, Gerald Mainwaring fired several shots with a revolver he was carrying; he wounded two policemen, one of them fatally.

Gerald Mainwaring was tried and was found guilty of murder. He was sentenced to hang.  However, his sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life as it turned out that the jury had not been able to agree the sentence and effectively drew a ballot to decide.

On the 1881 and 1891 censuses Gerald Mainwaring was recorded as a prisoner at Her Majesty's Prison at Chatham Kent.  The prison closed in the 1890s.

I can find no record of Gerald Mainwaring on the 1901 census or in the death records. Nor is there any newspaper mention of him.  The family history compiled in the 1930s states he died in America and does not specify a death date.

Gerald Mainwaring was my 1st cousin four times removed.