The Wicked Trade (The Forensic Genealogist Book 7)

by Nathan Dylan Goodwin

  Following Quested’s death, there appears to have been a short period which showed a lack of leadership in the smuggling runs. From this vacuum rose a new leader: George Ransley, a carter by trade, who built his own home in Aldington Frith, called the Bourne Tap, from where he sold cheap liquor. The place, according to Scarecrow’s Legion, was ‘...the scene of many a drunken orgy and became the scandal of the neighbourhood.’ From here and the Walnut Tree Inn, Ransley organised his elaborate smuggling runs. The group were prevalent throughout the early 1820s and were responsible for most of the large-scale smuggling in Kent and Sussex at this time. Deaths among both smugglers and the preventative service were common throughout this period.

  Dr Ralph Papworth-Hougham, the son of a surgeon-apothecary, lived at Pear Tree House in Brookland and was used by both the preventative service and by the Aldington Gang to assist with medical matters. His first wife, Ann, died soon after the Battle of Brookland in February 1827 and was buried in Brookland churchyard, leaving Ralph with six children for whom to care. In November 1827, he married Charlotte Lee and the couple went on to have further children together. Ralph died in 1837 and was also buried in Brookland churchyard.

  Alexander John Spence and Thomas Brazier were arrested in March 1822 for stealing compasses and telescopes from boats along the coast. When the Dover Gaoler and the Mayor’s Sergeant attempted to arrest the two men, they were fired upon by twenty-two-year-old Spence. Assistance was then secured by Lieutenant Philip Graham, a Preventative Officer working from the ship Ramillies, upon whom Spence fired twice, each ball only grazing the officer and singeing his uniform. The two men were incarcerated in Dover Gaol, but both men managed to escape their cell by breaking through the walls; they were captured in a boat fleeing to France. Spence was hanged on the 9th August 1822 in the town gallows on Black Horse Lane (now Tower Hamlets Road), just in front of the Black Horse Inn (now the Eagle), from where the mayor and other local dignitaries watched the execution. Spence was brought to the gallows in a horse and cart, sitting upon his own coffin, while the hangman sat up front with the rope noose in his lap. Spence either jumped or slipped moments prior to the pulling away of the horse and cart to effect his hanging. He was the last Dovorian to be hanged there and was buried in St Mary’s churchyard.

  Many of the shops, public houses and businesses used in this story—including Miss Bowler’s academy on St James’s Street, J. Minet, Fector & Co. bank on Strond Street and the agents Latham, Rice & Co.—existed in 1820s Dover.

  Although deaths on both sides were commonplace during the smuggling days of the 1820s, the tide began to turn against the smugglers following the murder of Quartermaster Richard Morgan on the 30th July 1826. His death occurred as is described in the book. He was buried on 2nd August 1826, aged 34, in St Martin’s Church, Dover. The transcription of Richard Morgan’s headstone at the beginning of this book is correct. The headstone was cleared with the rest of the churchyard in the 1970s as part of the development of York Street and sadly no longer exists. A substantial reward of £500 was offered for information to catch his killer. One of the smugglers, Edward Horne, turned King’s evidence and became the main witness for the prosecution.

  The day after Morgan’s murder Hugh Pigot, the captain of the Ramillies wrote to the Admiralty, requesting that they send two of the best officers from Bow Street to catch Morgan’s killer. Principal Officers Daniel Bishop and James John Smith were hastily dispatched to Dover, staying at the Packet Boat Inn whilst they carried out their investigations. After 1815, many Bow Street officers were employed assisting with prosecutions outside of London (more than 70% occurring in the south), their fees and expenses being met by the clients for whom they worked. Cases could be expensive and last many days or even weeks, with fees going well over £50. The officers were not uniformed and often wore disguises to aid their efforts in crime detection. The types of cases referred to in this story were typical of those investigated by Principal Officers from Bow Street.

  By October 1826, Bishop and Smith had gathered sufficient evidence to arrest the principal members of the Aldington Gang. On the night of 16th October, they, along with Lieutenant Hellard from the Blockade Service, marched from Fort Moncrief in Hythe the nine miles to Aldington, arriving there around 3am. Sentinels were positioned around the homes of seven of the smugglers, whilst Hellard and the two Principal Officers led troops to arrest George Ransley. They arrived unannounced, cut down the dogs and arrested Ransley in his bedroom, before moving on to arrest Samuel and Robert Bailey, Charles Giles, Thomas Denard, Thomas Gillham and Richard and William Wire. The prisoners were marched to Fort Moncrief, then, because of fears that they might be broken out of gaol, if they remained locally, they were immediately escorted on the Industry to HMS Ramillies. The following day, they were transferred to a gaol in Deptford, where the men were interrogated individually before being transferred to Newgate Prison. Weeks later, came further arrests by Hellard and his men, bringing the total arrested to twenty.

  The trial of the Aldington Gang took place before Mr Justice Park at the Maidstone Special Assizes on the 12th January 1827. Richard Wire was charged with the murder of Richard Morgan, with the rest of the group being charged as accessories to the crime. All the defendants pleaded not guilty and, after plea-bargaining between counsels, the charges were amended to smuggling and shooting at Revenue Officers: in all, a capital offence for which the men could still have been hanged. Two men were released and the remaining fourteen pleaded guilty to the new charges. The men were sentenced to death by hanging on 5th February 1827. However, just days prior to the execution, the Governor of Maidstone County Gaol, Mr Agar, received a letter from the Secretary of State informing him that the sentence had been commuted to transportation for life to Van Dieman’s Land (now Tasmania). The £500 reward for the men’s capture was shared between the three smugglers who had turned King’s evidence: James Bushell, Edward Horne, and William Marsh.

  The convicted men left Portsmouth on the 3rd April 1827 on board the Governor Ready, arriving in Hobart Town on 31st July. Two years later, Ransley’s wife and some of their children joined him in Van Dieman’s Land. He was pardoned in 1838 and spent the remainder of his life farming in River Plenty, New Norfolk. He died there in 1856.

  The story surrounding the movement of large quantities of gold guineas from England to France is true. At the time of the Napoleonic Wars, gold guineas were shipped to France in order to pay Wellington’s troops, and, alongside this, an exchange rate crisis in England led to a rise in gold speculation, where, after purchase in London with bank notes, gold guineas were sailed across the Channel and sold on the Continent for a much higher price, with up to twenty percent profit.

  I had the idea of Ann Fothergill using the poison, strophanthin after reading about the death of the ‘Unknown Man’ in Adelaide, Australia. Having died in mysterious circumstances in 1948, the police suspected the use of this drug as it decomposed very soon after death, leaving no trace. When the case reached the courts, the coroner thought the poison so dangerous that he would not say the name aloud, instead writing it on a piece of paper.

  The research for this book has been comprehensive, with visits to many churches, archives, pubs, libraries and museums. Some of the most useful were: the National Archives, Dover Library, Ashford Museum, Folkestone Library, Rye Castle Museum, the Walnut Tree Inn and the Kent History and Library Centre. All of the public-domain records, which Morton uses, are real but with sometimes fictitious content, with the exception of the records for the Bow Street Magistrate’s Court. Sadly, most records for this period have not survived, although some other later records are held at the London Metropolitan Archives and the National Archives.

  Among the books which I found useful in the research for this book were the following:

  Beattie, J.M., The First English Detectives (OUP, 2012)

  Clark, K.M., Smuggling in Rye and District (Rye Museum, 2011)

  Cox, D.J., A Certain Share of Low Cunning (Routle
dge, 2012)

  Douch, J., Smuggling: Flogging Joey’s Warriors (Crabwell Publications, 1985)

  Finn, R., The Kent Coast Blockade (White, 1971)

  Howe, I., Kent Dialect (Bradwell Books, 2012)

  Hufton, G. & Baird, E., Scarecrows Legion: smuggling in Kent and Sussex (Rochester Press, 1983)

  Major, A., Kentish As She Wus Spoke (SB Publications, 2003)

  May, T., Smugglers and Smuggling (Shire Publications, 2014)

  Parish, W.D., A Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect and Provincialisms (Forgotten Books, 2015)

  Philp, R., The Coast Blockade: The Royal Navy’s War on Smuggling 1817-31 (Compton Press, 2002)

  Platt, R., Smuggling in the British Isles (The History Press, 2011)

  Townsend, T., Kent Smugglers’ Pubs (Pixz Books, 2014)

  Waugh, M., Smuggling in Kent & Sussex 1700-1840 (Countryside Books, 1985)

  Acknowledgements

  First of all, for their assistance with various aspects of this book, I would like to sincerely thank Trish Godfrey at Dover Library; Susan Leggett for helping with documents at the National Archives; the staff of the National Archives; Dr David J. Cox for his assistance with information regarding the Bow Street Principal Officers; Helen Woolven for answering various questions regarding police procedure.

  In my research into the validity of the phantom skeleton discovery in 1963, I gratefully received the assistance of the following people: Sue Goodwin at Hawkinge Crematorium, Annette Jones at Shepway District Council, Hayley Edmunds, Brin Hughes, Mike Umbers, Sean McNally and Anne Petrie.

  My thanks to Patrick Dengate for his super book cover and to Julia Gibbs for her proof-reading services.

  Thanks to Jens Knoops for agreeing to appear in the book as himself. His hot chocolates truly are the best in the world—a must for anyone visiting Rye!

  Thanks, as always to Robert Bristow for once again joining the adventure, being driver, helper, sounding-board, first reader and everything in between.

  Finally, I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to my regular readers and ongoing supporters of the series. I have been very fortunate to receive encouragement from many of the most influential people working in genealogy today. In particular, I should like to thank Peter Calver at Lost Cousins; The Genealogy Guys (Drew Smith & George Morgan); DearMyrtle; Scott Fisher at Extreme Genes; Bobbi King and Dick Eastman; Sunny Morton and Lisa Louise Cooke at Genealogy Gems Podcast; Amy Lay and Penny Bonawitz at Genealogy Happy Hour; Andrew Chapman at Your Family History; Karen Clare at Family History magazine; Randy Seaver; Tina Sansome; Jill Ball; Shauna Hicks; Eileen Furlani Souza and all of the many Family History societies around the world which have run such kind reviews of the series. Your support is truly appreciated.

  Further Information

  Website: www.nathandylangoodwin.com

  Twitter: @NathanDGoodwin

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/nathandylangoodwin

  Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/dylan0470

  Blog: theforensicgenealogist.blogspot.co.uk

  Hiding the Past

  (The Forensic Genealogist #1)

  Peter Coldrick had no past; that was the conclusion drawn by years of personal and professional research. Then he employed the services of one Morton Farrier, Forensic Genealogist – a stubborn, determined man who uses whatever means necessary to uncover the past. With the Coldrick Case, Morton faces his toughest and most dangerous assignment yet, where all of his investigative and genealogical skills are put to the test. However, others are also interested in the Coldrick family, people who will stop at nothing, including murder, to hide the past. As Morton begins to unearth his client’s mysterious past, he is forced to confront his own family’s dark history, a history which he knows little about.

  ‘Flicking between the present and stories and extracts from the past, the pace never lets up in an excellent addition to this unique genre of literature’

  Your Family Tree

  ‘At times amusing and shocking, this is a fast-moving modern crime mystery with genealogical twists. The blend of well fleshed-out characters, complete with flaws and foibles, will keep you guessing until the end’

  Family Tree

  ‘Once I started reading Hiding the Past I had great difficulty putting it down - not only did I want to know what happened next, I actually cared’

  Lost Cousins

  ‘This is a must read for all genealogy buffs and anyone who loves a good mystery with a jaw dropping ending!’

  Baytown Genealogy Society

  ‘Hiding the Past is a suspenseful, fast-paced mystery novel, in which the hero is drawn into an intrigue that spans from World War II to the present, with twists and turns along the way. The writing is smooth and the story keeps moving along so that I found it difficult to put down’

  The Archivist

  The Lost Ancestor

  (The Forensic Genealogist #2)

  From acclaimed author, Nathan Dylan Goodwin comes this exciting new genealogical crime mystery, featuring the redoubtable forensic genealogist, Morton Farrier. When Morton is called upon by Ray Mercer to investigate the 1911 disappearance of his great aunt, a housemaid working in a large Edwardian country house, he has no idea of the perilous journey into the past that he is about to make. Morton must use his not inconsiderable genealogical skills to solve the mystery of Mary Mercer’s disappearance, in the face of the dangers posed by those others who are determined to end his investigation at any cost.

  ‘If you enjoy a novel with a keen eye for historical detail, solid writing, believable settings and a sturdy protagonist, The Lost Ancestor is a safe bet. Here British author Nathan Dylan Goodwin spins a riveting genealogical crime mystery with a pulsing, realistic storyline’

  Your Family Tree

  ‘Finely paced and full of realistic genealogical terms and tricks, this is an enjoyable whodunit with engaging research twists that keep you guessing until the end. If you enjoy genealogical fiction and Ruth Rendell mysteries, you’ll find this a pleasing page-turner’

  Family Tree

  ‘…an extremely well-constructed plot, with plenty of intrigue and genealogical detail - but all the loose ends are neatly tied up by the end… The Lost Ancestor is highly recommended’

  Lost Cousins

  ‘It’s an excellent pick for holidays, weekend relaxing, or curling up indoors or outdoors, whatever the weather permits in your corner of the world’

  Lisa Louise Cooke

  ‘The Lost Ancestor is fast-paced, not plodding, and does well building mystery… The author’s depictions of scenes and places are vivid; the characters are interesting and intriguing. In toggling back and forth from past to present, Goodwin shows how the deeds of long-dead ancestors are haunting their descendants’

  GenealogyMagazine.com

  The Orange Lilies

  (The Forensic Genealogist #3)

  Morton Farrier has spent his entire career as a forensic genealogist solving other people’s family history secrets, all the while knowing so little of his very own family’s mysterious past. However, this poignant Christmastime novella sees Morton’s skills put to use much closer to home, as he must confront his own past, present and future through events both present-day and one hundred years ago. It seems that not every soldier saw a truce on the Western Front that 1914 Christmas…

  ‘The Orange Lilies sees Morton for once investigating his own tree (and about time too!). Moving smoothly between Christmas 1914 and Christmas 2014, the author weaves an intriguing tale with more than a few twists - several times I thought I'd figured it all out, but each time there was a surprise waiting in the next chapter... Thoroughly recommended - and I can't wait for the next novel’

  Lost Cousins

  ‘Morton confronts a long-standing mystery in his own family–one that leads him just a little closer to the truth about his personal origins. This Christmas-time tale flashes back to Christmas 1914, to a turning point in his relatives’ lives. Don’t miss it!’

  Lis
a Louise Cooke

  ‘This is Goodwin’s best work for me. It is not a murder mystery, but Morton does solve some family mysteries with an almost Agatha Christie denouement. I recommend it for its genealogical appeal, mystery, and for anyone interested in World War I’

  McGenealogist Blog

  The America Ground

  (The Forensic Genealogist #4)

  Morton Farrier, the esteemed English forensic genealogist, had cleared a space in his busy schedule to track down his own elusive father finally. But he is then presented with a case that challenges his research skills in his quest to find the killer of a woman murdered more than one hundred and eighty years ago. Thoughts of his own family history are quickly and violently pushed to one side as Morton rushes to complete his investigation before other sinister elements succeed in derailing the case.

  ‘As in the earlier novels, each chapter slips smoothly from past to present, revealing murderous events as the likeable Morton uncovers evidence in the present, while trying to solve the mystery of his own paternity. Packed once more with glorious detail of records familiar to family historians, The America Ground is a delightfully pacey read’