The Damnation of John Donellan (37 page)

13
. ‘The daughters of all the gentry of the three counties came hither to be picked up,' Defoe wrote of Bury-Fair.
A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain 1724
.

14
.
Sir John Vanbrugh
Ed. W. C. Ward (Lawrence and Buller 1893).

5 The Major Players

1
. John Donellan,
The Case of John Donnellan, Captain of Foot, in the Service of the United Company of Merchants Trading to the East-Indies, humbly addressed to the Honourable Court of the Directors of the said Company
(London, 1770)

2
. Both Donellan's version and the comments of a fellow officer, Captain Murphy, are given in
The Life of Captain Donellan
(London: J. Wenman, 1781).

3
. A local tribesman whom Donellan claimed was acting as an interpreter.

4
.
The History of the Bengal European Regiment
, written by Lieutenant-Colonel Innes in 1885, claimed that ‘Officers participated in profits accruing from trading transactions … presents from native chiefs were viewed as compensation for insufficient pay.' However, although the practice might have been widely accepted, a veil of discretion was drawn over such dealings back home, in an unwritten law of silence that Donellan was now transgressing. Innes may be justly assumed to have been on Donellan's side, as he wrote a play called
Donellan
which was performed at the Strand Theatre in June 1889. The hero, Donellan, is reprieved from a death sentence for poisoning his brother-in-law when the boy's mother herself confesses to his murder. The mother was called Lady Boughton.

5
. His
A Picture of England
, published in 1790, shows that Von Archenholz was mightily impressed by both the riches and the poverty of England.

6
. See tobias smollett,
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
(1771).

7
. Harrington was described by the
Westminster Magazine
as ‘a person of the most exceptional immorality'.

8
. As reported in ‘Nocturnal Revels – The History of King's Place and Other Modern Nunneries, by a Monk of the Order of St Francis [i.e. a member of the Hellfire Club]' (1779).

9
. Samuel Derrick produced the first
Harris's List
in 1757, based on a compendium of 400 names kept by the self-styled ‘Pimp General of All England', John Harrison (also known as Jack Harris). See Hallie Rubenhold (ed.),
Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies
(Stroud: Tempus, 2005).

10
. See Phillip H. Highfill, Kalman A. Burnim, Edward A. Langhans,
A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers & Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660–1800
(Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, revised edition, 2006).

11
. Edward Walford,
Old and New England
(1878).

6 The Major Players

1
. In the private possession of H. and J. Boughton-Leigh.

2
. Newbold-on-Avon Parish Registers.

3
. CR 162/490, the will of Anna Maria Boughton, dated 28 September 1778, Warwickshire County Record Office.

4
. CR 162/573, Warwickshire County Record Office.

7 ‘Wonderful News
…'

1
. 6683/4/331, Shropshire Archives.

2
. Published with John Donellan's own written
Defence
(Inge and Webb), see Further Reading on p 264.

8 A Very Long Winter

1
. 6683/4/331, Shropshire Archives.

2
. M. H. Bloxam,
Rugby: The School and Its Neighbourhood
(London: Whittaker, 1889).

3
. William Field,
An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Town and Castle of Warwick
(Warwick: printed by H. Sharpe, 1815). I am also obliged to James Mackay of the Warwick Society for his information on the Shire Hall.

4
. CR 162/491, Warwickshire County Record Office.

5
. As above.

6
. Family letters books of Charles Rouse-Boughton, 6683/4/331, Shropshire Archives.

7
. CR162/493, Warwickshire County Record Office.

8
. 6683/4/332, Shropshire Archives.

9
. As reported in
Dublin University Magazine
(1869).

10
. S. M. Phillips,
Famous Cases of Circumstantial Evidence: with an Introduction on the Theory of Presumptive Proof
(Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1873).

9 The Trial Begins

1
. Although the Crown Court itself moved to new buildings in 2010.

2
. The names of the jurors cannot be confirmed, but the members of the grand jury who had determined before the trial began that there was a case to answer were: foreman the Hon W. William Hewitt; members: Thomas Biddulph, G. Townshend, t. W. Knightly, Miller Sadlier, Christopher Wren, Bertie Greathead, John Grieve, Thomas Webb, Timothy Goodwin, C. P. Packwood, John Halifax, R. A. Johnson, Joseph Charles, John Mallor, Joseph Boultby, Edward Pallas, J. Nobbins Jnr, P. S. Littleton. The sheriff was John Webb.

3
. As reported on 11 April 1780 and debated in the House of Commons on the same day; one of them, William Smith, died in the pillory and the other, Theodosius Reade, soon afterwards. The coroner's inquest on Smith brought a charge of ‘Wilful Murder by Persons Unknown'.

4
.
Mr Cradock's Literary and Miscellaneous Memoirs
(Nichols & Son, 1826).

5
. Henry and Thomas Roscoe,
Westminster Hall: Or Professional Relics, and Anecdotes of the Bar, Bench and Woolmark
(London: John knight & Henry Lacey, 1825).

6
. The transcript of the trial, taken in shorthand by Joseph Gurney, was published in John Jay Smith,
Celebrated Trials of All Countries
(Philadelphia: L. A. Godney, 1836).

11 ‘Not Particularly Intended for Anatomical Pursuits
'

1
. Buller's statement to the grand jury at the beginning of the assizes was reported in the
Northampton Mercury
on 2 April 1781.

13 ‘Against Him Every Circumstance
'

1
. Buller's reference is confusing here. Wheler's first letter on 2 September was a brief condolence; the second, on 4 September, mentioned poison. The third – shown to Rattray – makes no reference to poison.

2
.
The Diary and Letters of Benjamin Pickman (1740–1819) of Salem, Massachusetts
(Unknown publisher, 1928). Sourced from the Generations Network, Inc. 2005.

15 Aftermath

1
. James Fitzjames Stephen,
A General View of the Criminal Law of England
(London and Cambridge: Macmillan, 1863).

2
. 6683/4/331, family letter books, vol. I, Shropshire Archives.

3
. Edward was particularly mindful of Anne's state of mind after her husband (described as a ‘base animal' by her mother) died after a fall from his horse. Two other sisters fared rather better. Mary married the Bishop of Durham, and Elizabeth became the wife of Lord Upton Clotworthy, First Baron Templeton, by whom she had four children. Elizabeth's lively observations on Theodosia's life make interesting reading in the family letter books in Shropshire Archives.

4
. 6683/4/332, Edward Boughton to his brother Charles on 17 April 1781, Shropshire Archives.

5
. Letter of 14 April 1771. His great-nephew, the Twelfth Baronet, Sir William St Andrew Rouse-Boughton, called him a ‘damn'd prig' for this ‘unask'd for advice'.

6
. Charles disputed the will, and was disappointed by a QC's opinion of February 1794 which upheld the entire inheritance for the illegitimate daughters. Edward's daughter Eliza, whom he adored, received all his estates; her sisters Caroline and Lucy were also given generous bequests, and their mother Sally was given an annuity for life.

7
. In recompense Edward allowed Anna Maria the use of Brownsover Hall for her lifetime.

8
. Frederica St Orlebar's twentieth-century recollection (OR 2315/21 at Bedfordshire & Luton Archives and Record Service). Frederica goes on to say that Anna Maria was so furious that she locked all the Boughton records in a box and sent it to be buried in a sawdust pit at Brownsover Hall, where it was discovered when Anna Maria's great-grandson, Edward Allesley Boughton Ward-Boughton-Leigh, moved out in 1883. The documents in the box, Frederica claimed, included Charles I's original deed granting the Boughton baronetcy. Frederica describes Caldecott as a ‘bad, grasping man'.

9
. John Cary's
New and Correct English Atlas
(1787).

10
. Described by Frederica St Orlebar, as above.

11
. 6683/4/332, Shropshire Archives.

12
. Caldecott to E. W. Rouse-Boughton, 1 July 1782. Caldecott was informing the Eighth Baronet's family of the legal affairs relating to what had been Theodosius's estate.

13
. CR 162/495, dated 28 March 1783, Warwickshire County Record Office. The Kings would later feature heavily in the affairs of John, Donellan's son.

14
. CR 1711/58, Warwickshire County Record Office. Theodosia also hired a coach driver and a new set of horses that year.

15
. O'Conor Donelan Estate Papers, Document LE10/389, as quoted in
www.ballyd.com/history/johnpoisoner.htm
. This states that John Donellan was the illegitimate son of Nehemiah Donellan, grandson of James Donellan and nephew of John Donellan, MP for Ardee. The entire reference, however, is noted to have been ‘crossed out'.

16
. His journal beginning 14 December 1793, held at Rugby Baptist church, tells of a ‘Nabob' girl begging him not to disgrace her on her bended knees; as well as the seduction of a ‘Devonshire girl' whom he ‘shook off with some difficulty', calling her ‘a beautiful serpent'.

17
. One August morning in 1793 Egerton told Theodosia and the 14-year-old Maria of a nightly visitation by two eagles and a man ‘who told me he was David's King'. He attributed his wild dreams to his struggle to overcome his ‘vices'.

18
. John Donellan's name was eradicated by the marriage settlement drawn up on 10 May. The children were no longer ‘Donellan' but ‘Beauchamp' and the front cover of the document styled Theodosia not as ‘Mrs Donellan' but as ‘Mrs Beauchamp'. The settlement made Theodosia's estate worth £12,215 8s. 6d. (£684,000) plus the power to appoint the vicars of Newbold and Great Harborough and receive the tithes (10 per cent of all income). A further document, CR 1711/35 at Warwickshire Record Office, lists an impressive array of jewellery.

19
. Her birth and burial is only recorded in the nineteenth-century edition of Debretts.

20
. Cat. Ref. Prob. 11/1333, National Archives.

21
. Cat. Ref. Prob. 11/1436, National Archives.

22
. In
All the Year Round
, 28 October 1871.

23
. Sir Charles Rouse-Boughton had inherited the Boughton baronetcy when his brother Edward died. He was later awarded a second
baronetcy for his services in India and, following his marriage to Catherine Hall, the family name was changed to Rouse-Boughton. He referred to himself as the Ninth Baronet Lawford and the First Baronet Rouse-Boughton.

24
. The Gretna Green marriage registers record a marriage between ‘John Ward of Guilsborough Northamptonshire' and ‘Theodosia de Malsburg Leigh of Brownsover Warwickshire' on 15 March 1811.

25
. He was related to Caldecott, the family solicitor. His great-uncle's daughter, Merice, had married Abraham Turner, the man to whom Caldecott had confided so many salacious details about Theodosius's father's philanderings. Turner's brother-in-law had married the widow of William Boughton, whose great-grandfather had inherited Bilton Hall from the brother of the First Baronet.

26
. All the correspondence quoted here comes from 6683/4/338, family letters of the Rouse-Boughton family, at the Shropshire Archives. Theodosia herself seemed to take a much more relaxed line. Sir Charles's daughter, Lady Templetown, recorded disapprovingly that she had come ‘flourishing into town in a barouche and four' and added, ‘I should not have expected it from the
position of things
.'

27
. ‘It would be best to write on a single sheet of paper as the large sheet was charged double'; she complained about a gamekeeper's bill for clothing; she was irked by the expense of a new dairy farm; and in 1829 she told Harris to hurry up and get £1,400 for the Harborough living, ‘if not I will sell it to some clergyman for more money'.

28
. Theodosius Egerton Boughton Ward-Boughton-Leigh was vicar of Newbold for fifty years until 1902.

16 What Killed Theodosius Boughton
?

1
. S. M. Phillips,
Famous Cases of Circumstantial Evidence: with an Introduction on the Theory of Presumptive Proof
(Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1873).

2
. Edward Allesley Boughton Ward-Boughton-Leigh to Sir Charles Rouse-Boughton, 8 November 1882: ‘Lady Boughton was from her diary and letters the very opposite of “weak” – her diary is well written and well spelt, her business letters well expressed.' If this portrait of Anna Maria is accurate, her behaviour at the trial was all the more extraordinary as she did not have the excuse of being ‘all but a fool'.

According to John Derbyshire's trial testimony: ‘He said, “It was done amongst themselves; he had no hand in it …” I asked who he meant by “themselves”. He said himself …'

Q: Who did he mean by ‘himself'?

A: Sir Theodosius Boughton … I said, ‘Sure, he could not do it by himself'; he said, no, he did not think he did …'