John was the gardener at Court Garden and the aftermath of his death seemingly without an obvious inheritor caused a sensational criminal case. He was Scottish, unmarried and died without a will. He had spoken of a brother but nothing had apparently been heard of this relative for some time, some believing him dead, others that he had long ago emigrated to America. Some years passed with no one claiming Stewart's estate, which included some valuable stocks. His personal belongings, including receipts relating to the purchase of the stocks were sent to the Strode family attorney Mr Pickering of London, for safe keeping and there they remained. The laws at the time meant that if no dividends were claimed on stocks for 10 years, the unclaimed money, and the stocks themselves were transferred to a fund for paying off the national debt. This is what happened at first to that belonging to Stewart. But relatives could claim them back under certain circumstances. This gave rise to a woman purporting to be Elizabeth, a previously unknown sister of the deceased, and Stewart's sole heir. She claimed to have recently returned from America, where she had gone many years before with her aunt. On arriving back in Bristol, she had asked a family friend named Mr Jones who had accompanied her on the return from America, to travel down to Marlow and deliver a letter to her long lost brother. This he attempted to do but on making enquiries found that Stewart had died. He returned to the sister, delivered the news and then returned to America. Elizabeth claimed the money and stocks back with the help of 36 year old solicitor William Henry Barber.
Or so Elizabeth's story went. But Jones was really Joshua Fletcher and the enquiries he made at Marlow were not to trace a long lost brother for his friend, but to gain information to establish a false claim to the estate. He used what the locals told him to invent a sister, and got a Mrs Richards to play the part. He provided a birth register entry for the brother and sister, using what is believed to be a real John and Elizabeth Stewart, only ones born in Marleybone rather than Scotland.
Suspicion was raised when "Elizabeth" on receiving the £630 in the form of a cheque from a stockbroker on the sale of the stocks, asked for all of it to be transferred immediately into gold. The stockbroker had not had such a request with such a large sum before as people usually preferred ready money. But solicitor Barber laughed this off, claiming his clients were foolish, and apprehensive of a war so preferred the security of gold. Then both Fletcher and Barber were involved in two other similar cases involving forged wills and the impersonation of a missing beneficiary. Fletcher, Barber, Mrs Richard's two married daughters Georgianna Dorey and Lydia Sanders (Saunders) and son in law fishmonger William Sanders were all arrested for involvement in one or more of the frauds. The trials followed each other, with "Elizabeth" (Mrs Richards) dying before they began.
A number of Marlow men went to London to give testimony about the questions asked by "Jones" - namely William Windsor, James McLean and William Holmes. Chief among them though was Greyhound landlord Henry Hyatt. He also said that solicitor Barber had visited Marlow under a false name. ("Clarence Peckham") although he had given his correct address in London and Hyatt had visited him there when on business in the City. The prosecution said Barber was fully involved with the fraud, but he said he had acted in good faith and after all "Elizabeth" had been granted administration of her alleged brothers affairs. He denied using a false name and claimed innkeeper Hyatt was misremembering old events. When arrested, letters written by "Jones" to a Scottish parish asking for a certificate relating to a marriage register entry were found in Barbers papers. This was significant as Jones had asked for the entry to be altered so it matched the details on the birth records for the Marleybone brother and sister which he had used to prove Elizabeth's claim. He said the mothers name should be changed for Janetta to Jane as it was the English version. The Scots refused. It seems the fraudsters had been caught on the hop by the fact Stewart was clearly Scottish when they claimed an English birth for the siblings.
Stewarts former employer, Strode said he had never heard of a sister. His solicitors had initially refused to co operate with Barber as he had not provided the birth certificates (certified entry of birth register) he asked for. But on being presented with the fact Elizabeth was granted administration they handing over the documents in their keeping. When Barber then tried to claim for unpaid wages for the long dead Stewart from Strode, he wrote back to say he did not believe in the sisters claim and nothing further was heard. Barber said this was because the amount owed was not significant.
All were found guilty except Barber in the matter relating to Stewart. But it was different when the court got to the second fraud case, relating to an Ann Slack. I won't go into detail of this, but the result was that this time the court did not believe Barber acted in innocence, and he was found guilty along with all the others bar William Sanders who nevertheless plead guilty relating to a third fraud. Barber was sentenced to transportation for life along with Fletcher and I believe he was actually sent to Van Diemens Land. But he was then granted a pardon, which caused outrage in some quarters. Barber was however then struck off on the basis of wilful blindness about the antics of his clients. The fact he was in possession of a letter from them asking for evidence to be tampered with (the Scots marriage record in the Stewart case) was regarded as especially damning. William Sanders was sentenced to 7 years transportation and Lydia Sanders and Georgianna Dorey to two years imprisonment each. It was believed to be Lydia who - not very convincingly - acted as the "aged" Elizabeth at the stockbrokers and Bank of England, the older Mrs Richards being in poor health.
It does not seem that Stewart's real sibling ever was traced. "Jones" was taken to see the gravestone in Marlow Churchyard that is shown above and made note of the inscription that you can still just about be read. So this is the story behind the innocuous grave.
- Sacred to the Memory of John Stewart who died March 13th 1827 aged 65 years. "Erected by order of James Cranborne Strode of Court Garden to whom he was a faithful and attached servant".
More crime related posts can be found under the General Marlow History menu here
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Some images of other graves erected in the memory of faithful servants in Marlow can be found here
SOURCES
John Bull, Vol 24 (J C Bunney 1844)
The Spectator Vol 17 1844, digitized by Google.
The Legal Observer Digest and Journal Vol 40, (Spettigue and Farrance 1850)
The Examiner: A weekly paper on politics, literature, music, and fine arts. 1844. Bavarian State Library, digitized by Google.
Carrington, Frederick Augustus. Reports on cases argued and rulex Nisi Prisi .. (S Sweet, 1844)
©Marlow Ancestors.