The Chieftain: Victorian True Crime Through The Eyes of a Scotland Yard Detective by Payne Chris

Author:Payne, Chris [Payne, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780752494548
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2013-03-19T00:00:00+00:00

5

THE TICHBORNE CLAIMANT, THEFT AND FRAUD

1872–75

Poor old Roger Tichborne now,

Is on his trial again,

They will not rest contented,

They never will refrain;

From doing everything they can,

To strike the fatal blow.

If money can only do it now,

To prison he must go.

Anonymous1

Between March 1872 and April 1874, Clarke’s life was dominated by the longest-running sensation of the Victorian age, the case of the Tichborne Claimant. This divided the British nation between those who enthusiastically supported a man who had returned from Australia to claim his inheritance, and those who considered his claims implausible and fraudulent. Matters were only resolved at great length, and at great cost, in the courts. To set Clarke’s involvement into context, it is first necessary to provide some background information.2

The Tichborne Claimant

The Tichbornes were one of the oldest families in Hampshire, owning Tichborne House and its associated estate close to Alresford. On 5 January 1829, Roger Charles Doughty Tichborne was born in Paris, the first child of James Tichborne and his French wife Henriette. Roger’s parents were far from compatible and he spent most of his early years in France, away from his father. He was educated in a French-speaking community dominated by a doting and over-attentive mother. At his father’s insistence, Roger was sent to an English boarding school at the age of 15, but nonetheless only spoke English with a French accent. In 1848, Henriette purchased a commission for her son in the 6th Dragoon Guards, and he served for several years with his regiment, mainly in Ireland. When on leave, Roger stayed at Tichborne House and, after some time, developed a romantic attachment to his first cousin, Katherine Doughty, daughter of Sir Edward Doughty the ninth baronet. Katherine’s parents were uncomfortable with the developing relationship and matters came to a head in February 1853 when Roger was forbidden to see Katherine by her father, although she managed to persuade him to sanction their marriage in three years’ time on the understanding that she would be prepared to consider other potential suitors in the intervening period. Roger’s reaction to this disappointment was to cash in his army commission and to travel to South America, arriving in Valparaiso, Chile, in June 1853. The continent was evolving as an increasingly important trade partner for British merchants, and also provided an array of animals and plants of interest to naturalists and to the hunting and shooting fraternity. In an apparently unrelated series of events, some three years previously a young cabin boy from Wapping, Arthur Orton, had also arrived at Valparaiso, had jumped ship there and spent time travelling in Chile before returning to Britain. In 1852, Arthur Orton immigrated to Australia.3

While in Chile, Roger Tichborne received news that his father had become the tenth baronet of Tichborne, following the death of Sir Edward Doughty. Roger was now next in line to inherit the title and the Tichborne estates but, for the moment, he continued his travels. In January 1854, he journeyed to Rio de Janiero via Buenos Aires, before deciding to seek a passage for Kingston, Jamaica, on board the Bella.

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