Two cases from the 19th century
Two cases from the
19th century
From a Jersey Archive article
It’s a fact of life that many family historians will find a criminal ancestor perched in their family tree. Records relating to crime and punishment can provide interesting details and help to solve some of those frustrating genealogical mysteries. Just remember when you are searching that no matter what they did they are still your family.
Jersey Heritage staff at the Archive have been delving into the murky depths of the Island’s criminal past to find the cases that scandalised Jersey society. This article features two very different cases that both occurred in the 19th century.
Punishments of the past
Using a transcript of a document produced in 1309 it is possible to look at punishments given to criminals in Jersey exactly 700 years ago. The document includes the cases of William Wydcock, who encroached his land onto the Kings Highway by 1 pied and 1 perch, and Ralph Le Valeyn, who put a new doorway into his house and upset his neighbours.
For these petty crimes people were ‘amerced’ or fined. These were light sentences compared to the one given to Robert Horman of St Peter who was accused of making false coinage. His sentence was to be boiled before being hanged.
19th century punishments included hard labour, which was introduced by an Act of the States dated 1833. Jersey still used the pillory for punishment as late as 1814, and original records of the Jersey Prison show that partial starvation on nothing but bread and water was a common punishment during this period. The famous Jersey treadmill, which was located at the prison in Newgate Street is still on show in the Jersey Museum.
So, what did the criminals of the 19th century do to deserve such deprivations?
William Henry Gardner – The man with the money
William Henry Gardner was born in Jersey in 1825. His father was private secretary to the Lieut-Governor and both father and son are mentioned in the Jersey Times Almanac of 1856 as persons of quality.
William married Eliza Stokes, the young widow of his best friend Peter Warne, and took on her two daughters and her mother as well as supporting their own growing family.
He took over the position as secretary to the Lieut-Governor from his father around 1860 and seems to have been successful. In 1863 the outgoing Lieut-Governor, Sir Robert Percy Douglas, presented him with a portrait and a letter inscribed: “As a token of my very excellent regard, to my friend and secretary W H Gardner Esq”.
When the new Lieut-Governor, Major General Burke Cuppage took office the situation changed and William began embezzling money, changing amounts and forging signatures.
The crime only came to light four years later, in 1867, when there was a problem with the annual prize money given to the best shots in the Militia by the UK government. An administrative error meant that the prize money had not been claimed for the previous six years. Several soldiers maintained that they had not been given all the money they were owed, which William claimed had been issued.
Using the original letter books of the Lieut-Governor, stored at the Jersey Archive, it is possible to trace the growing scandal through the increasingly urgent letters between the Lieut-Governor and Whitehall.
Finally it was decided that by sheer weight of numbers the soldiers had a case and the Lieut-Governor had no choice but to suspend Gardner and start an investigation. The mass of correspondence created by the case and the original court records tell us that other irregularities were discovered – amounts had been changed, signatures forged, and money was also found hidden in Gardner’s desk.
The total amount stolen was estimated to be in excess of £400 and the revelations created a scandal in Jersey society. It also emerged that Gardner was indebted to his brother-in-law and was subject to décret or bankruptcy proceedings.
His trial took place in early 1868 and we know from correspondence that his wife Eliza petitioned the Lieut-Governor about his treatment while waiting in prison. The verdict when it came was surprisingly severe. William Henry Gardner was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in Dartmoor, the worst prison in England. This was a dramatic change of circumstances for the man who was used to a desk job and the respect of his peers.
François Caillot – Murder most foul, or a crime of passion?
On 30 May 1836 François Caillot, a town crier from St Lawrence, killed his lover, 19-year-old Mary Ann Williams. The portrayal of this case in the newspapers shows the influence the media can have on both members of the public at the time and future researchers.
Early newspaper reports portrayed Caillot as an insane monster who was already bigamously married to two other women and had duped the unfortunate Mary Ann into becoming his betrothed. According to early reports, after being shot by Caillot, Mary Ann collapsed into the arms of her mother crying: ‘Murder Murder’ before expiring, as her mother gasped: ‘Oh my child’, in a true Victorian manner.
In reality, circumstances were a little different as newspapers later show. On the morning of the murder a friend told François that Mary Ann was with another man and he rushed off to find out if the allegations were true, beating on her door and allegedly forcing his way in to find her in compromising circumstances.
Amazingly he forgave her for her indiscretion, and even went out to buy a bottle of brandy, which they drank together at her house. Mary Ann then called a man named Janvrin in from the street and was whispering to him and caressing him in full view of Caillot, who finally snapped and shot her once in the stomach with a pistol.
He was duly tried and sentenced to hang for murder. However, this is not the end of the story. There were constitutional irregularities with the trial and it was felt that the Bailiff had prejudiced the jury with his comments.
The Privy Council were petitioned and several prominent Jersey figures stood up for Caillot. The director of the General Hospital pushed for a change in the verdict to 'manslaughter due to temporary insanity in a fit of jealousy'. Eventually the Privy Council bowed to pressure and the sentence was commuted to transportation for life.
Online transportation records show that Caillot was placed aboard a hulk named the Sarah and transported to Tasmania in 1837. Other surviving convict records show that he was a well-behaved prisoner, who was found work in a Tasmanian hospital. After eight years he was given a ticket of leave and after yet another year of good behaviour, nine years into his life sentence, he was a free man.
