Some Distinguished Victims of the ScaffoldBleackley, Horace
History
Some Distinguished Victims of the Scaffold
Bleackley, Horace
Criminals -- Great Britain; Executions and executioners; Trials -- Great Britain
From the reports of the trial of Maria Fox at the Lewes Assizes in
April 1827, we gather that Fauntleroy settled on his youthful mistress
£6000, besides an annuity of £150, “of which the assignees,” said John
Adolphus, her counsel, “through the advice of a worthy gentleman, Mr
Bolland, were not so cruel as to deprive her.” Thus another £10,000 is
added to the banker’s debt.
[Sidenote: (_d_) Mrs J. C. Disney, £10,000.]
During the month of December 1824 the London papers are full of
insinuations with regard to Fauntleroy’s improper connection with a Mrs
James C. Disney, and the letter from the lady’s husband, which appeared
in the _New Times_ on the 24th of December, substantiates unwittingly
much of the truth of the story. It is certain that the creditors of
Marsh, Stracey & Company recovered large sums from this Mrs Disney, who
had been the recipient of Fauntleroy’s bounty to an extent exceeding
the limits of platonic love, and according to _The Times_ the amount
refunded was £10,000. Although many reports state that she received
twice this sum, it is sufficient for the purpose to accept the lesser
figures.
Thus there is almost complete evidence that Fauntleroy’s expenditure
under three heads--domestic expenses, freehold property, and the two
mistresses above mentioned--absorbed a sum of £64,000. It is not
unreasonable to suppose that the man who could squander this money in
less than seventeen years, while his firm was in so dire a plight,
was capable of spending double the amount. It is improbable that his
various establishments cost him no more than £2000 a year; and if
_The Times_ of the 1st of December is to be believed, he confessed
that he had enjoyed a very much larger income. The age of pinks and
bloods was as extravagant as our own, and many luxuries of life were
more expensive. Fauntleroy was a patron of ‘Corinthian Kate’; and if
Pierce Egan is an authority, we may conjecture--in spite of her denial
to Joseph Parkins--that the unfortunate banker found her an expensive
luxury. Like the great man whom he took a pride in fancying he
resembled, it is notorious that the forger had a weakness for what his
contemporaries termed ‘ladybirds’ and was in this respect a dissipated
and worthless fellow. Moreover, he was celebrated for his costly
dinners and rare wines--there is the grisly story of the friend who
urged him as a last request to tell where he purchased his exquisite
curaçoa--and he seems to have denied himself no luxury. Although it is
not possible to give a complete explanation of Fauntleroy’s expenditure
during the years of his race to ruin, it is satisfactory to know some
portion of the details, and they show, through all possible coats of
whitewash, that he was guilty of the most prodigal extravagance.
[Sidenote: The conduct of the partners.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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