As many questions as answers We have to evaluate everything we read
Birth?
Born 1814, Registered 1822 – with 4 brothers & 1 sister
Birth?
Born 29 Dec 1816, Registered 30 Mar 1816 – crossed out
Game licences
1831
1833
1841
Elizabeth Grounds is killed
Harradine stated that on 30th Dec 1832 as he was driving his aunt, Mrs Elizabeth Grounds, in a gig on the St Ives turnpike road, George Hopkins, a waterboy, galloped his horse after them. An accident occurred and Mrs Grounds was killed
(In 1833 George Hopkins was acquitted)
Where did “Thang” come from?
Elizabeth Grounds née Thang was his Aunt
One brother also had Thang as his middle name
He bought the Thang family home (now Langham House)
1834 Married to Sara Tubbs
Witnesses at his sister’s marriage in 1840
Quite a Party!
From the 24/06/1836 edition of the Stamford Mercury
Horringer Lamb Fair
From the 07/09/1838 edition of the Essex Standard
We know who he voted for!
In 1837: Rooper
1839 Executor for Father-in-law
The Somersham Association
(1844 – for the Prosecution of Felons)
1844/45 On Railway Committees
Sarah Thang’s house
1828 – she left it to James Harradine (“another” son of Susan Harradine) when he attains the age of 21 years (he was then 6)
1846 – John Thang Harradine buys it from his younger brother
1847 – !!!! [later] !!!!
1848 – JTH borrows £1500 on security of the house
1850 – JTH borrows another £250
1856/7 – lots more transactions/actions
1857 – Harriet Brickwell buys it for £375
Langham House
Part of an Abstract to Title…
…Part of an Abstract to Title
(Looking back from 1867)
4/3/1846 At a Court then held the Homage presented [the] before abstracted surrender to said J Thang Harradine of 26th January 1846
Which said J T Harradine being present in court prayed of the Lord of said Manor to be admitted tenant to said premises so surrendered to him as aforesaid
To whom the Lord of said Manor by his Steward granted and delivered seizin thereof by the Rod
To hold to himself said J T Harradine his heirs and assigns at the Will of the Lord and according to the custom of the said Manor
The Great Fire of Needingworth – 1847
In Directories …
1847
1854
1848 Patents
Seed for Sale
From the 15/03/1850 edition of the Stamford Mercury
Landcastrian – Stud
From the 26/04/1850 edition of the Stamford Mercury
1851 Census – Needingworth High Street
Hailstorm Insurance Society
From the 23/07/1853 edition of the Norfolk News
Miracle Wheat!
From the 14/11/1854 edition of the Sussex Advertiser
“Mummy Wheat” Challenge
From the 02/11/1854 edition of the Nottinghamshire Guardian
“Five Incendiary Fires in Needingworth” (four on the same night in April 1855) Harradine’s property destroyed
A Race!
From the 28/04/1855 edition of the Cambridge Independent Press
Sudden Disappearance
From the 01/10/1856 edition of the Bury and Norwich Post
Bankrupt
From the 01/10/1856 edition of the London Standard
Proceedings start
Outlawed
From the 19/11/1856 edition of the Bury and Norwich Post
£100 reward
From the 22 November 1856 – Exeter and Plymouth Gazette
Sale of everything …
From the 20/12/1856 Cambridge Independent Press
… and not just in Needingworth
Capture of a Forger – June 1857
An extraordinary sensation has been created in the Bedford area by the discovery that a man apprehended for horse-stealing is the notorious John Thang Harradine, the great bill-forger in Huntingdonshire.
It was generally believed he had left the country
Perhaps he was trusting to his long beard and altered personal appearance to escape recognition
Stranger still, he thought he would rather be tried in Bedfordshire, “among his friends” (although he had defrauded some of them)
He was tired of leading the life he had been leading
“My wife and family seemed to be more against me than any other people, and I was very uncomfortable.”
He belongs to a respectable family, and formerly occupied a farm at Radwell
The Magistrates committed the prisoner for trial.
Bankruptcy Proceedings
From the 15/06/1857 edition of the London Daily News
At the Bedford sessions on the 1st inst. [1/07/1857] John Thang Harradine, alias Van Toll, alias King, alias Brown, aged 42, formerly of Needingworth, Hunts, farmer, was charged with stealing a gelding, the property of Mr. John Rogers, of Bromham, near Bedford, on the 21st of May last.
Sergeant Wm. Sawyer deposed that on the 22nd of May, about ¼ before 5, he saw the prisoner riding through Wheatstone. He found the horse a few days afterwards at Redan Cottage, Upper Holloway, where the prisoner lived.
Sergeant Edw. Kell took the prisoner into custody. He found him crouching under a hedge, near his house. He ran away, but witness pursued and overtook him.
The prisoner said “You have known me some time ; I’ll write down all about it,” and he wrote “ I give myself up to this Court; I intended to give myself up to Mr Lavendar or Mr. Higgins, but I changed my mind, and took the horse and rode away with him, but I did not intend to steal it.”
The prisoner made an incoherent defence, from a written paper he held in his hand, saying that as his family would not leave the country, he would give himself up. Not having the means of getting back he took Mr. Rogers’ horse, and intended sending it back: he had an opportunity of selling it two or three times, but such was not his intention. He did not attempt to alter the disguise he was in at that time.
Verdict
The Chairman left it to jury to determine the intent of the prisoner in taking the horse.
The jury returned a verdict of guilty, & the prisoner was sentenced to 7 years.
Quarter Sessions
Bedford Criminal Register 30/06/1857
Bill-forging
25/07/1857 edition of the Wells Journal
International fraud
13 June 1857 – Cambridge Independent Press
Request for counsel
From a July 1857 edition of the Hull Packet
Uttering Forged Notes
The prisoner had carried on a system of borrowing for some years, in which his friend the late Mr. Wasdale, of St. Ives, became the greatest sufferer.
Other bill discounters had complete mastery over him (he having been found out by these persons).
He represented himself as a large dealer in chaff for the London cab trade, and in guano for farmers.
He had actually passed off notes to Wasdale totalling more than £8000 – all of which were forgeries.
Sale of “Contingent Reversions” and “Vested Remainders” …
… expectant on the decease of his mother
ie all his inheritances
23 Dec 1857 – Baptism
in the Parish of St John the Evangelist, Westminster
Millbank Prison
Millbank Prison in 1820s
Forged bills => Court cases
16 May 1857 – Cambridge Independent Press
Transportation
Manifest ‘Edwin Fox’
280 Male Convicts Western Australia 24/08/1858
The Edwin Fox is still in NZ
The Edwin Fox is still in NZ
22 June 1869 Conditional Pardon
Western Australia Government Gazette
JTH in Greenough, north of Perth
1867 Minor legal cases as a farmer
1870-1881 In Almanacs as a farmer/gardener
1870 For Mr. Gray at an election meeting, looking amiability itself
1870 spokesman for the corn growers, generally regarded as a practical farmer, but he spoke effectively and to the point
1871 Argued at a meeting for no protective duty on flour
1873 Gave a Supreme Court affidavit in Gray v Shenton case
1874 gave £1 subscription for the Greenough Chaplaincy Fund
Greenough – Leaning trees!
Western Australia
At an 1873 election meeting
in Greenough, Western Australia (north of Perth)
Mr. John Thang Harradine then ascended the platform, and apologising for not ” being a good hand at speaking,” said he came forward on behalf of Mr. Gray ; he did not mean that it was Mr. Gray’s wish that he should do so ; Mr. Gray was in Perth and had no wish to be put forward,
(Voices, “not he,” and laughter so loud and long, that it was some time before Mr. Harradine could resume his discourse.)
Mr. Harradine continued – He did not care how much people laughed, he could speak his mind all the same.
“Mr. Gray was the best man for the district.”
“Mr. Gray would get them a reasonable Poundage Act.”
“Mr. Gray would give land away.” (Laughter.)
He (Mr. Harradine) stood there to represent the farmers,
(A farmer standing up and holding out his hat, asked Mr. Harradine for “Half a gallon of beans, please.” Laughter and sundry questions such as ” What’s the price of cabbage ?” were indulged in.)
But Mr. Harradine, nothing daunted, continued
He (Mr. Harradine) did not care what any one thought of him, he came to the colony in shackles.
He had always been friendly towards Mr. Gray ; a few years back they were not on speaking terms. (Laughter.)
He had quarrelled with Mr. Crowther once. (Laughter.)
On a show of hands, only those of Messrs. Harradine and Russ were held up for Mr. Gray.
Mr. Harradine addressed the assembled multitude:
” Arn’t there six on you as’ll stand forrard? Not one on you! Well, after all, it seems promises are like pie-crusts.”
Letter to the paper 19/8/1873
Second dividend in bankruptcy
From 8 July 1874 – Morning Post
What happened to Sarah?
1871 Census in Sutton – School Proprietor in her home town
.. and the three daughters?
Selina married a Fellmonger & Woolstapler – lived to 78 in St Ives
Ann Elizabeth was a governess and then had a drapers shop
she stayed single but lived to 90 in St Ives
Harriet Ann married a Miller and lived to 66
By the 1911 census the sisters were all living together in St Ives
John Thang Harradine dies at 66
Old John Harradine died Sunday evening while being taken by Fletcher Waldeck from Dongarra to Greenough (30 miles) for medical attendance on a bitter night, having been ill for 2 weeks.
The police had to bury him, and nobody came.
“Rattle his bones over the stones, He’s only a pauper whom nobody owns.”
Poor old Harradine had seen better days, and was once in affluent circumstances. Such is life!
