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Chris Scott
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Chris
Post Number: 1252
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, June 05, 2004 - 1:11 pm: |       |
The Times article below (dated 30 November 1887) gives details of the guest list at a legal dinner which Druitt attended. Any info on any of the other attendees will be gratefully accepted
Chris
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Jeffrey Bloomfied
Inspector
Username: Mayerling
Post Number: 382
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, June 05, 2004 - 5:33 pm: | |
Hi Chris,
The Lord Coleridge is Sir John Duke Coleridge, who was a prominent Victorian barrister and justice. He was the cousin of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He was the Judge at the trial of Percy Lefroy Mapleton for the murder of Frederick Isaac Gold in 1881.
Mr. Justice Lopes was also a prominent jurist, being the judge before whom Charles Peace was tried in 1879 for the murder of Mr. Arthur Dyson (in 1876).
The names of the barristers are not to well known to me although I suspect Mr. H.E. Duke is Henry Duke, who (while not a great barrister) was a very successful one. All the way down the list is the named "Charles Mathews". This man (in time) probably became Sir Charles Mathews, the Director of Public Prosecutions after 1910. He is recalled as the prosecutor in the "Camden Town Murder" trial (defendant, Robert Wood) in 1907.
There may be elements of nepotism on this circuit
(what else is new!). I note the name of a lawyer named the "Hon. Bernard Coleridge" (a son of the justice?) and a man named "R.K.Lopes" (a relative of Mr. Justice Lopes?). The name of one other person, "Mr. Bucknill, Q.C." may be of note (provided it is Bucknill - the print is hard to be clear about to me). This is probably the future Justice Bucknill, best recalled for one of the most unsettling moments in British Judicial history: At the trial (in 1912) of Frederick Seddon and his wife for murdering Eliza Barrow, Seddon was found guilty of the poisoning, but his wife was acquitted. Seddon, when asked if he had anything to say, purposesly made a reference to his innocence, invoking God in his/her Masonic personality of chief architect of the universe.
Bucknill was a prominent Mason, and was deeply affected by this statement. After pronouncing sentence of death, he was relatively gentle with Seddon, reminding him that homicide was not a subject given any support by their Masonic fellowship, and urging him to find consolation in his last days in religion.
Best wishes,
Jeff |
David O'Flaherty
Inspector
Username: Oberlin
Post Number: 315
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, June 05, 2004 - 6:12 pm: | |
Hi, Chris and Jeff,
Druitt appeared before Lord Coleridge just before he died. See the 29 Nov 1888 Times article John Savage recently supplied (which I believe is now in the press section).
Dave
(Message edited by oberlin on June 05, 2004) |
John Ruffels
Inspector
Username: Johnr
Post Number: 231
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, June 06, 2004 - 4:33 am: | |
Excellent find, Chris.
I have not dug my file out yet, and only a couple of tenuous links reveal themselves.
The "T Cooke" is probably Sir TYAS COOKE who either went to Winchester or was a graduate of the Inner Temple. But a while before Druitt.
Because he was knighted, he should be easy to look up.
None of the people on that list were "called" (were admitted to the Bar) at the same time as Druitt. Not one: most unusual. But two were from the Inner Temple's group called immediately
before Druitt. (They called them every quarter).
Druitt was admitted on 29 April 1885 and
JOHN HENRY HELPMAN and EDWARD FRANCIS BIGG were called to the Bar from the Inner Temple on 26 January, 1885.Both are on Chris' list.
From looking (in the past)at the printed Law Lists of members of the Western Circuit in various years, I am fairly sure the "Charles Mathews named there would be CHARLES MATHEWS the Home Secretary. Though I would assume he would have been a senior barrister, that is, a QC - Queen's Councillor.I am sure he was on the Western Circuit.
I have checked the Canford Ball list of invitees, and not ONE of them is on it. Most unusual...
When I get a chance, I'll check my list of contemporaries of M J Druitt at Winchester.
Someone with the list of occupants of 9 Kings Bench Walk for 1885-8, might care to check those too.
This might help us track down Druitt's "friends". |
Jeffrey Bloomfied
Inspector
Username: Mayerling
Post Number: 383
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, June 06, 2004 - 9:19 pm: | |
Hi John,
Sorry, but the Home Secretary was Henry Matthews, not Charles Mathews.
Jeff |
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