Regency Crime and Punishment: The Murder of Mr. Weare

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Radlett in Hertfordshire would come into the spotlight in 1823 for the salacious murder of Mr. Weare.

Mr. Weare was a solicitor and gambler who lived in the Lyon’s Inn.  He was invited to join sports promoter, amateur boxer, and former Royal Marine officer John Thurtell, whose father was the mayor of Norwich, and several friends for a weekend of gambling at William Probert, a former convict’s, cottage.

Thurtell was already in debt to Weare in the amount of £300 (roughly £20,000 in today’s currency), but had decided Thurtell had won by cheating and hatched a plan to murder him rather than paying his debt.

The Fatal Effects of Gambling Exemplified in the Murder of Wm. Weare, and the Trial and Fate of John Thurtell, the Murderer, and His Accomplices With Biographical Sketches of the Parties Concerned … To which is Added, the Gambler’s Scourge; a Complete Exposé of the Whole System of Gambling in the Metropolis; with Memoirs and Anecdotes of Notorious Blacklegs (1824)

From the above booklet, here is a narrative of the crime:
Philip Smith a farmer was proceeding from Batler's Green to his own residence at Kemp's Row Aldenham in Hertfordshire about fifteen miles from London between eight and nine o clock in the evening of Friday the 24th of October when he heard the report of a gun or pistol and immediately afterwards groaning which continued for three or four minutes His wife was with him in a donkey chaise and he would have gone to the spot from whence the noises proceeded but was afraid to quit her she being greatly agitated The same night a man named Freeman who was on his way to meet his wife saw a gig in which were two men driving towards the lane at a very rapid pace the horse seemingly much out of wind He accosted them observing that they were driving hard to which one of them made a slight answer which Freeman could not distinctly hear The gig stopped just as Freeman entered the lane At daybreak on the following morning a quantity of blood was found in a lane in the same neighbourhood by two labourers who were going out to their work in the fields The ground for a considerable distance around the puddle of blood was torn up and trampled as though several persons had been violently struggling there and near it was found a silk handkerchief a small knife and a pistol clotted with blood and with a substance which an eminent surgeon pronounced to be human brains The men were much alarmed at the sight of these things and not doubting but some person had been murdered there they determined to conceal themselves and watch the spot naturally supposing that the murderers would be
anxious to recover the pistol & c lest they should lead to their detection Presently whilst it was yet twilight two persons approached the spot where the blood lay and appeared to be anxiously searching for something on the ground When they had searched some time the men left their hiding place and going towards them carelessly inquired whether they had lost any thing To which one of the strangers as carelessly answered that they had lost a penknife and in answer to further questions put to them by the labourers they replied that they had been upset from a gig in a bit of a lark near that spot on the preceding night They then went away towards Gill's Hill cottage occupied by Mr Probert and the labourers made the best of their way to communicate what they had seen An inquiry took place in consequence from which it appeared that the two strangers whom the labourers had seen searching the scene of the supposed murder were John Thurtell and Joseph Hunt It was ascertained also that these two persons together with Thomas Thurtell and some others were on a visit at Probert's cottage on the night in which the murder was supposed to be committed No person however was apprehended but the inquiry was continued throughout the Saturday Sunday and Mondaydiligent search being made at the same time after the murdered body without success and at length on Tuesday afternoon information of all the circumstances was transmitted to the magistrates at Bowstreet It was received about four o clock in the afternoon of that day and in half an hour after Ruthven was authorized to take John Thurtell Thomas Thurtell Joseph Hunt and William Probert into custody He left town immediately for Aldenham and the same night lodged Thomas Thurtell and Probert in St Alban's gaol and before six o clock in the morning he apprehended the other two in town John Thurtell at a public house in Conduit street Bond street and Joseph Hunt at his lodgings at
No 19 King street Golden square Ruthven took Thurtell in bed and on searching his apparel the cuffs of his coat were found very much stained with blood on the inside his waistcoat pocket seemed to have had a bloody hand thrust into it and the edges of his hat were marked with blood Besides these suspicious appearances his right hand was much scratched and bruised and his upper lip was swelled and lacerated as if by a violent blow The two prisoners after being examined at Bow street were conveyed in separate chaises to Watford where they arrived between five and six o clock on Wednesday afternoon The magistrates meanwhile had been most actively engaged in procuring evidence and by ten o clock that night were prepared with a mass of testimony o a very strong nature The investigation commenced at half past ten The prisoners were not brought into the room it being thought best to keep them ignorant of the entire evidence against them at least for a short time

Weare had been shot in the face with a flintlock muff pistol, but managed to escape the gig.  He was badly injured, and Thurtell was able to easily catch him and then dispatch him first with a knife to the throat and then with severe blows to his head with the pistol.  Weare’s body was then dumped in a pond near the cottage.  The body was moved, after fear of discovery, to another pond in Elstree.

All three murders were indicted.  Thurtell was hanged on January 9, 1824.  Hunt was transported to Botany Bay, and later gained his freedom and became a respectable police constable in Australia.  Probert, who was given a deal to testify against the others, had to resort to crime to support himself after he became a social outcast and was hanged a year later at Newgate for stealing a horse from a relative.

V0041660 The portraits of Hunt, Probert and Thurtell. Engraving by Wh
Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
images@wellcome.ac.uk
http://wellcomeimages.org
The portraits of Hunt, Probert and Thurtell. Engraving by White.
1823 after: WhitePublished: 20 December 1823
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

 

The crime was sensationalized in part because it highlighted a turning tide in Society against gambling and vice.  Many scanned copies of the booklets about the crime are available on the web today, showcasing the public interest in the case.

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