The Tichborne Claimant: Hope, Identity, and a Victorian Obsession

The Tichborne Claimant: Hope, Identity, and a Victorian Obsession

Image info:

Roger Tichborne, taken in Santiago, Chile

Date: 1853

Artist: Thomas Helsby

I have recently written about a few of the scandals that happened during the Victorian era, and today I want to take a look at another, this was one of the most extraordinary and puzzling of them all -the Tichborne Claimant Case, a story that captured the imagination of the nation.

The story really begins in 1854, when Roger Tichborne, heir to a long-established and wealthy Catholic family, was believed to have been lost at sea. The ship he had been travelling on called the Bella had disappeared whilst it was sailing from South America to Jamaica. Roger had always been considered a gentle and somewhat reserved man, he had spent a large amount of his childhood in France and was raised with a strong sense of family duty. When the news reached England, his mother, Lady Tichborne, was as you can imagine, heartbroken. But she never fully accepted his disappearance. Instead, she clung to the belief that her son was still alive somewhere in the world. A truly heart wrenching story.

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Lady Tichborne, mother of Sir Roger Tichborne
Date:1874

For years she searched for her son, placing adverts in newspapers and offering rewards for information. You can only imagine how each day must have felt for her, the hope and anguish as she waited expectantly for news that may never come. Then, in 1866, a reply finally did arrive from Australia. A man working as a butcher who went by the name of Thomas Castro, claimed that he was her son, Roger Tichborne. He said he had in fact survived the shipwreck and had lived under another name ever since.

Image info:

Thomas Castro's (Arthur Orton) butcher shop in Wagga Wagga, Australia 

Date: 1800s

Source: Museum of the Riverina Collection

When the man arrived in England in 1867, the curiosity turned into controversy. He was much heavier than Roger had been, was able to speak very little French, despite the fact Roger had been raised in France and also struggled to recall details from his past. But Lady Tichborne accepted him as her son immediately and without question. Her longing for her sons survival seemed stronger than any doubt that may have been in her head, her acceptance gave him a credibility that others found extremely difficult to challenge.

Image info:
photograph designed to prove that Roger Tichborne on the left and the person claiming to be him on the right, were the same man.
Date: 1853 - 1874

The rest of the Tichborne family, however, were understandably sceptical. They saw the inconsistencies everywhere and were worried that the man was infact an imposter who was attempting to claim the families fortune. The dispute inevitably moved into the court room, and what followed became one of the longest and most sensational legal battles of the century. By this time Lady Tichborne had sadly died, but she had still been convinced that the man was her son. She died in 1870.

Image info:

Thomas Castro or Arthur Orton

Date:1870

Source: Morse, John Torrey (1874) Famous trials: The Tichborne claimant...(and others), Boston: Little, Brown and Company

The civil trial began in 1871 and soon became a national spectacle, as was to be expected. Newspapers followed every development, crowds gathered outside the courtroom, and public opinion became fiercely divided. Many working class people actually supported the Claimant.

Inside the courtroom, the atmosphere must have been extremely tense. Witnesses described Roger’s education, his language skills, and his character- these seemed to be at odds with the man who was claiming to be him. Eventually the case collapsed entirely, and the Claimant was arrested and charged with perjury.

The criminal trial took place between 1873 and 1874 and drew even larger attention. The Claimant, who is widely accepted to have been Arthur Orton, was in fact found guilty and he was sentenced to fourteen years in prison. 

He was released in 1884.

 

Do you think Lady Tichborne really believed that he was her son, or was it her hope that refused to allow her accept anything else?

Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Anthony Babington and the Deadly Web of the 1586 Babington Plot

Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Anthony Babington and the Deadly Web of the 1586 Babington Plot

Image info:

Image of forged postscript to a letter by Mary Queen of Scots to Anthony Babington and the record of cyphers.

Author:Thomas Phelippes and Anthony Babington

Permission: Crown Copyright expired

I have recently been learning about some of the scandals of the Victorian age, and this got me thinking about what scandals happened in the Tudor age. I know there are so many. We all know of the fall of Anne Boleyn, the scandal surrounding Catherine Howard, and the succession of Jane Grey, but I thought I would share with a little about the story of the Babington Plot.

By the 1580s, England was a country with huge religious tensions. Queen Elizabeth I had ruled for nearly three decades, but her Protestant settlement had remained exteremely unpopular amongst many Catholics, both at home and abroad. At the centre of all this tension was Mary, Queen of Scots, she was Elizabeth’s cousin and a Catholic figurehead. Mary had been in various forms of captivity in England since 1568, and although she lived under guard, she still represented hope to those who wished to have a Catholic monarch on the English throne. You can only imagine how isolated she must have felt, she was watched constantly and still very much aware that her very existence was dangerous to Elizabeth.

Anthony Babington who was a Catholic man from Derbyshire and like many of his generation was torn between loyalty to his queen and loyalty to his faith. In 1586, influenced by Catholic exiles and foreign plots, he became convinced that drastic action was necessary to restore Catholicism in England. The plan was bold and completely reckless: Elizabeth needed to be assassinated, Mary must be freed and a Catholic uprising must follow with foreign support.

What the conspirators did not realise was that they were being watched. Elizabeth’s principal secretary, Sir Francis Walsingham, had built an extensive network of spies and informers. He was not a stupid man, he understood that Mary remained the centre of Catholic cause in England, and he was determined to uncover any conspiracy. Secret letters were smuggled to and from Mary using coded messages hidden inside beer barrels, this gave them the illusion of privacy and secrecy. But Walsingham had arranged for these messages to be intercepted and deciphered.

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Walsingham

Date:1587

In July 1586, Babington wrote to Mary outlining the plan, including the intention to assassinate Elizabeth. When Mary replied, she appeared to give her approval. Whether she fully grasped the consequences of her letters or whether she felt driven by frustration and maybe even hope is something historians still debate to this day, but her reply sadly sealed her fate. Walsingham now had the evidence he needed.

Babington and his fellow conspirators were arrested. Whilst under interrogation, the reality of their situation would have become painfully clear. In September 1586, they were executed in London, suffering the most brutal punishment reserved for traitors. The spectacle was meant to serve as a warning, and it must have sent shockwaves through those who had sympathised with their cause.

Image info:

Mary, Queen of Scots 

Date: 1578

Collection: National Portrait Gallery

Mary’s trial was later that year. She defended herself, insisting she had never eanted Elizabeth’s death, but the evidence against her was considered overwhelming. In February 1587, she was executed at Fotheringhay Castle. 

Do you think Mary was a willing conspirator driven by ambition, or a desperate prisoner clinging to any chance of freedom?