1873 : Alfred Pluckrose gives Evidence in the Trial of the Tichborne Claimant

Title: The Trial at Bar of Sir Roger C. D. Tichborne, Bart., in the Court of Queen’s Bench at Westminster, before Lord Chief Justice Cockburn, Mr. Justice Mellor, and Mr. Justice Lush, for Perjury, Commencing Wednesday, April 23, 1873, and Continued to Friday, June 6th, 1873. Edited by Dr. Kenealy, M.P. Volume I., 1876, London, 254
Date:  28 May 1873
Place: London

TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY. — WEDNESDAY, MAY 28th, 1873.

First, came HENRY ALLEN, cook of the “Middleton,” a mulatto with a grizzled beard. Then Mr. WALLACE, who declared that ARTHUR ORTON had a rough voice, and it grew rougher as he grew older. To Mr. WALLACE succeeded Mr. COLLINS, ex-carver and gilder, and now Scripture-reader.

Mr. GEORGE WINN stated that he had served under the baker who supplied the ORTONS; and this witness had to be provided with a big glass of water. He positively quivered with excitement as he gave his evidence. Mr. LEAVER followed, and after him came Mrs. HANNAH JOHNSON, who described herself as a widow, to whom, when she was a girl, young “Bullocky” had paid his “attentions” after his return from Valparaiso.

Mr. LAWRENCE, a sail-maker at Southampton, said he had seen a photograph of the Defendant, and identified it as a likeness of ORTON. What such identification was worth is shown from the annexed, which we copy from the Englishman, No. 72, August 21, 1875.

AFFIDAVIT OF ALFRED PLUCKROSE. I, ALFRED PLUCKROSE, butcher, of Houndwell, in the Borough of Southampton, do most solemnly and sincerely declare upon oath — That in the years 1851 and 1852 I was in the service of Mr. JAMES CURTIS, butcher, of East Smithfield, London, as journeyman, and at that time I was well acquainted with ARTHUR ORTON, son of the late GEORGE ORTON, butcher, of 69, High-street, Wapping. That we were daily associates serving shipping with meat in the London and St. Katharine Docks, and that I did observe his hands and feet repeatedly from time to time as being extremely large. Thati have seen the Claimant to the Tichborne estates when in Southampton, and I most solemnly swear that such person now a prisoner in Dartmoor Prison as ARTHUR ORTON is not the above-named ARTHUR ORTON of Wapping. ALFRED PLUCKROSE.

This is probably PL1955 in Tree 1010.

The Tichborne case was a legal cause célèbre that captivated Victorian England in the 1860s and 1870s. It concerned the claims by a man sometimes referred to as Thomas Castro or as Arthur Orton, but usually termed "the Claimant", to be the missing heir to the Tichborne baronetcy. He failed to convince the courts, was convicted of perjury and served a long prison sentence [from Wikipedia].

[You can read more about this case in Wikipedia.]

 

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