Criminal & Coroner's Cases in Great Linford
Delve into the criminal past of Great Linford with this selection of crimes and misdemeanours, plus cases put before coroner's juries, often held at the Nags Head.
Coroner’s Juries
Cases include the tragically mundane, such as that of John Brown, who in 1786 fell from a roof he was thatching, to a terrible accidental drowning of a child on one of the frozen manor ponds and also sadly a number of suicides. Read more about Coroner’s Juries in Great Linford.
Fraud and Deceit
Included here is the story of a fraudster and aspiring author whose brief time in Great Linford was marred by his attempt to deceive a London jeweller. It’s a tale worthy of a work of fiction including accusations of poisoning and a mysterious meeting on a millionaires yacht, but was Alfred Ernest Druce making it all up? Learn more about fraud and deceit in Great Linford.
Poaching
The romantic idea of a lone poacher putting a rabbit in the pot to feed his family is no doubt rooted in fact, but poaching was also committed on a much larger scale and by gangs of men willing to fight violently against the gamekeepers. Read more about the poachers and gamekeepers.
Theft
In 1797 a Highwayman passed through Great Linford, but exciting though the tale is, he was no Dick Turpin. Crime was much more likely to be light fingered opportunism, such as the theft of some clothing from the Nags Head by a character known to the police as Raffling Ginger, but some wasn’t quite so light fingered, such as the iron bars stolen from a canal barge that almost got its two perpetrators transported to Australia. Read more about theft in Great Linford.
The Stocks
Though the evidence is sparse, it does appear that Great Linford had it’s very own set of stocks, in which local miscreants were incarcerated to contemplate their wrong-doings. Notable amongst them was a serial offender named James Conquest. Read more about James and the Great Linford stocks.
Violent Crime
It would be surprising indeed if Great Linford had not recorded a murder, but violent crime seems to have been surprisingly rare, but here you can read about a brawl at Lodge Farm that got fatally out of hand in 1920 and an attempted shooting in 1816. Read more about violent crime here.
|
