Thurtell and Related Families    

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Notes for John THURTELL

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According to the Thurtell Family History done by Susan Persia Thurtell
about 1968, John Thurtell was born on December 21, 1794. He served in
the Royal Marines as a youth and became a bombasin manufacturer in 1814
in Norwich. He was a good amateur boxer and was acquainted with George
Borrow. John was also attracted by the stage. After failing in Norwich,
he went to London about 1820, where he became acquainted with William
Weare, an ex-waiter, who worked with John at the fairly profitable
enterprise of "rooking greenhorns." John spent all his time with the
dregs of London society, his main associates being Joseph Hunt and
William Probert. John was a notorious gambler and became enraged at
Weare, who had cheated in a game of cards and won a large sum of money
from him. John brutally murdered Weare, was tried, and was hanged at
Hertford on January 9, 1824.

There is a great deal of information on John Thurtell, including a book,
"The Trial of Thurtell and Hunt. " There were also Broadside Ballads
written about John Thurtell as a "Caution to the Youth of Great Britain."
Numerous books, articles, and plays were written about him, including
the extremely well researched 1987 book by Albert Borowitz, "The
Thurtell-Hunt Murder Case, Dark Mirror to Regency England." William
Makepeace Thackery, author of "Vanity Fair," was quoted as referring to
the case as a "godsend" to journalists. Murder was rare in Regency
England, and this was an extremely brutal murder committed by the son of
the prominent merchant and Mayor of Norwich, England, Thomas Thurtell.
The crime was also used as a cautionary tale of the story of a
respectable young man who had gone to London and become involved with
boxing and gambling, which were two of the unlawful pleasures of England
at that time. The case has been called England's "most literary murder,"
with wide coverage in the press, poetry, plays, stories, books, and even
the internet from 1823 to the present. Lurid scenes such as "the use of
a ghost-faced horse to drive the gig on the night of the murder, a double
water burial, an uncanny nocturnal disinternment, and a suspicious wife
spying on the division of the criminals' spoils" (quotation from the
Borowitz book) gave the murder "concrete visual images."

John, or "Jack" Thurtell as described in the Borowitz book was
intelligent and very well spoken and always described his mother as very
loving. During the trial he swore that he was innocent, but he later
stated, "I am quite satisfied, I forgive the world; I die in peace and
charity with all mankind. . . . I admit that justice has been done me."
(This is from the 1824 book by Pierce Egan "Account of the Trial of John
Thurtell and Joseph Hunt and Recollections of John Thurtell" quoted in
the Borowitz book).

Information received from Peter Murray in 1997 shows that John Thurtell
was in the Royal Navy marines aged 15 - 20, as lieutenant from May 8,
1809 (see HMS Adamant June 4, 1809), and served in Portugal and Spain and
in the storming of St. Sebastian. He was a lieutenant Royal Navy under
Capt. M'Kinlay 1812-14. On leaving the navy he became a bombasin
manufacturer with his brother Thomas in 1814, but this venture ended in a
spectacular bankruptcy in 1821 and in an insurance claim with suspicion
of fraud. In 1820 he moved to London as a sporting promoter and
gambler. He had a gambling house in Westminster and another in Preston,
Preston Guild, in 1822 at the southeast corner of St. John Street
(Winckley Street) with his brother. In 1822 he opened up a tavern in
London called "The Black Boy," and himself an excellent amateur boxer, he
trained and managed prizefighters. His image was glamorous in those
circles, but his business dealings were shady. Swindled at gambling and
cornered by debt, he murdered his chief tormentor, William Weare, a
"notorious blackleg" on October 24, 1823, and was executed after a highly
publicized trial on January 9, 1824, notwithstanding considerable popular
sympathy. Some details of his life are given in the Dictionary of
National Biography. A wax figure of him was displayed in Madame
Tussaud's for about 150 years (a photo taken by Joel Thurtell is linked to this page).
There is a pencil sketch of his profile by W. A. Mulready, which is reprinted in the Albert
Borowitz book, "The Thurtell-Hunt Murder Case."

PICTURE OF JOHN THURTELL

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