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 (photo available from Marge Shearing's "Family Book" and a copy of a photo taken by Joel Thurtell is in the possession of Susan Thurtell Miller). 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."

View Picture of John Thurtell

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