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The Tichbornes, The Doughtys and Douglas Woodruff

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2015

Extract

Of what he called ‘The Great Fear of Popery’, Hugh Trevor-Roper wrote: ‘that fear … constantly renewed, had acquired a momentum of its own. It was the English equivalent of the great European witch-craze, and it would remain formidable for three centuries, a national neurosis which could be awakened again and again: in the myth of the great Irish massacre of 1641 (still repeated, over a century later, by John Wesley), in the great scare of the Popish Plot of 1678, in the fable of the Warming Pan in 1688, even, though with dwindling force, in the Gordon Riots of 1780 and the “Papal Aggression” of 1851, ‘(sic). He might have added the Tichborne trial to the list.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Catholic Record Society 1997

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References

Notes

1 Hugh, Trevor-Roper, Catholics Anglicans and Puritans Fontana Press, London, 1989 (pp. 102103.Google Scholar

2 Douglas, Woodruff, The Tichborne Claimant (Hollis & Carter, London, 1957).Google Scholar

3 Ibidem, p. xviii

4 Ibidem, p. 10.

5 Ibidem, p. 4.

6 PRO. Prob. 11.1713.

7 PRO. Prob. 11/1713 Fourth Codicil. For a discussion of this decision see my The Richmond Catholic Mission 1791–1826 (privately published) Richmond, 1991.

8 PRO. Prob. 11/1441.

9 Williams, J. A. Catholicism in Bath (CRS, London, 1975), Vol. 1, pp. 135136).Google Scholar

10 PRO. Prob. 11/736.

11 PRO. Prob. 11/1713.

12 PRO. Prob. 11/1713.

13 The plaque reads: Sacred to the Memory of Elizabeth Doughty, Only daughter and heir of Henry Doughty Esquire of Snarford Hall, C. Lincoln Who died 8 May, 1826. Her remains are interred in Saint Margaret’s Church Westminster, R.I.P. This tablet is erected in her Memory by her grateful relative Edward Tichborne Esquire, Second surviving son of Sir Henry Tichborne 7th Baronet to whom he bequeathed her ample Estates And by her will directed That he should assume the name of Doughty And who, on 3 June 1845, became 9th Baronet.

14 Vincent Gosford was appointed agent to the estate in 1847 by Sir Edward Doughty. He had a house at Cheriton but persuaded Sir Edward to provide office space at Tichborne Park. Roger, when visiting, occupied a bedroom immediately above the office and spent much time in it. Gosford, though financially embarrassed and accused of fraud, was adamant that the Claimant was not Roger Tichborne. When Mr. Justice Mellor pronounced the verdict in Regina V Castro he said ‘ … and when I mention the name of Mr. Gosford I pause for a moment — speaking for myself at all events — to say that he had placed public justice greatly in his debt’.

15 The Titchborne Claimant p. 10.

16 Ibidem, p. 10.

17 Charge of the Lord Chief Justice of England in the Case of The Queen against Thomas Castro otherwise Arthur Orton otherwise Sir Roger Charles Doughty Tichborne. Printed from the shorthand writer’s notes. (Vacher & Sons, London, 1874, p. 3813.) Castro was a name which the Claimant had used for a time in Australia.

18 The Tichborne Claimant, p. 17.

19 Ibidem, p. 11.

20 Ibidem, p. 11.

21 Ibidem, p. 11.

22 PRO. Prob. 11/2030

23 PRO. Prob. 11/2030

24 At the time of the trial, the Doughty-Tichborne family had no need of Tichborne Park and it was let to a Colonel Lushington. The action of the Claimant, therefore, was brought against Lushington to expel him from the estate. In fact, Col Lushington was a supporter of the Claimant.

25 The Queen V Castro, p. 3815.

26 Ibidem, p. 3816.

27 Ibidem, p. 3816.

28 Winchester Archives, Tichborne Papers, Box 9, 1059. Elizabeth Doughty was unfortunate in the dispositions of her wealth. In 1824 she handed over £7,000 in 3% Consolidated Bank Annuities to Bishop Poynter for the upkeep of her chapel, leaving precise instructions for regular inspection andrepair; if in any year there were to be a surplus it was to go to the incumbent priest at Richmond. The Southwark Diocese administered the fund according to its own practices and simply handed over each year–s interest to the incumbent. In 1902, Bishop Bourne devised a plan for enlarging the church and priest’s house. Unable to secure the consent of the parishioners to his scheme, he ordered the enlargement to go ahead and used Miss Doughty’s bequest to pay for it. The Rector of the day claimed he had ‘sacrificed’ his endowment fund. The story is told in my The Richmond Catholic Mission 1791–1826. Bourne justified his action on the ground of ‘duty’. The Tichbornes, by contrast, had law on their side. But if a man had established a right to be a ‘right heir’ of Elizabeth Doughty and indicated a willingness to abide by the conditions of her will the disentailing deed was not beyond challenge.

29 PRO, C54/13995. It is a curiosity of the case that Elizabeth Doughty’s stipulation that anybody inheriting her wealth must take the name of Doughty and bear the Doughty arms lacked validity. She had no right to bear the Doughty arms. When Edward Tichborne applied to the College of Arms to have the Tichborne Arms quartered with those of Doughty, the College used a differenced version of the Doughty arms. In effect, this represented a fresh grant of arms, for which the only possible explanation is that the College refused to recognise the Doughty family’s use of the Doughty arms. Miss Doughty certainly believed in her entitlement. Her grandfather, Henry Doughty, was buried in Snarford parish church and his tomb bears the Doughty arms. Miss Doughty’s grandmother was buried in old St. Pancras her tomb decorated with Tichborne, Doughty and Brownlow arms. It was her great grandfather, Philip Doughty, who first claimed a right to the Doughty arms. It is inconceivable that Edward Tichborne was not made aware of the problem and presumably gave his consent to the solution offered by the College of Arms; a solution he would have found preferable to lengthy legal argument.

30 Coll. Arms 1 58 p. 33.Google Scholar

31 PRO, Prob. 11 2173.

32 Serjeant, Ballentyne Some Experiences of a Barrister’s Life (Richard Bentley & Son, London, 1892, Vol. 2) p. 171.Google Scholar

33 E. Roberts and E. Crockford (A History of Tichborne. (published privately, no date).

34 PRO, Prob. 11 2173 ‘ … I direct that the Silver Gilt Chalice and Patten purchased by me at Cologne the full set of White Tissue Vestments purchased by me at Rome and the set of Black vestments with the Arms and initials marked thereon which formerly belonged to the late Miss Elizabeth Doughty deceased shall be annexed to the Mansion house and estate of Tichborne Park of which I am tenant for life in possession … ’

35 Douglas, Woodruff The Tichborne Claimant, p. 6.Google Scholar