Chapter I: Preface

In undertaking to prepare an account of this celebrated trial, the Editor at the outset fondly trusted that the conviction of "the unfortunate Miss Blandy" might, upon due inquiry, be found to have been, as the phrase is, a miscarriage of justice. To the entertainment of this chivalrous if unlively hope he was moved as well by the youth, the sex, and the traditional charms of that lady, as by the doubts expressed by divers wiseacres concerning her guilt; but a more intimate knowledge of the facts upon which the adverse verdict rested, speedily disposed of his inconfident expectation.

Though the evidence sheds but a partial light upon the hidden springs of the dark business in which she was engaged, and much that should be known in order perfectly to appreciate her symbolic value remains obscure, we can rest assured that Mary Blandy, whatever she may have been, was no victim of judicial error. We watch, perforce, the tragedy from the front; never, despite the excellence of the official "book," do we get a glimpse of what is going on behind the scenes, nor see beneath the immobile and formal mask, the living face; but, when the spectacle of _The Fair Parricide_ is over, we at least are satisfied that justice, legal and poetic, has been done.

Few cases in our criminal annals have occasioned a literature so extensive. The bibliography, compiled by Mr. Horace Bleackley in connection with his striking study, "The Love Philtre" (_Some Distinguished Victims of the Scaffold_, London, 1905),--which, by his courteous permission, is reprinted in the Appendix, enumerates no fewer than thirty contemporary tracts, while the references to the case by later writers would of themselves form a considerable list.

To this substantial cairn a further stone or two are here contributed. There will be found in the Appendix copies of original MSS. in the British Museum and the Public Record Office, not hitherto published, relating to the case. These comprise the correspondence of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, Mr. Secretary Newcastle, the Solicitor to the Treasury, and other Government officials, regarding the conduct of the prosecution and the steps taken for the apprehension of Miss Blandy's accomplice, the Hon. William Henry Cranstoun; a petition of "The Noblemen and Gentlemen in the Neighbourhood of Henley-upon-Thames" as to the issuing of a proclamation for his arrest, with the opinion thereon of the Attorney-General, Sir Dudley Ryder; and the deposition of the person by whose means Cranstoun's flight from justice was successfully effected. This deposition is important as disclosing the true story of his escape, of which the published accounts are, as appears, erroneous. Among other matter now printed for the first time may be mentioned a letter from the War Office to the Paymaster-General, directing Cranstoun's name to be struck off the half-pay list; and a letter from John Riddell, the Scots genealogist, to James Maidment, giving some account of the descendants of Cranstoun. For permission to publish these documents the Editor is indebted to the courtesy of Mr. A.M. Broadley and Mr. John A. Fairley, the respective owners.

The iconography of Mary Blandy has been made a feature of the present volume, all the portraits of her known to the Editor being reproduced. A description of the curious satirical print, "The Scotch Triumvirate," will be found in the Appendix.

Of special interest is the facsimile of Miss Blandy's last letter to Captain Cranstoun, of which the interception, like that of Mrs. Maybrick's letter to Brierley, was fraught with such fateful consequences. The photograph is taken from the original letter in the Record Office, where the papers connected with the memorable Assizes in question have but recently been lodged.

For the account of the case contained in the Introduction, the Editor has read practically all the contemporaneous pamphlets--a tedious and often fruitless task--and has consulted such other sources of information as are now available. He has, however, thought well (esteeming the comfort of his readers above his own reputation for research) to present the product as a plain narrative, unencumbered by the frequent footnotes which citation of so many authorities would otherwise require--the rather that any references not furnished by the bibliography are sufficiently indicated in the text.

Finally, the Editor would express his gratitude to Mr. Horace Bleackley and Mr. A.M. Broadley for their kindness in affording him access to their collections of _Blandyana_, including rarities (to quote an old title-page) "nowhere to be found but in the Closets of the Curious," greatly to the lightening of his labours and the enrichment of the result.

W.R.

8 OXFORD TERRACE, EDINBURGH, April, 1914.

CONTENTS.

Introduction

Table of Dates

The Trial--
TUESDAY, 3RD MARCH, 1752.

The Indictment

Opening Speeches for the Prosecution.
Hon. Mr. Bathurst
Mr. Serjeant Hayward

Evidence for the Prosecution.
1. Dr. Addington
2. Dr. Lewis
3. Dr. Addington (recalled)
4. Benjamin Norton
5. Mrs. Mary Mounteney
6. Susannah Gunnell
7. Elizabeth Binfield
8. Dr. Addington (recalled)
9. Alice Emmet
10. Robert Littleton
11. Robert Harmon
12. Richard Fisher
13. Mrs. Lane
14. Mr. Lane

The Prisoner's Defence

Evidence for the Defence.
1. Ann James
2. Elizabeth Binfield (recalled)
3. Mary Banks
4. Edward Herne
5. Thomas Cawley
6. Thomas Staverton
7. Mary Davis
8. Robert Stoke

Motion by Mr. Ford to call another witness refused

Hon. Mr. Bathurst's Closing Speech for the Prosecution

Statement by the Prisoner

Mr. Baron Legge's Charge to the Jury

The Verdict

The Sentence

APPENDICES.

I. Proceedings before the Coroner relative to the Death of Mr.
Francis Blandy

II. Copies of Original Letters in the British Museum and Public
Record Office, relating to the Case of Mary Blandy

III. A Letter from a Clergyman to Miss Mary Blandy, now a prisoner in Oxford Castle, with her Answer thereto; as also Miss Blandy's own narrative of the crime for which she is condemned to die

IV. Miss Mary Blandy's own account of the affair between her and Mr. Cranstoun, from the commencement of their acquaintance in the year 1746 to the death of her father in August, 1751, with all the circumstances leading to that unhappy event

V. Letter from Miss Blandy to a Clergyman in Henley

VI. Contemporary Advertisement of a Love Philtre

VII. Contemporary Account of the Execution of Mary Blandy

VIII. Letter from the War Office to the Paymaster-General, striking Cranstoun's name off the Half-Pay List

IX. The Confessions of Cranstoun--
1. Cranstoun's own version of the facts
2. Captain Cranstoun's account of the Poisoning of the late
Mr. Francis Blandy

X. Extract from a Letter from Dunkirk anent the death of
Cranstoun

XI. Letter from John Biddell, the Scots genealogist, to James
Maidment, regarding the descendants of Cranstoun

XII. Bibliography of the Blandy Case

XIII. Description of the satirical print "The Scotch Triumvirate"

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Miss Blandy in her Cell in Oxford Castle Frontispiece
_From an unpublished Sepia Drawing in the Collection of Mr. Horace
Bleackley._

Facsimile of the Intercepted Letter to Cranstoun written by Mary Blandy
_From the original MS. in the Public Record Office._

Miss Blandy
_From a Mezzotint by T. Ryley, after L. Wilson, in the Collection
of Mr. A.M. Broadley._

Miss Mary Blandy in Oxford Castle Gaol
_From an Engraving in the British Museum._

Captain Cranstoun and Miss Blandy
_From an Engraving in the British Museum._

Miss Mary Blandy
_From an Engraving by B. Cole, after a Drawing for which she sat in
Oxford Castle._

Miss Molly Blandy, taken from the life in Oxford Castle
_From an Engraving in the Collection of Mr. A.M. Broadley._

Miss Mary Blandy, with scene of her Execution
_From an Engraving by B. Cole, after an original Painting._

Captain William Henry Cranstoun, with his pompous funeral procession in Flanders _From an Engraving by B. Cole._

The Scotch Triumvirate
_From a satirical Print in the Collection of Mr. Horace Bleackley._

MARY BLANDY.