The Wicked Trade (The Forensic Genealogist Book 7)

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, I settled on basing this story around the exploits of the Aldington Gang. Then, when I read in Kent Smugglers’ Pubs that in 1963 two skeletons had been found during building works at the Bell Inn, Hythe, I knew that I had found my prologue. The story, as expanded upon in several other local history books on Hythe, went that a local builder had discovered two full human skeletons when working on the pub’s chimney. The skeletons—identified as Revenue Officers by their outfits—were sent to the local coroner’s before being buried locally. However, none of the books referring to the story gave specific details, including the actual date of discovery. So, I undertook my own research, contacting local churches and cemeteries, the coroner’s office and making lengthy searches of The Folkestone, Hythe and District Herald at Folkestone Library. What I had found by the end of my research was that in late March / early April 1962 the fireplace of the Bell was indeed opened up, revealing a small quantity of beer mugs, keys and pig bones. Unfortunately, to-date I have found no official record of the two skeletons. My findings were later confirmed by a local historian, Sean McNally, who had also been simultaneously researching this curious apocryphal tale.

The Aldington Gang were a real smuggling group, operating a large-scale enterprise which ran from Rye in East Sussex to Walmer in Kent. In its heyday, the group could muster between two- and three-hundred local men. Its first leader was Cephas Quested, who was captured at the Battle of Brookland on the 11th February 1821, as described in this story. The records held at the Kent History and Library Centre, in which Morton locates overseers’ help being given to Cephas Quested, are real. His apparent poverty in early 1820 is the likely reason for his seeking extra income from smuggling. I took the liberty of bringing forward the date of his execution. In fact, he was hanged at Newgate on the 4th July 1821. His five-month incarceration was owed to the hope that he might give up the names of the rest of the gang before going to the gallows, which he did not. Following his death, officials wanted to hang his body from chains in Brookland as a deterrent to other would-be smugglers, but, following the intervention of the local magistrate, Sir Edward Knatchbull, he was returned to Aldington for burial in the parish church. A small wooden shoe, carved by Quested, is on display in the smuggling room of Ashford Museum, along with a letter dictated by him from his gaol cell.

Following Quested’s death, there appears to have been a short period which showed a lack of leadership in the smuggling runs. From this vacuum rose a new leader: George Ransley, a carter by trade, who built his own home in Aldington Frith, called the Bourne Tap, from where he sold cheap liquor. The place, according to Scarecrow’s Legion, was ‘...the scene of many a drunken orgy and became the scandal of the neighbourhood.’ From here and the Walnut Tree Inn, Ransley organised his elaborate smuggling runs. The group were prevalent throughout the early 1820s and were responsible for most of the large-scale smuggling in Kent and Sussex at this time. Deaths among both smugglers and the preventative service were common throughout this period.

Dr Ralph Papworth-Hougham, the son of a surgeon-apothecary, lived at Pear Tree House in Brookland and was used by both the preventative service and by the Aldington Gang to assist with medical matters. His first wife, Ann, died soon after the Battle of Brookland in February 1827 and was buried in Brookland churchyard, leaving Ralph with six children for whom to care. In November 1827, he married Charlotte Lee and the couple went on to have further children together. Ralph died in 1837 and was also buried in Brookland churchyard.

Alexander John Spence and Thomas Brazier were arrested in March 1822 for stealing compasses and telescopes from boats along the coast. When the Dover Gaoler and the Mayor’s Sergeant attempted to arrest the two men, they were fired upon by twenty-two-year-old Spence. Assistance was then secured by Lieutenant Philip Graham, a Preventative Officer working from the ship Ramillies, upon whom Spence fired twice, each ball only grazing the officer and singeing his uniform. The two men were incarcerated in Dover Gaol, but both men managed to escape their cell by breaking through the walls; they were captured in a boat fleeing to France. Spence was hanged on the 9th August 1822 in the town gallows on Black Horse Lane (now Tower Hamlets Road), just in front of the Black Horse Inn (now the Eagle), from where the mayor and other local dignitaries watched the execution. Spence was brought to the gallows in a horse and cart, sitting upon his own coffin, while the hangman sat up front with the rope noose in his lap. Spence either jumped or slipped moments prior to the pulling away of the horse and cart to effect his hanging. He was the last Dovorian to be hanged there and was buried in St Mary’s churchyard.

Many of the shops, public houses and businesses used in this story—including Miss Bowler’s academy on St James’s Street, J. Minet, Fector & Co. bank on Strond Street and the agents Latham, Rice & Co.—existed in 1820s Dover.

Although deaths on both sides were commonplace during the smuggling days of the 1820s, the tide began to turn against the smugglers following the murder of Quartermaster Richard Morgan on the 30th July 1826. His death occurred as is described in the book. He was buried on 2nd August 1826, aged 34, in St Martin’s Church, Dover. The transcription of Richard Morgan’s headstone at the beginning of this book is correct. The headstone was cleared with the rest of the churchyard in the 1970s as part of the development of York Street and sadly no longer exists. A substantial reward