The murder of P. C. Nicholas Cock and the subsequent trial of two young Irish agricultural labourers, John and William Habron has been explored a number of times on this Blog.
 |
| P.C. Nicholas Cocks memorial stone in St Clement’s Old Graveyard |
The trial judge was Mr. Justice Lindley while the prosecutor was Mr. William H. Higgin Q.C. and the brothers were defended by Mr. John H. P. Leresche Q.C.
Lord Justice Lindley in 1893
Nathaniel Lindley was born on the 28th November, 1828 in Acton Green, London. His father, John, was an eminent botanist and leading expert on orchids, who soon after Nathaniel’s birth was appointed as the newly established London University’s first professor of botany. He combined this rôle with working for the Horticultural Society of London (1), in which capacity he was instrumental in the successful campaign, of 1840, to save the botanical gardens at Kew from government plans for its closure. His mother, Sarah (née Freestone) was from the quaintly named village of St. Margaret South Elmham in Suffolk and was a descendant of Sir Edward Coke the eminent judge and parliamentarian during the reigns of both Elizabeth 1 and James 1 (VI of Scotland) (2).
 |
| Lord Justice Lindley |
Nathaniel Lindley, perhaps benefitting from his father’s tenure at the University, was educated at University College a public school established by the nascent University of London, at which institution he continued his studies. On the 29th May 1850 he was “called to the Bar” at the Middle Temple. In the examinations which he took to so qualify he was placed first among the candidates and was awarded the Lecturer’s Prize: the 20 volumes of “Vesey’s reports”. His early career was in civil law; initially at the office of his maternal uncle, Edward Freestone an “attorney and solicitor” on Oxford Street, Norwich. He also authored several important law books, one of which remains in publication.
In 1875, Just a year before the trial of the Habron brothers he was both knighted and made a judge in the criminal courts. Justice Hindley ascended the ranks of the judiciary until in October, 1897 he was appointed Master of the Rolls and less than three years later, on the 10th May, 1900 he was elevated to the Peerage as Baron Lindley of East Carleton in the County of Norfolk to enable him to sit as a Law Lord. He announced his resignation from his judicial duties as The Lord of Appeal in Ordinary on Monday 4th December 1905 and retired to his country estate near Norwich in Norfolk which he had inherited from his uncle. He did however remain fit enough to continue to serve as the chairman of the Norwich Magistrate Court for upwards of five more years. Even when well into his ninth decade he remained active on local committees and was a regular correspondent with public bodies and newspapers
 |
| St. Mary’s Churchyard, East Carleton, Norfolk |
Nathaniel married Sarah Katherine Teale, the daughter of John Edward Teale, a deceased solicitor Deputy Registrar of the Diocese of Ripon and clerk to the West Riding Magistrates. The couple were married by the bride’s uncle on the 5th August, 1858 at Roundhay, Leeds, Yorkshire; their union was blessed with nine children. Baron Lindley died at his home in East Carleton on the 9th December, 1921 and is buried in St. Mary’s churchyard in the village. His estate was valued for probate purposes a £23,718 – 0s – 4d (equivalent today to £941, 004). His wife of more than 53 years, Sarah Katherine pre-deceased him on the 8th February, 1912.
The chief prosecutor of the case against the Habrons was William Housman Higgin Q.C. He was born on the 28th February, 1820 in Skerton, Lancaster, Lancashire where he was christened by his uncle Rev. William Higgin (3) on the 13th March, 1820. William’s parents were John Higgin, a solicitor, and Susannah (née Armstrong). His grandfather, also John Higgin, was the “Keeper of His Majesty’s Gaol, Lancaster”
Whilst still only 20 William married Mary Calah, the daughter of James Calah, an “Esquire”, of Holme Hall, Bottesford, North Lincolnshire on the 20th August, 1840 at St. Mary’s Church, Lancaster
William studied for the Bar at The Middle Temple in London, becoming a student there on the 23rd December,1842 and qualifying (“called to the Bar”) on the 28th January, 1848.
 |
| Inside view of Lancaster Gaol - 1824 |
Initially William was not very successful and, in the August of 1857, he had to petition The Court for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors. (debt discharged 2nd September,1857). Since qualifying he had lived for a time in Birkenhead, near Liverpool where he had gone into partnership as Oil Merchants and Seed Crushers with his cousin Robert James Chippindall. It may have been the dissolving of this partnership, “by mutual consent” on the 29th March, 1855 which precipitated William’s financial difficulties.
From this date, however, William concentrated on his career in the Law. He was appointed a Queen’s Council at the Middle Temple on the 21st February, 1868, shortly after which, on the 23rd August, 1869 he accepted the chairmanship of the Salford Sessions; later also taking on a similar position in Preston, Lancashire (gratuitously from the spring of 1874; with a stipend, of £800, from July, 1879). On the 16th February, 1876 he was appointed the Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Lancaster. In the June of 1890, he was appointed Recorder of Preston.
William lived in the North West of England all his life apart from his studies in London. The 1851 census records him at, 39, Hamilton Square, Birkenhead from where he moved, successively, to, Heaton Terrace, Cheetham Hill, Manchester, Heald Grove, Rusholme, Manchester, and Heald Green, Stockport, Cheshire. (4)
The 1861 census records show him residing, with 3 servants, at 3, Birch View, Longsight Street, Rusholme, Lancashire. In 1871, William was shown at “Norwood”, Vine Street, Broughton, Salford again with just 3 servants. His wife, appears at a lodging house in Buxton, Derbyshire. (possibly “Taking the Waters”) Ten years later the couple are still not shown as living together, although Mrs. Higgin is recorded living in a large house in Prestwich, Seedley Mount on Bury New Road. The household included a lady companion, butler, cook and 4 other servants. According to William’s obituary, in the Lancaster Gazette of the 4th February, 1893, this house was the venue for frequent lavish dinner parties which William was well known for. For a short time in the middle of the 1880s William moved back to live in Lancaster at Springfield Hall where he involved himself in local affairs and for his leisure time purchased “The John of Gaunt” a 150-foot yacht which he would crew with a few friends and sail down to Cowes in the Isle of Wight
William’s final few years were spent at Cloverley House, Stockport Road, Timperley, Cheshire which, as recorded in the 1891 census, he was sharing with his wife (and five servants). He died on the 30th January, at Hesketh Park Crescent, Southport, Lancashire where he was staying in the hope that the sea air would benefit his failing health. The report of his death and funeral in the Cheshire Observer of the 4th February, 1893 states that he left an invalid widow but no children. His estate was valued at £8,781-2s. (equivalent to £787,821 today)
Finally, William Housman Higgin has another South Manchester connection in that he was the Q.C. retained by the Moss Side Township to represent their opposition to it being incorporated into the City of Manchester.
Mr. John Henry Proctor Leresche, the defending counsel in the Habron case, was born in Leeds, Yorkshire in 1823, however, not wishing to make this post over long and to do his story justice I’ll leave off from giving any more details for now; but as they say “WATCH THIS SPACE”!
Pictures: - P.C. Nicholas Cocks memorial stone in St Clement’s Old Graveyard, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester from the collection of Tony Goulding.
Lord Justice Lindley - By Alexander Bassano - Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4820531
St Mary’s Churchyard, East Carleton, Norfolk -
By John Salmon, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8270814
Inside view of Lancaster Gaol. 1824 - By Unknown, probably a debtor imprisoned at the Castle - http://collections.lancsmuseums.gov.uk/narratives/object.php?irn=213, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7414221
Notes: -
1) The Horticultural Society of London became the Royal Horticultural Society at a time that its last President was Prince Albert, the Consort of Queen Victoria.
2) Sir Edward Coke was at various times the Speaker of the House of Commons, Attorney General, and Solicitor General. He is also well known for the prosecutions of both Sir Walter Raleigh and The Gunpowder Plot Conspirators.
3) At the time he baptised his nephew, Rev. William Higgin was the Chaplain of the Richmond General Penitentiary and Magdalen Asylum, Leeson Street, Dublin (in only his second clerical post). However, he later became a Bishop firstly of Limerick and later of Derry and Raphoe.
4) The records of William Housman Higgin’s addresses are exceptionally extensive due in part to an exhaustive list included in the London Gazette of the 14th August, 1857 giving the notification of his appearance in the debtor’s court at Lancaster on Friday, the 28th August at 11-00 a.m. This even included his address while he was in London, residing at Brompton Square, Brompton, Middlesex with chambers at Pump Court, Temple, London. His Offices in Liverpool were at Eldon Chambers, South John Street while those in Manchester were in 4 – 6, St. John’s Square.
Acknowledgements:- An excellent book, "The Victorian Master Criminal Charles Peace and the murders of Cock and Dyson" (2016) by David C. Hanrahan has a couple of detailed chapters on the trial of the Habron Brothers. also useful was Angela Buckley's "Who Killed Constable Cock?" (2007)
No comments:
Post a Comment