When William IV. Was King

by John Ashton

And the first Jewish alderman and sheriff of the City of London, was Mr. Sheriff (afterwards Sir) David Salamons, who was elected to the vacant gown of Aldgate Ward, on November 21st.

One incident which set all tongues wagging, about this time, was the great fire at Hatfield House, on November 27th, and the death of the Marchioness of Salisbury (grandmother of our present premier) by burning. She had only arrived at Hatfield on the previous day, and on the afternoon of the 27th she retired, a short time before dinner, to her dressing-room to write a few letters. At five o'clock her maid entered her apartment, and found her writing by the light of two candles. Her ladyship complained of the dimness of the light, and requested her maid to bring her a bedroom candle, which she did, and left the marchioness, who wore a very lofty headdress, writing by these three candles.

About half-past five fear was felt by the female servants of the house, in consequence of the volumes of smoke. The marquis and marchioness were alarmed, and the marquis tried to force his way into his mother's dressing-room, but found it so full of flame and smoke, as to render all hopes of rescuing her utterly desperate. The fire bell was rung, and the engines arrived from the neighbouring towns, but were of little avail, as there was a bad supply of water. That part of the west wing which looks down the noble avenue of trees by which Hatfield Hall is approached from the south, was speedily gutted by the fire. The roof fell in with a tremendous crash, and the poor old marchioness was buried in the ruins.

Another subject for talk was an extraordinary discovery of valuable jewels, thus told in the Annual Register, December 21st.

"In the month of February last, the warehouse of Messrs. Hall & Co., on the Custom House Quay, was broken into, and a box, in which there were deposited diamonds belonging to a foreign countess, and amounting to from £7000 to £8000 in value, stolen therefrom. From the mode in which the robbery had been effected at the Custom House, it was the opinion of Lea, the constable, at the time, that both it and the one at Messrs. Hall & Co.'s had been accomplished by the same parties who had effected the Custom House robbery. By the most singular accident, however, a portion of the diamonds had been discovered in such a manner as to leave no doubt that they had been in the possession of William Jourdan. Lea, the officer, made the following statement:—

"He said that, having satisfied himself by inquiries and information through various channels that Sullivan and Jourdan were the persons engaged in the robberies, he, with much difficulty, traced out their residence in the neighbourhood of Kennington. He had no sooner done so, than they by some means or other got information of it, and, before he could secure them, left their homes, taking with them a portmanteau and trunks each, with an excellent stock of clothes, and took up their lodgings at the Red Lion Tavern, in King Street, Bloomsbury, where they represented themselves as persons engaged in mercantile pursuits. By this means, he (Lea) lost trace of them for several days, until a person who had been placed to watch the house at Kennington, followed and traced the brother of Sullivan to the Red Lion. Lea lost no time in going to the house, and on making inquiries of the landlady about the person (describing Sullivan's brother) who had been there, a short time before, with a green bag, and the object of his calling; she said he was a shoemaker, who had called to take some orders from, and do some work for, two gentlemen who were stopping in the house.

"Sullivan's brother is a common thief, and had merely assumed the character to prevent any suspicion in the minds of Mr. Proctor and his family, and, by this means, he was enabled to see his brother and Jourdan often, and, when seen by a fourth party, his manner towards them was precisely that of an artisan. Lea then proceeded to state that from the description which he obtained from Mrs. Proctor of the description of the persons who were at her house, he was satisfied that they were the parties of whom he was in pursuit, and he consequently made such arrangements as to succeed in the apprehension of both on the following morning.

"At that time (the 2nd inst.), after securing the prisoners, he made what he conceived to be a minute search of the apartments which the prisoners occupied, and had secured everything belonging to them, but he had now discovered that, notwithstanding all his care, he had overlooked some most valuable property.

"After the capture of the prisoners, Jourdan's wife and Sullivan's brother had repeatedly called at Mr. Proctor's, and, upon various occasions, expressed the greatest anxiety to go into the room which had been occupied by Jourdan, but this was refused, notwithstanding their earnest entreaties. Two or three persons, of gentlemanly appearance, had, at different times, driven up to the door in coaches, with luggage, as if they had come off a journey, and eagerly asked for lodgings; but Mr. Proctor, owing to what had previously happened, refused to let any strangers lodge at his house, and the parties were obliged to go away.

"On Thursday morning last, Mr. Hanson, a gentleman residing at Reading, who, when in town, was always in the habit of stopping at Mr. Proctor's, called there, and his luggage being taken into the room that had been previously occupied by Jourdan, he ordered a fire to be lit by the time he came home in the evening. This was done by a charwoman, who is in the habit of attending the house, and that being the first time since spring that a fire had been made in the room, she threw a quantity of what she conceived to be rubbish which had accumulated during the summer months under the ornamental paper in the grate, on the top of the coals, after the fire had been made up.