One man's justice: The Will Forgeries scandal of 1844

William Henry Barber was born in 1807. By 1838 he had his own law firm, originally in his home at Nelson Square in South London, where he lived, unmarried, with a servant. Fatefully, he acquired a new client, Joshua Fletcher, a retired surgeon originally from Lincolnshire. They worked together for five years, unlocking, for Joshua, over £9,800, the equivalent now of £1.2 million. Joshua was up to no good. Did William know?

The Scam

Joshua had an informer in the Bank of England who alerted him to orphan investments. The owners had not claimed their dividends (rather like annual interest) for 10 years or more. Joshua then investigated, often in great detail and involving travel round the country, to see if he could find the owner. Some had died without relatives. Others had gone abroad and were now untraced. Satisfied that they would not turn up and claim their money, he devised varying plans to get his hands on the investment, which he would quickly sell. The proceeds, with the 10 years of dividends that had accumulated at the Bank, were often substantial. The investments were government bonds, generally known as Consols - from, for example, 'the Three per cent Consolidated Annuities'. Joshua would often quickly use the cash raised - to buy gold, because that could not be traced. That was a version of a modern form of money laundering in which diamonds are bought and taken abroad secreted in luggage or clothing and then sold for clean money.

Joshua's planning was elaborate. He created a back-story, or legend, for the owner, peopled by at least one fictional relative. A fake Will would be forged. The local Registrar of deaths would be visited and misled into providing a real certificate for a fake death. A newly-discovered 'grandson' or 'niece' of the owner suddenly turned up after 10 years at sea, or France, or New York, and claim the money, which would always be payable to them alone.

Joshua had a stable of helpers to pose as long-lost relatives of the people who owned the Consols, sometimes disguised or in the distinctive clothing of the fictitious person's job - such as a seaman. He recruited four members of one family: mother Susannah Richards, daughters Georgiana and Lydia, and Lydia's husband, William Sanders.

Joshua wanted a lawyer to deal with legal formalities such as obtaining probate of the Will and then applying to the Bank of England for the money: not because it was essential, or required by law, but for softer reasons. This is were William Barber came in. The involvement of a lawyer usually reassured people who might be concerned or suspicious about the underlying story: how had a sister of the deceased suddenly appeared and claimed his Consols when he had never mentioned having a sister? A lawyer would also see off any difficult questions from the probate authorities or nosy clerks at the Bank. Sometimes, William helped Joshua in his early investigations to establish whether it was safe to go after the money.

There was a fall-back. Sometimes, Joshua found that probate had already been obtained for a Will the owner had made. The money was unclaimed simply because the executors had not spotted it. There was no opening in which to force a false relative or Will. In these cases, Joshua would instruct William to contact the executors, tell them that there was more money available - without saying where or how - and offer to sell them the information. William would negotiate with the executors and agree a price. Then they would be told exactly where the money was. William called this price Joshua's 'bonus'. Some executors and their lawyers were unhappy about this process and disapproved of the involvement of William, a solicitor and attorney-at-law, but they reluctantly paid up and got the money from the Bank to add to the estate of the deceased owner.

Joshua became greedy. His informer told him about unclaimed money to the value of £4,600, now £550,000. Not satisfied with only a 'bonus,' he wanted all of the money. There was a problem. His detailed inquiries, involving travel around the country, revealed that the true owner was very much alive. She was so well-off that she had simply forgotten about one of her investments. The potential pay-off was so large that he could not resist. So began a great challenge for Joshua and, caught in the crossfire, William and the Richards family...