Research

When I first stumbled across William Barber's story, I was intrigued and considered writing it up as fiction. But that required me to form a view on his involvement in the frauds, and I wanted to be fair to him and to his client Joshua Fletcher. I started to dig around for the truth. And I decided to write up the research, even if incomplete - because of my health - to make it available to anyone interested. Being fair to the protagonists required me to analyse each argument that they put up in their defence, including variations and exaggerations. That became a challenging exercise: hence the 900 pages or so that the book became.

I hope to write a shorter, punchier version but may not succeed. For now I am publishing here the comprehensive version - UNCUT - plus a set of appendices. I have not (yet?) been able to follow up some material that would require travelling and so I aim to give others the chance to use my research to inquire deeper.

The Sources

The Note on the Sources in the book describes the main documents I have consulted. The Old Bailey Online service is invaluable for transcripts. Newspaper coverage of legal cases was oddly much better in the mid-19th century compared to the sensationalism that we see today, even in the last 'quality' newspaper (The Guardian) in its quest for an 'angle'. In the 1800s, the reporters took down and published extensive notes of the evidence, without comment.

William's various publications are described in the Note. They are an extraordinary resource, if not exactly as he intended them to be. But this page is mainly about what I have, so far, been unable to tap into.

Bank of England

I hope to spend a few days with the files held, but sadly not digitised, at the Bank of England archive. For anyone who might want to take this forward, the file references start at F9/10 which covers the Stewart case. F9/11 is Hunt, F9/12 is Slack, F9/13 is Burchard. They can be accessed by typing the reference into the so-named box at Advanced Search (bankofengland.co.uk) More directly, they are in a clickable list at CalmView : Collection Browser (bankofengland.co.uk)

There are five more files:

F9/14 - Correspondence, newspaper articles and papers concerning the accused.

F9/15 - Confession of W Christmas, a Bank employee.

F9/16 - Printed booklet: speeches of defence counsel (presumably the book by Wilkins and Gregory (1844) cited repeatedly in One Man’s Justice).

F9/17 - Transcription of shorthand notes of proceedings.

F9/18 - Transcription of shorthand notes of proceedings.

I would be surprised if these documents had a major impact on my conclusions, but they will, I expect, contain many interesting facts and resolve many frustratingly obscure questions, such as which true and forged signatures were seen by the Bank and its lawyers. An academic, Patrick Polden,* consulted the archives but said nothing very significant about what he saw.

Law Society

I do not know what the Law Society holds but Patrick Polden lists certain minutes of the organisation's governing Council . Affidavits and other documents from litigation may be held, although I doubt it, because Polden does not mention them.

Good luck, anyone who takes an interest!

My contact: gally.maxwell@btinternet.com

[1] Black Framed Eyeglasses on Top of Open Book · Free Stock Photo (pexels.com)

* (Patrick Polden (2009) ‘Justice denied and justice delayed: the trials and tribulations of a Victorian solicitor’, International Journal of the Legal Profession, 16:2-3, 211-239)