Report of the proceedings on the trial of john hatfield, for forgery: which was tried at carlisle, On Monday, August 15, 1803,...With an account of his courtships, adventures, copies of several letters, &c. concerning the Beauty of Buttermere; and other remarkable events of his life.
London.
Printed [by Bentham] for A. H. Nairne et al., 1803.
First edition.
8vo.
8vo. 20pp. Uncut in later buff wrappers. Early inked ownership inscription of Revd. Geo: Lawton and manuscript quote: '"Virtue is ye Child of Liberty, & Happiness of Virtue" Dr. Beattie' to dust-soiled title page, scattered spotting.
The first edition of a rare report on the trial of the infamous John Hatfield (1758?-1803), transcribed by 'a short-hand writer', in which he was successfully convicted of numerous counts of forgery after impersonating several noblemen over a period of thirty years. Hatfield's escapades began after the death of his first wife, upon which he travelled to Dublin, claiming a relation to the viceroy, and then Scarborough, where he was first imprisoned for forgery. During his period in prison, he convinced a local gentlewoman, Miss Nation, to marry him; after illicitly obtaining money and credit, and claiming to be an M.P., Hatfield abandoned her and travelled north.
Most notoriously, the 'Beauty of Buttermere' to whom the title refers was in fact Hatfield's third wife, Cumbrian innkeeper's daughter Mary Robinson (1778-1837), who was deceived by Hatfield into a bigamous relationship under the guise that she was marrying Alexander Augustus Hope, M.P. for Linlithgow. The widely publicised saga of Mary and her 'false lover' provided ample fuel for verse dramas, poetry, and plays; Samuel Taylor Coleridge covered the case intently in The Morning Post, and, alongside Wordsworth, visited the condemned Hatfield shortly before his execution.
Provenance: George Lawton (1779-1869), antiquary, solicitor, and notary public, sometime proctor in the ecclesiastical courts at York, He was the author of Collectio rerum ecclesiasticarum (1840); a topographical study of the parochial institutions of the diocese of York that remains a standard text.
OCLC and COPAC combined record a single copy at Manchester.
£ 625.00
Antiquates Ref: 35187
Most notoriously, the 'Beauty of Buttermere' to whom the title refers was in fact Hatfield's third wife, Cumbrian innkeeper's daughter Mary Robinson (1778-1837), who was deceived by Hatfield into a bigamous relationship under the guise that she was marrying Alexander Augustus Hope, M.P. for Linlithgow. The widely publicised saga of Mary and her 'false lover' provided ample fuel for verse dramas, poetry, and plays; Samuel Taylor Coleridge covered the case intently in The Morning Post, and, alongside Wordsworth, visited the condemned Hatfield shortly before his execution.
Provenance: George Lawton (1779-1869), antiquary, solicitor, and notary public, sometime proctor in the ecclesiastical courts at York, He was the author of Collectio rerum ecclesiasticarum (1840); a topographical study of the parochial institutions of the diocese of York that remains a standard text.
OCLC and COPAC combined record a single copy at Manchester.
