Trial of Henry Fauntleroy : and other famous trials for forgery / edited by Horace Bleackley.

  • Henry Fauntleroy
Date:
[1924]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Trial of Henry Fauntleroy : and other famous trials for forgery / edited by Horace Bleackley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    events, so much was he attracted by it that he left his Thames Valley home and purchased a house in Western Place, Brighton, where he took up his abode towards the end of 1821. It wras an uncommon kind of residence, for, beino- # 7 7 O built <( in the purest Grecian architecture/’ all its apartments were on one floor, “ in true villa style.” There was a spacious conservatory, filled with orange trees, but the most unique room it contained was the billiard room—Cf probably the most elegant in Europe,” according to an agent’s panegyric—which was constructed “ in facsimile of Napoleon’s travelling tent,” whatever that may mean. It was a com¬ fortable abode, standing in its own grounds, but the view of the sea was obscured to some extent by intervening build¬ ings. In memory perhaps of his former country house, he gave it the name of Hampton Lodge.1 About this period he grew tired of the dashing “ Mrs. Bang,” forsaking her for a young girl, named Maria Forbes, whom he is believed to have seduced while she was at a board¬ ing school. A fair-haired beauty of winsome manners, she cap¬ tivated the amorous banker so greatly that he made her a settlement of £6000, besides providing her with a villa in South Lambeth, as well as a generous annuity. This cer¬ tainly was the least disreputable of his liaisons, for he seems to have been as much in love with Miss Forbes as a man of his nature could be, and she was deeply attached to him.2 Yet, while so generous to the mistress, there is reason to suppose that he gave the neglected wife barely enough for ordinary comfort. Notwithstanding the ease with which he was able to per¬ petrate his forgeries, the unhappy man lived a life of constant suspense. He was ever fearful that an unforseen accident might overcome his vigilance and betray him to justice. In after-years he confessed that he had always been racked by 1 Brighton Rate Books for 1822; Notes and Queries, 8 S., X., 246; Times, 17th December, 1824; Brighton Gazette, 6th January, 1825. The late Sir Willoughby Maycock identified the site of Hampton Lodge, which has been entirely modernised. [Notes and Queries, 12 S., XI., 67, 135, 196, 339.] It occupied the site of 140 Western Road. 2 Statement of John Adolphus in the Brighton Gazette, 5th April, 1827. Cf. Ramblers’ Mag., April, 1827, pp. 180-2. It has been said that Miss Forbes’s real name was Fox. Afterwards she took the name of Forrest.