George & Joseph Weston

 

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Foreword:

 

Although this story has only tenuous links with Sussex, when the brothers stayed at Winchelsea for a short time, It is such an interesting story that I had to include it on these pages. I hope that you will enjoy reading the remarkable story of these pair of rogue's as I much as I did. The story was brought to my attention through a relative of the Weston brothers: David N Weston, and the info of the book is below.

 

Barrows, John: Knights of the High Toby. The Story of the Highwaymen. London: Davies 1962. 264p

BROTHERS IN CRIME

 

The brothers George and Joseph Weston committed only one highway robbery, but it assured them of a place in the history of the crime. They robbed the Bristol Mail of more than £10,000, a haul which at that time was almost certainly without precedent. Although most of the money was in bankers' drafts, bills of exchange and money orders, they realized the greater part of it and lived in great style with two young women in a Sussex mansion.

Their high intelligence baffled the law for years, and when they were eventually brought to book it was for no better reason than that their prodigality made it difficult for them to meet bills for the rich furnishings in their country seat, and the expensive jewellery with which they had adorned their mistresses.

The attack upon the Bristol Mail was only one episode in a catalogue of crime, including fraudulent conversion, forgery, horse-stealing, blackmail and smuggling - for which the brothers were responsible, yet when these inseparables dangled from the gibbet at Tyburn George was only thirty and his brother but twenty-four.

Much of the credit for their arrest goes to John Clarke, the same Bow Street Runner who terminated Sixteen-String Jack's career. But before his task was accomplished, the whole country was in a great stir about the brothers, and large rewards had been offered by the Post Office for their apprehension.

 

George Weston, ringleader in the brothers' long career of crime, was born in about 1752 at Stoke, Staffordshire, son of a prosperous farmer. Educated at Stoke Grammar School, he was an outstanding pupil and became the best penman in the school, a qualification which helped him to become a skilful forger later in life. He was also a first-class mathematician.

When he was twenty, George obtained a good position as a clerk in the counting house of a London merchant. For the first eighteen months of his employment, his conduct was exemplary, and he showed an aptitude which quickly led his employers to single him out. Early in 1773' the firm's senior clerk died, and to the surprise and envy of his many senior colleagues, George was offered the post at a salary of £200 a year. At his age, this was a remarkable promotion, but it turned his head and set him off on a chequered and disastrous career.

Soon after George's new appointment, a vacancy occurred for a junior clerk in the counting house, and George immediately sent for his younger brother, who was only fifteen. Joseph jumped at the chance of a taste of the capital and a reunion with his brother, to whom he was very much attached, and for some months the pair worked together and gave their employers every satisfaction.

But as in the case of many other young men, George and Joseph were soon drawn to the many dubious pleasures of the town. Women, and later gambling at cards and on horses, depleted their finances until they got themselves heavily in debt and were without so much as the price of board and lodgings.

 

Unhappily, large sums of the firm's money passed through George's hands, and he decided to 'borrow' some of it to get him out of his embarrassment, and fake the books. He paid all their debts, but made the fatal error of redoubling his gambling activities in the hope of recouping both his and the merchant's losses.

 

More and more of their employer's money was milked, and when it became apparent that even George's skilful manipulation of the accounts could not go undetected much longer, the elder brother decided to flee the country. It was resolved that George should go to Holland, while Joseph, who had not actively participated in the thefts, should remain.

George disappeared and at once took ship for Holland. Joseph pretended astonishment at the misappropriations, but when it became obvious that he was suspected of complicity and might be arrested, he fled in turn and linked up with George in Holland. During their three months in that country the brothers had difficulty in earning a bare living, and so resolved to return to England as soon as they could.

George was the first to land again, and he went to London heavily disguised. His fine head of hair had been cut off, and he wore a wig. Joseph joined him in the capital, but they soon decided to split up as the risk of recognition together was too great. George made his way to Durham, Joseph disappeared, and there was no meeting between them for at least three years. In Durham, George obtained an obscure situation in the household of a Methodist lady of considerable wealth.

 

He pretended to be an ardent follower of George Whitefield, the evangelist, and was careful to add a constant leavening of piety to his accomplished social graces. In this way he soon became on more than, friendly terms with his employer, and it was agreed that they, should marry. At the eleventh hour a relative of the lady's, with whom George had come into casual business contact, came to visit her and recognised him.

The gentleman took the first opportunity of taking George to one side and informing him that if he did not vanish within twenty-four hours he would have to face the consequences of his frauds. There was no choice but to obey and, cursing the loss of a chance which might have set him up for life, George departed. He did not go empty-handed, helping himself to some of the lady's jewellery and valuables to augment his resources.

The shock to his intended bride must have been considerable, but George blithely turned the items into ready cash, and thought to better his fortunes by a flutter or two on the horses. He travelled to all the race meetings within easy reach of York, but it was not long before he was reduced to his last guinea and bereft of ideas. He then met a man named Whiteley, the director of a company of strolling players, and it was agreed that he should join them. Whatever George's acting abilities, he took the view that the company was a poor one and the pay little for sitting up half the night learning his lines.

Without a word of farewell, he quitted the job and set off for Manchester. In this city fortune favoured him. He set himself up as a private tutor, and became a well-liked figure in the neighbourhood, for he was always obliging and used to read the newspapers to those whose illiteracy little qualified them to keep up with current affairs. Ironically enough, his social success enabled him to become elected Constable of his locality. George immediately sought to turn this development to his own advantage. He began to forge a large number of small bills which were presented to lesser farmers and innkeepers, retaining the money he collected from them for himself.

Later he added blackmail to his activities, confident that his victims would be unlikely to expose him because the Constable could make things very difficult for anyone who opposed him. One of his duties was the billeting of soldiery upon private individuals, and few local worthies wished to have any of the unruly military of the day under their roofs. What Weston overlooked, however, was the sturdy independence of the Lancashire people, who soon tired of sitting down under this treatment.

The Constable was firmly told that unless he repaid some of the money he had appropriated and generally mended his ways, application would be made to a magistrate for a warrant for his arrest. George had no intention of losing the considerable sum he had salted away, and the next day he vanished. He went to Warwickshire and one day, while attending a fair, chanced across his brother.

There was a joyous reunion, and George found that Joseph was no less well off than himself. Since his departure from London, the younger brother had worked profitably as a horse-thief, moving around the country and never staying anywhere for more than a few days. He was at the fair for the express purpose of disposing of three fine horses which he had recently 'acquired', and after the beasts had been sold for £70, the brothers ' decided to team up. '

They next turned up at King's Lynn, then known simply as 'Lynn', and took lodgings with a local farmer. They posed as representatives of a London firm of wine merchants and distillers, and ' to lend credibility to their story, they always had plenty of samples' about the place which they shared liberally with the farmer and his friends. The countryman was completely taken in by a cock-and-bull yarn that they would appoint him local representative, and that he could better his profits by watering down spirits before supplying them to local retailers.

 

On the strength of this promise he lent the brothers money and advanced sums for the purchase of his 'stock'. When they had squeezed more than£100 out of their host, however, the Westons disappeared once again and set out for Scotland.

Posing as brothers by the name of Gilbert, they rented a small farm over the border at Blackburn, near Linlithgow, but they had no intention of straining themselves with honest toil. Instead they stole livestock from a wide area round about and dealt in horses which they faked to appear far better than they really were. The moment suspicion seemed to be falling upon them, they packed everything they could carry, stole two more horses from a nearby farmer, and again took flight.

This time, with plenty of money in their pockets, they decided to risk London. They arrived dressed as country squires, and let it be known that they were anxious to taste the pleasures of the capital after a quiet rural life. They cautiously took separated lodgings some distance from one another, and although they admitted that they were friends, carefully concealed their true relationship. With sufficient money to act the part, they were soon admitted to a social set of some standing, and indeed became friendly with several members of the Jockey Club.

The brothers entertained lavishly, telling their friends that their incomes were derived from large estates in Yorkshire and successes on the turf. Their 'wealth', of course, was more apparent than real, despite their successful frauds, and bills piled up at the expense of gullible tradesmen who were duped by their style of living.

 

 

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