The Chieftain: Victorian True Crime Through The Eyes of a Scotland Yard Detective

by Payne, Chris

  On 17 May, Davitt and Wilson appeared before the magistrate Mr D’Eyncourt at Marylebone Police Court; Davitt was charged with loitering for unlawful purposes (later raised to ‘treason-felony’). Harry Poland led the case for the prosecution, and was also in the prosecution team at the later Old Bailey trial. At his first court appearance, Davitt was described by The Times as:

  … a remarkably tall, powerful-looking man neat in his dress, and with a military bearing … His hair, short whiskers, and closely trimmed moustache are dark; his eyes are dark-blue, and his nose, mouth, and chin indicate great readiness and decision of character. He gave his age as 25, but appeared to be from three to five years older. The fact that he has lost his right fore-arm has, perhaps, better than any other mark, enabled the police to track him from place to place.118

  Davitt had been born in County Mayo in 1846 soon after the first major failure of the Irish potato crop from potato blight; his family had been evicted by their landlord in 1850, and had travelled to Haslingden, Lancashire, where, as an 11-year-old he had lost part of his right arm after an accident while working at Victoria Mill. Subsequently employed at Haslingden post office, he had joined the IRB, quickly becoming a ‘Centre’ and leading a detachment of Fenians from Haslingden to take part in the abortive raid on Chester Castle. He had been appointed organising secretary and arms agent for the IRB for England in 1868 and spent the next two years organising arms shipments to Ireland.119

  By 14 June 1870, the magistrate had heard sufficient evidence to commit both Davitt and Wilson for trial for treason-felony at the Old Bailey in July. Before the trial, Clarke was busy making enquiries to strengthen the case against Davitt and Wilson, including visiting Birmingham to identify witnesses able to establish a conclusive link between Davitt and Wilson, and to corroborate that Davitt had operated under several aliases. In addition, evidence was collated from Manchester, Leeds and Dublin which linked Davitt to the export of weapons and ammunition from England to Ireland. The Fenian informer, Joseph Corydon, was also dug out of ‘retirement’ to provide evidence of Davitt’s Fenian associations and his involvement in the Chester Castle affair.120 Between 14 June and the start of Davitt and Wilson’s Old Bailey trial on 15 July, Clarke also fitted in two visits to Ireland, the first to give evidence at the third trial of Peter Barrett, the second, on 5 July, to Athlone to try to locate two individuals, ‘John White’ and ‘Margaret Delmeyre’, who appeared to have been the intended recipients of barrels of arms and ammunition sent from a Leeds warehouse rented by Davitt.121 Clarke did not locate White, but found a ‘Margaret Delamar’ (sic) in Castlereagh, who was an elderly lady who ‘knew nothing about the barrel, and made no claim to it’.122 (Presumably the addresses used were those of innocent parties and the barrels were intercepted by Fenians en route.) Clarke also used his second visit to meet with Samuel Anderson, the Irish Crown solicitor, to get information and advice on the cases of Davitt and Wilson.123

  The Old Bailey trial of Davitt and Wilson started on 15 July 1870, under Lord Chief Justice Cockburn, and lasted three days.124 The prosecution, led by the attorney general, called witnesses from Birmingham who identified Wilson as an arms manufacturer and dealer, and provided evidence linking Wilson and Davitt. These were followed by detectives from Leeds who had identified Davitt as the man who had rented a warehouse used for arms storage and shipment. The Scotland Yard detectives involved in the arrests, including Clarke, were also called; Clarke providing information from his recent visit to Athlone. Corydon gave evidence of Davitt’s Fenian connections and a handwriting expert, Charles Chabot (assisted by Davitt’s signature on the receipts he had signed on the night of his arrest), confirmed that in his view it was Davitt’s handwriting that was also found on a number of incriminating documents. Davitt’s defence team called several witnesses from Haslingden, some who said that Davitt had been in Haslingden at the time of the abortive Chester Castle raid, and some who indicated that Davitt could easily have been mistaken for another one-armed Irishman, ‘Burke’. After Cockburn’s summing up, the jury retired for twenty minutes before returning ‘guilty’ verdicts against both men. Before sentence, Davitt delivered a dignified appeal to the judge:

  … not for himself, but for Wilson, stating that if Wilson was guilty he (Davitt) was to blame for his guilt, and that Wilson never knew until he arrived at the Paddington Station that he (Davitt) was an Irishman or that his name was not Robert Jackson. He would cheerfully undergo any additional punishment if Wilson’s wife and family could be saved from a workhouse, and he begged that his punishment, if the sentence against Wilson was irrevocable, might be added to his (Davitt’s) sentence.125

  Davitt and Wilson were sentenced to fifteen and seven years’ penal servitude, respectively.

  Michael Davitt’s later life has been referred to by his most recent biographer, Carla King, as almost ‘Mandela-like’, and it is difficult to disagree. In 1878, shortly after his release on ticket of leave, he gave evidence to a government commission on penal reform, having already written a lengthy article on the subject.126 In October 1879 the Irish National Land League was founded, largely by his efforts; Davitt became secretary and Charles Parnell, de facto leader of the Irish MPs in the House of Commons, was appointed chairman. As a consequence, ‘in the course of the next fifty years a complete transfer of land ownership of Ireland was … brought about’.127 Davitt was re-arrested on three further occasions, in 1879, 1881 and 1882, for sedition or incitement (associated with his involvement with the Land League). As time progressed, his focus shifted from Irish Nationalism and land ownership to broader, socialist and humanitarian policies, probably reflecting his experiences as a youth in the cotton industry in Lancashire. Although a somewhat reluctant politician, he was elected MP for north-east Cork on 8 February 1893, resigning in 1899 in protest against the Boer War. He emerges from his writings as a man of vision and principle.128 Davitt’s time in prison clearly profoundly influenced his later attitudes and philosophy, and to some extent at least, he had Clarke to ‘thank’ for that – though for understandable reasons it is unlikely that he did.

  The day after Davitt’s trial concluded, the Franco-Prussian War started. Across the Channel, Napoleon III of France declared war on Prussia after years of tension between the combatants. By 2 September 1870 Napoleon III had surrendered after defeat at the Battle of Sedan, but in a bloodless coup on 4 September the French Second Empire was overthrown. A republic was established, led by a government, which continued to resist the German armies. Paris came under siege from 19 September 1870.129 The British Government declared neutrality, and it was not long before the Scotland Yard Detective Department was engaged in helping to police it. On 6 September 1870, in a report counter-signed by Clarke, Detective Inspector James Pay reported that during his investigation of the alleged exportation of arms to France from Newhaven, he had been ‘unable to ascertain that any war material had been sent through that port to France’.130 Irish sympathies in the conflict lay with the French; a large spontaneous demonstration of popular support had already been held in Dublin on 19 July, and a national committee was formed on 7 September to provide medical aid and supplies to France by recruiting an Irish Ambulance Corps. Assembled from various parts of Ireland, the corps sailed to France on 8 October in a chartered ship, La Fontaine.131

  On 24 September 1870, The Times reported that a London-based committee, with offices at 7 Bolt Court, Fleet Street, had also been formed to raise money and send out able-bodied young Irishmen to form an Irish National Ambulance Corps in France; The Times later reporting that ‘upwards of 2000 athletic Irishmen had presented themselves’.132 By the end of September, police enquiries had been initiated, as 7 Bolt Court was well known to police as a Fenian rendezvous. On 1 October, Inspector Brannan of Holborn Division reported that the ‘Ambulance Corps’ was a ‘cover’; that the Fenians were attempting to raise an ‘Irish Brigade’; and that as soon as the men landed in France they would be expected to take up arms for France and join
the Foreign Legion.133 If correct, this would be an offence against the Foreign Enlistment Act. On 3 October, P.C. James Haire went to 7 Bolt Street in plain clothes to investigate the recruitment process. He saw an Irish-American of military appearance in charge, and a clerk. He was told that only Irishmen could join and he noticed that about forty men applied during the hour that he was there.

  On 5 October the solicitor general’s office commented to the Home Office that ‘there seems scarcely sufficient evidence that the enlistment is for other purposes than the formation of an ambulance corps’, but their attitude was to change on receipt of a telegram from Frederick Bernal, the British Consul in Havre, which read: ‘Thirteen men, Irish Ambulance Corps have applied Consulate. Required to bear arms – Refuse – Penniless – What shall I do?’ An additional complication was a note received via the Foreign Office from the German Ambassador, Count Bernstadt, stating that ‘He has reason to believe that enlistments of Irishmen for military service in France are being made in this country – requests urgent enquiries’.134 By then, Clarke had already received his orders from the Home Office; he would be off on his travels again, this time to a country at war where he would be operating ‘undercover’:

  The main object of the Officer’s [journey] is to obtain sufficient evidence to sustain a prosecution against the agents here who engaged these men … Then to return the men by the cheapest route. The men will not be aware that Mr Clarke is a Police Officer and he can therefore deal with them in whatever manner he may deem most advisable.135

  Once again, the survival of Clarke’s report allows him to tell the story:

  October 19th 1870

  With reference to the alleged infringement of the Foreign Enlistment Act, I beg to report that as directed I left London for Havre on Tuesday the 12th Inst. On my arrival at 4 p.m. on 13th I put myself in communication with Frederick Bernal Esq. H.M. Consul, who informed me that about 80 men arrived at that Port, on Friday the 7th Inst. by the ‘John Bull’ Steam Ship from London. Most of these men called at the Consulate, and said they had been induced to leave home for the purpose of joining an Ambulance Corps. 21 of these went on to Caen the following day (Saturday) and 40 more on Sunday; 19 refusing to proceed any further, and remained at Havre in a destitute state till Monday when he paid their passage to Southampton.

  I proceeded to Caen on Friday being furnished with a letter of introduction to C.G.Percival Esq., Vice Consul at that place, and had an interview with him the following morning. He stated that a number of men from England had been lodged in the Barracks there for several days, but that most of them had returned to Havre. He accompanied me towards the Barracks and on the way we met several of the men, four of whom said they were penniless and begged to be sent back to England. I paid their fare to Havre and accompanied them there, the others about ten remained at Caen. On reaching Havre I found about 50 at that place; on questioning them they stated they had been engaged by Messrs. McDonald, Cotter, Cotter, O’Hagan and Carmandy, who had an office at Bolt Court, Fleet Street, London, to proceed to France for the purpose of joining an Ambulance Corps, and had each paid 8/- for their passage. They were accompanied on their journey by the two Cotters; on reaching Havre [they] were joined by O’Hagan, who took them to Caen and there lodged them in the Barracks. By this time they suspected all was not right, and asked O’Hagan, who had assumed the command as Colonel Dyers, for an explanation. He informed them they were not required for the Ambulance Corps, but to join an Irish Brigade and fight for France. This they refused to do, and demanded to be sent home. They were confined to Barracks under the charge of the two Cotters, who called themselves Captain and Ensign, and told them they would be required to take the Oath as Soldiers of France, and threatened to place them under arrest if they were not obedient. They remained in Barracks till the Friday still refusing to become Soldiers, when about 48 of them were marched down to the boat for Havre, escorted by Soldiers with loaded rifles, and fixed bayonets, accompanied by the two Cotters and O’Hagan. When on board they were given about 7d. each. These men remained at Havre until noon 17th when I engaged passages for them (52 in number) to London in the Steam Ship John Bull; Mr Bernal giving an Order to the Captain for the payment of their passage money. He also advanced me 453 francs for the purpose of providing them with food and lodgings during their stay in Havre, they being entirely destitute, and in a starving condition, having received but little food since they left London, some having sold the greater part of their clothing. They further complained of being cruelly deceived and badly treated by those who had engaged them; several had left wives and families quite destitute, being promised by McDonald and others, that they would receive pay at the rate of 25/- per week, with rations and an outfit – these promises induced them to leave their houses. McDonald and Carmandy went with them on their outward journey as far as Gravesend. I accompanied these men to London and provided them with food on the passage – their names, addresses, and statements are attached, and several are prepared to give evidence if required.

  I beg to add that about 350 men said to form an Ambulance Corps arrived at Havre from Dublin on Wednesday 12th Inst., and were still there at the time of my leaving. A great number of these were about the streets in a drunken riotous state and on Saturday night broke out in open mutiny, refusing to obey those in command, and a guard of Soldiers was called out to quell the disturbance, and I was informed by some of the parties that only about 40 of their number were required as an Ambulance Corps, and that the others must either join the French Army or return home, and I am of opinion from the riotous demeanour of these men, should they remain at Havre serious consequences will follow.

  I respectfully beg to state that I received every possible assistance and attention from F. Bernal Esq. at Havre, and C.G. Percival at Caen.136

  The reference made in Clarke’s report to an Ambulance Corps arriving from Dublin on 12 October was the ship La Fontaine. Several of the men from this ship did go on to serve in a medical assistance role. However:

  Contrary to the original intentions of those who sent the Ambulance Corps to France, a number of the volunteers, including some Dundalk men, adopted a more active military role soon after their arrival … [including] those who joined the Foreign Legion: they enlisted in the 1st Compagne Irlandaise, Légion d’Étrangère. The Legion had its headquarters at Bourges, numbered 30,000 men, and was attached to the Army of the Loire.137

  The men received rifle and machine-gun training and learnt how to operate as snipers and guerrilla fighters behind enemy lines. Whether any of the men from Dublin or London later participated in Irish Republican activities is not known.138

  So Clarke returned home, having done what he could to return those men who had been potentially duped into fighting for France. He had obtained statements (including a full description of events from one of the volunteers, William Costello) implicating McDonald and others involved in the recruitment process.139 On 21 October, the newly promoted Chief Inspector Druscovich arrested ‘John McDonald’, believed to be the principal recruiter for the Bolt Street recruits to the Irish Ambulance Corps, whose real name was Joseph Patrick McDonnell. He was brought up before Sir Thomas Henry at Bow Street on 21 and 28 October on charges under the Foreign Enlistment Act. At the second hearing Clarke’s witness, William Costello, gave his evidence of events.140 However, after the hearings, no trial appears to have taken place; the case against Joseph Patrick McDonnell was ‘removed by Certiorari’ (a writ from a superior court directing that a record of proceedings in a lower court be sent up for review) and it is possible that some legal or political mechanism was used to sweep the case under the carpet to avoid political embarrassment.141 McDonnell had been involved with organisations associated with Irish nationalism since 1862, including the National Brotherhood of St Patrick and the Fenians; he had been detained under the suspension of habeas corpus but was probably freed in 1869. McDonnell had also been appointed by Karl Marx as the representative for Ireland on the General Counci
l of the International Working Man’s Association. In January 1872, at the latest, McDonnell was a free man, as newspaper reports for that month indicate that he attended the Association Council meeting.142

  The Irish Ambulance Corps investigation, the monitoring of James Stephens in Paris and surveillance operations on foreign refugees seem to have been the closest that the Metropolitan Police got to covert operations during the time that Clarke was a detective.143 Although Clarke had been sent to France on an ‘undercover’ mission, the object was for him to obtain evidence of criminal activity in the context of the Foreign Enlistment Act, rather than to play a political-espionage role. For Clarke, this appears to have been the last time that he was involved with Fenian investigations that reached court. There were subsequent occasions when his expertise on Irish matters was sought, but his involvement in these did not emerge as headline issues.144 There was a resurgence of Irish terrorism in the 1880s, driven by a combination of Clan na Gael and the maverick, O’Donovan Rossa. By then, however, Clarke had long retired, though his friend and colleague ‘Dolly’ Williamson was still at Scotland Yard and in the front line of the policing of this next phase of Irish republicanism.145