There have been many complaints that lay magistrates (and judges) have been out of touch. Blue rinse hair, too ready to convict, inexperienced in life etc. But at least one went down into the coal mine, so to speak, to get a hands-on experience of what it was all about.

Morton landscape

James Morton

Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny Bt, a magistrate in Maldon, Essex was, without doubt, a Renaissance man; though how some of his exploits could have assisted him in his duties is difficult to say. Extremely wealthy and a big-game hunter, Sir Claude built a steeplechase course in his grounds and raced until he was 68. He boxed and would fight a begging tramp before feeding the man at the end of the bout. On one occasion, friends brought along a professional boxer dressed as a tramp. He duly beat Sir Claude, who took it in good part. While in office he was fined at least twice for brawling.

He also tried his hand at bullfighting as a picador, and was the first man to cross the North Sea by balloon. He and his co-balloonist became lost in a fog and landed in Holland.   

Then, in February 1886, three men convicted of shooting a policeman near Carlisle were due to be hanged in a triple execution. Hangman James Berry needed an assistant. Confidently expecting to be appointed High Sheriff of Essex, Sir Claude, who had already attended one execution (unnecessarily) using the pseudonym Charles Maldon, paid £10 to allow him to act as helpmate. He performed the job too well – tying one man neatly while Berry did the others – because the prison governor with whom they ate the night before thought he was rather a better sort than those who usually assisted executioners. He was later recognised by a journalist.

Interviewed by the Yorkshire Post, Sir Claude claimed he had wanted the experience before he asked others to undertake the task. There was something of an outcry – and the matter was raised in parliament. However, the home secretary, anticipating Anatole France and the bridges of Paris, replied that if the man proved satisfactory there was no reason the position could not be open to the rich as well as the poor.

 

James Morton is a writer and former criminal defence solicitor

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