The Cellar Image of the Day

In the English village of Witley, Surrey, lies the remains of Witley Park. In 1890 Whitaker Wright combined the Lea Park and South Park, to create the 1400 acre playground. Of course it had the mansions and stables and all the bells and whistles of the wealthy in the Victorian age.

The crown of the extravagant playground was down the stairs, and out through a tunnel, to the ballroom with a glass windowed dome... at the bottom of one of the four man made lakes.

How did Wright acquire that much wealth? The old fashioned way, he stole it.
You can read the whole story at the Mail Online, keeping in mind the Mail is kind of a sensationalist paper.
But I want to quote a few lines...

Quote:

He left school at 15 to become a printer and, briefly, a minister, before heading to America in 1867 to make his fortune. Within a few years, he had made, and lost, that fortune several times over, investing in silver mines in Colorado and New Mexico. But however much money he made for himself, it was striking that shareholders never made a penny.
~snip~
Once he’d exhausted his prospects out west, he headed to Philadelphia, becoming chairman of the Philadelphia Mining Exchange and a member of the New York Stock Exchange. A decade later, his luck ran out again when his Gunnison Iron & Coal Company collapsed, leaving him near-ruined.
~snip~
Returning to England in 1889, he started afresh, promoting himself as an expert in speculative mining ventures. Slick persuasion soon turned to outright fraud. In 1896, he raised Ł250,000,(Ł21.5 million, US$33.6 million, today), from trusting investors to back his company, Lake View Consols, set up to dig mines in Western Australia. However, by 1897, Wright’s business was mired in crooked practices.
~snip~
He set up another company, the London & Globe Finance Corporation, and, to lure aristocratic investors, installed the Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, a distinguished former Viceroy of India, as chairman. Initially, the company flourished as Wright bought the Ivanhoe goldmine in Western Australia and floated it on the London stock market for Ł1 million (Ł84 million, US$131.4 million, today).
~snip~
But behind the scenes, Wright was up to all kinds of no good, artificially manipulating the share price and shovelling debts from company to company. Like Madoff after him, Wright had to face the music in the end. First, he failed to hide a disastrous Ł600,000 loss (Ł48 million, US$75 million, today) in the new Baker Street and Waterloo Railway; then his mining investments collapsed as a rich seam of ore was finally exhausted.
~snip~
In 1903, four days before a warrant for his arrest was issued, Wright fled to New York, crossing the Atlantic under a false name. After an extradition battle, he was brought back to England and tried in 1904. At his trial in the Royal Courts of Justice, it emerged that he’d blown Ł5 million (Ł400 million, US$626.6 million, today) of investors’ money, and run up another Ł3 million,(Ł240 million, US$375 million, today), in debt.

Quote:

However, the end for Witley Park was almost as sudden as that of its former owner. In October 1952 a fire broke out (or was possibly started deliberately) in the ballroom and swiftly destroyed the house.

What remained was leveled by another property speculator - by 1956 all that remained were the domestic buildings, stables and the extensive parkland including the lakes with their now Grade-II listed buildings.

The stables eventually became a conference centre - and even have a meeting room named Whitaker - with the grounds maintained as parkland. However, this might be about to change.

In 2003 a planning application was submitted and approved to build a house "...of classical design, with a main axis and two forward projecting bays at each end. A full height portico marks the front entrance and the garden elevation includes a projecting domed semi-rotunda, centrally set in this elevation.".

So there may yet be a large house to grace and provide a focus for this beautiful estate once again.

Oh, hard labor, like the gold, silver, and coal miners, he reaped the benefit of, did every day. Like everyone below his station in society did every day.

OK, pride I'll buy. Honor? Considering how much he stole and the number of people he hurt, I don't think he'd recognize honor if it wore a clown suit with a two foot name tag.

The point is to be seen to be dishonourable would have been a source of shame. And to be caught in blatant criminal activity, for a man of his class would have been major news. Bear in mind at this point people are thinking in terms of a 'criminal class' and criminality being a feature of the 'lower orders'.

Nah. Britain (or more accurately England and Wales - Scotland has always maintained a separate legal system) had moved pretty far from the Bloody Code by this time. Mid to late 18th century was probably the height of that - many property crimes were added to the list of capital offences during that time, mainly through the removal of 'benefit of the clergy' - there were around 50 offences that could carry the death penalty in the 1680s - that went up by more than one offence per year. By 1820 it was somewhere between 200 and 220 offences punishable by death.

There's a lot of evidence to suggest that it actually played out differently in the courts though, with juries far more likely either to find a defendant not guilty, or convict them on a lesser charge (theft rather than burglary, for instance)

I love 18th and 19th-century Britain. It's a mass of contradictions and contested cultures. At a time when it was famed for its brutality, particularly where justice was concerned it was also a major player in the rise of 'humane' and benefit societies. Though I'm way over simplifying and slamming several different periods together there :P

Even by the late 18th century, there was a lot of discourse about more humane approaches. Transportation, for all its horror was primarily seen as a more humane punishment than the rope. Later on, penal servitude was the more humane replacement for transportation. I think transportation was abolished entirely in the 1860s, but not 100% certain and can't be arsed wikiing. Certainly long gone by the time this chap was going to be tried, in the early 20th century. .

Sorry - I'll shut up now.

Oh no, don't shut up, you're full of all kinds of interesting (and accurate) information. Although you're a bleeding heart liberal, I feel you can usually be trusted to sort out facts from your own opinion/feelings.

Besides, the more time you spend here gives Carrot more time to have naughty fun.

Yes, sending the perp to the colonies where they were indentured for at least seven years to pay for their room and board. If I'm not mistaken they had to pay for their passage too.

Hahahahahahahahahah.

Funny fucker.

[eta] should have said in last post: that depended on what kind of service they were indentured to. At various times and under various circumstances, some would end up in a harsh penal colony environment - they had a very difficult time.

Also: fun[ish] fact: a few years ago whilst i was down at the National Archives, they had an exhibition on transportation. I went round it - saw some 19th century transportation orders and ship mainfests. One of the felons was a 12 year old boy - heart breaking.