History is littered with stories of 'impostors', from quite early times to the 20th century.
Lambert Simnel
in the reign of Henry VII declared himself to be one of the little 'Princes in the Tower'; incarcerated there by Richard III, and a few years later, in 1495 Perkin Warbeck appeared at Court claiming to be of royal
birth. Neither was believed by King Henry, and after being sent to work in the royal kitchens, nothing further was heard of them and their claims to the throne!
In 1865 a retired Army Surgeon Dr James Barry died in London at the age of 73. He had been a popular and efficient officer and had a long and distinguished career..But Dr Barry was actually a
woman! The post-mortem examination revealed that not only was 'he' a woman, but also at some time in his past had given
birth to a child!!
One of the most audacious impostors was a man called Arthur Orton also known as Thomas Castro. He was a butcher in Wagga Wagga, Australia and had seen an advertisement in the Press placed
there by the Dowager Lady Tichborne seeking news about her son who had in 1823 set sail in a ship called The Bella. The Bella foundered and her son Sir Roger Charles Doughty Tichborne was presumed drowned. Lady Tichborne refused
to believe that her son was dead and advertised for any news about him in all the newspapers of the time.
Orton
saw the advertisement and wrote to Lady Tichborne claiming to be her son. Lady Tichborne started an enthusiastic correspondence with him and asked him to see an old servant of the family living in Sydney, a
man called Bogle.
Orton easily convinced the old retainer that he was Roger Tichborne as he had carefully researched the Tichborne family history. Lady Tichborne was delighted and sent money for Orton and his family to come
to Europe. Orton met Lady Tichborne in Paris and she was considerably surprised by his appearance! Her son, who had left England in 1852, had been slim with a long thin face and the man who had returned was a middle-aged very fat man!!
However, the poor lady was so thrilled to think that she had got her precious son back she accepted him without question! Lady Tichborne made him an allowance of £1000 a year.
Several members of the family were not so easily duped and voiced their misgivings, but Lady Tichborne took no heed of their doubts.
Orton
then made his big mistake, greed overcame him! He tried to claim the Tichborne estates from the young Henry Tichborne, the rightful heir. In 1871 after swearing an affidavit in Chancery that he was, who he
said he was, the case, came to court. The lawyers for the Tichborne family made extensive investigations into Orton's life and found that he was really a child of a butcher in Wapping, London!! The trial lasted for 188 days the longest of its
type in British legal history. In spite of Orton's popularity with the public the jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to two seven-year sentences to run consecutively.
Arthur Orton
was released in 1884 and toured Music Halls speaking about his claim. He was not very successful and went steadily downhill. After several years of living in humble boarding houses he died in 1898, aged 64. When he died his
coffin had inscribed on it 'Sir Roger Tichborne', added by an anonymous hand!!
©
E.P.C