{"id":2377,"date":"2023-05-18T15:29:14","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T15:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=2377"},"modified":"2025-07-15T15:22:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:22:36","slug":"frederick-hawkes-nottage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/18\/frederick-hawkes-nottage\/","title":{"rendered":"The rebel and the conman (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Frederick Hawkes Nottage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the first \u2018guest post,\u2019 I looked at George Nottage<\/a>,\u00a0whose one-man protest over a new bylaw caused a stir in Ipswich in 1839.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mentioned how, in 1814, he married Emma Hawkes \u2013 daughter of Thomas and Lydia Hawkes of Berden Hall, Essex \u2013 a grand country house. The Hawkes family were both wealthy and had a \u2018good name\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was to prove key to the (mis)fortunes of George and Emma\u2019s eldest son, Frederick Hawkes Nottage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Berden Hall<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Berden Hall belonged to Thomas Hawkes, who died about 1800. His widow Lydia died in 1821, by which time all bar two of their children had died: Emma, now Emma Nottage, and; Mary Elizabeth, now the wife of Isaac Hodges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it was Isaac and Mary Elizabeth Hodges who got Berden Hall. At no point did Frederick Hawkes Nottage have any claim on the place. He may have been hoping to come into some money when his aunt Mary Elizabeth died, but that could have been decades off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author and would-be politician<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Frederick Hawkes Nottage was born in 1816. At just 18 years old, he was looking for a career in politics, giving a speech at a dinner promising to be \u2018a free, independent and unshackled British legislator\u2019 if ever elected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1835, he was described as (or describing himself as!):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Editor of an old leading Journal\u2026 author of several political pamphlets, and other anonymous writings of note and merit. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Readers were promised:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2026from his talented pen “Love and Marriage\u2019 a novel in four volumes, price 2 guineas.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The first con<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In January 1836, a local paper reported:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

..a Noble Peer has this day appointed Frederick Hawkes Nottage, Esq., his lordship’s Private Secretary. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I suspect this was a fiction. Also in January 1836, it was reported that Fred, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

 \u2018late a candidate for the borough of St Alban\u2019s and now a gentleman of the press was summonsed for a bill he owed a Mr Postan, of \u00a37, for printed election papers. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Fred had told Mr Postan his resources included an annuity of \u00a3300 a year for services to Lord Carrington and that he earned \u00a35 a week writing for the Essex and Herts Mercury<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second con<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In April 1836, an announcement was published \u2013 note, there is no location given:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

MARRIED. On the 2d Inst., Frederick Hawkes Nottage, Esq. of Berden Hall and Park, Durham, to Miss Emily Adeliza Beresford, of Belton-house.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

First point: Fred was claiming to be \u2018of Berden Hall\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, Belton House belonged to John Brownlow Cust. Emily Adeliza Beresford appears to be another work of fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirdly, if she wasn\u2019t, the marriage would possibly have been bigamous! For in March 1835, Fred had married a Henrietta Humphreys, then a few weeks pregnant. Their son, named after his father, only lived three weeks. There is no sign of Henrietta in Fred\u2019s life after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third con?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Around now, someone purporting to be him wrote two letters to the press, saying he was a man of ancient family and large fortune, and had \u2018two princely domains\u2019 by marriage with \u2018an extremely wealthy heiress\u2019, that property worth \u00a318k a year depended on his obtaining a seat in Parliament within three years, and that \u00a32,000 should be forfeited to \u2018anyone who can make the money more or less\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Essex Herald <\/em>deemed the letters to be hoaxes. But it seems possible they weren\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fourth con<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In May 1836, it was reported that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

We have full authority for stating that Frederick Hawkes Nottage, Esq., <\/em>of Berden Hall<\/em><\/strong>, is a candidate for the (County Mayo) seat in Parliament\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

However, not long after that he \u2018graciously and patriotically retired from the field\u2019 (of candidates).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He soon had his eye on a seat in Southwark, extolling the virtues and reputation of his \u2018maternal house of Hawkes\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That reputation was about to be trashed! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For at the end of May, Frederick Hawkes Nottage was up in court:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018attired in a dingy white or drab hat, a coarse Brighton beaver coat, and otherwise partaking strongly of what is called the shabby genteel\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The charge was that he\u2019d stolen a suit of clothes from a Mrs Bennet while lodging with her. To this charge was subsequently added two of forgery, for getting cheques cashed in the name of Hawkes Nottage Calvert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019d told Mrs Bennet he\u2019d been left a large sum by his mother but couldn\u2019t take it till he became an MP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he seemed quite unabashed in court, telling them his maternal relations were of the highest respectability and he was \u2018a lineal descendent of Thomas Hawkes the first martyr\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transported \u2018for life\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to be transported for life. A convict hulks record says \u2018penitentiary\u2019 in the margin. How long he spent there isn\u2019t recorded. But on the 1841 census, he is neither in Australia or prison \u2013 being listed in lodgings in London, \u2018of independent means\u2019. Neither Henrietta nor \u2018Emily the wealthy heiress\u2019 is with him!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fifth con<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1842, Frederick Hawkes Nottage hit on another way to get cash \u2013 he pawned 56 library books! And, it turned out, items belonging to fellow lodgers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now living in Anderson\u2019s Buildings, City Road, he owed a former landlady a lot of rent as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His defence was that 1) he intended to redeem the books, and 2) this wasn\u2019t theft \u2013 a matter for the courts \u2013 but \u2018a matter of business\u2019. The court did not agree!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Letters to royals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So how did Fred hope to get the money to redeem the books from the pawnbroker? Well, he was \u2018about to publish\u2019 one of his own, called An Address to Youth<\/em>. And he had been VERY busy, writing to people who did have money, asking them to be (paid) subscribers to his book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he\u2019d written about 200 such letters (and had \u00a320 for his defence as a result).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It transpired that Queen Victoria had declined to subscribe to or receive his book. Prince Albert had agreed to subscribe, but the book would be paid for on delivery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The items he had pawned included a gold chain which he had borrowed (\u2018for one day\u2019) to wear \u2018to the palace\u2019, to seek Prince Albert\u2019s patronage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fred was given back his manuscript and \u2018about 300 letters\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among them was:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

one from the Duke of Argyll\u2019s secretary, complaining of an impertinent letter he\u2019d sent the Duchess.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Why the Billy Bunter illustration?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the 1842 reports describes him as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018a very tall and slender person, of swarthy complexion, with long black hair\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Nothing like the \u2018fat owl\u2019 of fiction, but there is something Bunter-esque about him:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Fred tried to \u2018tap\u2019 everyone up to and including the Queen for cash. Always on the promise that he\u2019d be able to pay them back soon<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • He was always about to inherit a fortune, or make one by publishing a book, or earn one by becoming an MP<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • He bigged up his background and position \u2013 using his mother\u2019s family name and address <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • He had no qualms about \u2018borrowing\u2019 other people\u2019s property. And was indignant that this was viewed as theft<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Above all, he doesn\u2019t come across as a callous crook, but more as someone convinced of his own self-worth, who fully believes he will \u2018make good\u2019 one day soon.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Transported \u2019again\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    For the second time, the sentence was \u2018transported for life\u2019. But he was to get no further than Gosport. Records show him on a prison hulk there, and his death, in the last quarter of 1847, was registered locally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Frederick Hawkes Nottage was then just 31 years old.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Frederick Hawkes Nottage In the first \u2018guest post,\u2019 I looked at George Nottage,\u00a0whose one-man protest over a new bylaw caused a stir in Ipswich in 1839. I mentioned how, in 1814, he married Emma Hawkes \u2013 daughter of Thomas and Lydia Hawkes of Berden Hall, Essex \u2013 a grand country house. The Hawkes family were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe rebel and the conman (part 2) - Cumbrian Characters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Frederick Hawkes Nottage was always about to inherit a fortune, or make one, or earn one. 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