The Great mill at Westminster, the Tichborne infant against the Waga Waga (sic) Bruiser, together with a supplement to the London Graphic about the Tichborne case, ca. 1874

MLMSS 9040/1X

fonds

ca. 1874

Graphic Materials, Textual Records, Prints

1046117

0.44 metres of textual material (1 box)

Roger Tichborne (1829-1855), heir to a baronetcy, was lost at sea off the coast of South America in 1854 when the ship he was travelling on was wrecked. Some years later Lady Tichborne advertised world-wide for her son, having maintained the belief that he had survived the shipwreck.

Thomas Castro, whose real name was Arthur Orton (1834-1898), a butcher from Wagga Wagga, answered the advertisement and, despite the fact that he shared no similarity in appearance, knowledge and background with the missing heir, was accepted by Lady Tichborne as her son. A long and costly legal case ensued when Orton attempted to gain possession of the Tichborne estates. The case having finally failed in 1871, Orton was tried for perjury, found guilty and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. He died in 1898.

Print on silk caricature of Arthur Orton, the Tichborne claimant, in a boxing match with English lawyers.

Also includes a bound supplement to the London graphic titled 'A literary and pictorial record of the great Tichborne case, containing a complete history of this "cause célèbre" with numerous engravings from sketches and photographs, reprinted from "The Graphic" and fac-simile autographs of letters, now published for the first time'.