[Seed] 'King David' Hartley and the Cragg Valley coiners
May 11, 2022 9:17:51 GMT
drinkplentyofmalk and soultaker666212 like this
Post by Catsmate on May 11, 2022 9:17:51 GMT
An idea inspired by the recent BBC piece and some bits from my notes.
'King David' Hartley and the Cragg Valley coiners
This David Hartley should not be confused with the unrelated (I believe, though they were all Yorkshiremen) philosopher and psychologist and his son, a politician and diplomat1.
The Cragg Vale (or Yorkshire) Coiners were a group of counterfeiters in England, active in the mid-eighteenth century and based in the village of Cragg Vale, located in a Pennine valley, near Hebden Bridge in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The group was one of the largest counterfeiting operations in British history putting coins with a nominal value of around three-and-a-half-million pounds into circulation2.
In the 1760s the group engaged in organised and large scale ‘coining’, the counterfeiting of specie coins. Genuine coins were 'shaved' of bits of metal from their edges (and had the edges re-milled to hide the damage). The shavings of gold and silver were collected, mixed with metal scraps and cast into appropriate sized discs. These were then struck with hammer and dies to create a plausible fake coin.
The coins were obtained by shopkeepers and (especially) publicans and innkeepers who also passed the faked coins into circulation in exchange for a share in the profits.
By the late 1760s the authorities were attempting vehemently to suppress the operation, which was undermining confidence in the currency3. After the gang murdered one William Deighton, an Excise Officer who'd be instructed to investigate the counterfeiting and discovered they were operating in the Cragg Valley area, the Marquis of Rockingham, Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding, was commissioned to end the operations of the coiners.
While around thirty alleged coiners were arrested in an operation organised by Rockingham on Christmas Day 1769 most were acquitted.
Known members.
David Hartley: the leader of the gang, lived at a farm called Bell House. Kown as 'King' David. Hanged at York on 28APR1770.
Isaac Hartley: brother of David, known as the 'Duke of York'. Died peacefully at Mytholmroyd in 1815, aged 78.
William Hartley: brother of David, known as the 'Duke of Edinburgh'
Thomas Sunderland: engraver who worked for the gang producing the coining dies.
Joseph Shaw: engraver who worked for the gang producing the coining dies.
Mr. Lightouler: (first name unknown) engraver who worked for the gang producing the coining dies.
James Broadbent: an innkeeper at Mytholmroyd gang member; was 'turned' by Deighton and informed on the gang.
Abraham Ingham: a farmhand and associate of the gang, also turned by Deighton. Murdered by them at the Union Cross Inn in Heptonstall.
John Wilcock: member of the gang, lived at Kellham
John Barker: a carpenter who lived near Halifax and member of the gang. Arrested but later released.
Thomas Clayton: member of the gang, lived at Stannery End
Matthew Normanton: member of the gang, lived at Stannery End
Thomas Spencer: member of the gang, lived at New House in Mytholmroyd
James Oldfield: member of the gang
Mr. Greenwood: a member of the gang who lived at Hill Top Farm
Jonathon Bolton: associate of the gang, may have been involved in passing counterfeit coins
Luke Dewhurst: associate of the gang, may have been involved in passing counterfeit coins
Abraham Lumb: associate of the gang, may have been involved in passing counterfeit coins
Robert Thomas: associate of the gang, murderer of William Deighton4, hanged 06AUG1774 for highway robbery.
Matthew Normanton: associate of the gang, murderer of William Deighton, hanged 15APR1775 after evading capture
John Bates: an innkeeper in Halifax and associate of the gang. Arrested by released.
A BBC television drama series, Gallows Pole, based on the Cragg Vale Coiners is under development,
Game use.
This story seems perfect for a 'pure historical' scenario, in the mould of The Smugglers perhaps, with the PCs arriving late in 1769 and being embroiled in the goings-on; perhaps being accused of uttering false coins, overhearing a suspicious conversation, having a party member kidnapped5, or being inveigled into helping the investigation.
For a more alien oriented scenario see below.
The UFO connection.
To add an element of science-fiction there's also the story of Zigmund "Ziggy" Adamski, a Polish-born Yorkshire miner aged 56 whose disappearance from Tingley on 06JUN1980 baffled police5 and started a string of 'alien abduction' conspiracy theories.
His body was discovered, after five days, on a pile of coal at a coal yard in Todmorden (about 30km from Tingley).
There were a number of peculiarities about the body:
Speculation was rife and explanations including a sudden mental aberration, being struck by lightning, a KGB (or GZI-WP) kidnapping, an organised crime gang, a family feud and being kidnapped by aliens.
To add more to the latter theories, PC Alan Godfrey, the officer who'd been called to the Todmorden coal yard when Adamski’s body was found, later had his own UFO encounter, about one kilometre from the yard.
In November 1980, about five months after the Adamski affair, Constable Godfrey had an encounter with a supposed alien craft, including loosing about twenty-fire minutes of his memory.
He made a formal statement and sketched the craft and, under hypnosis, told a story about being taken aboard the UFO and given a physical examination by two non-human entities. Not long after the story broke in the media be had a meeting at the police station with an unnamed 'Man from the Ministry' who swore him to silence7.
Suggestions? Comments? Ideas?
1. The younger Hartley was the British plenipotentiary to the Treaty of Paris negotiations. He was also the first Member of Parliament to condemn the slave trade in the chamber.
2. Around £650/€760 million today. In perspective that £3.5M represented around on-tenth of the circulating money in the 1760s.
3. There was some legal confusion here. Almost all the coins counterfeited were of foreign origin, mostly Portuguese, Spanish or French, though these circulated freely in Britain at the time based on their nominal metal content. It was treason in England at the time to forge gold and silver coins.
4. Though he was acquitted of the murder.
5. A Classic Who staple and useful if a player is going to miss a session.
6. Though it didn't take much to baffle Yorkshire police back then.
7. Rather ineffectively.
'King David' Hartley and the Cragg Valley coiners
This David Hartley should not be confused with the unrelated (I believe, though they were all Yorkshiremen) philosopher and psychologist and his son, a politician and diplomat1.
The Cragg Vale (or Yorkshire) Coiners were a group of counterfeiters in England, active in the mid-eighteenth century and based in the village of Cragg Vale, located in a Pennine valley, near Hebden Bridge in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The group was one of the largest counterfeiting operations in British history putting coins with a nominal value of around three-and-a-half-million pounds into circulation2.
- The area was inhabited back to pre-Roman times (there's a Roman road nearby) with a history iron production and smelting industry back to the Middle Ages. During the Industrial Revolution it was home to numerous (water powered) cotton mills and a lot of weavers.
- By the 1760s legitimate activity was mostly small-scale weaving, subsistence agriculture and working in the mills and quarries of the area.
- The Cragg Vale coiners were not the only group operating in the area; their example (and skills) inspired others at coiners were operating in Sowerby, Halifax, Wadsworth and elsewhere.
In the 1760s the group engaged in organised and large scale ‘coining’, the counterfeiting of specie coins. Genuine coins were 'shaved' of bits of metal from their edges (and had the edges re-milled to hide the damage). The shavings of gold and silver were collected, mixed with metal scraps and cast into appropriate sized discs. These were then struck with hammer and dies to create a plausible fake coin.
The coins were obtained by shopkeepers and (especially) publicans and innkeepers who also passed the faked coins into circulation in exchange for a share in the profits.
By the late 1760s the authorities were attempting vehemently to suppress the operation, which was undermining confidence in the currency3. After the gang murdered one William Deighton, an Excise Officer who'd be instructed to investigate the counterfeiting and discovered they were operating in the Cragg Valley area, the Marquis of Rockingham, Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding, was commissioned to end the operations of the coiners.
While around thirty alleged coiners were arrested in an operation organised by Rockingham on Christmas Day 1769 most were acquitted.
Known members.
David Hartley: the leader of the gang, lived at a farm called Bell House. Kown as 'King' David. Hanged at York on 28APR1770.
Isaac Hartley: brother of David, known as the 'Duke of York'. Died peacefully at Mytholmroyd in 1815, aged 78.
William Hartley: brother of David, known as the 'Duke of Edinburgh'
Thomas Sunderland: engraver who worked for the gang producing the coining dies.
Joseph Shaw: engraver who worked for the gang producing the coining dies.
Mr. Lightouler: (first name unknown) engraver who worked for the gang producing the coining dies.
James Broadbent: an innkeeper at Mytholmroyd gang member; was 'turned' by Deighton and informed on the gang.
Abraham Ingham: a farmhand and associate of the gang, also turned by Deighton. Murdered by them at the Union Cross Inn in Heptonstall.
John Wilcock: member of the gang, lived at Kellham
John Barker: a carpenter who lived near Halifax and member of the gang. Arrested but later released.
Thomas Clayton: member of the gang, lived at Stannery End
Matthew Normanton: member of the gang, lived at Stannery End
Thomas Spencer: member of the gang, lived at New House in Mytholmroyd
James Oldfield: member of the gang
Mr. Greenwood: a member of the gang who lived at Hill Top Farm
Jonathon Bolton: associate of the gang, may have been involved in passing counterfeit coins
Luke Dewhurst: associate of the gang, may have been involved in passing counterfeit coins
Abraham Lumb: associate of the gang, may have been involved in passing counterfeit coins
Robert Thomas: associate of the gang, murderer of William Deighton4, hanged 06AUG1774 for highway robbery.
Matthew Normanton: associate of the gang, murderer of William Deighton, hanged 15APR1775 after evading capture
John Bates: an innkeeper in Halifax and associate of the gang. Arrested by released.
A BBC television drama series, Gallows Pole, based on the Cragg Vale Coiners is under development,
Game use.
This story seems perfect for a 'pure historical' scenario, in the mould of The Smugglers perhaps, with the PCs arriving late in 1769 and being embroiled in the goings-on; perhaps being accused of uttering false coins, overhearing a suspicious conversation, having a party member kidnapped5, or being inveigled into helping the investigation.
For a more alien oriented scenario see below.
The UFO connection.
To add an element of science-fiction there's also the story of Zigmund "Ziggy" Adamski, a Polish-born Yorkshire miner aged 56 whose disappearance from Tingley on 06JUN1980 baffled police5 and started a string of 'alien abduction' conspiracy theories.
His body was discovered, after five days, on a pile of coal at a coal yard in Todmorden (about 30km from Tingley).
There were a number of peculiarities about the body:
- While the body was clothed in the suit he'd been wearing it was wrongly fastened and his short was missing.
- His hair had been roughly cropped short and he had only about one day's beard growth.
- His watch and wallet were missing.
- His body was covered in burn marks; on his head, neck and shoulders.
- His face bore an expression of "absolute terror"
- No cause of death was determined. The pathologist has been quoted as saying Adamski was "scared to death".
- Part of his body was covered in a mysterious 'goo' or gel that couldn't be identified.
Speculation was rife and explanations including a sudden mental aberration, being struck by lightning, a KGB (or GZI-WP) kidnapping, an organised crime gang, a family feud and being kidnapped by aliens.
To add more to the latter theories, PC Alan Godfrey, the officer who'd been called to the Todmorden coal yard when Adamski’s body was found, later had his own UFO encounter, about one kilometre from the yard.
In November 1980, about five months after the Adamski affair, Constable Godfrey had an encounter with a supposed alien craft, including loosing about twenty-fire minutes of his memory.
He made a formal statement and sketched the craft and, under hypnosis, told a story about being taken aboard the UFO and given a physical examination by two non-human entities. Not long after the story broke in the media be had a meeting at the police station with an unnamed 'Man from the Ministry' who swore him to silence7.
Suggestions? Comments? Ideas?
1. The younger Hartley was the British plenipotentiary to the Treaty of Paris negotiations. He was also the first Member of Parliament to condemn the slave trade in the chamber.
2. Around £650/€760 million today. In perspective that £3.5M represented around on-tenth of the circulating money in the 1760s.
3. There was some legal confusion here. Almost all the coins counterfeited were of foreign origin, mostly Portuguese, Spanish or French, though these circulated freely in Britain at the time based on their nominal metal content. It was treason in England at the time to forge gold and silver coins.
4. Though he was acquitted of the murder.
5. A Classic Who staple and useful if a player is going to miss a session.
6. Though it didn't take much to baffle Yorkshire police back then.
7. Rather ineffectively.