Cambridgeshire Murders Read Online Free PDF Page A

time). Listed here are all the entries relating to Thomas Reed, or Read as his name was also spelt.
10th February 1725
Thomas Read, son of George and Ann christened.
30th April 1749
Thomas Read married Mary Sudbury,
8th May 1750
Isabel, daughter of Thomas and Mary christened.
18th November 1751
Thomas, son of Thomas and Mary christened.
20th November 1751
Thomas, son of Thomas and Mary buried.
28th September 1752
Anne Read, buried.
21st October 1753
Robert, son of Thomas and Anne christened.
25th November 1753
Robert Read, buried.
1st September 1767
Thomas Read buried.
1st May 1769
Jane Read, widow of Thomas buried.
    If all the entries do belong to Amy’s Thomas then he was hardly heartbroken, having married for the first time less than six months before her execution and in total marrying two times, outliving one wife and at least two of his three children. At the very least he should have been called as a witness at both the inquest and her trial. If her confession were true then he played an active part in John Hutchinson’s murder and should have been tried alongside her. His relationship with Amy was without doubt a catalyst for the killing, and whether he was involved or not it is clear that he could have been executed too, and surely had a lucky escape.
    Notes
    1 According to parish records her name was spelt ‘Amy’ at her christening, but is then spelt ‘Amey’ on her marriage certificate and in the assize records. Unless quoting from original documents the spelling ‘Amy’ has been used.
    2 Spelt ‘Reed’ in the one surviving assize record but all residents of Whittlesey at the time with that name spelt it ‘Read’.
    3 Variously spelt ‘Whitlesea’, ‘Whittlesea’ and ‘Whittlesey’. Unless quoting from original documents the current spelling ‘Whittlesey’ has been used.
    4 Arsenic is a metallic element, traces of which are found in all human tissue. Historically it was an easy choice for poisoners as it was readily available, especially as a pesticide or rat poison. Acute arsenic poisoning affects the digestive system and symptoms can appear within thirty minutes, the most notable being gastric fever, often accompanied by sickness and bloody diarrhoea. With severe poisoning death can occur in as little as a few hours.
    5 This may have been an attempt by Amy to get pregnant, as it was then illegal to execute a pregnant woman. If condemned, a pregnant woman would be allowed to give birth before being executed; the child would normally have been farmed out to a wet nurse, and in many cases would have died soon afterwards.

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PRIME MINISTER’S ELIMINATION TIME
    I n the unique case of an English Prime Minister being assassinated, Cambridgeshire can claim two connections: the victim, Spencer Perceval, although born in London on 1 November 1762, completed his education at Trinity College, Cambridge, before becoming Prime Minister on 4 October 1809. His killer, John Bellingham, was a Cambridge man by birth, having been born in North Street, St Neots, in around 1771.
    While still a teenager Bellingham began a successful business in marine products. In 1800 he visited Archangel in Russia, returning to England in 1802. The following year he married Mary Neville, and in 1804 made another visit to Archangel. But then things began to go wrong for him. The ship in which his cargo was held – referred to variously as the Soyuz or Sojus – sank in the White Sea. Suspecting fraud, Lloyds of London refused to pay against the insurance. They had been alerted by an anonymous letter, which the ship’s owners, Van Brienen, suspected had been sent by Bellingham himself. This prompted Soloman Van Brienen to begin legal proceedings against Bellingham, accusing him of debt.
    Bellingham managed to reach the British Ambassador, but his request for help was denied and he was arrested. He subsequently spent two years in gaol, during which time his