Cooke - The damnation of John Donellan: a mysterious case of death & scandal in Georgian England

1. Believed to be the original Boughton family vault in the churchyard of St Botolphs, Newbold-on-Avon. It stands opposite the Long Lawford entrance. The tomb bears a faint coat-of-arms. On the opposite side of the church is an elaborate pink memorial to later generations.

2. The Rysbrack memorial to William Boughton and Catherine Shukburgh in St Botolphs, Newbold-on-Avon.

3. The only known image of Lawford Hall; the anonymous engraving clearly shows the curving wall described as being close to the river. Though reputedly a building of great merit, the Hall was demolished in the last decade of the eighteenth century, probably on the instruction of Edward Boughton.

4. The exterior of Little Lawford Hall, thought to be the original stable block of Lawford Hall itself.

5. Boughton family armour of great age in Newbold-on-Avon church: the chevron-patterned bird the crest on the helmet holds a serpent in its mouth.

6. Believed to be a painting of Theodosiuss parents, Edward Boughton (1719-72) and Anna Maria Beauchamp.

7. William Boughton (1663-1716), the Fourth Baronet. William was the patriarch of two family lines descending from his two wives.

8 Shukburgh Boughton (1703-63), the adored son of William and his second wife Catherine Shukburgh. In a court case, Catherine was accused of plying her stepson with alcohol so that Shukburgh would inherit the title. Shukburghs son, Edward, did eventually come into the baronetcy when Theodosius died.

9 The only known image and probably not a very accurate one of Theodosius, published in the Hibernian Magazine at the time of Donellans court case. It seems hardly representative of the dissolute, wayward baronet.

10 Eton schoolyard, c. 1820. Lady Boughton allowed her son 18 pence a week when first there and half a crown thereafter an allowance not suitable to his birth and fortune noted John Donellan in his Defence.

11 The Pump Room in Bath with traders selling their wares, c. 1800. Donellan is reputed to have met Theodosia Boughton at Bath in the 1770s.

12 Edward Boughton (1742-94), who inherited the baronetcy on Theodosiuss death. Although he never married, he had five children by a serving maid, Sally Davis. He left his fortune to his daughters, his sons having died as infants.

13 John Donellan, his kindly expression here is in contrast to images published in newspapers at the time.

14 The Pantheon, London. It has been conjectured that Donellan is the figure on the far left; but in this print the figure on the far right, slight in stature and with a profile similar to other Donellan images, seems just as likely to be Donellan.

15 Exterior of the London Pantheon, c.1780. The building has long since been demolished and a large retail store now stands on the site.

16 The ravishingly pretty Theodosia Theodosiuss sister aged seventeen.

17 Mrs Elizabeth Hartley, a possible contender as Donellans mistress, who was described by Garrick as having a slovenly good nature that renders her prodigiously vulgar.

18 Nancy Parsons, perhaps a more likely contender as Donellans mistress; this career companion of famous men eventually married the Second Viscount Maynard. She died near Paris in her eightieth year.

19 View along Northgate Street in Warwick. The court building is to the right and St Marys Church is in the distance.

20 The interior of Warwick Crown Court, a new building in Donellans day. (Court business moved to new premises in 2011.)

21 John Hunter (1728-93), the famous anatomist, was the only medical witness in John Donellans defence. A poor devil was lately hanged at Warwick, he told his students later, upon no other testimony than that of physical men whose first experiments were made upon this occasion.

22 Judge Thumb, or Patent Sticks for Family Correction, cartoon showing Sir Francis Buller (1746-1800). The sobriquet pursued the illustrious judge for the remainder of his life.

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