On Monday 5 August 1862, Richard Peniston a hackney cabdriver, was waiting on the rank in Great Quebec Street at 12.40 lunchtime. This was a road running south of the Marylebone Road, and today is called Upper Montagu Road near Gloucester Place. He was approached by well-dressed man driving a phaeton (a lightweight carriage) with a pair of horses who suddenly, and without warning, hit the cab man’s horse with an axe just behind its ear. When Peniston shouted at him, the man also aimed a blow at Peniston which missed, and he galloped off.
A second cabdriver, Edward Gilbert, saw what had happened and chased the phaeton into Montagu Street and then into Baker Street and north to Grove End Road in St John’s Wood. During the chase, the man turned and pointed a pistol at Gibert saying, ‘If you don’t stop, I’ll blow your brains out’. Gilbert pulled up his horse and hid in the bottom of the cab seat. When he put his head up, the man fired at him and rode off. Fearlessly, Gibert continued the pursuit when the man fired a second shot before throwing the pistol at a young man who tried to stop the horses.
PC George Pink was on duty in Grove End Road when he saw the phaeton being chased and he heard the cabman shouting to stop him. The man jumped out of the carriage near Lord's cricket ground and ran into his house at No.1 Grove End Road. Then he appeared at an upstairs window pointing a pistol at the crowd which had assembled threatening to shoot them.
After the shock of the attack, the first cabdriver Peniston found that his horse was not seriously injured, and he also joined the chase to Grove End Road. PC Pink who had been joined by another officer, rang the bell and the door was opened by a manservant who let him in when he said he was a police officer. As they walked up the stairs, the gentleman appeared from his bedroom with a gun, saying ‘If you don’t quit this place I will blow your brains out’.
Peniston was also let into the house, and when the man recognized him, he said, ‘Cabman, I’ll recompense you for what I have done, come up here’. He held out a bag of coins, Peniston took some money and left.
The two police officers, armed only with truncheons, came down the stairs, followed by the man still pointing the pistol at them. As they were about to leave the house, PC Pink turned and grabbed the man around his body. The pistol exploded but the bullet missed, and several people rushed in from the yard and pinned the man to the floor. He was taken to the Portland Town Police Station in St John’s Wood, where he was arrested and charged by Inspector Michael Sheehy with shooting and attempting to murder PC Pink and Edward Gilbert.
The following morning the man appeared before Magistrate John Mansfield at the Marylebone Police Court.
Who was the man?
He was James Thomason Harington, who had been born in Calcutta India in 1814, where his father was a senior administrator for the East India Company until 1822. The family returned to England where his father John died in April 1828 in Grove End Road.
Perhaps his son James also worked for the East India Company, but we have not found information about this and he is only shown on census records as a Gentleman. He was a wealthy man of independent means.
On 29 September 1853, James Thomason Harington married Fanny Thomas in Ruyton of the Eleven Towns Shropshire, and they had three children there. Fanny was the daughter of a local farmer who had 230 acres in Ruyton. At the time of the 1861 census, James and Fanny were living at No.1 Grove End Road where his mother Amelia had died in February.
In the magistrate’s court James was described as a man of military appearance. He was defended by George Lewis junior, of the famous high society firm of solicitors. The case had caused a great deal of publicity, and the courtroom was crowded.
In evidence William Christmas, a gunsmith, said that James Harington had bought a pair of duelling pistols and bullets on Saturday from Samuel Smith’s gun shop at Prince’s Street Leicester Square. He said they were very high quality with hair spring triggers, and cost £34 (today worth about £3,500).
When Peniston, the cabman, gave evidence Harington said that in his house he paid him from a bag of 150 sovereigns and he found that Peniston had taken 73 of them. Peniston sheepishly replied, ‘It was a voluntary gift, whatever the amount’. The magistrate demanded he answer if had taken 73 sovereigns and he said Yes. He was a most reluctant witness and obviously very happy to have received such a large sum of money (today worth about £7,600).
George Lewis said he would reserve his defence, but when the pistols were discharged Harington had no intention of injuring anyone, and that at the time ‘he was not in such a condition of mind to be responsible for his actions’. Harington called out, ‘Don’t try to make me out insane, Mr Lewis, for I am no madman’. Lewis replied, ‘Now, pray be quiet, don’t say any more’. Harington said, ‘I am as sane as anyone in the kingdom’.
Lewis asked for release on bail, but the magistrate said this was not possible as it was a serious charge, and Harington was taken under guard by cab to Newgate prison before standing trial.
He appeared at the Old Bailey on the 18 August 1862. However, following evidence from Dr John Rowland Gibson, the surgeon at Newgate, and Dr Forbes Winslow a well-known expert on mental health, the jury decided that Harington was insane and unfit to plead. The judge ordered he was ‘to be kept in strict custody until Her Majesty’s pleasure be known’, and Harington was taken to Wyke House a private asylum in Syon Hill Isleworth.
We don’t know how long he was kept at Wyke House. He is shown again at No.1 Grove End Road in the street directories for 1870 and 1880. But he died on 25 January 1881 at Moorcroft House, a private asylum in Hillingdon, leaving his wife Fanny £7,000.
She and the three children stayed in Grove End Road for many years until she died in March 1897 in Worthing.
Unfortunately, there is no other information about Harington, his state of mind, or what happened in the asylums, so there are gaps in the story.
No.1 Grove End Road was near Lord's cricket ground, on the corner of St John's Wood Road and Grove End Road.
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