The Cole Green Robbery of 1824

 

Cole Green and the possible location of the crime

I Fisher

Around about 8am on the morning after the robbery, a short, stocky man with a round pocked-marked face, entered the Wheatsheaf public house, accompanied by two of the robbers. In many ways George Dudfield is the central character of this story and the most necessary to the success of the crime. He was born at St Brides and at the time of the robbery was thirty years old, was married and kept a coffee house and public houses. More importantly, he was also a notorious fence, well known for his ability to launder money. They all proceeded to an upstairs room where the robbers agreed to take £750 for the best part of the nights haul of which £400 was to be left outstanding till the afternoon. Dudfield then put the stolen notes in his hat, covered them with his handkerchief, put the hat on and walked out of The Wheatsheaf accompanied by Ben Jacobs and Thomas Blacket. They then went to Dudfield’s house to collect the first instalment of £350. However, when the robbers went to collect the balance later that day, they found that Dudfield had already left London in order to change some of the original notes.

At this point some explanation may be needed. Although The Bank of England was established in 1694, its activities were largely confined to London. Also by 1797, the banks reserves were low as a result of the Napoleonic wars. So in order to meet the needs of those outside London, banks known as Country banks, were established, very often by local businessmen. These banks issued their own notes. However in order to maintain trade between London and the provinces these local notes needed to be interchangeable with those of the Bank of England. This meant that all Country banks needed agents in London. It was this system that Dudfield was to use in order to make notes from the robbery hard to trace.

Taking the coach bound for Boston, Dudfield together with a companion arrived at Baldock at 12pm that same day, where they stayed at The George Inn. At 10am next morning, his companion who was known as old Kay, walked into Williamson’s Bank and changed some of the money for £200 of Baldock bank notes. He gave the name of Snake and stated that he needed the money to buy lace in Buckinghamshire – a tale he was to use again. Kay then started to walk towards Royston, but a short distance along the road he was picked up by George Dudfield who had hired a post chaise. Another £150 was changed at Fordham’s Bank in Royston before they travelled on to Cambridge where they arrived at about 1pm. Between them they visited three banks: Barker and Eden, Fisher’s and Foster’s. At the first of these £200 was changed by Dudfield’s companion, among these was a note later identified as having been paid by John Nightingale one of Earl Cowper’s tenants and endorsed by Edward Johnson. Another £170 was changed at Fisher’s Bank: £150 in notes and £20 in sovereigns. A Further £200 was changed at Foster’s. All the paper money received at these banks was in £5 notes. By 4pm they were on the way home having changed £920 of the stolen money. First they went by chaise from Trumpington to Royston where at 6pm they changed for Puckeridge, then at 8pm for Waltham Cross and finally to Chancery Lane, Fleet Street, Temple Bar and home.

Not one to waste time George Dudfield was about his business early and by 9am the following morning he and his wife went into the City. Mrs Dudfield, using the name of Williams went first to Messrs Grote Prescott and Co. and received a £200 Bank of England note in exchange for those obtained at Foster’s bank in Cambridge. At about the same time, someone visited the firm of Curries Raikes and again using the name Williams exchanged the notes obtained at Messrs Fisher for £150. The notes obtained at Barker’s Bank were changed at Messrs Jones and Lloyd for yet another £200. Determined to cover his tracks still further, the fence then made his way to The Bank of England and tried to exchange the whole £550 into sovereigns – these being un-traceable. The fact that he was not able to carry this elaborate plan to its conclusion was due to the vigilance of Robert Hesketh, a police officer who had been observing him for some time. Inside the bank, Dudfield was seen to be endorsing one of the notes. While Dudfield went into an adjoining room the police officer was told that the name used was Williams of Prescott Street, Goodmans Field; a name that Hesketh knew to be false. Dudfield was arrested and remained in custody until his trial in December in spite of attempting to get bail on the basis of a deposition made on the 28th October. The fact of his arrest was soon known. Mrs Dudfield went missing and never seems to have been apprehended.