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John Tawell
John Tawell (c. 1784–1845) was a British murderer and the first person to be arrested as the result of telecommunications technology.
Transported to Australia in 1814 for the crime of forgery, Tawell obtained a ticket of leave and started as a chemist in Sydney. There he flourished, and some years later left it a rich man.
Returning to England, he married a Quaker woman as his second wife. In 1845 he was convicted of the murder of his mistress, Sarah Hart, by administering prussic acid, his apparent motive being a dread of their relationship becoming known. Tawell fled the crime scene by train, but police were able to use the newly installed electric telegraph to circulate a description of the suspect ahead of his arrival at his destination, where he was identified as he left the station. He was arrested the following day and later sentenced to hang.
Tawell started out as a shop worker in London and for some years worked in a number of businesses owned by the Quakers, a strict religious society which he later joined. He was eventually disowned by the Quakers as a result of his relationship with a non-Quaker woman, Mary Freeman, whom he ultimately married and with whom he had two children.
In 1814 Tawell was charged with possessing forged banknotes from the Uxbridge Bank, potentially a capital offence. However, the Quaker-owned bank was opposed to the death penalty and, mindful of scandal, negotiated for Tawell to be allowed to plead guilty to a lesser offence. The result was that his sentence was commuted to fourteen years' transportation to the penal colony of Sydney. After eventually obtaining his ticket of leave, Tawell prospered, opening the colony's first pharmacy and conducting numerous property and business ventures. His family rejoined him in Sydney in 1823 and Tawell set about rehabilitating his reputation, being influential in setting up the first Quaker community in Australia and engaging in various philanthropic activities.
In 1838 the Tawells returned finally to London. Mary, who had been suffering from tuberculosis, died by the end of the year. Tawell had employed a nurse, Sarah Lawrence, who later changed her name to Sarah Hart, to look after Mary. Despite having remarried, he began an affair with Hart. This secret relationship with Sarah Hart bore two children, and Tawell installed all three in a cottage in Salt Hill, one mile (1.5 kilometres) outside Slough where he paid £1 per week to maintain them.
By 1844, Tawell was having severe financial problems. He bought two bottles of Scheele's prussic acid, a treatment for varicose veins containing hydrogen cyanide, and on 1 January 1845 travelled to Salt Hill, where he poisoned Sarah while sharing a beer in her cottage. She was found later that evening.
A man in distinctive Quaker dark clothing had been observed to leave Sarah's house shortly before she died. Following his trail, the police found that a person answering his description had caught the train at Slough, heading for Paddington Station in London.
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John Tawell
John Tawell (c. 1784–1845) was a British murderer and the first person to be arrested as the result of telecommunications technology.
Transported to Australia in 1814 for the crime of forgery, Tawell obtained a ticket of leave and started as a chemist in Sydney. There he flourished, and some years later left it a rich man.
Returning to England, he married a Quaker woman as his second wife. In 1845 he was convicted of the murder of his mistress, Sarah Hart, by administering prussic acid, his apparent motive being a dread of their relationship becoming known. Tawell fled the crime scene by train, but police were able to use the newly installed electric telegraph to circulate a description of the suspect ahead of his arrival at his destination, where he was identified as he left the station. He was arrested the following day and later sentenced to hang.
Tawell started out as a shop worker in London and for some years worked in a number of businesses owned by the Quakers, a strict religious society which he later joined. He was eventually disowned by the Quakers as a result of his relationship with a non-Quaker woman, Mary Freeman, whom he ultimately married and with whom he had two children.
In 1814 Tawell was charged with possessing forged banknotes from the Uxbridge Bank, potentially a capital offence. However, the Quaker-owned bank was opposed to the death penalty and, mindful of scandal, negotiated for Tawell to be allowed to plead guilty to a lesser offence. The result was that his sentence was commuted to fourteen years' transportation to the penal colony of Sydney. After eventually obtaining his ticket of leave, Tawell prospered, opening the colony's first pharmacy and conducting numerous property and business ventures. His family rejoined him in Sydney in 1823 and Tawell set about rehabilitating his reputation, being influential in setting up the first Quaker community in Australia and engaging in various philanthropic activities.
In 1838 the Tawells returned finally to London. Mary, who had been suffering from tuberculosis, died by the end of the year. Tawell had employed a nurse, Sarah Lawrence, who later changed her name to Sarah Hart, to look after Mary. Despite having remarried, he began an affair with Hart. This secret relationship with Sarah Hart bore two children, and Tawell installed all three in a cottage in Salt Hill, one mile (1.5 kilometres) outside Slough where he paid £1 per week to maintain them.
By 1844, Tawell was having severe financial problems. He bought two bottles of Scheele's prussic acid, a treatment for varicose veins containing hydrogen cyanide, and on 1 January 1845 travelled to Salt Hill, where he poisoned Sarah while sharing a beer in her cottage. She was found later that evening.
A man in distinctive Quaker dark clothing had been observed to leave Sarah's house shortly before she died. Following his trail, the police found that a person answering his description had caught the train at Slough, heading for Paddington Station in London.