Cragg Vale Coiners

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Cragg Vale Coiners
'King' David Hartleys grave - geograph.org.uk - 1516644.jpg
Hartley family gravestone, Heptonstall; the inscription "David Hartley 1770" is legible at the top
FoundedAlso known as Yorkshire Coiners
Founded by"King" David Hartley
Founding location Cragg Vale, Hebden Royd, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Years active1760s
Territory Yorkshire
EthnicityBritish
Membership (est.)40–200
Criminal activitiesCounterfeiting

The Cragg Vale Coiners, sometimes the Yorkshire Coiners, were a band of counterfeiters in England, based in Cragg Vale, near Hebden Bridge, West Riding of Yorkshire. They produced debased gold coins in the late 18th century to supplement small incomes from weaving.

Contents

Activities

The Dusty Miller public house, Mytholmroyd, where the Coiners often met; it was here that they plotted the murder of William Dighton. Dusty Miller public house, Mytholmroyd - geograph.org.uk - 36393.jpg
The Dusty Miller public house, Mytholmroyd, where the Coiners often met; it was here that they plotted the murder of William Dighton.

Led by "King" David Hartley, the Coiners obtained real coins from publicans, sometimes on the promise that they could "grow" the investment by smelting the original metals with base ores. They "clipped" the edges of genuine coins, leaving them only very slightly smaller, and collected the shavings. They then melted down the shavings to produce metal for counterfeits. Designs were punched into the blank "coins" with a hammer and a "coining kit". The coiners then had their accomplices place the fakes into circulation. Most of the counterfeit coins had French, Spanish or Portuguese designs.

The success of the Cragg Coiners was in part due to the remoteness of the isolated region of Yorkshire where they operated.

Downfall

In 1769, William Dighton (or Deighton), a public official, investigated the possibilities of a counterfeiting gang in Cragg Vale. A coiner by the name of James Broadbent betrayed the gang by turning King's evidence and revealing the gang's existence and operations to authorities. Dighton had Hartley arrested.

Isaac Hartley, "King" David's brother, engineered a plan to have Dighton murdered, with a number of coiners subscribing a total of 100 guineas in support of the plan. On 10 November 1769, two farm hands employed by the Coiners, Matthew Normanton and Robert Thomas, ambushed Dighton in Halifax and shot him dead in Bull Close Lane.

Charles Watson-Wentworth (the Marquess of Rockingham and former Prime Minister) was tasked with hunting down the killers. He had 30 coiners arrested by Christmas Day. David Hartley was hanged at 'York Tyburn' near York on 28 April 1770, and buried in the village of Heptonstall, West Riding of Yorkshire. [1] His brother Isaac escaped the authorities and lived until 1815. Dighton's murderers were also caught [1] and hanged, Thomas on 6 August 1774 and Normanton on 15 April 1775.

Known members

Bell House, home of David Hartley Bell House, Cragg Vale - geograph.org.uk - 26496.jpg
Bell House, home of David Hartley

Other Coiners included John Wilcock, Thomas Clayton, Matthew Normanton, Thomas Spencer and James Oldfield.

References

  1. 1 2 "News item". Leeds Intelligencer. 10 April 1770. p. 3. ...three coiners are ordered be drawn on a ſledge to the place of execution; and 'tis ſaid the other ten will be reprieved till next aſsizes. Normanton, Folds, Thomas, and Broadbent, on ſuſpicion of murdering Mr Dighton, officer of exciſe, to remain in the caſtle till the next aſsizes. Article available from British Newspaper Archive on subscription: Archive search Article