Sir Theodosius Edward Allesley Boughton (August 1760 – 29 August 1780) was a British aristocrat who was the 7th Boughton baronet of Lawford. Boughton was poisoned by his brother-in-law in what became a famous murder case in the United Kingdom.

Life

Boughton attended

Rugby School Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...

from the age of seven, which was four miles from his home. In 1772 when he was 12, his father Edward Boughton died suddenly at the age of 53, meaning Theodosius would inherit his estate when he reached the age of 21 (which he never did). In 1775, at age 15 he was sent away to

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, where by 1777 he had contracted venerial disease (likely

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...

) which left him in a poor state of health, soon afterwards he was brought home by his mother. Lawford Hall engraving

In 1780, Boughton was living at his ancestral family home of Lawford Hall, Little Lawford, near Rugby with his mother Lady Anne Maria Boughton, older sister Theodosia, and brother-in-law, Captain John Donellan. Donellan (born 1737) was known as "Diamond" Donellan because of a large

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

he had brought back to England from India.

Death

Boughton was under the care of Mr Powell, a local

apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is an Early Modern English, archaic English term for a medicine, medical professional who formulates and dispenses ''materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons and patients. The modern terms ''pharmacist'' and, in Brit ...

based in Rugby, for his poor health. Powell, had made up a

purgative Laxatives, purgatives, or aperients are substances that loosen stools and increase bowel movements. They are used to treat and prevent constipation. Laxatives vary as to how they work and the side effects they may have. Certain stimulant, lubri ...

draught for Boughton, which consisted of fifteen grains each of

jalap Jalap is a cathartic drug, largely obsolete in Western medicine, consisting of the tuberous roots of '' Ipomoea purga'', a convolvulaceous plant growing on the eastern declivities of the Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico at an elevation of above ...

and

rhubarb Rhubarb is the fleshy, edible stalks ( petioles) of species and hybrids (culinary rhubarb) of ''Rheum'' in the family Polygonaceae, which are cooked and used for food. The plant is a herbaceous perennial that grows from short, thick rhizomes. ...

, and twenty drops of

lavender ''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of perennial flowering plants in the sage family, Lamiaceae. It is native plant, native to the Old World, primarily found across the drier, warmer regions of the Mediterranean ...

water, mixed with two

dram Dram, DRAM, or drams may refer to: Technology and engineering * Dram (unit), a unit of mass and volume, and an informal name for a small amount of liquor, especially whisky or whiskey * Dynamic random-access memory, a type of electronic semicondu ...

s each of syrup and

nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed, or the ground spice derived from the seed, of several tree species of the genus '' Myristica''; fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg ('' M. fragrans'') is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fru ...

water, and an ounce and a half of plain water. The draught was delivered to Lawford Hall by a servant on 29 August 1780, and the servant insisted that it had been delivered to Theodosius directly. Later that night, while he had just turned 20, his mother stood by his bed and insisted that he drink the draught that the apothecary had prepared; he said it tasted bad, but drank it anyway with a piece of cheese. Within minutes of drinking it Boughton started heaving and groaning, and frothing at the mouth, and died soon afterwards. Following his funeral, his remains were buried at St Botolph's Church at nearby Newbold-on-Avon.

Aftermath

After Boughton's funeral, suspicions arose as to the cause of his death, and suspicion soon fell on Donellan who would stand to gain if Theodosius died before 21, as the estate would go to his sister. The body was exhumed and examined. A

Coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

's inquest ruled that Boughton's cause of death was poisoning and returned a verdict of murder against Donellan. Despite the preponderance of

circumstantial evidence Circumstantial evidence is evidence that relies on an inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact, such as a fingerprint at the scene of a crime. By contrast, direct evidence supports the truth of an assertion directly, i.e., without need ...

, and Donellan's claims of innocence, he was convicted, condemned and executed on 2 April 1781. Boughton's widowed sister subsequently married Sir Egerton Leigh Bt, 2nd Baronet (1762-1818). Peter Burke (1849), ''Celebrated Trials Connected with the Aristocracy in the Relations of Private Life''. William Benning The title was inherited by a half cousin, (grandson of the 4th Baronet by his second wife Catherine ), Sir Edward Boughton, 8th Baronet, who sold Lawford Hall (later demolished) and the Warwickshire estate in 1793.

Life

Death

Aftermath

References

Bibliography

Further reading