It is uncomfortable if not tasteless to research newspaper reports into crimes when the alleged criminal is of African descent, “coloured”, or involved with black matters, but fresh insights have been provided through this dubious source. We know about the financial aspects of publishing slavery narratives and the earnings of black choral groups (pages 138 and 172 of this website), and how local people supported dark skinned neighbours and near-strangers – the mayor of Swansea was involved in the petition that sought to keep murderer Thomas Allen from the gallows (pages 088 and 273), and another Welsh petition was gathered to assist William Lacey in 1900 (both men were hanged). The Burmese doctor and one time councillor in Derry, Northern Ireland, Dr de Tomanzie had much public support when he was found not guilty of murder in the 1880s (page 274), and herbalist Lewis Allen was greeted with applause by “a small crowd outside the court” in June 1927 (page 266). Small time crook Eddie Manning had his criminal career blown out of all proportion by the newspapers of the 1920s (page 043), whereas fellow Afro-Caribbean Joseph Denny’s criminal career was substantial and long lasting: he spent most of his adult life in British prisons (page 110).

The man known as Henry Allen or Henry Jacobs was mentioned in numerous newspapers in 1870. He had been defrauding a great many persons of money, board, lodgings, and clothes, by representing that he had bought boxes of valuable property from persons in America to their relatives in this country, and wanted money to pay the customs dues and dock charges, as it was summarized. The court case was in London but the Manchester Evening News of 21 March 1870 (page 4) explained “His dupes were numerous in Lambeth; in Islington he was received with profuse hospitality; and at Stepney and Poplar, among the seafaring population, he was quite at home”. When this “man of colour” appeared there was an “extraordinary scene in a police court”. Men and women who claimed to have been his victims blocked the street – there were “some 300 charges against the prisoner”, an “artful and idle fellow” who faced four charges of fraud and three of felony (Leeds Evening Express, 18 April 1870, page 3).

The Glasgow Herald of 15 March (page 2) headed its report “Novel Wholesale Swindling of the Poor” and said that Allen was an American “of no fixed abode”. The Globe (1 April, page 4) said he was “a black swindler” and the Shipping and Mercantile Gazette (8 April 1870, page 5) said he was “one of the most successful of modern swindlers”. Back in March the Paisley Herald and Renfrewshire Advertiser (26 March page 3) noted that Allen had remarked “people gave him what he asked, for he stole nothing” and headed its report “A black Jeremy Diddler”. Jeremy Diddler was the name of a play from 1803, written by James Kenney, a story of an artful swindler which may have added “diddling” to the English language. The Essex Times (20 April 1870, page 8) headed its report “The Black ‘Jeremy Diddler'” and said that Allen was 25, a sailor, and “a black man”. “The prisoner was one of the most artful swindlers ever brought before the court…a mere adventurer” who was from Virginia.

Allen was sentenced to five years in prison.

The items gained by Allen were not significant – a coat, overnight accommodation, tickets to the theatre, meals – and the prison sentence reflected the hundreds of claims gathered by the police investigation. One suspects that most of these victims would have supported the young woman who was going to marry Allen – he “suddenly decamped. The girl this morning threatened to tear his eyes out for his perfidy” (The Sun, 25 March 1870, page 3). This report was copied by other newspapers, with the Globe of the same day (page 4) heading it “A Modern Othello”. The report ended “The prisoner has served with the British army in Canada, and has been some time in this country, including three years’ penal servitude, and twice for three months as a rogue and vagabond. He was committed for trial”.

So many people had fallen for Allen’s tales that conventional views on Victorian British racism need reconsideration.