A Cruel Murder at Weymouth

A Cruel Murder at Weymouth

A CRUEL MURDER AT WEYMOUTH

A memorial stone in St Mary’s Church, Weymouth reads:

‘This stone was erected in remembrance of the cruel murder committed on the body of Ffloyd Morgan (who lies here) on the 27th April 1792 aged 22.

Here mingling with my fellow clay,
I wait the awful judgement day:
And there my murderers shall appear
Although escaped from justice here’

And this is the story. Early in the morning of Friday 27 April 1792, the body of a young man was discovered on the drawbridge at Weymouth. He had been brutally murdered and was soon identified as Thomas Floyd Morgan, a 22 years-old engraver from Herefordshire. The coroner’s jury was summoned immediately and heard that the deceased had spent the night at a house of ‘ill fame’, and had there met his end; the jury reached a verdict of ‘Wilful murder by some person or persons unknown.’ The following day William Hardy, William Theddon, Sarah White and Priscilla Ryall, were arrested and committed to Dorchester gaol, on suspicion of murdering Ffloyd Morgan, and there they languished until the Dorset Summer Assizes in July.

Hardy, Theddon and Sarah White were brought before the court charged with the murder of Ffloyd Morgan, but were acquitted despite Priscilla Ryall turning King’s Evidence against the trio. It was reported that nothing material could be found to prove their guilt.

Many local people were furious at the verdict and erected the memorial stone paid for by a public subscription. Originally the memorial had been in the old St Mary’s Church which was demolished and present church was built between 1815 and 1817.


Jack Sweet
March 2018

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