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Credit
Abraham Thornton. Crayon manner print by W.T. Fry, 1818. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Bricklayer from Castle Bromwich, Warwickshire. Charged with raping and murdering a girl (Mary Ashford) whom he had met at a dance, but was controversially acquitted by a jury. A group of citizens applied for a retrial, but in April 1818 Thornton counterclaimed the ancient right to ordeal by battle. Thornton was "corpulent, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, of 'forbidding' and 'very lusty' appearance, with powerful limbs, a short, thick neck, and a swollen, shining face" (DNB), and the appeal was therefore dropped. Thornton is said to have emigrated to America and died in Baltimore in 1860
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