Many congratulations to our colleague Nicholas Rogers, who has recently published his new book, Bad Blood in Georgian Bristol: The Murder of Sir John Dineley, co-written (with Steve Poole) and published by the Regional History Centre University of the West of England/Redcliffe Books.
“In 1741, Sir John Dineley, a gentleman with substantial west country land holdings was abducted on the streets of Bristol in broad daylight, rowed down the Avon to the Channel and forced onto a warship captained by his own brother, Samuel Goodere. There he was locked onto a cabin by Goodere and murdered by two hired seamen, Charles White and Matthew Mahony. Dineley’s death terminated a bitter and long running feud between the two brothers over the rightful inheritance of the family estates and their dwindling fortunes. Goodere was no criminal mastermind and there seemed little doubt of his guilt. He, White and Mahony were swiftly arrested, then tried and convicted at Bristol Assize and condemned to death by public hanging on St Michael’s Hill. Then Mahony’s body was placed inside an iron gibbet cage and suspended from a tall pole at the mouth of the Avon, a grim and permanent warning to all incoming shipping that murder would not be sanctioned.” – Redcliffe Press Ltd.