crimes of deception

Johnstone, Andrew James Cochrane- (1767–1833?), politician and fraudster, was born on 24 May 1767 at Belleville, a house in Edinburgh, the eighth surviving son of Thomas Cochrane, eighth earl of Dundonald (1691–1778), and his wife, Jean, née Stewart, of Torrance, Lanarkshire (1722?–1808).

The eighth earl's debts stood at ...

Lincoln, Ignatius Timotheus Trebitsch [formerly Ignácz Trebitsch; name in religion Chao Kung] (1879–1943), political adventurer, was born in Paks, Hungary, on 4 April 1879, the second son of Nathan Trebitsch (d. 1899), a merchant, and his wife, Julia, née Freund (...

Sadleir, John (1813–1856), politician and swindler, was born on 17 November 1813 at Shronell House in the parish of Shronell, co. Tipperary. He was the fifth of seven children of Clement William Sadleir, farmer and middleman, reputedly descended from Henry Sadeleyer of Hackney...

Sharington, Sir William (c. 1495–1553), administrator and embezzler, was the first son of Thomas Sharington (d. 1527?) of Norfolk and his wife, Katherine, daughter and heir of William Pyrton of Little Bentley, Essex. Despite the obscurity of his early years, it seems clear that two men were instrumental in his rise to importance: ...

Stonehouse, John Thomson (1925–1988), politician and confidence trickster, was born on 28 July 1925 in Southampton, the youngest of four children and second son of William Mitchell Stonehouse, Post Office engineer and later dockyard engine-fitter, and his wife, Rosina Marie, formerly a scullery maid in ...