The Perreaus and Mrs. Rudd: Forgery and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century London

By Donna T. Andrew and Randall McGowen

Book Overview

The Perreaus and Mrs. Rudd tells the remarkable story of a complex forgery uncovered in London in 1775. Like the trials of Martin Guerre and O.J. Simpson, the Perreau-Rudd case--filled with scandal, deceit, and mystery--preoccupied a public hungry for sensationalism. Peopled with such familiar figures as John Wilkes, King George III, Lord Mansfield, and James Boswell, this story reveals the deep anxieties of this period of English capitalism. The case acts as a prism that reveals the hopes, fears, and prejudices of that society. Above all, this episode presents a parable of the 1770s, when London was the center of European finance and national politics, of fashionable life and tell-all journalism, of empire achieved and empire lost.

The crime, a hanging offense, came to light with the arrest of identical twin brothers, Robert and Daniel Perreau, after the former was detained trying to negotiate a forged bond. At their arraignment they both accused Daniel's mistress, Margaret Caroline Rudd, of being responsible for the crime. The brothers' trials coincided with the first reports of bloodshed in the American colonies at Lexington and Concord and successfully competed for space in the newspapers. From March until the following January, people could talk of little other than the fate of the Perreaus and the impending trial of Mrs. Rudd. The participants told wildly different tales and offered strikingly different portraits of themselves. The press was filled with letters from concerned or angry correspondents. The public, deeply divided over who was guilty, was troubled by evidence that suggested not only that fair might be foul, but that it might not be possible to decide which was which.

While the decade of the 1770s has most frequently been studied in relation to imperial concerns and their impact upon the political institutions of the day, this book draws a different portrait of the period, making a cause c l bre its point of entry. Exhaustively researched and brilliantly presented, it offers both a vivid panorama of London and a gauge for tracking the shifting social currents of the period.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520220625
• ISBN13: 9780520220621
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 358 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.6"

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History Lovers' New Addition

If you are a person who appreciates history then this book is definitely for you. Whether your history preference is the judicial workings of eighteenth century London, the social stigmas and attitudes of the time, the pure slanderous scandal and its detail, or knowing famous peoples' names to look more cultured, then this will apply to all. I could not put the book down, as I wanted to know by each chapter how Mrs. Rudd was able to, or the Perreaus were able to...(as I won't give the ending away) until the very end. A classic read for the anglofile, or truely cultured reader.