Person    | Male  Died 9/7/1864

Thomas Briggs

Categories: Commerce, Tragedy

Thomas Briggs

Banker and murder victim. He was beaten and robbed while he travelled on the 9.50pm train from Fenchurch Street to Chalk Farm. The assailant took his gold watch and gold spectacles, but left £5 in Briggs's pockets. His body was thrown from the compartment, and just after 10.00pm, the driver of a train travelling in the opposite direction spotted him lying on the embankment next to the tracks. He was taken to the nearby Mitford Castle public house (later renamed the 'Top O' the Morning') but died of his wounds.

Suspicion fell on a German tailor called Franz Müller, who, after being pursued to the USA, was tried, found guilty and publicly hanged outside Newgate Prison. The attack had taken place in a closed compartment, and the subsequent public reaction led to the introduction of communication cords and carriages with corridors.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Thomas Briggs

Commemorated ati

First murder on a train

129 Cadogan Terrace. A memorial to Thomas Briggs Esq. of Clapton who on Satur...

Read More

Other Subjects

Acorn Restorations

Acorn Restorations

Metalwork restorers.

Group, Commerce

1 memorial
Nicholson's pubs

Nicholson's pubs

The Nicholson's brothers opened their first pub in 1873.

Group, Commerce, Food & Drink

1 memorial
Sir Clarendon Hyde

Sir Clarendon Hyde

Sir Clarendon Hyde, the deputy chairman of the Metropolitan Railway Company in 1920.

Person, Commerce, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
William Ashworth

William Ashworth

Worked for the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society. Was on the building committee for the Abbey Wood branch in 1912.

Person, Commerce, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Henry Clarke

Henry Clarke

Businessman and politician. He was a coal importer and commission merchant in Gracechurch Street. When the first London County Council elections were held in 1889, he became one of four councillors...

Person, Commerce, Politics & Administration

2 memorials

Previously viewed

Two St Paul's

Two St Paul's

EC4, St Paul's Churchyard

For our detail picture we show the Chapter House and Cloister which are actually laid out in situ at St Paul's Medieval footprint.

3 subjects commemorated
Anne Frank tree - N5

Anne Frank tree - N5

N5, Highbury Fields

Anne Frank's diary often referred to the horse chestnut tree that she could see from her window. In 2005 the Anne Frank House museum noti...

2 subjects commemorated, 2 creators
Greenman Street Baths / Tibberton Baths

Greenman Street Baths / Tibberton Baths

From London Gardens On-line: "... Tibberton Square until the 1890s when the west side with Wontner's Villa was purchased for new public baths, after the Baths and Wash-Houses Act of 1846-7, which r...

Building, Sport / Games

1 memorial
RAF POWs lost in Borneo

RAF POWs lost in Borneo

Members of the Royal Air Force who died by the actions of their captors whilst prisoners of war in Sandakan - Ranau, N. Borneo, 1943 - 45.

Group, Armed Forces, Borneo

1 memorial
Henry Warwick, cycle courier

Henry Warwick, cycle courier

EC2, Bishopsgate

Henry Warwick, a cycle courier was killed near this spot. RIP

2 subjects commemorated