Wicked Ernest

Review: Something a little recherché now - Holmesians with a taste for history may like to know that, as they approach the Sherlock Holmes pub opposite old Scotland Yard, beneath their feet lies the skeleton of the victim of a royal outrage. He was Joseph Sellis, a valet to Prince Ernest, one of George III’s sons. Ernest swore that Sellis tried to assassinate him, was foiled, fled to his room, and cut his throat with a razor. A managed inquest declared Sellis a suicide, and at dead of night on 4 June 1810 he was buried with a stake driven through his heart. Newspapers of the day name the site. A team of beadles was paid £6 16s 6d for the task. One newspaper dared to deduce from the evidence that Sellis was not a suicide. Ernest had its editor jailed. But he confessed his guilt to his aide-de-camp; the confession is in the Royal Archives. What was his motive? That and much else is revealed in a new biography, Wicked Ernest, by John Wardroper. Something to think about when you next go to quench your thirst at our favourite pub.

Reviewed by: Roger Johnson, [District Messenger 221B, 2002]