page_title: François Benjamin Courvoisier
section_title: Crime and trial
hierarchical_section_title: François Benjamin Courvoisier / Crime and trial
caption_attribution_description: English: Refined elevation of white Suffolk brick with giant Corinthian pilasters crowned by a pediment containing an oval relief. The return elevation has Venetian windows. It was built in 1776-78, the architect Henry Holland's first major commission. There have been a number of later alterations, including the addition of the balustrade. Grade I listed.
context_page_description: François Benjamin Courvoisier was a Swiss-born valet who was convicted of murdering his employer Lord William Russell in London, England, and hanged outside Newgate Prison on 6 July 1840. A crowd of around 40,000 witnessed his death, including Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray.
context_section_description: Russell was a member of Brooks's, a gentlemen's club in St James's Street, London, and was in the habit of spending much of his day there. On the day before his murder he left Courvoisier with a number of tasks, one of which was to advise his coachman to collect him from Brook's at five o'clock in his private carriage. Courvoisier, said to have been confused by the number of tasks he had been given, forgot to inform the coachman and Russell returned home by hired cab, showing 'some dissatisfaction at the neglect of his servant; but it does not appear that he exhibited any such anger as could well excite a feeling of hatred or ill-will' regarding the incident.
  The evening continued 'in the usual way' with Russell taking his dinner, alone, at seven o'clock and then retiring to his library. Hannell had to leave and on her return Courvoiser was observed securely fastening the gate and kitchen door. When Courvoiser had to leave to obtain beer Hannell secured the gate and door at his return. At ten o'clock, Courvoiser had his dinner with the two female servants and the women retired to their rooms half an hour later. Courvoisier remained on duty to attend to Russell until he was ready to retire at half past twelve.
  The following morning, at 6.30am, Sarah Mercer found the main rooms of the house in disarray, as if they had been ransacked by thieves. She alerted Hannell and Courvoisier and it was agreed they would check on Lord William. They found him in bed with his throat cut and his pillow soaked in blood. Mercer went for the Police and a doctor and, when they returned, found Courvoisier 'in a stupefied state' still in Russell's room. Courvoisier appeared to regain his senses and suggested Russell's son should be contacted before taking the Police downstairs where he pointed to marks on the pantry door and said 'It was here that they entered'.
  The Police detained all three staff and, for two days, examined the house. Concealed in various places in the pantry, which was also Courvoisier's bedroom, they found various valuable items belonging to Russell. Another item, a gold locket belonging to Russell, was also found in Courvoisier's possession and, on 8 May, he was arrested for murder.
  Courvoisier's trial began at the Old Bailey before Chief Justice Nicholas Conyngham Tindal and Justice Baron James Parke, and took three days. It was widely reported in the London newspapers and, among the many titled spectators, was Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, who was seated in a position normally reserved for the Lord Mayor of London. The defence benefited from the generosity of Sir George Beaumont, a longtime employer of Courvoisier's uncle, who donated £50 for the employment of a solicitor and barrister, while the prosecution was led by John Adolphus. Courvoisier pleaded not guilty when the indictment was read.
  Adolphus began his cross-examination of witnesses, including Hannell and Mercer, by admitting to the court that it appeared that Courvoisier had no apparent motive to murder Russell, and that the evidence against him was circumstantial, but he also suggested that the accused, 'as a foreigner', may behave differently to an Englishman. That night, a new witness, Madame Charlotte Piolaire, came forward, to Police and, during cross examination the following day, she testified that Courvoiser had left a parcel with her prior to the murder and, when it was opened by Police, it was found to contain items belonging to Russell. It was later reported that after Madame Piolaine's evidence, Courvoiser summoned his defence counsel and said 'I have committed the murder' but added that he did not want to change his plea. Phillips addressed the court, on the third day, continuing to argue that the evidence against his client was circumstantial.  The jury found Courvoiser guilty of murder, and Chief Justice Tindal gave a sentence of death by hanging, to take place on 6 July 1840.
  The day after the sentence was passed Courvoiser made a confession, stating:
  'His lordship was very cross with me and told me I must quit his service. As I was
caption: Brooks's club in St James's Street, London, where Lord William Russell spent the day before the crime.
exif: {"Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-TZ4", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2011:10:27 15:23:24", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 14, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Image Tag 0xC6D2": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Image ExifOffset": "524", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1150", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8021", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/800", "EXIF FNumber": "43/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Landscape Mode", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:05:21 11:03:34", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:05:21 11:03:34", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "86/25", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "93/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "640", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "505", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1024", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "55", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}