In 1823 Aaron Smith, a young English seaman, was brought back from Havana, Cuba, in irons and put on trial at the Old Bailey for piracy.
He was reported in The Times newspaper of the day as being of ‘about thirty years of age, with rather an intelligent countenance. He was attired very gentlemanly in a suit of black.’
The case for the prosecution was led by the King’s Advocate, Mr. Attorney-General, Sir Robt. Gifford. Had that learned gentleman’s prosecution been successful on behalf of the Crown, Aaron Smith, who was my great great great grandfather would have been hanged. So, I suppose you could say that crime runs in the family ~ and black is still such a good look, don’t you think?
If you would like to read Aaron’s story, he wrote a book ‘The Atrocities of the Pirates‘ which was first published in 1824, so this edition is now a rare and expensive volume. However, my cousin, Robert Redmond had Aaron’s work republished in hardcover and paperback in 1997 both of which are now available through Amazon.
