BOLD IMPOSTER’S LIFE

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11827, 7 January 1933, Page 9

BOLD IMPOSTER’S LIFE

ROSING AS A DOCTOR

BIGAMIST AND BOGUS PARSON

CASE: OF FALSE PRETENCES

Revelations which caused a crowded court at Somerset laist month to gasp with astonishment were made when a- man who had posed as a doctor and a clergyman was unmasked. He was shown to be carpenter of humble upbringing, who, by means of forged references, had obtained a responsible medical appointment in a mental institution. At another time lie professed to be in Holy Ordens, and conducted burial services and preached in churches. After contracting a bigamous marriage, lie got a medical position in the East.. Jlo borrowed money from Iris “wife’s” father and sailed away with his “bride.” The truth leaked out; he was arrested at Singapore, and brought back. William .Faulkner, alias Norman Nelson, Kirlcup, aged 35, a native of Belfast-, pleaded guilty io bigamy, to obtaining £OB from ihe North British Borneo Chartered Company, and £l9O from Joseph Frederick Court, by false pretences.

It was an astounding story which Air. E. S. O. Wciliored, prosecuting counsel, unfolded. At the outset he made it clear that Faulkner had no medical qualifications of any kind, and since 1928 he had lived by a scries of frauds. Falsely pretending that he was a. medical man, he had impersonated a Dr. Kirknp, whose name appeared in the colonial seoiion of Iho British Alcdieal Register, and was believed to be practising in Canada* PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE. J.n 1929 Faulkner was c-ouvieied at Nottingham of frauds involving £2090, and there he posed as a medical man. falter on, having completed a .sentence at Exeter, he set no in practice in (bat city as |)r. Kirknp, and there ho mol Miss Anna Pndfield Court, the daughter of a retired farmer, living at Clevedon. Miss Court, was an elocutionist at a girls’ school, and Faulkner won her affection and proposed marriage. Believing him. in he a medical man, she accepted his oiler. and he "as invited to visi' the home nl her parents. Ju April of last year In* was appointed a temporary assistant medical officer at Bristol Mental Hospital. after he had impersonated Dr. I\ irkup and produced forged tcisUinounmnials which completely deceived the authorities. During his term of office at the hospital, Faulkner treated patients, and there was no suspicion until aftor he had left- the country that he was not all that ho pretended to he. ROBITIOX ON MEDICAL AT A UK. in September, Faulkner wrote the North Borneo Company, inquiring if they had a. vacancy on the medical staff, and, receiving a reply that a doctor was required for Hie East, he made application. Ho described himself as a medical man, with very high qualifications, including a B.Sc. degrees and a Public Health diploma. He represented that his father had been a medical missionary.

The application was accompanied by two testimonials, one purporting to be from the governor of a mental hospital in Aladras, who wrote that “Dr. Kirknp” had been employed there for two years in a consulting capacity and had rendered valuable services. The other was from an American Church Alissionnry Society, stating that lie had been employed with them for live years, and praising his services. Both tlie-so testimonials, added counsel, were forged. Indeed, he had nob been in India. Indeed, lie laid spent most of the time mentioned in prison in. England. After an interview witji the North Borneo officials in London, Faulkner got the appointment. It was definitely understood that only single men were eligible, as the position was in. the interior, and Faulkner represented that lie was single. He was to have £lO lor a tropical outfit, a free passage out, and. half salary during the voyage. WEDDING AND ARREST. Having secured the appointment, Faulkner approached Air. Court, and stated that- lie had a Government post on a Medical Research Commission, and would be away Irorn England six to nine months. Air. Court consented to the marriage with ItH daughter, and shortly afterwards Faulkner exclaimed that liis bauking account had been translerred to the East- and Jte wanted £2O. This sum was lent him, and then lie borrowed £9O to pay the outward passage of his future wife. He afterwards got £BO, making £l9O, the whole of which Air. Court had lost.

The marriage took place at Clevedon on October 27, Faulkner describing himself :us single. The honeymoon was spent at Bournemouth, and it was from there he wrote Air. Court for one of the loans to pay for his wife’s passage home from Singapore, his excuse being that she would have to return sooner than he. could. He received from the: company £6S, and he made out- a cheque for Mr. Court’s money, dating it- the day after he sailed.

While Faulkner was on the voyage the fraud was discovered, and also

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(Continued from previous column) the tact that Jm Lad Leon previously married. On the. arrival of the ship at Singapore he was arrested. Aiiss Court refiirned home, and Faulkner was taken back on a warrant by Inspector I)itnster, of the Somerset lorce. While on the voyage out with his newly-married wife, Air. Withered observed, Faulkner actually wrote to Jiis lawful wife and their hoy. Revelations as to Faulkner's past were made by Inspector Sinister. In early life Faulkner ran away from ids home in Belfast- ami was at sea until 191.4, when lie joined the army. He ms attached to the R.A.AI.C.. ami served in Salonica. On his discharge in 1919, be went back to Belfast, where he married, the expenses of Hip wedding being paid by Iris wife’s mother, as Faulkner had no money. He was then employed as an electrical engineer in the name of Alexander. .In 1920 he obtained a similar job at Glasgow and in 1923 he was working as a carpenter at Wembley Stadium and residing in Kentish Town. His wife suspected him of asoc-ia'ing with other women, and this so affected her health that she left him. She look the child with her. and had .not lived with him since.

Faulkner, remarked the inspector, was described as an inveterate liar on whose statements no reliance couhl ho placed, lie established a sun-ray clinic at- Nottingham in 1920 and engaged a widow as nurse. From her ho obtained £350, leaving her penniless. He had gained Hie confidence of all classes of people by professing to be a medical practitioner, with degrees to which lie was not- entitled. He had also represented that lie was a clerk in Holy Orders, and wjiilo engaged at .Bristol hail preached at various churches and conducted services for the burial of the dead. Among' tilings found in his possession were the hood of a 8.A., a surplice, and a cassock.

Faulkner’s convictions began at Glasgow in 1922, and were continued at Alarylebone, the Mansion House, Plymouth, and Nottingham. They comprised cases of fraud, false pretenies, ami posing as a doctor. At Nottingham lie gave the name of John Hamilton Ramage, and he had 15 months’ imprisonment- for obtaining goods by false pretences, there being six charges and 19 outstanding cases. He was lined in Alarc-ji last, ior posing as a doctor at Bristol Mental Hospital.

Defending- counsel, in an appeal for leniency, urged that no physical harm had been done to anybody by Faulkner posing as a doctor. He bad been a medical student in Toronto and would have carried on to quality but for the war. He conceived a genuine affection for Aiiss Court, and it was reciprocated by her. He had already been in prison six months awaiting trial.' , Mr. Justice Avory, in ’ passing sentence of five years’ penal servitude remarked that the bigamy Jiatl no mitigating circumstances at all. There was no doubt that when Faulkner sailed away he never intended to come back to England at all.