A MAN who lived near Henley in the 1970s and 1980s has written a novel based on the story of Mary Blandy.
Clive Woolliscroft, 77, who now lives in Cheshire, wrote A wrong stephis second book after reading about Mary online. She was hanged at Oxford Castle on 6 April 1752 at the age of 32 after being found guilty of patricide. She was believed to have poisoned her father, the town clerk and solicitor of Henley Francis Blandy.
Mary had mixed a “love potion” into her father’s tea, which her admirer, Captain William Cranstoun, had provided for her. When Francis died, the captain fled.
“I lived in Long Wittenham in Oxfordshire and Didcot for a while, from about 1972 to 1986,” says Clive. “I played hockey and cricket for Wallingford, so was often to be found on the Henley playing fields.
“In the mid-1980s I was asked to write a book about money market instruments. When I did that I thought it would be nice to actually write a novel one day, not realising how difficult it actually was to come up with a beginning, middle and end. Finally, last year I published a book about the First World War.”
Clive’s first novel, Less terrible with every stepwas inspired by his genealogy hobby by visiting the local cemetery in search of deceased ancestors.
“I wasn’t sure what to do next,” he adds, “and one day I happened to Google famous murderers and Mary Blandy popped up.
“I read a number of articles about them and was obviously slightly attracted by their focus on an area with which I was fleetingly familiar.
“The story itself was fascinating to say the least, especially given that it spanned quite a long period of time and involved an apparently intelligent, well-mannered young lady being duped by, let’s put it this way, a complete villain.
“He tricked her into murdering her father so that he could personally benefit from it. What also impressed me about the whole process was the fact that at no point did the villain seem to have attracted any truly negative comments.
“The more I looked into it, the more I thought, well, you know, this could actually be fodder for a story where I could re-invent what happened with Mary and Cranstoun’s involvement.
“So I spent 18 months doing all the research I needed and then I finally started putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and finally it came out A wrong step.”
In Clive’s novel, Mary Blandy has become the character Mercy Grundy and Captain Cranstoun is now called William Dunbar.
He says: “A lot of the book actually focuses on Cranstoun himself, or I should say Dunbar in my book, and the way he pursues his ambition to become a rich man at any cost. A lot of the focus is on his greed.
“Then in my book her father, Francis Blandy, or Francis Grundy here, has arranged a meeting with Dunbar and basically he suggests that Dunbar and Mercy meet.
“Dunbar ends up in Henley to recruit, which I think fits with Cranstoun’s first encounter with her. Then the fact that he was already married gradually comes to light. I covered that in the first few chapters of the book, where he marries and then disappears into the army.
“Then the book basically switches back and forth between the two of them, up to the point where he finally plans to murder his father.
“I have followed the actual facts to a certain extent, but this is clearly a work of fiction and not a reproduction of historical events.
“So I introduced other characters and elements into the book, for example he becomes a ship owner, a slave trader. But that goes completely wrong, which makes him want or need to pursue Mercy again, and it goes on from there.”
During his research, Clive came across Mike Rowbottom’s piece, Mary Blandy – A Retrialwhich premiered at the Kenton Theatre on the evening before Mary’s 270th death anniversary in April 2022. The audience had the opportunity to vote according to the law: did they find Mary guilty of murder or, in more modern terms, manslaughter – or did they actually find her innocent and a victim of coercion?
Clive says: “I have had five careers, most recently as a lawyer, so the process itself was also appealing to me.
“I can understand Mike completely because in some ways it’s my approach when I looked at the story and then the trial itself. I probably came to the same conclusion as the public in general, which is that she should not have been hanged.
“It was typical of the time, she never really had a defense or was allowed to present one, and as far as I can tell the witnesses who appeared on her behalf were nothing more than character witnesses. The real villain got away scot-free.
“In my book, he escapes from Scotland and disappears to St. Kitts, where he has acquired a small sugar plantation. Perhaps one day I will take it over and describe how he managed it in St. Kitts, we shall see.
“But I think it is interesting for me when I look at what the Henley Standard has done over the years is the number of instances in which you will find letters about Mary Blandy and particularly about her hauntings at the Kenton Theatre and various other locations.
“Hopefully Mike will perform the play again.
“I noticed that there is a small centre dedicated to Mary Blandy in Oxford Prison itself, and I assume that is where she is supposed to be doing her mischief.
“As for the book, I hope it will be of interest to people in the Henley area who are interested in Mary Blandy.”
• A wrong step by Clive Woolliscroft is available now from all good bookshops, priced at £9.99.
