Tuesday 14 April 2009

VIOLET CHARLESWORTH

confidence trickster, fake inheritance, swindler

THIS IS THE BLOG OF COLIN JONES, RHYL TOWN COUNCILLOR: BODFOR WARD
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The opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own and not the views of the town council.
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Around the time the original Rhyl Pavilion opened in 1908, Violet Charlesworth was residing in Rhyl and district. Aided and abetted by her mother, Violet ran up local debts on the promise of re-payment when she received a massive inheritance on her 25th birthday.

Violet and Mum are believed to have conned about £27,000 out of some comparatively wealthy men, and to put that figure into perspective I can tell you that the average wage was £1 - £2 per week. Being ahead of her time Violet was a stock-market swindler as well.

That was an extraordinary life for a mechanic’s daughter from Stafford! After many dramas, a fake suicide by Violet over a cliff at Penmaenmawr followed by a nationwide hunt for her ending in Scotland, the two women were sent to jail and that’s where the story ends. Nobody is certain what happened to them afterwards.

About Violet one thing is certain: she wasn’t boring.

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Copyright in the photograph belongs to Getty Images. It shows Violet Charlesworth dressed improbably in Scottish attire.

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