Jock Delves Broughton

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Sir Henry John 'Jock' Delves Broughton, 11th Baronet (1883 - 5 December 1942) was a baronet who was tried for the murder of the 22nd Earl of Erroll.

He was tried for the murder, about 12 and a half miles from Nairobi, of the Earl of Erroll in 1941 and was acquitted for lack of evidence. A dramatised version of the story was filmed as White Mischief. Sir Jock was mainly acquitted because his pistol was a Colt with 6 rifling grooves. Erroll was killed by a bullet with 5 grooves. No pistol was produced at the trial by the Crown or the defendant. Delves Broughton claimed that two of his pistols, a silver cigarette case and 10 or 20 shillings were stolen 3 or 4 days before Erroll's death. Poppy, a policeman dealing with the case, claimed that Sir Jock had stolen the guns from himself to give the impression that he had no .32 pistol at the time. In addition the fatal bullet's rifling was clock-wise. Colts use anti-clock-wise rifling. A telegram was sent to the Colt Company in America to clear up the confusion. Another bullet also was fired at Erroll, missed and, after ricocheting off a metal pillar in Erroll's car, ended up near the accelerator. It also had 5 grooves and clock-wise turning. Three books have been written about Erroll's death.

Jock committed suicide by taking a drugs overdose in the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool a year after the trial. His widow, Diana née Caldwell (died 1987), yr dau of late Seymour Caldwell, married (1955) Thomas Pitt Hamilton Cholmondeley, 4th Baron Delamere.

[edit] References

  • Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 107th ed.
Baronetage of England
Preceded by:
Delves Louis Delves Broughton
Baronet of Broughton
1914–1942
Succeeded by:
Evelyn Broughton

[edit] See also

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