English Counterfeiter William Chaloner

Born sometime between 1650 and 1665 in the English county of Warwickshire, William Chaloner
was apparently a natural criminal, and used his amoral wiles and gift for persuasion to (briefly) live
the life of a gentleman. In and out of prison several times, adept at playing two sides against one
another, the man was finally brought to heel in 1699 by the then Master of the Royal Mint, a man
who had also proven himself one of the greatest scientific minds of all time, Sir Isaac Newton.

Anatomy of a Counterfeiter
The adolescent William Chaloner was evidently as incorrigible as his adult counterpart would prove
to be, and when his parents found they could not control him, they sent him away to Birmingham to
apprentice to a nail-maker. At the time, Birmingham was known for more than making nails,
however; it was also a hotbed of coin forging, particularly of the small silver "groat," worth about
four pennies. Chaloner proved an apt pupil and was soon churning out "Birmingham groats with the
best of them.
Such small-time jobs didn't quite suit Chaloner's naked ambition, though, so around 1680 he struck
out on foot for London. Once there he found it difficult to break into the insular criminal underworld,
so he scraped by selling tin toy watches that evidently had sex toys attached. Around this time he
might have married and fathered several children, though records are unclear. He also seems to
have begun a slightly more lucrative scam of selling quack medicines to desperate tuberculosis,
plague, and malaria sufferers. In addition, he started working with accomplices to rob people and
then collect a reward from the unfortunate victims for the return of the stolen merchandise. It was
robbery, in fact, that marked Chaloner's first appearance in the arrest record in 1690.
Counterfeiting Coins
Forgery of currency was rampant in 17th-century England, largely because the hand-struck coins
issued from the legitimate Mint were non-standard and prone to having metal clipped off their
edges. 1662 saw the advent of machine-struck coins whose carefully measured weights and milled
edges would ostensibly make them harder to fake. Of course forgers were not discouraged in the
slightest, and by the mid-1690s it's estimated that ten percent of the coins in circulation in England
were forgeries. This problem, compounded by an arbitrage market in English silver, eventually led to
the establishment of the Bank of England and the introduction of the paper bank note. Its immediate
effect, however, was the hiring of scientist Isaac Newton to oversee the Royal Mint. Though he had
no particular experience in finance, he took to his new post with his trademark intelligence and
rigor.
William Chaloners Forging Fortunes
Chaloner, meanwhile, had perfected the fine art of counterfeiting coins from goldsmith Patrick
Coffee (or Coffey). Soon he was forging French pistoles and English guineas, and using confederates
to pass the fakes into circulation. His clever coins made for a lucrative business, and he was soon
able to buy a grand country house in Knightsbridge and pass himself off as a wealthy gentleman. He
went on to master the art of forging machine-struck coins using small and easily hidden stamps.
Ambitious and overconfident, Chaloner next tried to undermine to Royal Mint itself. He published
pamphlets claiming corruption within the ranks, and gave suggestions for how the institution could
overcome its problems. He even attempted to gain a position at the Mint, but was unsuccessful.
Chaloner the Prison Snitch
The counterfeiters activities began to draw unwanted attention, especially from Isaac Newton, who
Chaloner had directly insulted by implicating him in Mint corruption. In 1696 Chaloner was arrested
and sent to the notorious Newgate prison, but he walked free by ratting out several of his
counterfeiting colleagues, and by raising doubts about conditions at the Mint.

While Chaloner was petitioning Parliament for a position inside the Mint, Newton happened to spot
him, and generated another arrest. This time Chaloner was imprisoned at Newgate for almost two
months before walking free once again.
Chaloners Other Scams
In addition to counterfeiting coins, Chaloner also had a hand in many other criminal enterprises. In
one scam, he would convince reluctant printers to run off copies of Jacobite propaganda, then report
the printers to authorities and collect the reward. He also began forging the new Bank of England
paper notes, and printing fake malt lottery tickets that could be redeemed for cash. During all these
shenanigans, he mostly stayed out of jail by turning Kings evidence against his confederates.
Chaloners Trial and Execution
Isaac Newton certainly hadnt taken Chaloners accusations of corruption lightly, and by the end of
the 17th century he had used his formidable intellect and vast number of contacts in the criminal
underworld to build an airtight case against the arrogant counterfeiter. Chaloner finally stood trial
in March of 1699, and though he vehemently argued his innocence, Newton had amassed several
witnesses who attested to Chaloners long criminal history. The judge took little time in finding
Chaloner guilty and sentencing him to death; counterfeiting money was considered treason, an
offense against the Crown. Chaloner was sent back to Newgate to await execution, and in his
desperation he faked madness, and then drafted many self-serving letters to Isaac Newton himself,
none of which Newton seems to have answered. All Chaloners antics were for naught; he was
hanged on March 16, 1699 at the gallows in Tyburn.
Source:
Levenson, Thomas (2009). Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the
World's Greatest Scientist. Faber & Faber. ISBN: 0571229921.
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