When second-hand book-seller Clive Woods stumbled across a volume signed by a notorious turn-of-the-century fraudster he was determined to uncover the identity of the man the personal message inside was dedicated to.

Mr Woods, proprietor of Saltaire's Falcon Books, turned detective to find out who had earned the gratitude of Horatio Bottomley.

And his painstaking research discovered that the recipient was a former Bradford stipendiary magistrate.

Bradford's link to Bottomley was uncovered after Mr Woods bought a rare first edition copy of Horatio Bottomley Hys Booke for only £2 at a book fair in Leeds.

But the keen historian and chairman of Saltaire Village Society was even more thrilled when he got home to discover that the 1892 volume contained the personally penned and signed dedication 'Beaumont Morice Esq with best regards from Horatio Bottomley'.

Mr Woods said: "It's a very rare first edition - not even the British Museum has one - written by Bottomley to put his case before the public before he went on trial for fraud in 1893.

"Most of the things he touched went bust, but he was such a persuasive speaker. He could charm the birds from the trees and was acquitted of share fraud twice."

Mr Woods added: "Bottomley made Robert Maxwell look like an amateur so I was thrilled to find he had actually signed this copy."

But the big question Mr Woods wanted wanted answered was, who was Beaumont Morice?

Now after hours of research in Bradford Central Library's local history section he has discovered Morice was a barrister, one-time prosecutor at the Central Criminal Court and Stipendary Magistrate of Bradford for 20 years until 1934.

Mr Woods said: "I was thrilled to find out he was actually from Bradford, and hoped he'd had something to do with the trial and this was Bottomley taunting the prosecution with an account of what he had done.

"But it turned out that Morice had given him some legal advice some time prior to his first trial.''

Mr Woods said he had no immediate plans to sell the book, originally given to a man who celebrated his birthdays by throwing a party for hundreds of Bradford's poorest children. But the signed message would add to its value.

Horatio Bottomley, who was known for squandering exorbitant sums of money and was twice declared bankrupt, was cleared of share fraud in 1893, when he conducted his own defence, and in 1909.

But the law finally caught up with the journalist and financier in 1922 when he was jailed for five years.

His career also saw him twice serve South Hackney as an MP and found the patriotic First World War magazine, John Bull. He died in obscurity in 1933.

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