The Murder of Agnes Clarke
King Richard’s bed remained in the newly named Blue Boar Inn. Whispers of treasure now began. For it was rumored that the doomed King had left behind a fortune in gold and silver hidden somewhere in the bed. Countless people checked and were disappointed. Then, sometime around the turn of the seventeenth century, the treasure was reputedly found. The Inn’s then landlord, Thomas Clarke was reputed to have found King Richard’s gold in a false bottom of the bed. The locals reasoned the treasure was the only way Thomas and his wife Agnes, could have become affluent enough for Thomas to be appointed Lord Mayor of Leicester.
By 1604, Thomas was dead, and Agnes was running the Blue Boar Inn alone. One night, a petty criminal called Thomas Harrison stopped at the Inn. While there, he heard the legend of King Richard’s treasure and The Clarke’s good fortune. Scenting an opportunity, he decided to stay on for a few days and find out more. During his stay, Harrison seduced one of Agnes Clarke’s servants, a maid named Alice Grimbold. Alice told her new lover that her mistress did indeed have a considerable amount of cash locked away in her private quarters. So, together, Harrison and Grimbold hatched a plot to rob Mistress Clarke.
On February 3, 1605, a man called Edward Bradshaw arrived at the Blue Boar Inn and took a room. He was no ordinary guest but the advance party of a group of thieves sent by Harrison to rob the Inn. At around 10 pm that night, seven surreptitiously arrived and were let in by Grimbold. Together with Harrison, they overcame the servants and tied them up- while Harrison took Alice Grimbold up to Agnes Clarke’s parlor. There, they tied up Mistress Clarke. Meanwhile, Grimbold used her Mistress’s keys to search the coffers while Bradshaw kept an eye on the captive.
In all, Alice discovered six or seven bags of gold and silver. In 1604, the haul was worth between £300-£500. Today, it would have been valued at between $98,853.68- $164,756.14 or £76,000-£126,000. Bradshaw and the thieves then fled, leaving Grimbold with her share of the loot and a promise to return for her. It was a promise Bradshaw never kept- probably because before he fled, he killed Agnes Clarke. Bradshaw later claimed that the landlady’s death was an accident and he only stuck his fingers down her throat to silence her. However, whatever the reason, Agnes Clarke choked to death.
Agnes’s body and the robbery were discovered. So too was Alice Grimbold’s incriminating stash of cash – and her role in her Mistress’s death. Grimbold confession led to Bradshaw arrest. In March 1605, he was hung for murder and robbery in Leicester. The same court convicted Alice Grimbold as an accessory to the robbery and murder of her mistress. As this was petty treason, Alice was burned alive. Meanwhile, King Richard’s bed now became quite infamous, and the inn’s new landlord began to show it to visitors for a penny. Soon, however, there was another talking point about The Blue Boar Inn.