As I gather interesting odds and sods of information I will add them to this page. The information includes:

The story of Thomas Kingham 1805-1861
The Kingham Murder at Bledlow Ridge in 1893
The murder of the Kinghams at Nan Ch'ang, China and its aftermath
Kingham Miscellany
Kinghams Transported to the U.S. between 1614 and 1775
Kinghams in London 1811
 

I am indebted to Pauline Abbott for supplying this story.

Thomas Kingham was born in Flitwick in 1805 in tragic circumstances. His mother Ann (nee Ward) was 30 years old and in those days this was old to be having a first child. The birth was difficult and Ann was so weakened by it that she never recovered and died twelve days later.
The motherless, Thomas was baptised in Flitwick church on 28th April 1805, the same day that his mother was buried.
(Flitwick has always been a widespread village, made up of a number of Ends spread across the parish. It had a Norman motte and bailey. In the nineteenth century it would have been very pretty. There was the manor house owned by the Brooks family; a village green with a pond, stocks a pub and the blacksmiths; pictures show the village to have a number of very picturesque, thatched cottages and many trees.)
Thomas' father, James was a miller, working at a mill owned by the Goodman family. He was unable to look after the baby by himself and so Thomas was taken in to the home of his maternal grandmother Margaret Ward and his aunt Elizabeth Ward. Both were to exercise a strong influence on the child and it seemed he hardly ever saw his father.
(The water mill and mill house in East End had been owned by the Goodman family since 1730. In 1771, a Richard Goodman was recorded as paying 12 pounds as a half year rent to Oakingham Hospital. By 1778 John Goodman owned the mill. It is thought that a mill had been on this particular site since the time of the Domesday Book.)
When Thomas was four his grandmother died leaving him in the sole care of his aunt. He was brought up in a home where there were no brothers or sisters and the environment was strict and austere as his aunt belonged to the Strict and Peculiar Baptist Church, which strongly emphasized the worthlessness and sinfulness of humankind, and its need for repentance, throwing itself on the mercy of an avenging and righteous god.
Thomas reacted to the fears this teaching aroused in him in tow ways: in one mood he would carouse, blaspheme and defy the God who would condemn him; in another mood he would repent, weep, cower and beg forgiveness from his God before whom he felt so unworthy.
When he was old enough Thomas become an apprenticed miller at the mill in Flitwick. At the age of twenty-three Thomas married Lucy Cain, the daughter of William Cain, the village blacksmith. Her family, too, were of the same non-conformist faith as his own.
A year later, in 1829,  their first child, Eliza, was born.
In 1830 Thomas was involved in the riots that took place in Flitwick, organized by labourers protesting their poor working conditions and wages. As one of the ringleaders he was arrested and sentenced to fourteen days in prison. In Bedfordshire by Simon Houfe, it says:" there was quite a serious riot at Flitwick on 6th December. About twenty or thirty labourers went round the Flitwick farms in a band, forcing those sworn in as constables to come out with them. They were debarred from entering Priestly Farm, and about eighty returned to the centre of the village with sticks and bludgeons. There they were met by a force of constables and Lord Grantham [the Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire]. He urged them to disperse. One labourer was reported as saying: 'we want more money and more money we'll have and damn'd is we won't'.
Before dispersing they called on the squire J.T. Brooks, who had personally called out thirty constables who were paid two shillings for their work."
(The Brooks family acquired the manor in 1789. They were very interested in horticulture and built extensive gardens which featured ornamental buildings, rare plants and trees. During the latter half of the nineteenth century, the family were responsible for restoring the church, supporting the school and helping extensively with improving the social life of the whole village.)
There was no damage inflicted at the manor house but the ringleaders were arrested and accused, among other things, of not being content to work for their usual wages and of trying to extort great sums of money from the masters who employed them as well as causing great terror to the inhabitants of Flitwick and to those 'passing and repassing'. At the Quarter Sessions the ringleader, William Mitchell, received six months hard labour and William Barnes, John Ellis and Thomas Kingham 14 days.
These riots and disturbances were seen across the country and this led to improvements in social welfare although ultimately this could be viewed as the beginnings of the major migration away from dependence on agriculture.
Three years later Thomas underwent a conversion experience in a harvest field. He writes of this in a letter to the Gospel Standard in 1838:

"Thomas Kingham was born in sin and shapen in iniquity, and in sin did his mother conceive him. Brethren, I filled up the early part of my life in all manner of debauchery, till I arrived at the age of twenty six, when, I believe, the Lord was pleased to send an arrow in to my heart. I then knew what little was within, but, like the pious professors of the day, I was determined I would be holy. But sometimes I got again with the my companions of the ale bench. O, brethren, the corruptions of a man are too strong for him, if not kept by the mighty power of God, through faith. The Lord was pleased not to leave me here, but he made me deeply feel what an awful and a bitter thing it was to sin against God. O the distraction of mind I went through!
The devil was continually telling me I had sinned against the Holy Ghost. My sins were brought to my view, even from a child. In this kind of way I went on for about a year and a half, when it pleased the Lord to lead me to the written word, and there I found that the law was holy, just and good, and I felt that I was unholy and impure in all my thoughts and ways. I found that the law reached all my thoughts, and although I searched the word of God, I could not find so vile a sinner recorded, and I verily believed there was not such another in all the world. The thunders of Sinai roared in my heart, and I expected every moment to be sent to hell. When I read the Bible, all its warnings and threatenings came in to my guilty conscience, so that I knew that the Lord was an avenging God; and I felt that I had no more love for him than a criminal has to the judge who has passed the sentence of death upon him. I found that my mind was enmity against him. But sometimes the Lord was pleased to lay me low in the dust of self-abasement; and on one occasion, I well remember, it was in a harvest field about six o'clock in the evening, he broke in to my soul with such power that I hardly knew where I was. My soul was melted down in me so that my eyes ran over in torrents. O the love I felt in my soul, and the humble views I have of myself, no tongue can tell. After this, the law never had that power of condemnation again over my conscience, but it pleased the Lord to break up more and more the fallow ground of my heart, and let me see the dreadful abomination that lurked there. This made me question the reality of all my past feelings, while the Lord made me know, by painful experience, that I was altogether a mass of iniquity.
About a year after this, it pleased the Lord sorely to afflict my body, mad I lay the greatest part of my time in a very dark state of mind; but my soul was, as I thought, again set at liberty on reading the hymn commencing, "Jesus, my elder brother, lives with him I too shall reign."
I ran to my Bible, and that seemed to bear the same testimony, and my soul was melted like the wax before the sun. But I ma now again in a blind state, and I verily believe I am one of the biggest lumbering fools on earth, and I know not where it will end.
Is this the real experience of a child of God? I do not ask a carnal man to judge, but a spiritual man, one who has the unction of the Holy One; and I sincerely wish I may get a reply to my soul."

This letter shows that Thomas' state of mind veered between religious exultation and the fear and torment of sinning. The same theme is repeated in another letter written in 1839:

"I trust that it is under the influence of the blessed Sprit's teachings that I have this morning taken the liberty of writing a few of the trials which I have passed through during the last twelve months. It is nearly eighteen months since I wrote to you before; but if any one had told me then what I had to pass through, I could not have believed them. How it will make the poor soul rage and roar, fet and murmur, to be stripped of all false hopes and legality! It's pinching work for the flesh to be brought here. It is not like what thousands of persons and dead professors talk about; we must keep or passions down, and we must watch more, and pray more, and strive more, and we must be more content, or God will never bless us.
This is what nearly all the pulpits of Bedfordshire are ringing with. My dear brethren, within the last twelve months I have been brought deep to feel my baseness. It has appeared, to my feelings, that devils could not be as bad as I have at times felt myself to be. I have felt as if I had all the abominable sins ever committed on earth in my heart; and as if I had all the enmity of fallen devils against God.
Last April, if I remember right, I was reading in your Standard the editors remarks upon the difference between the joy of the Holy Ghost and the joy of the stony ground hearers, when divine power fell upon my soul like lightening, and I cried out, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for raising up such men.’
My soul was melted in to nothing in a moment, and my eyes run over with tears of joy, and I said to two of the dear children of God that were with me in my house at the time, I would never doubt no more. But, alas! I have since that sunk lower than ever. In the course of the following month I was brought in to such a dreadful state that I even told the Lord that he had better send me to hell, wretch that I was. I have even gone to bed in such rebellion of soul, that I have told God that I would not pray. I know what it is like to lie like Jonah in the belly of hell, in my conscience, on account of my sins. A few Sabbath after this, it pleased the Lord to pout John Warburton’s book in to my hands, and it was such a Sabbath to my soul as I have never since enjoyed. I cried, I preached, and I was certain, in the feelings of my soul, that I should someday sit down with poor John Warburton in the kingdom of heaven as I was of my existence. The union I felt to poor old John is indescribable. But the more visits of the love of Christ I have, the deeper I seem to sink afterwards, and am left to doubt it all. Sometimes I have strong suggestions that it is nothing but the transformations of the devil to deceive me, and at times it appears only to come from nature; then despair follows; then I have hard thoughts of God; then fretfulness and rebellion come on; then I am pressed down out of measure. One evening after I had left work, a few days previous to writing this letter, as I was drawing a few straws, I was suddenly struck with deep despair of conscience, fearing that God would destroy me and my house that night with fire, a and I said to my wife, “What tempest shall we have tonight.” I carried the straws upstairs, and was fully convinced in my mind that those straws would be stet on fire by lightening. O what I suffered that night in my conscience! I went in and out; up and down the garden to see which way it would come. But, bless the Lord, he has not destroyed me yet, and he has favoured me with one more love visit this morning, whilst reading the first four chapters of John, especially the following verse; ‘And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.’
In reading this verse I was led to see that when the light of the Holy Ghost shineth in to our souls, we cannot discern from whence it cometh, but it leads the soul to see and feel what poor wretches we are by nature and by practises, and this makes us groan, being burdened.
Now I have described a few of my feelings, and if you think them worthy of a place in your standard, may the Lord bless them to some poor soul that may be tormented by the devil.’

Thomas’ family was expanding. A second son Alfred was born on 5th March 1836 and a third son, Nathaniel, born 1 December 1838. All three sons were baptised together in Flitwick Parish Church on 23rd June 1839.
Around this time, Thomas first met George Squires who became a lifelong friend. George Squires’ obituary in the Gospel Standard speaks of their friendship:

‘In the providence of God he came in to the Company of a good man in 1839 (Thomas Kingham of Flitwick). Mr Squires was called at the age of nineteen, and is friend Thomas Kingham in 1831 at the age of twenty-six. The two men first met in a field near Ampthill, and then was laid the foundation of a warm friendship that lasted for twenty-two years – until the death of Mr Kingham in 1861. But, at the time of their first meeting, Mr Kingham had been led, during his eight years of divine teaching (1831 to 1839) more deeply into the evils of his heart than his younger friend. Mr Squires, though quickened into spiritual life two years earlier, had been suffered to proceed in his Pharisaic life for several years before meeting Mr Kingham, who was the means to bring Mr Squires to attend Westoning.’

On 24th April 1844, Thomas was present at the death of his father, James, who died at the age of 76 of asthma. He was buried in Flitwick churchyard on 27th April.
In 1847 Lucy, Thomas’ wife, now aged 37, gave birth to a fourth son, who was named Daniel. The strain of the birth was apparently too much for her heart, which failed on 20th October 1847. She too was buried in Flitwick.

On 14th October 1854, the younger Thomas Kingham, who had followed his father in to the milling trade and was working with Richard Goodman, married Martha Whiteman. Sadly, less than a year later, she died, at the age of 23, of phthisis.

Both Thomas were widowed and both subsequently remarried. The older Thomas married an Elizabeth, ten years younger than him and they had a daughter Ann Elizabeth. His mental and emotional ups and downs continued and one night, when he was working late at the mill, he thought he saw the ghost of his first wife Lucy.

Thomas Kingham’s contemporaries describe his rapidly varying states of mind in religious terms, from the point of view of the religion which they were all involved. For example, George Muskett, writing in the Gospel Standard, says;

‘I never saw a man sink lower or rise higher…when he sank, such was the power of the adversary, such were the fears of friend Kingham, and such his extravagant language…when the Lord did again break into his soul he would be talking aloud to everyone…’

There are a number of possible medical reasons for his violent mood swings. One may be ergot poisoning, the result of eating or being exposed to contaminated grain, which is attacked by a fungus.
The second may be due to alcoholism.
The third is a form of manic-depressive. Another letter suggests this may be the reason:

“I have felt as if I had all the abominable sins ever committed on earth in my heart…divine power fell on my soul like lightening…all my soul was melted in to nothing…my eyes run over with tears of joy…I have since that sunk lower than ever…I told the Lord that he had better send me to hell…I know what it is like to lie like Jonah in the belly of hell…I cried, I preached…the more visits of the love of Christ I have, the deeper I seem to sink afterwards…despair follows..fretfulness and rebellion come on…I was suddenly struck with deep despair of conscience…’

Thomas Kingham died on 12th August 1861, at the age of 56, of a diseased spine and kidneys. His obituary, in the Gospel Standard of October 1861 gives an account of his life.

‘Thomas Kingham died on August 12th 1861, at Flitwick near Ampthill. He was by nature of a desperate turn of mind, a make-sport for fools. I have heard him say that in his natural state he took delight in all manner of wanton mischief. After such conduct his natural conscience would so terrify him that he would be afraid to move in the dark, or go past a churchyard or a wood.
It appears that in or about the year 1831 his convictions became of a very solemn character, and led him to consider his state before God, to read the Bible, and attend to preaching. But these exercises can be better explained by himself in two pieces he wrote to the Editors of the Gospel Standard, which appeared in 1838 and 1839. I have heard him say that his natural convictions were not of that depth that many are, nor of that depth which they often were in his own case after he found mercy. That took place in the harvest field in the year 1833. He then discovered that nearly everyone with whom he was conversing was almost an entire stranger to what was going on in his own soul. The Gospel Standard and the preaching of some of the ministers who afterwards came to Woburn were the means, in the hand of the Holy Ghost, of establishing and building him up in the truth as it is in Jesus. One of his first enlargements was during an affliction of body, when the Lord broke in upon his soul with many passages of Scripture and the 91st hymn of Dr Rippon’s selection;
Let others boast their ancient lines
In long succession great;
In the proud list let heroes shine;
And monarchs swell the state;
Descend from the King of kings,
Each saint a nobler title sings;
Which words, and the following part of the hymn, I have heard him repeat with tears of joy, and the very glory of god in his countenance. His was a chequered path indeed in his spiritual experience. O never saw a man sink lower or rise higher. When he sank, such was the power of the adversary; such were the fears of friend Kingham, and such his extravagant language, that it was sometimes difficult for his friends to maintain their hope of him. When the Lord did again break into his soul, he would be talking aloud to everyone, saint and sinner. He would, to careless sinners, set forth the state of the damned in a fearful way, and tell them that, if they should die in their present condition, hell would be their portion. And if he could encounter any Arminians, he would oppose them in such a manner as would completely stop their mouths, and send them away with some dreadful sentiment of God’s word against despisers of His truth of election and His elect people.
But he had a keen discernment of the faintest spark of grace beyond almost all I ever knew. He seemed to have a kind of scent, if I may so speak, to detect grace in whatever heart it abode. I had an instance of this a few days before his death. Having a young man staying with me a few weeks for the benefit of his health, I took him with me to visit him. He spoke a few words to the young man, and said “Ah, my dear young friend, you have the mark of life in you; if you should live, your path will be one of great tribulation, as mine has been. You are but just entering the wilderness; I am leaving it.” And he told me afterwards of the love he felt in the spirit to this youth, feeling sure he was one of God’s jewels, and also said what a mercy it would be for him if the Lord called him away through his present affliction. He was a man who, during his lifetime, had walked many hundreds of miles to hear the Gospel. His favourite preachers were Warburton, Gadsby, McKenzie, Tiptaft, Philpot, and such men; but he was not always favoured to hear profitably even them. He often returned with his pitcher empty, calling himself a thousand fools for making the journey. His prejudices often rose against myself, because he could not hear with power, which I believe was partly occasioned by his deafness. He was never tired of Rusk’s pieces in the Standard. He used to say he could upon the whole, walk with John Rusk better than with any other man. He much admired Mr Congreve, late of Bedworth. He was so blessed in reading Mr Charlwood’s dying testimony that for days he appeared to be present with him in glory.
About last Christmas, working in a mill where he had been a trustworthy servant for more than twenty years, the cold of the night of the sharp frost struck him, from which he never recovered. His sickness, therefore, was long and painful; and, as the dear Lord was about to separate the dross of his experience from the pure gold of His own grace, He chose this furnace in which to do it; And, as ‘there is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good, and sinneth not’ (his funeral text), so Thomas Kingham had to pass through a sharper conflict on his death-bed than many.
At the first part of his affliction, he engaged much in conversation, which was often sweet and savoury; but a cloud came over his soul about April last, which continued without intermission for three months. Satan, taking advantage of the opportunity thus put in to his hands, plundered his soul at times of even hope. His natural temper was so wrought upon, and he was such a fearful case, that he concluded that he should like Spira, die in despair, cursing God.
I have sat by him in this afflicting season, and the Lord has enabled me to be an interpreter of His mind in the matter, and made friend Kingham yield to my judgement. And now it was that the closest communion subsisted between us; all old breaches were healed and forgotten, and he found that he was not all spirit, and that he had often mistaken his own spirit for the Spirit of God – in fact, he had never felt his littleness and nothingness, and the corruption of his entire nature, so much as in this last furnace. And, though he was cutting himself off so frequently, I never once doubted that it would be well with him. About six weeks before he died I had great access to the Lord on his account, and felt the Lord would surely appear for him once more. Accordingly, I told him so, although he could not believe. I said: “Thomas, if the Lord do not once more liberate your soul from your present bondage and distress, He hath not spoken by me.” About ten days afterwards, the blessed Spirit came over the work afresh, subdued his foes and fears and, for three days, such were his ecstasies that he said. “Oh, the devil is a liar now; now I shall not perish.” Comforts flowed in; the gloom of the house where he laid was chased away like frogs and mists of night before the rising sun. I hoped this blessed state would continue until death; but no. He must grapple with the powers of darkness for a further period, and then bid an everlasting adieu to pain.
But though he sat in darkness another month, there was supporting hope; the devil was not permitted to tear him as in the former three months. As his time drew nearer to depart out of this world unto the Father, much anxiety and prayer was manifested in the hearts of the saints; and although his darkness continued till within one hour of dissolution, the dear Sun of Righteousness arose upon him, which was at once visible in his face. Though he could scarcely articulate, he made known by smiles, nodding his head and waving the hands in triumph, that he died in the arms of Everlasting Love. To such questions as these: “ Do you feel yourself upon the rock now? Do you feel Christ precious?” it was “yes. Yes, and being requested, if conscious of all these things, to hold up his right hand, he did so till it dropped upon his breast and his immortal spirit had returned to its Redeemer. Thus died, aged fifty-six, one of the Lord’s own witnesses, who is now with those he loved when living, and also with Him without whose presence all this world is death.”

The non-conformist churches arose during the seventeenth century. By the end of the century the Baptists in Bedfordshire were no more than small minority groups spread across the county meeting in houses and barns. During the eighteenth century the church became more organised and several meeting houses were erected, one in the nearby village of Westoning in 1790.
In the nineteenth century all churches flourished. But the Baptists also saw their congregations splinter in to factions according to the degree of strictness; hence Strict and Particular Baptists, and Gospel Standard Baptists.
Further sources: Flitwick: A Vanishing Village. A History of Bedfordshire by Joyce Godber

Kinghams living in Flitwick at the time of the 1881 Census
There were two families living in Flitwick at the time plus two single Kinghams living in other households.
KINGHAM, Richard. Lodger. Birth: 1808, Pulloxhill

KINGHAM, Thomas. Head. Birth: 1833, Flitwick
KINGHAM, Mary. Wife. Birth: 1838 Flitwick
KINGHAM, John Son. Birth: 1858, Flitwick
KINGHAM, Phoebe Dau. Birth: 1866, Flitwick
KINGHAM, George Son. Birth: 1868, Flitwick
KINGHAM, Hepzibah Dau.  Birth: 1871, Flitwick
KINGHAM, Thomas Son. Birth: 1873, Flitwick
KINGHAM, Joseph Son. Birth: 1875, Flitwick
KINGHAM, Mary Jane Dau. Birth: 1876,  Flitwick

KINGHAM, Nathaniel Head. Birth: 1839, Flitwick
KINGHAM, Sarah Wife. Birth: 1844, Flitwick
KINGHAM, Elizabeth Ann Dau. Birth: 1867, Flitwick
KINGHAM, Jane Dau. Birth: 1870, Flitwick
KINGHAM, Lucy Dau. Birth: 1873, Flitwick
KINGHAM, Thomas Son.  Birth: 1875, Flitwick
KINGHAM, Alfred Son. Birth: 1878, Flitwick
KINGHAM, Florence Dau. Birth: 1880, Flitwick

KINGHAM, Elizabeth Dau. Birth: 1858, Flitwick
 

This is taken from a talk given by Chris Kingham and the information was kindly supplied by Frances Avery:
The victim was John Kingham of Bledlow, born in 1828 at Ilmer in Buckinghamshire and the son of Joshua and Hannah Kingham. His twin brother James remained in Ilmer, while others of the family scattered including two, Charles and George, who went to Australia. (See follow-up story below).
When John married Susannah Gregory at Dinton in November 1852, she had already given birth to their first son George, and there was another child, Sarah Ann, probably the mother of the boy Herbert Kingham who figures in the story.
The Kinghams had been farmers at Ilmer for some generations. Both Joshua and his son John were labourers but John had, by the time of his death, worked his way up to having a small farm at Bledlow Ridge, called Studmore Farm, but often known as Newell, from the previous inhabitants. His small farmhouse was on the Ridge road, with its fields stretching out behind it, down the south slope of the ridge towards Radnage village.
The 1881 Census records the family:
Dwelling: Newells Farm
Census Place: Bledlow, Buckingham, England
John KINGHAM. Aged 52  Born: Illmere. Occupation: Farmer 44 Acres, employs 1 Boy
Susannah KINGHAM Aged 57  Born: North Marston, Buckingham,
Sarah Ann KINGHAM Aged 26 Born: Bledlow.
Adjacent to his land was Yewsden Wood belonging to Lord Carrington who allowed the local farmers to shoot in it (although local labourers also poached in it.) John Kingham seems to have taken on himself the position of unofficial keeper of the wood and had been responsible for getting several local lads charged with poaching. This had little affect and two families in particular, the Averys and the Brooks regularly shot over Yewsden Wood.
John Kingham did most of the farm work himself with the help of one labourer, George Martin. George's wife, Dorcas, did some of the housework but John did the cooking himself once his wife had separated from him, and for his grandson Herbert, the only other resident of the farm.

1881 Census for the Martin family
George MARTIN Aged 34  Born: Bledlow Ridge, Buckingham. Occ: Ag Labr
Dorcas MARTIN Aged 33  Born: Bledlow Ridge. Occ: Lace maker
John MARTIN Aged 13  Bledlow Ridge. Occ: Ag Labr
Elizabeth MARTIN   Aged 10  Born: Bledlow Ridge, Buckingham, England
Eliza MARTIN   Aged 8  Born: Bledlow Ridge, Buckingham, England
Horace MARTIN   Aged 5  Born: Bledlow Ridge, Buckingham, England
Edith MARTIN   Aged 2  Born: Bledlow Ridge, Buckingham, England

On Thursday September 28th 1893 George Martin went home just before 5.30pm and young Herbert went down to Feasey's Farm to play, leaving John chopping firewood in the yard. That was the last either of them saw him alive. As Herbert skipped down the road, he heard a shot or two in the wood and thought nothing of it.
But John Kingham evidently went to investigate. From her house at Town End, Radnage, Elizabeth Styles saw his tall figure emerge form the top wood and vanish in to the lower wood. She too heard several shots, but this was common place enough at this time of the year.
Some of the men took more notice of the shots. Uriah Dell and John Newell attributed them to poachers out rather early in the evening. They said as much to John Avery, standing by Cross Lane Pond with his gun. John said he then walked up to Radnage church where he was sexton to collect some tools. As he was doing this he heard, around 6.00pm more shots and some voices who he later said he recognised as those of the Brooks especially Patsy Brook.
When Herbert arrived back home at 7.45pm, he found the wood still in the yard, the cows unmilked and the place deserted. He went to the Martins for help: George dealt with the stock, then went to search for John Kingham, helped by Jonah Britnell. They failed and in the morning went to constable Ware for help.
Ware found John Kingham's body in the lower wood, with his skull fearfully battered in form behind and his throat cut deeply. Much of the blood had been washed away by heavy rain, which had muddied the ground around. Soon locals poured in to the wood and further obliterated any trace of what had happened. The first on hand, when Britnell went to get help to carry the body home, was John Avery.
Two days later, Avery was arrested. Blood had been found on his clothing and a knife in his pocket. There was plenty of evidence of poaching on him and in his house and many people had seen him in the vicinity at the time of the murder
Four days later, his twin brother Richard was also arrested. His clothing was also blood-stained although he claimed that this was sheep's blood from a sheep he had skinned.
The bloodstained clothing was till around the house the two brothers shared with their mother and John's wife, and no attempt had been made to conceal it. Ironically, it was Richard who had been first to take the news to John Kingham's family at Ilmer, and had then hinted that he knew who had done it. Subsequently both brothers accused the Brooks, but not to the police after they had been arrested. The Brooks family were questioned but no brought to court.
A lot of people had seen the two Averys walking around that evening, John with a gun, Richard without. Both were elsewhere and in the presence of several witnesses when someone was firing shots in Yewsden Wood but Richard walked through the Wood - in a different part - shortly after, and John could produce no evidence that he was in Radnage churchyard when he claimed he was. Both had an interests in the wood, as regular poachers, and seemed to know a lot about the manner of the death. But then many had seen the body and there had been much gossip afterwards. John, of course, had helped carry the body back to the farm.
During the course of the trial it became evident that there was a great deal of friction between the Avery and Brooks families.
As the trial proceeded the general evidence was that there had been a number of shots fired in Yewsden Wood, mostly when John and Richard Avery were at some distance, and in company of other persons. Because people were returning from work many of the witnesses were very conscious of the time.
The Avery brothers had an excellent defending lawyer in R.S.Wood who didn't miss a trick and made most of the evidence of the animals blood.  The County anaysist, W.W. Fisher, said John's coat was stained with blood and feathers, that it was mammalian blood but no proof if it was human. Richard Avery's shirt, he said, were slightly spotted, consistent with having a sheep burst over him. It was most evident they were poachers but there was insufficient evidence to convict, so the charges were dismissed. The brothers were warned that they would be re-arrested if further evidence came to light but despite the fact that in total three inquests were held they were never convicted.
There was still suspicion about the Brooks family and Patsy Brooks in particular who had been arrested for poaching in the past and both John Kingham and Richard Avery had been witnesses in this trial but who ever had carried out the murder was never brought to trial.
Today, the ghost of John Kingham is said to walk the village at night and can be felt at Studmore Farm.

A follow-up to this story comes from Arthur Chapman in Australia.
Charles who was baptised at Ilmer on 13th August 1834, left for Australia on 6th May 1857, sailing on the "John and Lucy". He died in 1913 and was buried in Millthorpe, central New South Wales. His brother George, emigrated two years later, sailing on The British Empire. He died in 1916 and is also buried in Millthorpe.
Descendants of the family still live in NSW.
 
 

1881 Census:
Dwelling: 54 Victoria Road, Aston, Warwick.
James H. KINGHAM Aged 32  Born: Croydon, Middlesex, England. Occ: Hotel Keeper
Lily KINGHAM   Aged: 10  Born: London, Middlesex, England
Percy KINGHAM   Aged 8  Born London, Middlesex, England
Harry KINGHAM   Aged 6 Born London, Middlesex, England
Ethel KINGHAM   Aged 3 Born London, Middlesex, England

In 1906, two missionaries, Rev. Harry Claude Kingham and his wife Octavia were killed in a massacre at Nan Ch'ang.
A mob had attacked the missionaries. The Kinghams were killed although the lives of seven others were saved by the intervention of the local chinese militia. It seemed that the principle target of the attack was the Catholic missionary next door but the Kinghams, who had built a chapel and house, were caught up in the attack and their buildings were burned and resulted in their loss of life.
In the aftermath of the murders, there was considerable controversy over the custody of the orphaned daughter, Margaret Vera Kingham, that involved the British government and the diplomatic service.
The Kinghams had gone to China in the mid 1890s, as missionaries for the Plymouth Brethren, a strict christian sect that adopted a very righteous and restrictive way of life. (One of their habits was that before replying to letters they had to undertake meditation.)
There were two sets of claimants for custody, Percy Kingham, an uncle, and the Revs.  H.E. Pownall and F.J. Hopkins who were fellow missionaries of the Kinghams.
Like his father Percy Kingham was a hotel keeper, but also a farmer in South Africa.
Margaret had been born in Kuling in 1903. Octavia, her mother, was a sister of the Rev. Pownall and Octavia's family had several members in the clergy. Harry Kingham's sister, Ethel was married to the Rev. Hopkins and hence their claim was that this kept the little girl both in the family but also in the right environment which would have been the wish of the deceased parents.
This was also supported by many members of the family who wrote to say that the girl's best interests would be served by staying with her uncles and aunts.
Percy Kingham was against the idea. In April 1906 he wrote from Drummond, Natal:
"I feel very strongly regarding the dear baby Vera that was saved: but, although we know that the child will receive from you the tenderest care and attention, we think that perhaps it is not quite right to keep the child in such a country. Therefore we beg for charge of same. As you are aware, Ethel, our ideas regarding religion are not so extreme as yours, but we still strive to do right, and, I hope, we do so. Consequently you could be rest assured that the baby would be carefully reared and brought up even as well as poor Harry and his wife would wish. I should not make this proposal had I not immediate hopes of leaving my present line of business for good. I greatly dislike it, and hope in the near future to devote our whole time to farming wattles."
Percy and his wife were childless. He had joined the Army in around 1890 serving first in India and then in South Africa. He had left the Army and had stayed in South Africa, opening a hotel business where it was said "he indulged in card playing" and appeared to have generated a long line of creditors.
The Chinese government paid 4,000 pounds in compensation for the death and it was perhaps this sum that made the guardianship of the child attractive to Percy.
However, his claim was turned down. An order was made in late 1907 that Pownall and Hopkins be made joint guardians. But within the judgement it was stipulated that Vera be sent home and be educated in "Other than purely missionary surroundings in ordered that she might have the opportunity of exercising her own free will as to whether she should ultimately become a missionary herself or not."
Finally in 1908, a new mission was built in Nan Ch'ang; it was called the "Chih Shih Mission" and carried on the work started by Harry Kingham.

(If anyone has a follow-up to this story I would be very pleased to hear.)

Kingham Miscellany
*James KINGHAM was born about 1586 possibly in Ivinghoe. His will of 1644 requests " Cristiane burialle in the Church Yard of Ivinghoe". Ivinghoe Parish register LDS film # 1042386 shows his burial record.  In early 1700 there is mention of land in Cheddington. He married Elizabeth (unknown). Born About 1587. Died 1649 in Ivinghoe.
Related KINGHAM descendants lived in Seabrooke (near Ivinghoe), Hudnall (near Little Gaddesden and Edlesborough), Little and Great Gaddesden, Leverstock Green, Apsley, and to the present day in Hemel Hempstead.
James born ca. 1586 is an ancestor of the Watford Wholesale Grocer KINGHAMs who descend from Barret KINGHAM christened 3 November,1754 in St. Mary's Hemel Hempstead.
*A 1695 will of Thomas, wheelwright of Little Gaddesden mentions a James Kingham of Beaconsfield lately deceased.

*Two wills from the Kingham's at North Crawley:
Will of Edward Kingham, yeoman of North Crawley, dated 30 August 1705:
1.  To my youngest son Edward Kingham and his heirs, all my cottage and tenement situate in Brook End in North Crawley wherein one William Young now dwelleth with all the houses, barns, buildings, yards, gardens, orchards, ground and appurtenances, and also my half acre of arable land being in Moors Field, North Crawley, and my other cottages and lands in North
Crawley.
2.  I nominate my said son Edward Kingham sole executor.
3.  To my eldest son William Kingham 5 shillings to be paid two months after my death.
4.  Edward Kingham to maintain and keep my son William Kingham during his life and provide for him meat, drinks, apparel, washing and lodging during his life.
5.  My will is that my said son Edward Kingham shall within the space of one month after my decease raise, borrow, bound on unto Niicolls Laskett of North Crawley Esq. by obligation in due form of law to raise the sum of £150... in order to keep my son William Kingham.
6.  All the rest of the estate to Edward Kingham.
7.  I humbly entreat the said Nicolls Laskett and William Hoskett* the younger to be overseers of this my will
The mark of Edward Kingham
Witnesses: Thomas Marshall, John Taylor, Will Leverett, Isaac Leverett
*This name could also be Laskett, or the other Hoskett, but they did look different, if equally illegible!!
Probate was on 24 April 1706, when Edward Kingham appeared.
The reference for this will is D/A/We/49/15 and D/A/Wf/62/15.  One is the
original and one is a copy in a book.

The other Kingham Will I noted was the will of John Kingham husbandman of North Crawley, dated 27 January 1727:
1.  Appoints Mary "My loving Wife" executor
2.  To my mother Elizabeth Kingham the clock and case now standing in the firehouse or kitchen, which now stands seized for rent due to the execs (sic) of William Lowndes, son, Esq., decd. and desire she may have the same there being sufficient to pay the rent without that and hope they will acquit it.
3.  To my 2 sisters Sarah and Mary Kingham 10 shillings each.
4.  To my brother Edward Kingham all my day wearing apparel of all sorts whatsoever as coats, waistcoates, breeches, hats, hose, shoes, boots and all other apparel except linen.
5.  I will that my brother Edward Kingham shall have my cottage or tenement and orchard in Brook End in North Crawley with the yards, gardens, and appurtenances and also my half acre of arable land  more or less lying in a field called Moorsfield on a furlong near Berryhead with the Hades (sic), baulks, cornans (sic) and appurtenances.
6.  After my debts and legacies..... the rest of my goods and chattels to my loving wife Mary Kingham
Signed Edward Kingham
Witnesses:  Matthew Marshall, John Smith, Ben. Leverett.
Probate was granted to Maria Kingham  23 Oct 1727.
References to this will are: D/A/We/63/58 and D/A/Wf/75/58
 
 

The first records of Kingham's emmigrating to the U.S. indicates that bar one this was due to being sentenced to transportation:
* William Kingham from Shoreditch, imprisoned in Newgate, transported in July 1674 but reprieved when reaching Barbados.
* Thomas Kingham sentenced April 1720, transported May on the ship Honour from London but escaped in Vigo, Spain. The details of the ships log and manifest are:
Ship Honour. Newgate (Prison), London, England to York River in Virginia departure after 21 June 1720.
After to.  By Virtue of his Ma.s Gen.l Pres Pat.s Dorm.t bearing Date the 14th of August 1714.  These are to Pray and Require Your Lord.s to draw an order for paying unto Jonathan Forward of London Merchant or his assignes the Sum of 180* without acco.t  The same being paid in pursuance of certaine Articles of Agreem.t bearing Date the 22.d day of April 1719 and made or mentioned to be made between us on his Ma.ts behalfe of the one Part and the said Jonathan Forward of the other part For the Allowance of 3* per head for a upon Threescore Malefactors who being under Sentence of Transportation and lying in Newgate in the City of London were recorded by order of the said Jonathan Forward on board the Ship Honour, Richard Langley Master to be transported to Virginia As appears by the annesced Certificate bearing Date the 20th day of May Instant wherein every the names of the said Malefactors are expressed In Consideration of which said Allowance the said Jonathan Forward agreed at his owne Cost and
Charges to transport the said Malefactors to some of his Ma.ts Plantations in America without any Charge to his Maty for their Transpsortation Conveying on board or otherwise and hath given Security pursuant to the said Articles for the Actual transporting the said Malefactors
accordingly And let the said Order be Satisfied out of any Money in the Rec.t of the Eschsquor Applicable to the Uses of his Ma.ts Civil Governm.t And for so doing ?? Whitehall Trea.ry ChaS.s the 31st day of May 1720.
Let this be executed
Signed Whitehall Treasury
To Aud.? Rec.t Date: 21 June 1720 S. IA.GB.RE.
Signed J. Aislabie, Geo: Baillie, Wm. Clayton

A True List of the Felons ship.d on board the Honour now lying in the River Thames Richard Langley Mas.t in Order to be transported to York River in Virginia:

John Layfoile, Mary Jones, James Heathcott, Anne Brett, Mary North, James Wilson, Charles Hinchman, Wm. Smith, Rich.d Smith, Ralph Finley, Eliz: Fann, Susan Smith,
Eliz: Goodchild, Dorthy Miller, Zephoniah Martin, Tho.s Price, Wm. Wetherall, Jasper Andrews, Edward Busby, Tho.s Brown ats Cassills,  Joseph Winterbottom, Joseph Bryan,
Tho.s Kingham, Ann Wells, John White, Benj.n Price, James Holliday, Wm. Bond, James Mercy, Eliz: Hutchins, Sam.o Dooly, John Griffiths, Tho.s Harwood, Wm. Wynn, Eliz: Jones
Jane Best, Eliz: Rigby, Martin Grey, Margaret Wilson, Isaac Wooden, David Wilson, Wm. Isaac, Isabele Huntridge, Margaret Holson, Wm. Robinson, Anne Chapman, Mary Selby, Sarah Wrenn, Martha Smallman, Jane Ridgell, Susan Lloyd, Joseph Rose, Anne Jeland ats Nichols  James Dalton, Anthony Goodard and John Blackstone, John Pindar, Samuel Clay, Sarah May,
Elizabeth Smith

These are to Certify whom it may concerne that I have record of Mr. Jonathan Forward Merchant on board the Ship Honour now lying in the River Thames and bound for York River in Virginia the above named Sixty Felons being ordered to be transported pursuant to a late Act of Parliament as Witness my hand this 19th day of May 1720. Signed: Richard Langley, Master
Witness: John Parry - Turnkey Tho.s Brownell-Bell Court Grays Inn Lane.
These are to Certify that pursuant to an Order made at the Sessions of Good Delivery of Newgate held for the City of London and County of Midd.s at Jushcohall in the Old Bailey on Wednesday the 17th day of April last Jonathan Forward of London Merchant hath given Sufficient Security to Richard Harcourt and Mathew Tannor Deputy Clerks of the
Peace for the said City and County for the offichial transporting to Virginia the within named several persons who then stood convicted of several Thefts and Larcenies and were ordered by the Court for transportation According to the Directions of an Act of Parliament in
the Case made and provided. Signed Math: Tanner 20th May 1720

The contributor of this document states that there is more information available in the book "Bondage Passengers to America" by Wilson Coldham. There was a mutiny on this ship and it was forced into port at Vigo, Spain where 15 were put ashore.  This is a list of the people that left the Thames in London but which ones actually got off at York River, Virginia is unknown.
* Thomas Kingham, sentenced and transported January 1722 on the ship Gilbert. (Although we don't know, there seems to be a fair chance that this Thomas is the same one who escaped two years earlier).
* Robert Kingham, aged 15 of Tingrith, Bedfordshire sailed 13th May 1723, bound to George Kennard of Virginia for 7 years.
* John Kingham of Buckinghamshire, transported May 1767.
 
 

In Holden's Annual Directory for 1811, three Kinghams are recorded in London:
* Thomas Kingham - Grocer, Duke Street, Chelsea.
* Thomas Kingham and Sons - Painters, 2 Long Acre.
* William Kingham - Butcher, 52 Paradise Row, Chelsea.

Kinghams in and around Tring in 1851
At High Street, Tring
1. Mary KINGHAM, 58, widow, Proprietor of houses and fundholder from Tring, with her niece, Susan FOSTER and servant Sarah PANGBORN. At another house Ann KINGHAM, 26, was a house servant to Harriet FRITH.

2. At Brookend, Tring
Joseph KINGHAM, 55, agricultural labourer from Wilstone; his wife Sarah, 53, straw plaiter
from Drayton Beauchamp, Bucks, with two unmarried daughters, two grandsons, and a lodger, Thomas BRADDING, 26, bricklayers labourer.

3. At Lower Dunsley, Tring
John King, 25, agricultural labourer, his wife Rebecca, 22, and son James, 2, all from Tring.

4. At Wilstone
Matthew KINGHAM, 66, widower, a pauper agricultural labourer from Tring, lodging with
Joyce Edwards.

5. At Little Gaddesden
Henry KINGHAM, 42, unmarried Chelsea Pensioner, from Sleepshyde.
Rose KINGHAM, 69, straw plaiter from Dagnall, Bucks, mother of Mark WATERTON

6. At Nettleden
James KINGHAM, 46, agricultural labourer from Little Gaddesden and his wife Charlotte, 57
from Ivinghoe, Bucks and unmarried stepdaughters Charlotte (23) and Amelia SIMMONDS
(30) and granddaughter Ann SIMMONDS (1). The women were all plaiters.

7. At the Union Workhouse, Berkhamsted
William KINGHAM, 74, pauper stone sawyer from Eddlesborough, Bucks.

The Slough Area

My Great Great Grandfather Issac Kingham was Verger at Rochester Cathedral, Kent and is recorded there in the 1851 census.
His father was James Kingham (Wife Eleanor) who lived in Upton cum Chalvey ( now Slough). Christening dates for Issac and his siblings are as follows:
William ch 18/05/1778
James ch 22/11/1779
Henrietta ch 22/04/1781
Martha ch 22/09/1782
Mary Amelia ch 21/09/1783
Elizabeth ch 14/08/1789
Isaac ch 05/02/1791
I am currently doing some research on James who  worked for the East India Company as a printer and I have his Testamonials.

Kingham Index
Graham Thomas