A swindler's progress [[electronic resource] ] : nobles and convicts in the age of liberty / / Kirsten McKenzie

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910780956403321
• Autore: McKenzie Kirsten <1970->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Sydney, : UNSW Press, 2009
• ISBN: 1-74223-113-6
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (352 p.)
• Disciplina: 364.16/3; 364.163
• Soggetti: Impostors and imposture; Social status
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Originally published: Sydney, N.S.W. : University of New South Wales Press, 2009.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Contents; Prologue: His Lordship on trial; Part one: Arcadia; Et in Arcadia ego; The price of the county; Part two: Rum and disgrace; Harewood at bay; The lost heir; Part Three: Antipodes; A wild and distant shore; His Lordship's tour de force; Epilogue: The play is played out; Reflections on A Swindler's Progress; Notes; References; Index
• Sommario/riassunto: In May 1835 in a Sydney courtroom, a slight, prematurely balding man was charged with forgery. The prisoner claimed he was Edward, Viscount Lascelles, eldest son of the Earl of Harewood. The Crown alleged he was a confidence trickster and serial impostor. Was this the real Edward Lascelles, heir to one of Britain's most spectacular fortunes? How had he come to vanish? What does his tale tell us about status and class, property and wealth, and nobles and convicts in the first part of the nineteenth century? Part mystery story, part narrative history, this is a tale of swindlers, adventurers and