Thomas Frederick TUDOR was born in Newcastle, New South Wales in 1870. He was one of thirteen children born to Thomas TUDOR an immigrant born Staffordshire, England in 1829 and his wife Ellen nee WILLIAMSON born 1834 in Fifeshire, Scotland.
In 1898, 18 year old Thomas Frederick had a son to miss Emma May Ashton, She named the baby Albert Cyril ASHTON and Thomas Frederick paid his 5 shillings a week support for the infant.
Emma and the baby lived with her parents and Thomas made the occassional visit.
One evening Thomas arrived at Emma's house at Catherine Hill Bay and he, Emma and the then 9 month old Albert walked down to the boathouse to spend some time together. They laid the baby down on the floor of the boathouse where according to his mother the child fell asleep on a blanket. After about half an hour they headed back to the house it was dark and the baby began coughing and crying. Thomas lit a match to see what was wrong with the infant and they both noticed the baby's face was green.
Emma took the child inside the house and Thomas went home. The child became worse and Emma woke her mother. The mother gave the baby butter as an emetic but the child continued to cry and was obviously in pain. They sent for the doctor but by the time he arrived the next morning the child was dead.
The doctor performed an autopsy and declared the baby had been poisoned with Paris Green. Paris green was a mixture of copper and arsenic which was used as a rat poison and it is also a pigment which was used in paint. Emma declared Thomas had poisoned her baby because he didn't want to pay child support.
An inquest was held and the jury declared the child died from wilful poisoning. Thomas was arrested and committed for trial. The newspapers all over Australia ran headlines declaring Thomas Frederick TUDOR charged with poisoning his illegitimate son.
Thomas's popular and well respected family were held up to ridicule.The trial was held at the Sydney Criminal Court on 14 June 1899 and the jury disagreed on the verdict, so the judge ordered a retrial.
The second trial was held at Maitland Circuit Court on 27 September 1899. Thomas pleaded his innocence and the jury returned a verdict of not guilty.
Although Thomas was free, there was still the matter of the baby being poisoned and the population was divided over the issue.

Today, of course we don't use Paris Green in our dyes or paints.
And fishermen no longer paint their boats and boathouse floors with it to keep the barnacles away.

Janilye

The Children of Thomas Tudor and Ellen nee WILLIAMSON:-
Ellen Tudor 1855 ? 1860
Mary Tudor 1856 ? 1861
Thomas Tudor 1858 ? 1860
Robert Henry Tudor 1860 ? 1861
Ann Jane Tudor 1862 ? 1864
George Henry Tudor 1864 ? 1912
Adelaide Tudor 1866 ? 1945
Blondon Tudor 1868 ?
Thomas Frederick Tudor 1870 ? ????????
Robert Ernest Tudor 1872 ? 1948
Albert Hamilton Tudor 1874 ? 1877
Alice Felecia Tudor 1877 ? 1939
Blanche Tudor 1880 ? 1880