This was a case covered by many of the newspapers of the day due to its horrific nature and its subsequent trial at the Old Bailey, and yet it seems to have been lost to history, so let’s begin at the beginning. Samuel Wild Mitchell was born in 1751, just a year after his parents, James Mitchell and Elizabeth Wild’s clandestine marriage and was baptised at St Botolph church, Aldgate in the City of London. At the age of aged 21, he married Hannah Kelley, with whom he had a son, named for his father, born 1772, and a daughter, Mary (born 1774) and another daughter.

In early June 1809, the second battalion of the 8th regiment returned to Portsmouth with preparations being made for them to sail out towards the end of the month. Their baggage and ammunition were placed on Point Beach. About 11am on 24 June there was a dreadful explosion – it was nothing less than a barrel of gunpower. The Caledonian Mercury, 29 June 1809  the reporter stated that: The effect was most dreadful. About 20 men, women and children were literally blown to atoms, and the remains of their bodies, limbs and heads were strewn in all directions.