Higgins may well have based Harvey Preston on Bernville-Claye, although he was virtually unknown until 2000 when his illegitimate daughter started researching her family tree. Does anyone know how Higgins came across Claye?

It is also worth stating that much written about Preston is not based upon fact, and is based upon speculation, often from people who did not like him.

His daughter had something of a chip on her shoulder, as a read of the genealogy site will show – eg her description of her fathers family “It's easy to imagine the Clays and the Websters as they appear in the 1881 census: living in back-to-back houses in Hunslet and Beeston in streets which no longer exist; houses with no bathrooms, no gardens, no back doors, front door opening directly on to the street, washing strung in lines across the street, soot hanging in the air, horse-dung...”

There is a degree of bitterness that taints her research into her father.

Unfortunately sites like Wikipedia picked up some of her comments (or possibly she wrote the entry herself). I have already pointed out to them several erroneous or unverified comments.

Has anyone ever seen any proof that he was a traitor?