Northamptonshire – Death On My Doorstep

1/ Naseby Wife Murder, April 1883

2/ Finedon, Northamptonshire, January 1894

The bell-ringers of Finedon were ringing out the old year and just about to start the New Year peal, when the top campanologist there, a chap called Moon, keeled over and died. The rest of the service was cancelled.

3/ Kettering Suicide, July 1894

Frederick Parrott, a hawker, was found near a hedgerow in Cherry Hill-Wood, Kettering, with a self-inflicted wound on his throat. The clasp knife was near to the body, suggesting it was suicide.

4/ Towcester, Northamptonshire, April 1899

Several people in the town observed a child carrying, what looked like a doll in its arms, but on closer inspection revealed itself to be a dead baby. The child was taken home, and a horrific sight met them as police entered the kitchen. The mother of the two kids lay dead on the floor, and she was identified as the wife of George Johnson, of Shepherd’s Lane. A post-mortem exam revealed that Mrs Johnson had prematurely given birth to the child while alone. A neighbour, Mrs Boswell had heard the woman’s screams and groans and found the pair in the kitchen, so she ran to get help. Meanwhile, her other daughter had come in and had seen the baby on the floor, thought it was a doll and carried it off. The baby died of lack of nourishment and an early birth, the mother’s death was lack of medical help.

5/ Desborough Level-Crossing Death, May 1899

6/ Kettering, December 1858 (Bridegroom Suicide)

Francis Baxter, the son of a Kettering High Street glass dealer, was due to get married at the age of only 18, to his 16-year-old bride, Sarah Morris, a neighbour’s daughter. The wedding was arranged for Christmas Day, and another couple, who were to share the same apartments as them, would also be wed the same day, a double-wedding! Come the day Baxter never appeared so the vicar performed the ceremony for the other couple, and while he was doing so he sent the sexton to find out what was going on. The sexton came back with the horrific news that Baxter had committed suicide. The bride was waiting in her dress, with the carriage at the door, when she received the news. He had shot himself in the head with a pistol and left a prayer book on the bed pillow where he committed the act. A portrait of his wife to be was next to the bed as well. On Christmas Eve he had gone to his parents’ house, where an argument had got out of hand, the boys father unhappy with the choice of bride and also her youth. When he was found, the body was stiff, and post-mortem stated that he’d been dead quite a few hours. This was confirmed by neighbours who said they heard a gun-shot at five o’clock.

7/ Northampton Gaol, December 1872

John Howe, late Governor of Northampton Gaol, who was sentenced to a long term of penal servitude for complicity in an unlawful operation on the matron of that institution, has been released from Portland Prison in a dying condition.

8/ Stoke Bruerne Murder/Suicide, March 5th, 1885

9/ Stoke Bruerne Murder/Suicide, April 28th, 1885

10/ Molton, August 1845 (Human Remains)

The skeletons of three human beings were found in the village of Molton in Northamptonshire. Some labourers were excavating near the school-house when they discovered the remains of a man, and further digging produced the bones of two more, lying across each other. There is a strong suspicion of murder in this case, and the sexton of the parish was informed, and he collected the remains and gave them a decent burial in the churchyard. This displeased the minister as the vicar had not given permission, and the Church authorities are looking into the matter. (What happened?)

11/ Between Althorp Park Station and East Haddon, August 1892

12/ Northampton, October 1893

A young man by the name of John Merrick, who was in good spirits and had a good relationship with his wife, was discovered in bed with a stocking shoved down his throat. It had been rammed in with great force, and it was gripped with his teeth, and the suicide had happened while his wife went to the shop for breakfast food. Merrick himself is a strapping bloke so the chance of it being murder is extremely unlikely. He must have had a sudden moment of madness when he did the deed.

13/ Kettering Kidnapping, January 1899

14/ Northampton Railway Station, October 1860

Richard Williams, aka Richard Hayward Grove Williams, who gained notoriety as having got the job of a clergyman in Nassington, Northamptonshire under false pretences, committed suicide at Northampton Railway Station, after being captured and arrested by police the previous night. The Welsh-born twenty-something seemed to b******t his way through life and jobs as far afield as Norwich, London and Torquay in Devon. He was nearly always sacked from his employment, but he forged the papers to get the job as curate in Nassington. He took to the job and performed the rites at weddings etc, but in his spare time, he was selling and buying stolen goods from London. When he was found out he fled Nassington, then the authorities started to investigate the man’s shady past. An arrest warrant was issued and he was traced to an address in Catherine Street, Thornhill Square, Islington, and had a short-lived job as a teacher at a college in Woburn in Bedfordshire, but he was sacked last week. Finally, he was arrested at a house near Strand and was to be transported back to Northamptonshire, to await trial. As the train pulled up in Northampton, Henry Webb, the London detective transporting him back, and Williams, got off to change trains. This was the chance he sought, and Williams jumped in front of an incoming engine, killing himself immediately. The question arose of why he hadn’t been handcuffed to the prisoner, but it was so that it didn’t unnerve the fellow passengers on the trains.

15/ St James’s End, Northampton, August 1885

16/ Kettering, May 1852

Sarah Pierce, was an orphan from a good background, worked at the George Hotel as a barmaid. Sarah tried to kill herself by taking oxalic acid. The first job she had was at Mr Mansell’s in Malsor, and she left there due to her reputation being sullied by the sending of two letters to her employers. This preyed upon her mind, and it was this that caused her suicide attempt. The second letter to Mrs Harradine, her mistress, sent for the girl’s aunt, and they were going to confront her. On reading the letter to her, she exclaimed:”I am persecuted to death-I cannot live”. She was then left for a minute to calm down, and when she came back she told her aunt-“I cannot bear it-I have taken poison”. The girl now lies in a precarious condition with little chance of pulling through. There are ongoing investigations as to the sender of the dreadful letters.

17/ Northampton Murder, March 1899

18/ Long Buckley Manslaughter, April 1840

One night at the home of Reverend Gardner and his wife, in Long Buckley, Northamptonshire, a loud bang on the door woke them both. He went to see what the commotion was and could find nothing untoward but saw from his window a couple of men running away from the premises. When he got the bedroom, his wife was lying on the floor unconscious. He tried to revive her but she had died, literally from fright. The perpetrators were apprehended and they were three shoemakers (common in Northampton), who had been on a pub-crawl and threw something at the door. They will now be charged with manslaughter for their foolish antics and have been placed in the county gaol.

19/ Northampton Lunatic Asylum, October 1860 (Boiled to Death)

At Northampton Lunatic Asylum, a female patient killed herself by throwing herself into a copper of boiling water. At the inquest, the attendants were judged to have been totally blameless but were advised that the coppers should be fenced off.