BLOODY LONDON
9781844865505_Bloody London_txt_app.indd 1
25/11/2019 10:55
9781844865505_Bloody London_txt_app.indd 2
25/11/2019 10:55
BLOODY LONDON Twenty Walks in London, Tracing its Gruesome and Horrific History
Written and illustrated by DAVID FATHERS
9781844865505_Bloody London_txt_app.indd 3
26/11/2019 10:08
y wa ll o Ho
&C
am den
n& Covent Ga rd e
nst er 9781844865505_Bloody London_txt_app.indd 4
e & Belgravia bridg 56
We stm i
hts nig ,K n to ing South Kens
Westminster (Political) 6 2
&
68
Ken sin g
n to
Tyburn 40
48
Im
ho So
24
ill gH ttin o N
18
25/11/2019 10:55
Deat
So ut h
’s Cr os s
30
ton 36 ylebone & Padding
ing
& via zro Fi t
Mar
ar k, K
Hol born
Regent’ sP
Foreword 7 Introduction 9
irst Zepp
to ing Isl
T he F
y& wa ll o Ho
CONTENTS
n
12
elin Raid 108
Im pr iso n me nt
&
at P l
a gu e8
0
02 ipper 1 the R Jack
T he C
ity of London 82 The G reat Fire 86 Death & the Thames 72
So ut h
ard en
&
42
Hol born
on cuti
30
Exe
The G re
& rk wa
Lambeth 114
The East End 94
Using this book
11
Holloway & Islington
12
Regent’s Park, King's Cross & Camden
18
Fitzrovia & Soho
24
Covent Garden & Holborn
30
Marylebone & Paddington
36
Tyburn
40
Imprisonment & Execution
42
Kensington & Notting Hill
48
South Kensington, Knightsbridge & Belgravia
56
Westminster: Assassination,Terrorism & Regicide
62
The Gordon Riots 1780
66
Westminster
68
Death & the Thames
72
The Great Plague 1665
80
The City of London
82
The Great Fire of London 1666
86
The East End
94
Jack the Ripper
102
The First Zeppelin Raid on London
108
Southwark & Lambeth
114
Acknowledgements 120 Selected bibliography
121
Index 122
9781844865505_Bloody London_txt_app.indd 5
25/11/2019 10:55
Foreword
FOREWORD It is one of the occupational hazards of being a crime writer that one cannot pass a moment in idleness without contemplating murder. So, for us crime writers, the streets and parks of our cities have long been a playground of imagined mayhem. Would it be, we ask ourselves, a crime of impulsive anger? If so, would our killer escape the scene and cover their tracks? Or was it planned? Was the victim lured into a position where they could be shot, stabbed or poisoned? When our fictional detectives arrive on the scene – what clues will they find? It is also one of the joys of being a writer who lives and tells stories in London that you are surrounded by history. Not just the big obvious glamorous stuff such as the Tyburn gallows, the plague pits and the rookeries of St Giles, but also the little stories of the everyday – the Piggeries and Potteries in Notting Hill, the homeless shelter at Arlington House and the unassuming riverside villa where Holst lived. This is doubly so for a writer like me, who has so often used the history of London as a springboard for my imagination. I have frequently written myself into a corner in some forgotten corner of the capital, confident that London will provide some piece of history or folklore as a lifeline. So, imagine my joy when David Fathers asked me to write a foreword for his latest book. When I got my electronic preview copy, I opened it up expecting to know most of the horrible events – but I was wrong. I’d never heard of the trap door into the Fleet for inconvenient corpses at the Red Lion, mirroring the notorious Beale Street establishment known as the Castle of Missing Men whose back door led directly into a funeral parlour.
Image © Ben Aaronovitch 2020
Or that Primrose Hill and Chalk Farm were favoured spots for duelling in the 18th Century. Two naval officers clashed there in 1803 and the survivor only escaped hanging due to the intervention of Lord Nelson. I’ve also learned of the FrenchCanadian gangster who ran Soho in the 1920s and ended up dead in a ditch in St Albans and the murder in the household of the exiled King of Greece. David Fathers has managed to cram two thousand years of bloody London history into his book complete with beautifully clear maps and illustrations. His twenty walks each provide even the most jaded Londoner with a unique perspective on their city and will, I suspect, be a delight for any visitor. Ben Aaronovitch
7
9781844865505_Bloody London_txt_app.indd 7
25/11/2019 10:55
Right: a bottle of tartar emetic from the cabinet of George Chapman. Far right: the head of Hannah Brown recovered from Ben Jonson Lock on the Regent’s Canal in Stepney. 8
9781844865505_Bloody London_txt_app.indd 8
25/11/2019 10:55
Take a walk through Bloody London; from the once squalid East End, home of the country’s most infamous killer, through the City with memories of fire, prisons and plagues, to the West End of gangland killings, serial murders and ruthless conspirators (not forgetting those who accidentally drowned in beer). Moving beyond, to the execution fields of Tyburn and, further, to the white stuccoed terraces and verdant squares of west London with gruesome tales of acid baths, terrorism and a missing, murderous Lord. Stroll through north London past the homes of poisoners; sites of disaster, duels and prisons. Then onwards to south London with its own ample share of poisoners, murderers and a hapless Victorian parachutist. Journey through Westminster, where a prime minister was shot dead and a king beheaded, and along the Thames to a bridge that once displayed decapitated heads as a warning to all. And finally venturing downstream to the Tower, infamous for torture, imprisonment and death.
stood up and gave MacNamara such an excellent reference that he was acquitted and walked free. Following the First World War, Dr Norman Rutherford shot his wife’s lover dead, an action that should have seen him hanged, were it not for the testimonies of his fellow military doctors, who supported the suggestion that he was insane. Dodging the noose, Rutherford was despatched to Broadmoor Hospital only to be freed in 1928. That same year, William Holmyard, a former soldier, attacked and killed his grandfather. Holmyard had no influential friends to stand up for him and was later hanged. A sizeable number of women whose pitiful stories are told in this book were prostitutes. For these women, the very nature of their work placed them at great risk. Until the introduction of the welfare state, law and tradition put many women at an economic disadvantage. A Victorian working class woman, without the financial support of a husband or partner, had to take low paid, menial work just to stay alive. No social security payments were available and the only alternative was the brutal regime of the workhouse. Faced with this choice, many women sold their bodies for money.
One law for the rich and another for the poor In 1765, Lord Byron, great uncle of the poet, killed his cousin in a duel. The House of Lords found him guilty of manslaughter, but he did not hang because Byron was able to read a verse of the bible in Latin, which gave him the ‘Benefit of Clergy’. He was therefore above the law and any punishment. Fourteen years later no such benefit was afforded to the Reverend James Hackman. After shooting his former lover dead, he was hung ignominiously at Tyburn. In the early nineteenth century, a glowing character reference from a previous employer could also save you from the scaffold. In 1803, Captain James MacNamara RN had killed a fellow officer in a duel, on Primrose Hill. Later in court, Lord Horatio Nelson
Introduction
INTRODUCTION
Execution and reform In the eighteenth century, the day of an execution in London was often a holiday for many (though perhaps not for the condemned) with an excursion into the countryside west of London or Tyburn, as it was then known. Grandstands overlooking the gallows were constructed for those who could afford the admission fee. A carnival atmosphere developed before the ‘big event’ with food, drink and confectionery being sold. Afterwards, the executioner would often sell the clothes of the deceased and one-inch sections of the noose to the public as souvenirs. 9
9781844865505_Bloody London_txt_app.indd 9
25/11/2019 10:55
Introduction
site of the Cato Street conspiracy. Had it succeeded most of the Cabinet would have been killed and a revolution started. While a plaque marks the site of the first London house to be hit by an aerial bombing raid in 1915, there is no such memorial marker to the first victim, three-year-old Elsie Leggatt, killed during the same attack, less than a mile away.
Following the Gordon Riots in 1780, the government decided that it was no longer safe to move those condemned to die from Newgate Prison to Tyburn, as they might become a focus of opposition or insurrection. From 1783, hangings took place outside Newgate Prison.These events would still attract massive crowds if the felons were notorious such as the Edgware Road murderer, James Greenacre. In the case of poor Eliza Fenning, she was almost certainly not guilty of attempted murder by poisoning, but was hanged regardless in 1815. Forty-five thousand people turned up to witness this miscarriage of justice. By the mid-nineteenth century, there was a steady call from some politicians and the public to ban public executions altogether. Not only were they a gruesome spectacle but numerous people and children were being killed trying to witness the event. The use of the death penalty for crimes such as theft and forgery was abolished in 1832. A Royal Commission set up in 1864 did not abolish the death penalty, but did demand that executions be carried out within prisons. The Fenian, Michael Barrett, was the last person to be publicly executed in the UK, in 1868. It was not until 1965 that the death penalty was finally abolished in the UK.
Erased Most of the houses where numerous murders took place are usually quite anonymous. Many, of course, are no longer standing; either through neglect or the actions of enemy attacks. A German bomb hit the house of Dr Crippen in Camden in 1940, which was replaced by flats several years later. The notorious Dorset Street in Spitalfields, site of at least five murders, including one by Jack the Ripper, not only had its name changed in the early twentieth century, it was also completely buried under a modern shopping and office development. In west London, the house at 10 Rillington Place, where John Christie murdered seven women, was finally demolished in 1970. Nothing was ever built on the site of the murder house but it is preserved as a small private garden. This book is not a comprehensive guide to every murder and disaster within inner London, nor could it ever be. It is a selection, curated by geographical districts, that ranges from very mundane killings to the most gruesome attacks, murders and disasters. Out of respect for the victims themselves, their families and friends, I have not featured any event after 1984.
Memorials Understandably the majority of memorial plaques to be found in this book are to those civilians, military and emergency service personnel killed by terrorist outrages and disasters. The biggest memorial is the Monument to the Great Fire of London (in which it is claimed only six people died). Probably the oddest plaque marks the 10
9781844865505_Bloody London_txt_app.indd 10
25/11/2019 10:55
Using this book
USING THIS BOOK
This book features twenty walks of distances varying from 0.8km to 10km in length. These distances are shown just below each chapter title. Each route can be walked in a reverse sequence, but bear in mind that some of the longer stories with multiple incidents are usually arranged in chronological order. The book covers a total of over 110km or 70 miles of walks. I have, where possible, opted for quieter paths, away from busy main roads. Though they may not be the shortest route, they often prove to be more interesting. The route is shown by a red dotted line. A couple of paths, on private land, are closed at certain times and where possible I’ve shown an alternative path. Occasionally a path or street may be closed due to building or engineering work. In these circumstances there are usually alternative routes signposted by the contractor. All nearby Underground, Overground and railway stations are clearly marked on the maps throughout the book.
Symbols:
Clockwise from far left: a letter allegedly from Jack the Ripper; the house at 10 Rillington Place; the ricin-tipped umbrella used to kill Georgi Markov on Waterloo Bridge; the heads of the executed displayed on London Bridge.
The route
Railway station
Alternative route
Underground station
Steps
Overground station
Footpath/ pedestrian area
Clipper pier
11
9781844865505_Bloody London_txt_app.indd 11
25/11/2019 10:55
HOLLOWAY & ISLINGTON Total walking distance 8.9km
Hil ld
Rd
oad
tR
urs
kh Par
Holloway
Crescent
oad
p ro
rop R
Hilld
The districts of Holloway and Islington, once former villages beyond London, became heavily populated during the late Victorian period with a mixture of stuccoed and brick-built terraced rows for the newly emerging working and professional classes. This walk covers a great multitude of murders from notorious poisoners and baby killers to the tragic deaths of two of the 1960s most creative innovators within the space of seven months. This route also passes a former female prison that was, until its closure, the largest such prison in western Europe and a once ‘model’ prison. This was, until the early 1960s, the site of many notable executions.
2 Ronald Marwood While on patrol in Holloway, in December 1958, PC Raymond Summers came across a fight between two groups of Teddy Boys outside a dance hall (no longer standing) at 133 Seven Sisters Road. While he was trying to arrest one of the protagonists, PC Summers was stabbed in the back by Ronald Marwood and died before he could reach a hospital. Marwood went into hiding for several weeks before giving himself up to the police in late January 1959. At his trial, at the Old Bailey, Marwood’s defence barrister proposed a charge of manslaughter. However, the jury rejected this plea and he was found guilty of murdering a policeman and sentenced to death. Marwood was hanged at Pentonville Prison on 8 May. His hanging was one of several that motivated sections of the public and Parliament towards the concept of the abolition of the death penalty.
1 Frederick Seddon In July 1910, Miss Eliza Barrow, 47, and an orphaned boy in her care moved into the top floor of 63 Tollington Park, as lodgers. The landlords were Frederick Seddon, an insurance supervisor, and his wife Margaret. Barrow was a wealthy woman, owning numerous properties and stocks. Over the period of a year, Frederick Seddon began acting as a financial adviser to her and persuaded her to transfer all her assets to him in return for an annuity and rent-free accommodation. Following a holiday with the Seddons in August 1911, Eliza Barrow became suddenly ill and took to her bed. Within a few weeks she was dead, but not before dictating her will to Seddon. A death certificate was issued without a doctor viewing the body. With Seddon acting as Barrow’s executor he had her buried as cheaply as possible. A cousin of Barrow’s, who lived close by, enquired about her estate. Frederick Seddon was not forthcoming and so the cousin, who may have been expecting an inheritance, became suspicious and informed the police. Barrow’s body was exhumed and the presence of arsenic was discovered. Prior to Barrow’s death Seddon had bought a large amount of arsenic covered flypaper. This evidence, along with his acquiring of Barrow’s estate, led to him being found guilty and hanged at Pentonville Prison in 4 April 1912.
Tollingto
Camden Road
5 den
Cam
d
Roa
Clockwise from left: Dr Crippen; a vial of hyoscine; Joe Meek; the first Holloway Prison before its demolition in 1971; packet of flypaper as used by Frederick Seddon.
Loraine
Holloway Rd Underground 140m
12
9781844865505_Bloody London_txt_app.indd 12
Jackso
25/11/2019 10:55
Rd
Holloway & Islington
Annette Road
Holloway
oway Rd erground 140m
Hornsey Road
Durham Rd
Fonthill Road
3 Joe Meek Violet Shenton was shot to death, by her lodger, at 5 Dr Crippen Cora Crippen, a 35 year-old music hall performer her flat at 304 Holloway Road in early 1967. She was murdered by by the name of ‘Belle Elmore’, was last seen alive on 31 January 1910, Joe Meek, who then turned the gun upon himself. Meek had been at her home 39 Hilldrop Crescent (now Margaret Bondfield House), a leading experimental record producer and songwriter, who just off Camden Road. A few days later Dr Hawley 1 became disillusioned with the standard procedures Crippen’s mistress, Ethel Le Neve, delivered a Park n o gt n Tolli of music recording, so he created his own letter to the Music Hall Ladies’ Guild stating that studio within the rooms at number 304 to Cora had gone to America. ‘Doctor’ Crippen create his own unique sound. Meek was was an American trained homeopath, who responsible for several hits including Telstar by was dominated by his second wife, Cora, yet The Tornadoes, which reached number one managed to take a mistress. In early February he in the pop charts in 1962. Later, troubled by poisoned his wife with hyoscine, which caused Lennox Rd financial problems, lawsuits and arrests by the her breathing to stop, and he buried her under police for homosexual acts, he finally snapped. the cellar floor. A few months later Crippen On 3 February 1967, he killed told friends that Cora had died in the States, his landlady and then himself. but noting that Le Neve had moved into the Buddy Holly, a hero of house, they sensed that something Meek’s, had died on the was not right and contacted Scotland Finsbury very same day eight Yard. Crippen was interviewed Park years earlier. by Inspector Walter Dew. In fear, station Crippen then fled to Canada on the 2 Seven Sisters Road SS Montrose with Le Neve. Once Dew heard this news he had the house searched and human remains were found buried under the cellar. Meanwhile, the 4 HM Prison Holloway The prison opened in 1852, as a mixed-sex captain of the ship suspected Crippen and his mistress, disguised as a ‘young male companion’, and telegraphed Scotland Yard. Inspector Dew facility, though it became female-only boarded a faster ship and was waiting to arrest Crippen and Le Neve in in 1903. Some of the most notable 4 inmates included Amelia Sach and Annie Quebec, Canada. Crippen was returned to the UK and put on trial. He admitted guilt and was hanged at Pentonville on 23 November 1910. Walters (page 16), the suffragettes Charlotte Despard and Mary Richardson, Le Neve escaped prosecution and lived until 1967. The house at 39 Tollington Road Hilldrop Crescent was destroyed by bombing in 1940. It is strange that and Ruth Ellis who was the last woman ever to be hanged in the UK.The original this quiet, henpecked, bespectacled, wife-poisoner would become so notorious, and Crippen a household name.The way in which the murder castle-like prison was finally demolished Loraine Road was played out had all the hallmarks of a Hollywood movie, complete in 1971, and redevelopment began that 3 with the use of ‘modern’ technology to capture the killer. year. Up until its closure in 2016, it was Oddly, in 2007, DNA research suggested that the human the largest female prison Walking these pages: 3.7km remains found under the cellar may have been male. in western Europe. Jackson Rd
9781844865505_Bloody London_txt_app.indd 13
13
25/11/2019 10:55
ad Ro
M ac ke nz ie
Rd
Hu nge rfo rd
Rd
en
rth
No
Ca md
Wa y
3
ad
Ro
Ro
CALEDONIAN 2 PARK and hotel was one of four that stood on the corners intimidate and of the Metropolitan Cattle ad 4 Ro et k bully his father James. Market. The facility had opened in r Ma So worried was Walter 1855, to replace the over-burdened regarding his father, he would Smithfield Market as a new centre for frequently visit him at home. On livestock sales and the slaughter of animals. one such visit, on 28 December The area, no longer in use today, is still 1907, and while in a state of intoxication, dominated by the clock tower. On 8 June 1864, Bricknell stabbed a chambermaid, Jane he attacked his mother-in-law following an argument, stabbing her in the neck with a Geary, to death at the Lion Tavern. Geary knife. Fensham fled the house immediately and Bricknell had been lovers for several while Harriett was rushed to hospital. She months, but Geary had started seeing another man. Bricknell became incensed and died the next day. It did not take the police long to capture Fensham. Once in court his publicly swore to kill himself if he could not get Jane back. At his trial a manslaughter plea defence team made much of his illnesses was dismissed as it was shown that Bricknell and quality of life. Regardless, he was sentenced to death. Following a series of had carried a knife with which to kill Geary. petitions to the Home Secretary, Fensham He was found guilty and was hanged in was given a conditional pardon and lived August outside Newgate Prison. until 1943. 3 Poor Wally By the age of 30, Walter Fensham was not a well man. He sustained injuries from being kicked by and thrown from a horse. This and other medical issues had led him both to drink and an addiction to laudanum. His family life was not good either. Following his father’s second marriage to Harriett, life became so uncomfortable at Clockwise from left: the Caledonian Park clock tower; faded graffiti in 15 James Road (now 15 Mackenzie Road) support of Maynard, Dudley and Clarke; that Fensham moved out. Harriett would a pair of Victorian duelling pistols with ammunition.
an m
ay W
Holloway & Islington
Yo rk
onain Caled
Road
2 A jilted loverʼs revenge Twentyone years later, no such mercy was shown to Frederick Bricknell, a waiter at the Lion Tavern. This large, dominating public house
1
ay W er ov Dr
1 The last London duel Lieutenant Colonel Fawcett and Lieutenant Munro were brothers-in-law. On 30 June 1843, during a dinner at Fawcett’s house, an argument arose between the two men about Munro’s management of Fawcett’s estate while he was on-duty in China. Munro responded with repeated insults and was then asked to leave, which he did. Later that evening he issued a challenge to Fawcett to meet at dawn the following day. Both parties arrived with their attendants close to the Brecknock Arms (now The Unicorn pub), on Camden Road. The area was then quiet, rural and remote enough for a duel to take place in almost secrecy. In the duel Fawcett was shot in the chest and carried to the Brecknock Arms, but was refused entry, so was taken to the Camden Arms (now The Colonel Fawcett) in Camden Town.Two days later he died of his wounds. Meanwhile Munro, fearing arrest, had fled the country. He eventually returned four years later to stand trial. Numerous titled officers gave glowing character references for Munro stating that he was indeed an ʻofficer and a gentlemanʼ. The jury found him guilty ʻbut strongly recommend the prisoner to mercyʼ. Munro avoided the noose and served a mere year for his crime. This incident was the last reported duel to have occurred in London.
14
9781844865505_Bloody London_txt_app.indd 14
25/11/2019 10:56
Caledonia & Barnsb station
an Rd
Bridgem
Thornhi Square
Hemingford
Rd
d esley R Cloud
tree t
Liverpool Rd
y Cloudesle St
Upp er S
However, both protested their innocence and claimed that Commander Wickstead, who was leading the case, had ‘fitted them up’. Charlie Clarke was also charged and sentenced along with Dudley and Maynard. A campaign was started to have the men freed, claiming their imprisonment was a miscarriage of justice. Even Moseley’s widow joined the campaign. A month later Moseley’s head was discovered in Thornhill Road
Holloway & Islington
ay W
5 ʻMDC not guilty, rightʼ In July 1977, a road-sweeper discovered a defrosting head in the former public lavatory in Thornhill Road Gardens. The head had already begun to decompose before it was placed in a freezer. Billy Moseley was a small-time London crook who, in 1974, was having an affair with another criminal’s wife and had accused a fellow crook, Reg Dudley, of being a police informer. In September that year, Moseley was murdered; his body cut up and dumped in the Thames, minus his head and hands. Shortly afterwards, a friend of Moseley’s, Micky Cornwall, was released from prison and set out to find Moseley’s killers. Instead, he himself was murdered and his remains were dumped in a shallow grave in Hertfordshire. The police rounded up numerous suspects, including Dudley and g Loftin Lambert Rd an Rd Bob Maynard. During the 136-day trial at the Bridgem St Thornhill Old Bailey, which began in November 1976, Square ale Gr Ripplev it was stated that Reg Dudley had allegedly Thornhill Road Gardens confessed to the murder of Moseley while 5 buried in unmarked in police custody, this during a time before graves within the prison such interviews were recorded. Tony grounds. In 1961, Edwin Wild, a bank robber, came forward Bush (page 31) was the as a witness, saying that Dudley had Cloudesley Square last person to be executed boasted to him about killing Cornwall. at Pentonville. Today its The prosecution claimed that ‘model’ tag has long since been degraded. Moseley had been Each cell holds at least two prisoners and shot in the head. BUSINESS DESIGN the basic requirements of showers, clean In June 1977, CENTRE y clothes and hot food are described as being CloudPelsle Dudley and eld St well below standard. Calls have even been Maynard were Bromfi made for the overcrowded penal institution both sentenced to to be closed down. life imprisonment. Thornhill Rd
Rd
nz ie an m
Ro
4 HM Prison Pentonville Pentonville Prison opened in 1842, and was initially designed as a holding facility for prisoners about to be transported to the Australian penal colonies. Inmates were given moral training and a skill useful to the world they were about to set sail for. Created as a model prison, Pentonville was a vast improvement on Newgate, and each prisoner had his own cell with a toilet. Although Pentonville was a place of execution, the d dR for condemned prisoners were not Of Caledonian Rd held here but were transported & Barnsbury here from Newgate Prison. St station n o ngd nti This continued until 1902, when Hu Newgate finally closed. Those executed here were
Gardens. It had no gun shot wounds – and who had placed the head there if the alleged murderers were behind bars? When an application was made to see police notes regarding the ‘confessions’ made by Dudley, it was found that they had been destroyed. This was not usual police procedure. Wild later admitted he had invented statements that would implicate Maynard and Dudley while getting his sentence for armed robbery greatly reduced. In 1995, now a born-again Christian, Wild admitted perjuring himself in court. Dudley was released on parole in 1997 and Maynard was released on bail in 2000. In 2002, three Court of Appeal judges quashed the convictions of Dudley and Maynard. It had taken 25 years for the fight for justice to succeed. Moseley’s Walking these pages: 3.4km killer has never been found.
15
9781844865505_Bloody London_txt_app.indd 15
25/11/2019 10:56
An entertaining, beautifully illustrated and delightfully gruesome walking guide to London's horrific history.
Click below to purchase from your favorite retailer today! Bloomsbury
Amazon
B&N
IndieBound