Martin Baggoley - Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Manchester

FOUL DEEDS AND SUSPICIOUS DEATHS Series

Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths series explores in detail crimes of passion, brutal
murders, grisly deeds and foul misdemeanours. From Victorian street crime, to more
modern murder where passion, jealousy, or social deprivation brought unexpected
violence to those involved. From mysterious death to murder and manslaughter, the
books are a fascinating insight into not only those whose lives are forever captured by
the suffering they endured, but also into the society that moulded and shaped their
lives. Each book takes you on a journey into the darker and unknown side of the area.

Other titles in the series
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Blackburn & Hyndburn, Steve Greenhalgh
ISBN: 1-903425-18-2
160pp. Illustrated. 9.99

Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in and around Chesterfield, Geoffrey Sadler
ISBN: 1-903425-30-1
160pp. Illustrated. 9.99

Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in & around Durham, Maureen Anderson
ISBN: 1-903425-46-8
176pp. Illustrated. 9.99

Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in and around Halifax, Stephen Wade
ISBN: 1-903425-45-X
176pp. Illustrated. 9.99

Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Leeds, David Goodman
ISBN: 1-903425-08-5
176pp. Illustrated. 9.99

Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Newcastle, Maureen Anderson
ISBN: 1-903425-34-4
176pp. Illustrated. 9.99

Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Nottingham, Kevin Turton
ISBN: 1-903425-35-2
176pp. Illustrated. 9.99

Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths around Pontefract and Castleford, Keith Henson
ISBN: 1-903425-54-9
176pp. Illustrated. 9.99

Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in and around Rotherham, Kevin Turton
ISBN: 1-903425-27-1
160pp. Illustrated. 9.99

Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths Around the Tees, Maureen Anderson
ISBN: 1-903425-26-3
176pp. Illustrated. 9.99

More Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Wakefield, Kate Taylor
ISBN: 1-903425-48-4
176pp. Illustrated 9.99

Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in York, Keith Henson
ISBN: 1-903425-33-6
176pp. Illustrated. 9.99

Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths on the Yorkshire Coast, Alan Whitworth
ISBN: 1-903425-01-8
192pp. Illustrated. 9.99

Please contact us via any of the methods below for more information or a catalogue.
WHARNCLIFFE BOOKS
47 Church Street Barnsley South Yorkshire S70 2AS
Tel: 01226 734555 734222 Fax: 01226 734438
E-mail:

First published in Great Britain in 2004
and reprinted in 2013 by
Wharncliffe Books
an imprint of
Pen and Sword Books Ltd.
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

Copyright Martin Baggoley, 2004, 2013

ISBN: 978 1 90342 565 7
PDF ISBN: 978 1 47382 927 5
EPUB ISBN: 978 1 47382 841 4
PRC ISBN: 978 1 47382 884 1

The right of Martin Baggoley to be identified as Author of
this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior
permission in writing of the publishers.

Typeset in 11/13pt Plantin by Mac Style Ltd, Scarborough.

Printed and bound in England by
CPI Group (UK ) Ltd, Croydon, CRO 4YY

Pen and Sword Books Ltd incorporates the Imprints of
Pen & Sword Aviation, Pen & Sword Maritime,
Pen & Sword Military, Wharncliffe Books,
Pen & Sword Select, Pen and Sword Military Classica
and Leo Cooper.

For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact
PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2BR
England
E-mail:
Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

For Claire

Contents

William Calcraft, one of the most celebrated hangmen of the nineteenth century, attends to a struggling hooded prisoner at a public execition. Brian Elliott Collection

Introduction and Acknowledgements

V ictorian Manchester provides the backdrop to these twelve fascinating and true accounts of murder, manslaughter and mysterious death.

At the time, Manchester was one of the worlds major cities that had expanded at an incredible rate during the industrial revolution, with which it will be forever linked. It grew into an important manufacturing and commercial centre, creating great wealth for its leading entrepreneurs. However, there was also an underclass, living in the citys notorious slum districts.

The cases described in this book occurred in locations ranging from its back streets, squalid houses, a prison, workhouse and an exclusive gentlemens club.

Jealousy, greed and revenge are amongst the motives that lay behind these crimes. The bullet, poison, knives and axes are amongst the methods used by the perpetrators. Their victims included brutalized wives, a prison officer, a police sergeant and a workhouse inmate.

Each crime is of course unique, and involves a great deal of human tragedy. There are the victims, of course, and their friends and families, who continued to suffer emotionally for the remainder of their lives. Whilst some may have difficulty to feel anything other than disgust and revulsion at the actions of the killers, it should be remembered that they too had friends and families who cared for them, and who suffered emotional pain due to their actions. Some of the most poignant moments in the book, are the goodbyes said by the distraught parents, wives and children of the condemned.

This was a significant period in the development of the criminal justice system. Prior to 1868 executions took place in public, outside of prison walls, and that was the fate that awaited the condemned in the early chapters of the book. The officers of the Manchester police force, both uniformed and the detectives, were determined, brave and in the absence of forensic science to support them, surprisingly successful.

Manchester was, and remains a wonderful city, but as in the case of any other place, it has its darker side, which these cases illuminate.

I wish to thank S C Hunter and Geoff Parker for their help with the illustrations. I am grateful to the editor of the Manchester Evening News, an invaluable source of information for anyone interested in the history of any aspect of Manchester and its people. Thanks also to my daughter Rachel for her typing skills.

CHAPTER 1

The Manchester Poisoning Case

1856

J ohn Monaghan, a whisky drinking sixty-year-old varnish maker, died at 11 Hope Street, Chorlton, the home of his daughter Eliza and her husband Francis Keene, with whom he had lived, on 11 August 1855. Dr J Hatton was called, who gave the cause of death as chronic dysentery, and John was later buried at St Wilfrids Roman Catholic Church in Hulme.

Francis had taken out an insurance policy in the sum of 10 16s (10 80p) on his father-in-laws life, and as there seemed to be no suspicious circumstances, the Wellington Insurance Company paid out. It is probable that the death would have passed unnoticed had not Johns son James taken out a policy with the Diadem Life Assurance Company, for the then huge sum of 300. When James claimed the money, the suspicious company refused to pay, so James initiated civil proceedings and the case was listed for February 1856 in the Court of the Exchequer. Diadems solicitor, Thomas Rogers of Fenchurch Street, London, sent his principal clerk, Charles Bradlaugh, to Manchester to make further enquiries.