by Jill Evans
On Sunday night, at about six o’clock, Mrs Howell went to their house and found Sarah sitting in a chair. Sarah told her that Hewett had hit her in the stomach and asked her to go to the White Lion Inn and fetch her some brandy. Mrs Howell did so, and some neighbours tried to feed Sarah some with a teaspoon, but she was too ill. Mrs Howell said the Hewetts had frequently quarrelled and she had often seen Hewett strike his wife.
Emily Curtis said she had known Mrs Hewett for five or six years. She had lived next door to her since she married Hewett, and was a hard-working woman. Hewett had always been a ‘bad, drinking man’ to his wife, and Mrs Curtis didn’t like to repeat the expressions he used to her. There was only a one-brick partition between their houses, and she had often heard the couple quarrelling.
Sidney Reed, Mrs Hewett’s eldest son, who was fourteen, also gave evidence and related the events which had led up to his mother dying. He stated that he had often seen his stepfather kick and beat his mother.
The inquest was adjourned for two days. In the meantime, the local newspapers reported that Mr Chipp had said that the children of Mrs Hewett had been taken in by the deceased woman’s brother, William Chamberlain. They were in a ‘sadly destitute condition’, and he had given them £1 out of the Poor Box.
On Wednesday evening the inquest resumed. Thomas Knight, whose house adjoined the Hewetts’, said he had heard the couple quarrelling, and Hewett apparently attacking his wife, through his bedroom wall at about four o’clock on Sunday morning. At about three o’clock on Sunday afternoon, he was standing on his doorstep, from where he could see across the yard and under the door of the wash house. He saw Mrs Hewett run from her house into the wash house, and her husband ran after her and attacked her.
The Coroner asked Knight if he meant to say that he had stood there watching, and hadn’t gone to the woman’s assistance. Members of the jury muttered, ‘Hear, hear’. Didn’t it occur to him to go to her assistance? Knight said he did not know, he thought it better to keep away from Hewett. The Coroner replied that he could not understand any Englishman standing by and seeing that. ‘However, that is the explanation you give, and I think it is most disgraceful.’ Knight was then asked if he had told anyone else what was happening, to which Knight replied that he hadn’t. Asked if anyone else was about at the time, he said, ‘I saw a neighbour standing against the door, that is all.’ When asked by the Coroner if a cry of murder was such a normal thing there that he took no notice of it, Knight replied that he had only been living at Wells Court for two or three weeks.
Summing up, the Coroner said it was understandable that Mrs Hewett had not wanted to give up the six shillings to her husband, considering that she had had to beg for money to bury a child only a few weeks before. However, he had to say in fairness to Hewett that it must be acknowledged that he had met with ‘a certain amount of trumpery provocation’ from his wife. A juryman protested, saying, ‘Not at all, I think.’ The Coroner continued on, saying that the money had belonged to the man and he had a right to demand it by proper means, but of course the provocation was too slight to justify murder.
The jury returned a verdict that Sarah Ann Hewett had been wilfully murdered by Edward Hewett.
A week after his first appearance in court, on Monday, 28 April, Hewett was brought before the mayor and two other magistrates at the City Police Court. Deputy Chief Constable Mr Chipp said that since Hewett’s remand, the whole case had been laid before the Solicitor of the Treasury, and he asked the Bench to commit the prisoner for trial on the capital charge of wilful murder. After giving the magistrates some background details about the case, Mr Chipp produced Hewett’s hobnailed boots, which he said the prisoner had used to kick his wife. This created a sensation in the court.
William Chamberlain, Lucy Howell and Emily Curtis all repeated the evidence they had given at the inquest, then Sidney Reed gave a fuller account of what he had seen on that afternoon.
On Sunday afternoon, he came home from Sunday school and found his mother and stepfather arguing. Hewett called his mother an old cow and threatened to knock her over if she did not find him some money. She ran out across the court and went in to the wash house, where she hid her purse behind the tap. Hewett followed her into the wash house and demanded the money. He flung her down on the ground and kicked her in the stomach twice. She got up and Hewett caught sight of the purse. She tried to drag him back to prevent him from getting it, but he grabbed the purse and knocked her down, kicking her again. She said nothing, but walked back into the house, and Hewett came indoors.
Hewett went upstairs and while he was there, a neighbour, Mrs Cooke, came in and called up to him, saying he should come down because his wife was dying. Hewett replied that she was just drunk and they should throw a bucket of water over her. He took some money out of the purse, then put on his hat and left, taking his three-year-old son with him.
The neighbours went away and Sidney attended his mother. He put her in a chair first, then on the floor by the fire. She kissed him and told him to give her love to his brothers and sisters. Then he knocked on the wall and Mrs Curtis and some other women came in, and they tried to give her some brandy, but she couldn’t drink it. She then died.
The boy was then questioned by Hewett, who was defending himself. Asked if he had seen Hewett take money out of the purse, he replied that he had, and he also saw him pick some money off the floor. Hewett asked him if the money had not dropped out of his mother’s bosom, and he said it hadn’t. His mother had tried to stop Hewett from getting it from behind the tap. ‘And wasn’t that when she fell down?’ Hewett asked. Sidney answered, ‘You knocked her down and kicked her twice in the chest.’
Thomas Knight was next to appear and related what he had seen on the Sunday afternoon, when he was standing outside his door. He said he saw Mrs Hewett come out of her house and go into the wash house through the broken end of the wall. She was running and her husband ran after her. In the wash house, Hewett struck her and she fell down. He then kicked her in the small of the back. She was lying against the door, which was broken at the bottom, and he could see underneath. They were in there for about five minutes then returned to the house, the prisoner going in first. The witness heard him say to his wife, ‘I gave you some money, and you hided it in your bosom.’
Questioned by the prisoner, Knight said he saw him knock Mrs Hewett down; he didn’t see him take money off the floor, he didn’t see the deceased pulling him, and he didn’t see her pick up half a brick.
Clara Cooke, wife of William Cooke, of 14 Sherborne Street, had known the prisoner for about fifteen months, and knew Sarah Hewett before her marriage. She went to the house on Sunday, at about half past three in the afternoon, where she found her neighbour exhausted, her head hanging over the back of her chair. She had bruises on her forehead and under her jaw. Mrs Cooke went to the foot of the stairs and called up, ‘If you please, Mr Hewett, will you come downstairs and see to your wife, for you have killed her.’ He came down and said they should let her die, and to fetch a bucket of water and throw it over her. Mrs Cooke told him, ‘You will have to pay for all you are saying, and all you are doing.’ He shook some money in his hand and said, ‘Now I’m off. I’ve got to work for my money, not to put it behind the tap. This is to pay for my train fare, and this ******* is off.’ His language was so foul that Mrs Cooke left the house. At about six o’clock she returned, but Hewett was not there. Mrs Hewett was partly sitting on a chair and partly on the floor. Mrs Curtis got her into an armchair and tried to give her some brandy. She died about seven o’clock. She believed the deceased was perfectly sober.
In answer to the prisoner’s questions, she said that he didn’t say that he had seen his wife in a drunken fit before, and he didn’t say to his son, ‘Come on, Ted, we will have a walk while she gets sober.’
Police Constable Gobey said that on that Sunday night, he was called to Sherborne Street at about a quarter past seven. He saw Mrs Hewett sitting in an armchair in the kitchen, with two or th
ree females attending her. She was breathing hard and appeared to be dying. He went to fetch Mr Hepworth, the police surgeon, who came back to the house with him. When they got there, the woman was dead. Shortly after, he met the prisoner in Sherborne Street and told him he wanted him. Hewett asked what for, and Gobey said he would know why when they got to the police station. At the station the prisoner was searched, and was found to have on him nine shillings and sixpence.
George Hepworth, the surgeon, said he was summoned to the prisoner’s house on the Sunday evening, where he found Mrs Hewett had recently died. The following day he carried out a post-mortem. The body exhibited sundry marks of violence; there were many bruises on the body, including two large ones over her right buttock and hip, with indentations of hobnails. The bruise on the temple was a very severe one, with the underlying muscle reduced to pulp. There was also deep bruising to the stomach, which contained a considerable amount of food, but there was no odour of alcohol. All the organs were healthy. He believed death was caused by shock to the nervous system, consequent upon the severe injuries she had received, and more particularly the blow to the stomach.
Hewett was then formally charged with the murder of Sarah Ann Hewett. In response he said, ‘All I can say is I was drunk and know nothing about it.’ He was committed to take his trial at Worcester Assizes in May.
On Monday, 24 May, the trial of Edward Hewett began at Worcester Shire Hall, before Mr Justice Stephen. Females and juvenile spectators were excluded from the court because of the excessive amount of foul language which the witnesses were obliged to use, in repeating what they had heard the prisoner saying. Hewett, who appeared to be ill, sat on a seat in the dock. Mr Fitzroy Cowper opened the case for the prosecution, and spoke at great length. He said the evidence was of a most revolting character and the treatment the prisoner had given his wife was exceedingly distressing and brutal.
William Chamberlain gave his evidence, as he had at the inquest and magistrates’ hearing. Cross-examined, he said that his sister and her husband had been very poor, and in the winter Hewett had been out of work a great deal. Sidney Reed then gave his evidence, and told the court that it was his fifteenth birthday.
Details were given at the trial which revealed some of Hewett’s movements when he left the house on the Sunday, before and after his final attacks on his wife. At about half past twelve, he had gone to the house of his sister-in-law, Emma Curtis, who lived in St Mary’s Square. He paid for three quarts of beer, which were drunk by himself, Emma Curtis and her husband, and Mr Cleveley, his brother-in-law. He was invited to stay for supper, but declined and went home. After attacking his wife in the wash house, Hewett left with his son to go to the Wellington Hotel, next to the railway station. He had a drink and asked about the time of the train to Normanton, a junction for Loughborough. On finding he had missed the train, he headed home with his son and was arrested when he got to Sherborne Street.
Shire Hall, Worcester. (Author’s collection)
The police surgeon gave his evidence concerning the post-mortem. Cross-examined by the counsel for the defence, he said the injury to the deceased woman’s left temple might have been caused by her falling on some loose bricks in the wash house. He also agreed with the defence counsel that ‘bad spirits’, taken by someone who had suffered privation, might make a man not master of his own actions.
Mr Cowper, in addressing the jury, said four distinct attacks on Mrs Hewett over the weekend had been proved. There could be no doubt that she had died through the maltreatment of the prisoner, and there was nothing in the circumstances which would justify the jury in returning any verdict except that of wilful murder.
The Wellington Hotel, near the railway station. (Author’s collection)
Mr Jackson, the defence lawyer, asked the jury to find the prisoner guilty of manslaughter, because all the evidence pointed to the theory that he was not responsible for his actions at the time. Mr Jackson suggested that the prisoner had received provocation, through the refusal of his wife to give him the money he demanded. Her opposition heated and excited him and led him to inflict blows which he would never otherwise have inflicted. He went on to claim that the prisoner could never have imagined that his blows would result in her death.
Judge Stephen, in summing up the case for the jury, said the idea that the prisoner had received provocation which justified the use of any violence was absurd. The woman had only done what she conceived to be her duty as a wife, in refusing to let him squander in drink the money he had given her. He went on to explain that in English law, if a man intentionally inflicted grievous bodily harm and his victim died as a result, that was murder. It made no difference if he had not intended to kill, nor if he had been drunk. If the jury thought that Edward Hewett caused this woman’s death by means which showed an intention to do her grievous bodily harm, then being drunk would not absolve him. If they thought he ‘knocked her about’ without knowing what he did or meant, then they could find him guilty of manslaughter.
Sir J.F. Stephen (Mr Justice Stephen), in the Illustrated London News, 15 February 1879. (Author’s collection)
The jury retired for fifteen minutes before returning with a verdict of guilty of murder, but recommended mercy because there had been no premeditation. The judge then addressed Hewett, telling him he had used cruel, repeated and prolonged violence towards his wife. He then sentenced Hewett to death. He was returned to Gloucester Prison, where his execution was to take place.
On 12 June, The Citizen reported that the Home Secretary had informed Gloucester City’s High Sheriff that Edward Hewett was not going to be reprieved. The report also said that it had emerged that the deceased woman had not been legally married to her second husband, because Hewett had a wife still living in Loughborough.
On the following day, which was a Sunday, an open-air religious service was held in the vicinity of Wells Court, attended by 200-300 local people. The service was arranged by the vicar of St Mark’s Church, the Reverend Bartlett. As well as mourning the death of Sarah Ann Hewett, the crowd was asked to pray for the condemned man.
On the morning of Tuesday, 15 June 1886, the execution of Edward Hewett took place. Hewett had been visited by his mother before his condemnation and by his father after his fate was confirmed. He was also visited by his sisters-in-law, Mrs Emma Curtis and Mrs Cleveley. He had expressed penitence and regret for his crime, but said he had not had any intention of murdering his wife.
Hangman James Berry. (Author’s collection)
Executions at one time had taken place on the prison gatehouse roof, but now were held behind the walls, in one of the yards. The hangman was James Berry, who inspected the scaffold before Hewett was brought out of the condemned cell at eight o’clock. Hewett looked dazed, and if he had glanced to one side he would have seen an open grave waiting to receive his body. As Berry adjusted the noose, Hewett was heard to say, ‘Oh dear.’ Berry quickly drew the bolt to open the trapdoors, and Hewett disappeared from view. Unfortunately, the hangman must have made a miscalculation in deciding how much rope would be needed, because when the prison doctor examined the body, he estimated that it had taken Hewett at least two minutes to die. After the obligatory post-mortem was conducted, a notice was pinned to the prison gates declaring that the execution of Edward Hewett had taken place.
Gloucester Prison’s gates, on which a notice confirming Hewett’s execution was placed. (Jill Evans)
After giving an account of the execution, The Citizen gave more details about Hewett’s past. Born in Loughborough in 1852, he had married a girl there called Eliza Wooddale when he was twenty years old, and they had two children. After a few years, the couple separated and Hewett’s wife had moved in with another man, and had four children by him. Hewett had come to Gloucester five or six years ago, and met the widowed Sarah Ann Reed. When she married Hewett in 1885, she believed him to be single. She found out that Hewett’s first wife was still alive when his mother visited from Loughborough.
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sp; The five orphaned children of Mrs Hewett had not been sent to the workhouse, but were being cared for by Sarah’s brother and sisters. The police had said that Sidney Reed ‘had made a good deal of capital of the fact that he is connected with the now notorious family’.
On 21 May 1903, an inquest was opened at the Lower George Hotel in Westgate Street. The City Coroner, Charles Scott, told the inquest jury that they were investigating the death of a three-week-old baby, who had died two days previously. The infant’s mother, Mrs Agnes Mould, had been admitted to the Gloucester County Lunatic Asylum and was too ill to attend the hearing.
The first witness was the child’s father, tailor William Mould of 156 High Street, Tredworth, who was also the landlord of the Duke of Wellington public house in Tredworth Road. He told the inquest that the baby, a girl, had been born on 27 April. His wife had been in good health physically before her confinement, but she was rather low and depressed, and complained of pains in her head. A week before she went into labour, she had tied a handkerchief once or twice around her neck, he thought in an endeavour to ‘do away with herself’. She had also thrown one of her four children out of a window. After the birth, his wife was still depressed, and the baby was kept from her at first on the advice of the doctor, but then she improved and the baby was entrusted to her.
On 11 May, his wife was sent to stay with her mother, in the hope that a change of scene would help to lift her spirits. Mould visited her there a few times, and she seemed a lot better in health and mind. However, he was sent for on 19 May, and was told the baby was dead. His wife was crying and upset, but she said nothing to him about how the baby had died. Later, she told the doctor that she had pressed the child to her breast and that had killed it. On 20 May, his wife was committed to the County Asylum at Wotton.