George Mason – 6 December 1893.
Also known as George Beckworth, he was a soldier in the East Surrey Regiment, based at Portsdown Hill. On Tuesday, 27 June, he was confined to barracks by Sergeant James Robinson and, in revenge, shot him dead the following day. He was hanged by James Billington.
Samuel Elkins – 18 July 1894.
Shot dead his foreman, William Mitchell in Bournemouth after the latter reported him for dereliction of duty.
Cyrus Knight – 12 December 1894.
A carter who cut his wife’s throat after they had argued at their home at Binstead near Alton. Knight had cut his own throat after the crime but prompt medical attention had saved his life. After he was hanged, however, it was seen that the wound in his neck had opened.
William Rogers – 12 December 1894.
A sailor who was hanged alongside Knight. He had shot his girlfriend, Sarah Jupe.
Philip Matthews – 21 July 1896.
Matthews worked for Teignmouth Council as a coachman and murdered his daughter because she was an encumbrance to his intended marriage. Matthews had met a young woman named Charlotte Mahoney and despite being already married, proposed to her. When Mrs Matthews discovered the affair she threw Matthews out, telling him to take his daughter with him. Matthews felt he could not tell his new lover about the child so strangled her in a woods.
Samuel Edward Smith – 21 July 1896.
A soldier in the King’s Royal Rifles, based at Aldershot, Smith shot Corporal Payne after the latter had reported him.
Frederick Burden – 21 July 1896.
Chapter 3 in this volume.
Charles Maidment – 18 July 1899.
Chapter 4 in this volume.
William Churcher – 22 July 1902.
Churcher lived with his girlfriend, Sophia Jane Hepworth in Gosport. She had a drink problem and on the night of her death, Thursday, 10 April, was so under the influence that she fell into the river. During a subsequent argument over how she had embarrassed him in front of the neighbours, Churcher took out a knife and stabbed her in the throat and upper body. Her body was not discovered until two days later and in all, she had suffered thirty-three stab wounds. Sentenced to death by Mister Justice Bigham.
William Brown and Thomas Cowdrey –16 December 1903.
Hanged for the murder of a prostitute, Esther Atkins, near Aldershot, on Tuesday, 6 October. The two men were soldiers and had met Esther in the Crimea public house. Another man, John Dunbar, had also been accused of murder, but received a not guilty verdict. The trial, before Mister Justice Wills, lasted four days.
Augustus John Penny – 26 November 1913.
Chapter Five in this volume.
Walter James White – 16 June 1914.
Killed his girlfriend, Frances Priscilla Hunter at the Goddard Arms Hotel, in Swindon. White was devoted to Frances and marriage had been discussed but after a visit to members of Frances’ family, White discovered that she had once lived with another man as his wife. Further, she had never told him of this fact. On Wednesday, 29 April, White visited the public house where Frances worked and shot her three times. He was sentenced to death by Mister Justice Ridley.
Leo George O’Donnell – 29 March 1917.
O’Donnell, a sergeant in the Royal Army Medical Corps, murdered his girlfriend’s father, Lieutenant William Watterson at Aldershot, on Monday, 1 January. Watterson had been battered to death and one of the weapons used was a lavatory brush.
Thomas Henry Allaway – 19 August 1922.
One of the most curious cases of the twentieth century. On Wednesday, 1 December 1921, Allaway lured Irene May Wilkins from London to Bournemouth with the promise of a job and then battered her to death for no apparent reason. The subsequent investigation was badly bungled and although there were many opportunities to arrest him, Allaway managed to avoid detection until the following April. He was finally sentenced to death by Mister Justice Avory, after a five day trial.
Abraham Goldenberg – 30 July 1924.
Goldenberg, a serving soldier, robbed a branch of Lloyds Bank at Bordon and in the process, murdered the cashier William Edward Hall by shooting him, on Thursday, 3 April. Goldenberg was captured when Sergeant Major Thomas Alliott saw him hiding a parcel of money in a latrine.
Charles Edward Finden – 12 August 1926.
Murdered a fourteen-year-old schoolboy, John Richard Thompson, at Alton, on Saturday, 5 June, in order to steal his fifteen shillings wages from him.
William Henry Podmore – 22 April 1930.
Chapter 6 in this volume.
Sydney Archibald Frederick Chamberlain – 28 July 1949.
Although he was thirty-one years old, Chamberlain had a fifteen year old girlfriend, Doreen Primrose Messenger. On Saturday, 19 February, he took her on to Haldon Moor where he strangled her after they had talked about the difficulties of their relationship.
Roman Redel and Zbigniew Gower – 7 July 1950.
Two incompetent would-be bank robbers, who killed Robert Taylor at Bristol, when he tried to foil their getaway on Monday, 13 March. Redel and Gower, both Poles, had been drinking heavily the night before the planned robbery. As a result, they were unable to use the motorbike that had been intended and instead caught a bus to the scene of their crime. They managed to steal just £28 but failed to tie-up the bank clerk or guard with the result that they immediately raised the alarm. Trying to escape, again by bus, Robert Taylor, a judo expert, tried to stop them and was shot by Redel.
William Edward Shaughnessy – 9 May 1951.
Murdered his wife, Marie on Monday, 18 December 1950 and their daughter, Joyce, on the following day, at 319 Arundel Street, Portsmouth. Sentenced to death by Mister Justice Byrne.
Michael George Tatum – 14 May 1959.
Chapter 8 in this volume.
Dennis John Whitty – 17 December 1963.
Whitty and his partner in crime, Russell Pascoe, had heard that William Garfield Rowe had money hidden about his isolated home, Nanjarrow Farm at Constantine, near Falmouth. During the subsequent robbery, on Wednesday, 14 August, they murdered Rowe but missed most of the money. Both men were sentenced to death by Mister Justice Thesiger, after a five day trial. Whitty was hanged at Winchester and, at the same time, Pascoe was hanged at Bristol.
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Southampton Page 14