Before we begin, this is the last Friday Murder for THREE WEEKS because of the Easter holidays. I’ll be back on 21st April. If you miss me, go listen to LadyKillers: I worked on some of the episodes in season 2.
This is another Staffordshire case, from 1877, set in Burslem. Another man killing another woman. A story of jealousy, and lies.
George Jones was probably born in Wolverhampton in 1824, although he may have come from Leominster. He was a furnaceman, and moved to the Potteries, working at various ironworks. He became well known in Burslem and Hanley, working as head furnaceman at Chatterley Ironworks. He was married, but his common name makes his wife difficult to find: she lived in Silverdale in the 1870s.
All seemed to be going well for George, until January 1873, when he raped his fifteen-year-old servant at Tunstall. The brave girl took him to court, although the prosecution was ultimately unsuccessful. He was sacked from his job, although whether this was a result of the prosecution or not is unclear. He also separated from his wife.
After leaving the ironworks, he ran pubs in Hanley and Shelton, but lost his license, probably due to drinking. By 1876, he was living in lodgings in Hanley, and does not appear to have been in work.
In mid-1876, he met Harriet Baker. Harriet was much younger than George: she was born in Burslem in April 1855. Her mother married her stepfather in 1857, and Harriet was raised by them in Chesterton. The household was a full one, and Harriet left to work in service as soon as she was old enough. She had an illegitimate child in the early 1870s, but it did not survive.
Harriet probably met George in the pub, possibly the Royal Oak, which was run by George’s friend Fred Lindop. They quickly developed a relationship and began to live together in Ludlow. George could not marry Harriet, because he was already married, but this didn’t appear to bother Harriet too much.
They left Ludlow in Autumn 1876, and went to stay with Harriet’s parents. They were there for about six months, living in their living room. George told Harriet’s parents that they were married, but Harriet’s mother was suspicious. She asked to see their ‘marriage lines’, but George deflected her.
Until his wife turned up looking for him.
Harriet’s parents evicted George. George found alternate lodgings with the Pedley family in Burslem, and Harriet stayed with her parents. George went to Harriet’s parents’ house in the middle of July 1877, and asked if he could move back in with them, as Harriet’s husband. They said no, but Harriet continued to do George’s washing for him. Harriet also asked George to look after some clothing for her, perhaps hoping they could elope. He kept this clothing in his private box in his lodgings.
On Friday 27th July, Harriet arrived at the Pedleys with George’s washing. They sat and ate lunch, and Harriet refused some bacon that George offered her. Then George - who was sober - asked Mrs Pedley to pop out and fetch some beer, assuring her that Harriet was his niece and nothing improper would occur. Harriet also asked her to go. She evidently had something on her mind.
Mrs Pedley went to the King’s Head, which was across the street from her house. She’d got as far as putting the beer jug on the bar when Harriet staggered into the street, bleeding copiously. She had been stabbed in the face, head and throat. She died within a few minutes, despite prompt medical attention. Mrs Pedley was holding her hand when she died. A shirt stud was found in a pool of blood in the Pedley’s house: it belonged to George.
Meanwhile, George left the house by the back door and coolly went to the Royal Oak. He washed his hands, and then Fred Lindop served him a beer, noticing he was scratched and his face and hands were bloody. Fred gave him a flannel to clean up his face George told him he’d been injured knocking a cow over for a bed (!) and also told him it’d be the last beer they shared: he was going to Switzerland.
And then Mrs Lindop came in, reporting that there’d been a murder in Church Street, and Fred’s blood turned cold and his head filled with noise as he realised what his friend had done. He took his wife to one side:
“There is a presentment that crossing my mind that Jones has committed this murder. Just keep it quiet.”
He told her to fetch the police without causing a scene. One policeman arrived, andbelieving George to be armed, did not attempt to handcuff him. Instead, a small phalanx of local men kettled George until they met a second policeman, who did handcuff him.
Once handcuffed, George began to spit with rage, cursing everyone. The jeering, hooting crowds swelled, and for a while, everything seemed likely to end in violence. But the police safely got George to custody, and found the bloody knife in his pocket, along with some money and a handkerchief. George said the blood on the knife was Harriet’s, but the blood on the handkerchief was his.
At the first inquest, Mrs Pedley solemnly swore that she did not know George and Harriet were a couple, or she would never have let the girl in her house. The inquest was adjourned to allow for a post-mortem, and during the adjournment, George was charged with the murder. Harriet was buried in Chesterton churchyard in a most heartbreaking ceremony.
When the inquest resumed, on 31st July, the crowd outside made such a racket that the evidence could barely be heard. Any attempts to quiet the mob made them louder. The coroner had rounded up numerous acquaintances of Harriet’s that were able to speak about the nature of their relationship. These women all testified to the same thing: Harriet was afraid of George, afraid of his jealousy and had been beaten by him, and owed him money that she was unable to repay. George claimed that Harriet did owe him money but also said that she kept following him about.
William Green, Harriet’s stepfather, told a different story. While living in the living room of the Green’s house, George and Harriet had never argued, but William had seen Harriet weeping. The Greens evicted George, and as he left, he said if he couldn’t have Harriet, nobody would.
George maintained that he had been drunk at the time of the murder, and that Harriet had attacked him. He stated, at his second magistrate’s appearance after the inquest, that Harriet had asked him for her clothes back.
“I said “Now Harriet, it is no use coming bothering after me any more. I have a letter about going to a situation.” She said “Let me see it”. I then said “As long as you come after me, I shall neither keep one nor get one”. She then jumped up and caught hold of my shirt (that was what pulled the stud out) and said “I will scratch your bloody eyes out”. I had the knife in my hand eating some bread and cheese, and then I struck at her with the hand the knife was in. I did not think of hitting her with the knife. She lay down and said she would do for me yet. I walked away and did not think I had done anything.”
He was indicted for wilful murder, and remanded until the assizes.
On 7th November, he stood trial at Stafford Assize. Much was made of Harriet’s illegitimacy, although it had no real bearing on the case: William Green was not Harriet’s father, but appears to have raised her well, and was extremely upset by her murder.
George’s defence was drink: drink and extreme provocation. The judge advised the jury that, if they believed George had struck Harriet in an argument, without considering what was in his hand, then it was manslaughter. But if they believed George had fetched a weapon to strike Harriet, then it was murder.
It took them twenty-five minutes to find him guilty of manslaughter. The judge sentenced him to life in prison.
So what really happened? It is possible, although not certain, that Harriet and George’s relationship was initially transactional, and this is why Harriet was able to get money from George. He would not be the first man to pay a lover to both keep quiet, and keep sweet. The newspapers certainly thought that Harriet got more out of the relationship than George, stating that:
She had surrended herself to him [and] perhaps in view of her stained birth and humble condition, was proud of him.
But George wanted more from Harriet than just sex. He wanted to possess her. He was jealous, and violent, and upset her very much. George said that she followed him about, and went to some lengths to paint her as a young idiot, desperate for his affection - he was old enough to be her father, as well as being married - but there’s no evidence for this. Rather, the evidence is that he followed her; using threats, bribes and blackmail to keep her nearby.
George said he had a new situation, and told Mrs Pedley that he was trying to get his old job at Chatterley back, but there’s no evidence to suggest that he’d been successful. George was a liar: he lied to get what he wanted all the time. He lied about raping a servant, and about being married, about his relationship with Harriet, and about how he got covered in blood when murdering her. He lied and lied and lied, so there’s really no reason to believe a word he said.
However, in any confession, there is an element of truth and it seems that Harriet wanted her clothes back. Working-class women owned few clothes, and they treasured them. Perhaps she wanted them to pawn, but I think she wanted them back so she could make a clean break from this unsatisfactory affair. And I think she knew he’d react badly, which is why she could barely eat, and asked Mrs Pedley to leave so she could make her request privately.
Harriet’s reasonable request for her clothes back was framed by his defence as ‘extreme provocation’. George claimed to have been drunk, but he wasn’t visibly drunk. Perhaps he refused to give back the clothing, and Harriet lost her temper and scratched him. Perhaps he genuinely forgot he had the knife in his hand.
He said he hit her once. He hit her three times, once in the chin, once in the left side of her face just below the ear, and once into her throat, again from the left, with savage force.
He punctured her trachea.
I suspect he hit her in face first, and then twice in the left side when she turned her face away. I suspect the stud of his shirt came off and his face was scratched when she tried to defend herself. It was all done in a minute or so.
And then he stood up, and walked away. He drank a beer with his friend, and plotted his escape. His arrest seemed to come as a shock to him.
He was sent to prison for life, but he served fifteen years. He left in 1893, and went to live in Congleton. I cannot trace him after that.
Harriet Baker
(1855-1877)