Chapter 2

Thomas Birmingham

1829

At approximately 4.10am, on the morning of Thursday, 14 May 1829, William Davis, a watchman, was walking along the bottom of St Mary Abbott’s Terrace, Kensington, heading towards the Uxbridge Road, when he noticed a woman lying face down in the road, in Addison’s Place.

Rushing to offer what aid he could, William gently turned the lady over and saw that she had received a severe wound in the area of her left breast. Unsure as to whether the poor woman was alive or dead, William ran off to find a surgeon.

The medical gentleman that William Davis found was Dr Henry Parkin and he confirmed that the woman was beyond all aid. His examination showed the one single wound, possibly caused by either a knife, or more probably, a bayonet. The problem now, was to identify her.

In fact, identification of the victim proved to be a rather simple affair, for she did have one most distinguishing feature. The woman found by William Davis had her right eye missing. Publication of this fact led Elizabeth Price to come forward to the police.

Elizabeth explained that she was a prostitute and she had a friend named Mary Ann Waite, who was also a lady of the streets. Mary Ann had lost her right eye and, shown the body of the stabbed woman, Elizabeth confirmed that it was indeed Mary Ann. Elizabeth, however, was able to give the police even more useful information, for she identified a client of the dead woman’s, a man who had been with her at least four or five times over the last few weeks. Further, Elizabeth had last seen Mary Ann at around 10.00pm on 13 May, when she had said that she was going to meet up with this gentleman again. His name was Thomas Birmingham and he was a groom to Lieutenant Ives, who was based at Kensington barracks.

Naturally, the next port of call for the police was those barracks, where they spoke to Birmingham. He flatly denied even knowing a girl with only one eye and, since this was clearly a lie, he was taken into custody and charged with murder.

At the inquest, it appeared that the case against Birmingham was certain to collapse. He claimed that he had spent the entire night in his barracks, with a young lady named Susan Bennett, and she confirmed that she had been with Birmingham from around midnight on 13 May, until around 5.00am the following morning. However, under questioning, Miss Bennett broke down and admitted she had lied. She had indeed met Birmingham and gone back to his barracks at midnight but she had seen him leave soon afterwards. She then fell asleep and only woke at 5.00am the next morning as he returned to his room. Birmingham’s alibi had collapsed and, despite other factors being contradictory, he was sent to face his trial for murder.

Birmingham’s trial opened on 13 June, before Mr Justice Littledale. Mr Curwood and Mr Bodkin acted for the defence whilst the case for the Crown was detailed by Mr Carrington and Mr Adolphus.

Susan Bennett, who had by now been charged with lying at the inquest, elaborated on her story somewhat. She now claimed that a sergeant and a captain at the barracks had told her that she would be rewarded financially, but only if she confirmed Birmingham’s story that they had been together all night. Unfortunately, Miss Bennett was unable to identify either of the officers she claimed had tried to bribe her.

Richard Tryvett told the court that he had been on Hammersmith Road at around 2.00am on 14 May, when he had seen a man and a woman arguing. He was certain that the woman was Mary Ann Waite but could not positively identify the man. The man either hit the woman, or pushed her away, whereupon she shouted, ‘Do you mean to serve me so?’ Some other conversation followed and the couple then walked off together, arm in arm. This testimony showed that, in all probability, Mary Ann was still alive at 2.00am so, if Birmingham could explain where he was at that time, he could not be guilty of murder.

Lieutenant Ferdinand Ives of the 15th Hussars confirmed that the prisoner was his groom. Birmingham was certainly in the barracks at 11.00pm on 13 May, for at that time he helped Ives to dress for a ball he was due to attend.

Sergeant Davidson was also in the barracks on the night in question. He stated that he had risen at 4.55am on 14 May and, just under an hour later, at 5.45am, he saw Birmingham coming down from his room. This suggested that, since otherwise Davidson would have seen him, Birmingham was in his own room by 4.55am at the latest. There was, however, one other witness who did little to help Birmingham’s defence.

After his arrest, Birmingham had been held in the New Prison at Clerkenwell. One of his fellow prisoners there was William Lee and he now testified that during the time they were in jail together, Birmingham had confessed his guilt.

That testimony might well have proved to be very damaging for Birmingham but fortunately the defence called two other witnesses, Richard Edwards and Samuel Gower, both officers at the prison, who testified that Lee was a habitual liar.

The jury had a most difficult task. Susan Bennett had first provided an alibi, then admitted she had lied, but could not name the officers she claimed had tried to bribe her. Lieutenant Ives and Sergeant Davidson both claimed that Birmingham was in his barracks all night, even though he had not been seen between around 11.00pm on the 13th and some time after 4.55am on the 14th. In the event, after a very short deliberation, the jury decided that there was not enough evidence to convict and a not guilty verdict was returned.

Twenty-two-year-old Thomas Birmingham was a free man. The murder of Mary Ann Waite remains unsolved to this day.