Chapter 4

William Jarman

1837

The relationship between William Jarman and his wife, Esther, was not all it should be and there were constant arguments between them, especially when William had been drinking. After one such argument, in early December 1837, William struck out at Esther and she swore that she would issue a summons against him, for assault. However, before any action could be taken on Esther’s complaint, a new development would occur.

On the evening of Wednesday, 13 December 1837, Dr William Hayward Robinson was called to Jarman’s house in Kensington where he found William sitting in a chair, suffering from delirium tremens after his latest drinking bout. William also had a severe contusion on his left arm, which might have been caused by some sort of sharp instrument. For the time being at least, Dr Robinson decided that no further treatment was necessary, but he did promise to call again the next day.

Dr Robinson did indeed call again on the morning of Thursday, 14 December, and found William Jarman still suffering from the effects of drink. During the examination, William asked the doctor to take a look at his wife, who was sitting in a chair near the fire. Dr Robinson did as he was asked and found that Esther’s pulse was weak and quick. Concerned that she might be suffering from some kind of fever, Dr Robinson decided that it would be best to bleed his patient from the arm. He then duly took thirteen ounces of blood, bandaged the wound and ordered Esther to bed.

Later that same day, Dr Robinson decided to call on Esther again. He found Esther’s married daughter, Esther Lidford, waiting to speak to him. Mrs Lidford pointed out to Dr Robinson that since his last visit, the wound in her mother’s arm seemed to have opened up again, as she had started to bleed rather freely. Dr Robinson went to the bedroom to check on Esther and found that he was too late. She had passed away and the bed was extensively stained with blood.

Since this entire affair had come about through the possible ill-treatment of Esther by her husband, the police were called in and William Jarman was duly arrested and charged with murder. He appeared before the magistrates on Friday, 15 December.

One of the first witnesses was Police Sergeant Tringham who testified that he had first heard of Esther’s death late on the evening of 14 December. He had then gone to Jarman’s house, with Sergeant Clarke, where they had viewed the dead body of Esther Jarman. There were extensive bruises on her body and a good deal of blood about the bed, especially on the pillows.

Rebecca Lloyd had been a friend of the dead woman and had called at her house, by invitation, on Wednesday, 13 December. After testifying that she had seen Jarman strike his wife on a number of occasions, she told the court that when she had left their home on Wednesday night, Jarman had simply closed the door on her without as much as a goodbye.

After those few witnesses had given their evidence, Mr Pilkington, the magistrate, decided to adjourn matters until after the inquest, when the subject of Esther’s death could be gone into more closely. Jarman, however, was remanded in custody.

The inquest opened on Monday, 18 December, before Mr Stirling, the coroner, at the Wellington Arms Tavern in South Street, Kensington. The first witness was Dr Robinson, who detailed his treatment of Esther Jarman. He explained that he had called, for the final time, on the Thursday evening. He was examining William Jarman when Esther’s daughter came downstairs and said her mother had started bleeding badly from the wound in her arm. He had gone upstairs and applied pressure to the wound, with his thumb. Perhaps the most telling part of Dr Robinson’s testimony, was that he initially believed that Esther had merely fainted when, in fact, she was quite dead. Under intense cross-examination, Dr Robinson had to agree that the direct cause of death had been due to loss of blood.

A somewhat feeble attempt was made to place the blame for Esther’s death on her husband’s shoulders. His daughter, Mrs Lidford, testified that her father was a most violent man, especially in drink, but she could refer to no recent incident where she had actually witnessed such violence.

Sarah Sheen, a neighbour, said she had seen Jarman attack his wife, with his fists, several times in the past but, under cross-examination, she also had to admit that Esther was also a most irritable woman and often gave as good as she got.

There was, of course, no real evidence against William. He may have been violent towards his wife, but it was clear that her death had been caused by the wound inflicted in her arm by Dr Robinson, and also, perhaps, by his lack of care afterwards. The jury returned the verdict that Esther had ‘died from the loss of blood occasioned by the opening of the vein’. In short, William Jarman was not responsible for his wife’s death and he had no charge to answer. Neither, it appeared, had Dr Robinson, for no charge was ever laid against him.