Chapter 15

Robert Booley

1883

Frances Croft lived at 31 Gertrude Street, Kensington, and made a living by taking in lodgers. In 1883, she had three ladies living with her: Minnie Clayton, Hetty Castleton and Blanche Lowry, who preferred to use the name ‘Jennie’.

One of those three lodgers, Hetty Castleton, earned her living as a prostitute and in the early hours of Wednesday, 2 May 1883, she returned home with a client. They were admitted to the house by Blanche, and went into the drawing room. Almost immediately there was a loud knock on the front door.

It was Frances herself who went to the door this time. A man she knew as Robert James Booley then pushed past her without so much as a word and stormed into the drawing room. Booley was a regular client of Hetty’s and it seemed he was not too pleased with the fact that she was now with another man.

Strong words passed between Booley and Hetty, during which her potential client thought better of things and ran out of the house. Satisfied that he had achieved what he desired, Booley then began to leave the house himself. Frances was still in the hallway and another argument then followed between her and Booley, during which she told him what she thought of him barging into her home.

The argument grew ever more heated and Frances, not one to mince her words, used some rather foul language towards her unwanted visitor. Still not satisfied that she had done enough, Frances then lashed out and struck Booley on the face. He immediately hit her back and a brief scuffle followed. Meanwhile, Hetty Castleton ran after her potential client, caught up with him across the road, and began trying to persuade him to return to the house.

Booley was a cabman by trade and he now stormed out of the house and climbed into his cab, which was standing outside. He only moved the cab to the corner of Gertrude Street though, where he stopped, no doubt to cool off a little. If he thought, however, that he would now be left in peace, he was very much mistaken. Hetty was having no luck in persuading her gentleman to return to number 31 with her, so she marched up to Booley to let him know what she thought of him.

Having given Booley a piece of her mind, Hetty Castleton returned to number 31 where she found the front door locked, Frances Croft lying on a grass verge outside and Blanche Lowry trying to lift her. By this time, Minnie Clifton had also gone to speak to Booley about his behaviour and they were still on the corner of Gertrude Street. Hetty went back to the corner of the street, told Minnie that Frances had fallen over and asked her to return and help her to lift the stricken woman. Minnie did as she was asked and, when it was clear that Frances could not be roused, ran off to fetch the doctor. However, when the doctor did attend, he found that Frances Croft was dead. The police were called and Booley was taken into custody, where he was charged with manslaughter.

Booley’s trial on that charge took place on 28 May. His defence lay in the hands of Mr Strong, whilst the case for the prosecution was led by Mr Poland, assisted by Mr Montagu Williams and Mr A E Gill.

After Hetty Castleton had given her testimony, Blanche Lowry took the stand. She had heard the scuffle in the hallway and heard Frances call Booley a brute, for hitting an old woman. After Booley had left the house, Blanche had seen him park his cab on the corner of Gertrude Street and, after Hetty had had words with him, Blanche went to talk to him too. Booley had obviously had enough by this time, for he informed her that if she rounded on him, he would ‘smash her face in’.

Minnie Clayton told the court that she had only moved into the house at 31 Gertrude Street on Friday 27 April. After the arguments, she had also gone to speak to Booley. Moments later, Hetty Castleton had come back to the cab and said, ‘Minnie, come, I think my landlady is in a fit.’ Minnie had gone back to find Frances lying on a grass verge, close to her front door. When it was clear that she would not wake, Minnie ran for the doctor. Later, after the doctor had said that Frances was dead, Hetty had also run off to find a policeman.

Emily Jenner lived at 31 Limerston Street, but on 2 May, she was walking down Gertrude Street with her friend, Norah Burton. Emily had seen some sort of heated discussion taking place between Booley and some women on the corner of the street. She and Norah then walked on together and, when they came opposite to number 31, they saw Frances lying on the grass. She was doubled up and had blood on her face. This was confirmed by Norah, who added that she had touched Frances’s legs and found them to be quite cold.

Constable Horace Thorpe was the policeman brought to the scene by Hetty Castleton. He had found Frances lying on her stomach, on the grass. There was a great deal of blood around her mouth.

Inspector William Demain had seen Frances’s body and at 5.00am that same morning, he had gone to Booley’s lodgings at 89 Aldersgate Street and arrested him. Later, at the Chelsea police station, Demain had charged Booley with murder. Another inspector, Patrick Cronin, was present at the time and he heard Booley reply, ‘I did not strike her and knock her down.’ Later, at the magistrates’ court, the charge was reduced to one of manslaughter as it was believed that there had been no intention to kill.

Lucy Haynes was Frances Croft’s niece and she confirmed that Frances had been sixty-two years old when she died. Lucy was also able to confirm that Frances had never suffered from fits of any kind, thus closing off one possible line of defence for Robert Booley.

Dr James Robert Hayes had examined Frances in Gertrude Street and believed that she had been dead for about an hour when he arrived. Later, Dr Hayes performed the post-mortem and he found an effusion of blood beneath the skull. The brain had been compressed and such an injury could be caused by either a sharp blow, or, just possibly, a fall.

Once all the evidence had been heard, the jury took just a few minutes to decide that the defendant was guilty of manslaughter. Twenty-eight-year-old Robert James Booley was then sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment, with hard labour.