Chapter 18

James White

1888

Catherine White enjoyed the trip with her mother, Margaret. It was the morning of Saturday, 3 March 1888 and Catherine had accompanied sixty-seven-year-old Margaret to a house in Balham with some boots her father, James, had repaired. The sum of twelve shillings in payment was handed over and the two ladies then headed back towards Margaret’s home, 1 Eden Place, Chelsea.

Before going back to the house, however, Margaret and Catherine enjoyed a glass of gin and some bread and cheese at the Star and Garter public house, so it was 12.30pm by the time they arrived at Eden Place.

Catherine’s father was sitting on a bench and announced that he would like a pint of beer. It was plain that he had already consumed a good deal of alcohol and Margaret said, ‘James, I think you have had enough already. Where did you get it?’ James would only reply, ‘I have taken a little job home and spent the money.’

Upon hearing that, Margaret White began to cry uncontrollably. The statement from James was symptomatic of all that was wrong with their relationship. James was a skilled shoemaker and had the potential to earn a good living from his trade, but he would much rather do the minimum amount of work and spend the money on drink. He was losing customers on a regular basis and the household income had fallen to almost nothing.

It was clear that James would not be moved from his determination to have his pint of beer so, against her better judgement, Margaret handed him two pence. James left the house immediately and returned a few minutes later with a large flagon of beer. He poured a glass for his wife and then drank the rest himself. He then told his wife and daughter that he did not feel very well and was going to lie down. It was his daughter, Catherine, who saw him to his bed and covered him over with a greatcoat.

When Catherine went back downstairs she found that her mother was crying again, and saying that there were some boots that James was supposed to have mended but he hadn’t bothered and so now they wouldn’t be paid. There was, however, little that Catherine could do about this. She had to get back to her own home and her husband, David, so she kissed her mother and said she would call back later that evening to make sure that everything was all right.

Margaret and James White had a second married daughter, Fanny Spinks, who lived with her husband and her nine-year-old son, Thomas James Spinks. Later that same day, at some time between 2.00pm and 2.30pm, Thomas Spinks called at his grandparent’s house to give Margaret some money from his mother.

When Thomas arrived, he found his grandfather asleep on his bed and his grandmother sitting on a chair in the front room. After handing over the money, Thomas went out to play in the street but very soon afterwards, James White called him in and asked him to make some tea. As Thomas did as his grandfather had asked, James turned to Margaret and asked her for some bread. She replied that there was none in the house and, because he had done little work, there was no money to buy any. James immediately seized hold of his wife and threw her off the chair and onto the floor where she hit her head against a table. Little Thomas, fearful of what he had seen, ran to Johannah Healy’s house, at number 1A.

Thomas didn’t really have to tell Mrs Healey what was going on as she could plainly hear the argument from next door. She told Thomas to run off and find a constable and in a few minutes, the boy found Constable William Swinden, who was on duty in Fulham Road. The officer went back to Eden Place and warned James White not to disturb the peace any further. At the time, Margaret White was still lying on the floor and the constable believed that she might well be drunk. He chose not to interfere further and did not make any examination of Margaret, to see if she was injured in any way. Soon after this, Thomas Spinks left Eden Place to return home.

At 3.15pm, there was another visitor to the Whites’ home at Eden Place. Rebecca Robson lived at 66 Sidney Street and she had left some boots with James, to be mended. When she arrived, Rebecca saw that Margaret White was still lying on the floor, close to the table but now, she was quite naked, apart from a thin black boddice. James was lying on his bed and Rebecca heard him mutter something like, ‘I suppose there will be no more work done today.’ He then shouted out for his wife to get up and, when she did not move, he jumped from the bed, picked up a poker from the fireplace and made to strike his wife with it.

It was at that point that Rebecca Robson knocked loudly on the open door to attract James’s attention. He turned and saw his visitor for the first time, and asked her to come in. This, however, did nothing to dissuade James from his intended course of action for, even as he spoke, he landed a tremendous blow on Margaret, with the poker.

Rebecca cried, ‘Oh, have mercy and don’t hit the poor creature with the poker.’ James replied, ‘I don’t care if I kill her.’ Rebecca turned and said that she was going to find a policeman. She then left and returned home. Rather surprisingly, in view of what she had witnessed, since Rebecca did not see a policeman on her way, she did not bother to report the matter at all.

At 4.30pm, James White was knocking on the front door of another neighbour, Louisa Mayhew, who lived at 4 Eden Place. James explained that he wanted her help to get his wife onto the bed. Louisa went to James’s house and found Margaret still lying on the floor, her clothing having seemingly been torn from her. She helped James to put his wife on the bed and he then left the house to get himself some more beer. Louisa then went to her own house to tell her husband, Walter, what she had seen.

By this time, Thomas Spinks had arrived home and told his mother that his grandfather had hit his grandmother. Fanny Spinks then went to Eden Place herself, taking Thomas with her. They arrived at about 6.00pm and, after seeing Margaret lying on the bed, went to fetch the doctor.

Doctor Daniel Lehaine arrived at Eden Place within the hour, but by then, Margaret White was dead. James was back in his house now and, once the doctor had made his examination, asked if his wife were dead. Told that she was, James replied, ‘A bloody good job too. Fetch me my coat and I will go to the police station.’

In fact, James did not leave the house as he had said. It was Dr Lehaine who called at the police station to report what he had seen and some time afterwards, Constable William Davey arrived to take James into custody. He readily admitted that he had struck his wife three times with the poker and, on the way to the station stated, ‘We have lived happily together for forty-one years, but if she had done as I told her, I should not have killed her.’

James was charged with murder by Inspector Charles Ross at the King’s Road police station and, when asked if he had anything he wished to say, replied, ‘She came home drunk, and laid down on the floor. I tried all I could to persuade her to lay down on the bed, and I pulled all the clothes off her, and beat her with the poker. That is how she got killed. When she would not get up, I beat her on the head and body with the poker. I am sorry for it now, but it was done in the heat of passion.’

James White’s trial took place on 23 April. In addition to the evidence already detailed, Dr Lehaine, who had performed the post-mortem, was able to report that Margaret’s skull was badly fractured and the wounds would have required at least two heavy blows with the knob end of the poker found at the scene. He was also able to tell the court that when he first arrived at Eden Place, James had threatened him and said he would attack him with the same poker.

The guilty verdict was little more than a formality, though the jury did add a strong recommendation to mercy on account of James’s age and the fact that the crime did not appear to be premeditated. Despite that, the statutory death sentence was intoned but, eventually, the recommendation was taken into account and James’s sentence was commuted to one of imprisonment.