Chapter 19

John Thomas Lawrence

1890

Mary Ann Morgan lived in a room on the top floor of 59 Lower North Street, Chelsea. There were other lodgers in the house and, on the ground floor, lived John Thomas Lawrence and his wife Sophia, who ran a shop, which sold meat for cats.

On Thursday, 20 February 1890, Mary Ann returned home from her work at around noon and, as she walked up the stairs, she passed the rooms of the Lawrences. As she did so, Mary Ann heard Sophia say, ‘You had better kill me at once you brute.’ This was followed by the sounds of scuffling, and a thud.

At approximately 12.20pm, John Lawrence shouted for Mary Ann Morgan to come down, saying that he wanted her help. Mary Ann duly descended the stairs but, when she reached the ground floor, she found Lawrence, who was extremely drunk, supporting himself on the banisters. As for Sophia, she lay on her back at the foot of the staircase.

Mary Ann demanded to know what Lawrence had done, but he simply told her that it was none of her business. He then demanded that Mary Ann help him get his wife to bed. Fearful, perhaps, that she might be the next target of his temper, Mary Ann helped Lawrence to get his wife to their bedroom, but before they could put the injured woman onto her bed, Lawrence left the room, leaving Mary Ann to manage things herself.

There was no way that Mary Ann Morgan could get Sophia to bed without further assistance, so she called for help and Mrs Hilsden, another lodger, came to her aid. Together the two women managed to manoeuvre Sophia to bed, where they undressed her. To their horror they discovered that Sophia, who was very pregnant at the time, was bleeding badly from her lower parts. Mary Ann wasted no time in calling out the doctor.

Dr William John Frankish arrived at the house at around 2.30pm. He treated Sophia for what might be premature labour and then left, believing that he had done all he could to help.

At some time between 4.00pm and 4.30pm, Alfred William Odell, who was Sophia’s brother, called to visit her. He heard the story of the argument between Lawrence and Sophia, saw that her condition had not improved and went back to Dr Frankish’s surgery at 102 Sloane Street. Dr Frankish was not there, so Odell left a message asking him to call at Lower North Street, as soon as he returned.

Dr Frankish returned to Lower North Street at around 6.15pm. Now, for the first time, he made a thorough examination of his patient and found a wound on her left side, midway between her navel and the edge of her ribs. He treated this wound and left the house again, saying that he would return in a few hours, to check on Sophia’s progress.

At 9.30pm, the doctor did return and found that Sophia had, if anything, grown even weaker. Dr Frankish then changed the dressing on Sophia’s wound but it was to no avail. At 11.30pm that same night, Sophia Lawrence died in her bed. As for John Thomas Lawrence, who had already been taken into custody, he was now charged with the murder of his wife.

The inquest on the dead woman took place at the Prince of Wales Tavern in Exeter Street, Chelsea, on Saturday, 22 February. Here, the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter against Lawrence. However, a later appearance at the Westminster police court, ruled that Lawrence should be charged with murder.

Lawrence’s trial for murder took place on 3 March 1890, before the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Coleridge. The case for the Crown was led by Mr Charles Mathews, who was assisted by Mr Horace Avory. Lawrence’s defence rested in the hands of Mr Warburton.

John Alfred George Lawrence was the son of the prisoner and he testified that he had been at home on the morning of 20 February and had heard his parents arguing. Even before John left home, at 3.45am, his father was already very drunk. John returned home at 4.00pm to find his mother lying in bed and his father sitting on a chair in the room. He asked his mother what the problem was, but she did not answer him. That evening, at around 8.00pm, John was in the kitchen with his father who suddenly said, quite calmly, ‘I threw the knife at mother.’

Alfred Odell told the court that it had been his intention to visit his sister Sophia on 20 February, but his visit was brought forward when he received a message from Mary Ann Morgan, saying that his sister was very ill. Later, at around 5.30pm, Alfred was in the kitchen when Lawrence came in and said, ‘Alf, I have done it. I suppose I shall be bloody well hanged for it.’

Detective Samuel Cluny was called to the house at 7.15pm. Having spoken to Dr Frankish, Cluny went to speak to Lawrence who was asleep in an armchair at the time. Cluny woke Lawrence and told him that he would be taken to the police station and charged with stabbing his wife. Lawrence offered no resistance and, when charged at the station, burst into tears. He did the same later that same night, when the charge was changed to one of murder.

In addition to telling of his visits to the house in Lower North Street, and his treatment of Sophia Lawrence, Dr Frankish was able to tell of his findings at the subsequent post-mortem.

Sophia had suffered a single stab wound and the knife had severed a large vein over her intestines and had also wounded the left lobe of her liver. In order to inflict such a wound, a knife would have had to have been thrown with considerable force.

With his own confession to his son and his brother-in-law, there could be no doubt that Lawrence was directly responsible for his wife’s death, but the jury accepted that he had not intended to kill her and duly returned a verdict that he was only guilty of manslaughter. Forty-five-year-old Lawrence was then sentenced to ten years in prison.