Chapter 26

The Murder of Frances Buxton

1920

It was a matter of routine for the constable on the beat around Lawrence Street, Chelsea. He would patrol the area, trying the doors of the various business premises, in order to make sure that all was secure. Things were no different on the morning of Sunday, 18 January 1920.

The officer came to the Cross Keys public house, a curiously isolated building, within the borough of Chelsea. The pub stood alone with a passageway at each side. One of those passageways led to a piece of wasteland, which led to the back of All Saints’ Church. The other separated the Cross Keys from a fairly new block of flats. With such a position to consider, the officer thought that it would be better to check the back door of the pub, as well as the front. The front door was securely locked but, when he tried the rear door, the constable found, to his surprise, that it was open.

The police officer entered the pub, calling out if anyone was there. Then, suddenly, he noticed the smell of burning and it seemed to be coming from the direction of the cellar. Going to investigate further, the constable found smoke issuing from a pile of what appeared to be sacks and sawdust in the cellar. He immediately called in the fire brigade.

It didn’t take long for the brigade to douse down the sacking but, when it was removed, they found a woman’s body underneath the sawdust. Further investigation showed that the woman had been battered about the head, by some sort of blunt instrument. Dried blood and sawdust were caked about the woman’s head and it was clear that this was no tragic accident. The police were looking at a case of murder and the victim was the landlady of the premises, fifty-five-year-old Frances Buxton.

The inquest on the dead woman opened on Tuesday, 20 January. Frank Charles Buxton, the owner of the Sussex Hotel, near Bexhill, testified that he was Frances’s husband, but added that they had not lived together for eleven or twelve years. He had asked her, on more than one occasion, to give up the Cross Keys, or at least to stop living on her own, but she had been a most strong willed woman and made up her own mind.

Evidence was given that when Frances’s body had been found, the upper portion of it was buried in sawdust. In addition to the sacking thrown over the body, there was also more stuffed beneath her legs. The wounds on the head were extreme and the weapon used to inflict them was, almost certainly, a bottle. Pieces of glass had been found scattered about the body, which had been lying in a pool of blood, and a broken bottle had been found in a passageway close by.

Elizabeth Mitchell was a barmaid at the Cross Keys and she had left the premises at her usual time, after the bar had closed, on the night of Saturday, 17 January. At the time, there would have been around £20 in the till, being that day’s takings. Elizabeth was also able to say that, during the time she served in the bar, Frances was in the habit of wearing quite a lot of jewellery and some of this now seemed to be missing.

Continuing her testimony, Elizabeth stated that, after the bar closed each night, it was Frances’s routine to go down to the cellar to sort out the barrels and other matters for the next day’s business.

Lily Mitchell was Elizabeth’s daughter and she also helped out behind the bar. Lily had been there on the Saturday night and she remembered that not long before closing time, a man came in. The pub was empty at the time, which was why Lily noticed him in particular. The man was still there when Lily finished work for the night. Lily was able to furnish at least part of a description. The man was tall and fairly well-dressed with greying hair. Unfortunately, he wore a cloth cap, which he kept pulled well down so that Lily did not get a good look at his face.

Lily was also able to give details of two other possible suspects. Some years before, Frances had taken on a man, as a working partner, at the Cross Keys. The partnership had not lasted long and had not been helped by the fact that one day, the man had attacked Frances and held her down. Finally, Lily was able to tell the court of a man she had seen in the bar on the Thursday before Frances died.

The man was simply enjoying a quiet pint but he kept looking up, at Frances. In fun, Lily had said to her employer, ‘I see there is someone in the bar trying to give you the glad eye.’ Frances, however, seemed to be quite concerned. She told Lily that the man had been in for the last three or four days, had been following her, and that she had seen him standing outside, looking up at the house.

The inquest was then adjourned to Tuesday, 3 February, to allow the police to continue with their enquiries. They had the ex-partner to check out, the tall man who had been in the bar on the night Frances was last seen alive, and the mysterious admirer who may or may not have been the same man. They also had clues to go on. Some banknotes, with bloody fingerprints on them, had been found scattered about the bar and matching prints had been found in the blood spatters on the cellar wall. Unfortunately, those prints did not match any known criminals and the police were unable to trace either the tall man, or the admirer.

When the inquest re-opened, the first witness was Anne O’Connor. She had been a customer of the Cross Keys on Saturday, 17 January and she too had seen the tall man. However, she was also unable to give a detailed description, meaning that her evidence did not take the investigation any further forward.

Mrs Harvey was a regular customer at the pub and a good friend of Frances’. On Friday, 16 January, they had been in conversation and Frances remarked that a man had been trying to thrust his companionship on her. Foolishly, she had told him that she lived alone. If anything, this seemed to encourage him and he became even more obsessive. On one occasion, Frances had even had to throw him out of the private parlour of the bar, when he became too forward. Was this man the same tall man, who had been in the bar that fateful night, or perhaps the man who had given her the ‘glad eye’?

By now the police had to admit that all avenues of inquiry had been explored and all had come to nothing. They had not been able to trace any of the men referred to and it was highly likely that no arrest would ever be made. Having heard all that evidence, the jury had little choice but to return the expected verdict of, ‘wilful murder against some person or persons unknown’.

The murder of Frances Buxton is still listed as unsolved.