CHAPTER 31

The Wallace Mystery

1931

Julia Wallace lay in a pool of her own blood, in her cosy room …

f Liverpool can claim to be the setting for several infamous and problematic homicides, then first among these has to be the Wallace case. The year 1931 was notable for crime mysteries. There was the notorious ‘Blazing Car’ case in Northumberland, still unsolved, and also the Margaret Schofield case in Dewsbury (unsolved). But in sheer complexity, the death that has been called by many ‘the perfect murder’ is Liverpool’s own, and presents the historian with a riddle: if William Wallace, gentle chess-playing insurance agent living in a quiet suburb, did indeed create an alibi and a hoax, then why did he make it all so difficult for himself? There were easier ways to create a ruse and a suspicious stranger.

The story began on 19 January 1931, when a phone call was made to the Central Chess Club in Liverpool by a man calling himself Qualtrough. He wanted to see Wallace urgently, on a business matter. Wallace was not yet at his club, but he was due to arrive to play a match at seven o’clock. Wallace arrived at twenty-to-eight, and then he was told about the phone call. The club was at the City Café, and Wallace had not been doing too well of late, walking the streets for the Prudential. This call meant a potential customer, so he asked about the address given. Here lies the heart of the mystery: Qualtrough said he lived at Menlove Gardens East – an address that did not exist. Wallace asked several people about the address, and it was known that there was a street called Menlove Gardens North.