Wiltshire is a county that is steeped in history. It is famed for its ancient monuments such as Stonehenge and the Avebury Stone Circle, as well as the white horses carved into its chalky hillsides. Yet that history also includes numerous murders and one of England’s earliest serial killers.
When Rebecca Smith was charged with the murder of her baby son, Richard, in 1849, she pleaded not guilty. However, when the jury at her trial found otherwise, she confessed before her execution to having poisoned seven more of her children for no better reason than that she was afraid that they would ‘come to want’.
Thus Mrs Smith joins a diverse collection of child killers, spurned and jealous lovers, and those who murdered for greed or revenge. In 1819, Robert Watkins killed in the course of a highway robbery and, two years later, Edward Buckland killed an elderly widow simply because she would not let him into her cottage to warm himself by the fire. Wanting a place by the fire was also the motive for a murder in Devizes workhouse in 1881, while Swindon woman Mrs Court met her death in 1953 because one of her lodgers believed that the food she served was ‘the worst he had ever eaten’.
As usual, I have numerous people to thank for their assistance and encouragement in compiling this collection. Roger Evans and John J. Eddleston have previously published books, the former on mystery and murder in Wiltshire, the latter a more general reference works on British murders and executions. These books are recorded in more detail in the bibliography, as are the local and national newspapers, which proved an invaluable source of material. Kay Taylor’s article for the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine provided a fascinating insight into the Sutton Benger murder of 1820. John Broderick helped to source some of the photographs, including the one of victim Esther Swinford. My thanks must also go to the staff of the Central Library in Swindon and the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham for their help in my research.
I must also thank John Van der Kiste for his sage advice and of course my husband, Richard, who, as always, helped with the proof reading and photography, and acted as chauffeur for a whistle-stop tour around Wiltshire, during which most of the photographs for the book were taken. Both he and my father, John Higginson, have supported me from the first word of this book to the last.
Finally, my thanks must go to my editor at The History Press, Matilda Richards, for her continued help and encouragement.