John Gurd was born in 1861, one of four children of a master shoemaker from Donhead St Mary, near Shaftesbury. Sadly, Gurd’s father died when John was five years old, leaving his mother to bring up her family alone on whatever money she could earn as a dressmaker.
John grew up and joined the Army, serving first in the Dorset Militia then transferring to the Dorset Regiment. For reasons unknown, he then enlisted in the Royal Marines under the alias Louis Hamilton. However, by 1890, he had contracted an illness that was sufficiently severe for him to be invalided out of the Marines with a pension. Still under his assumed name, he applied for a job as an attendant at the Wiltshire County Asylum in Devizes
There he met and courted a pretty under housemaid, Florence Adams. The couple became engaged, but, in 1892, with only a week to go before their wedding, Florence found out that her husband-to-be owed money to several patients at the asylum and also to local tradesmen. The amount was only £3, but Florence had no wish to start her married life in debt and wrote to John Gurd calling off their nuptials.
Gurd was furious. He immediately wrote back to Florence threatening to kill her if she ever married another man, but Florence did not take his threats seriously. Gurd brooded about his broken engagement and came to the erroneous conclusion that Florence’s uncle, Henry Richards, was to blame. Richards had never hidden his dislike of his niece’s fiancé and had been against the marriage from the word go.
No doubt wishing to distance himself from his former fiancée, Gurd handed in his notice at the asylum and returned to his family in Shaftesbury. Yet resentment and anger continued to build up inside him and, on 8 April 1892, he travelled back to Melksham, determined to seek out Henry Richards and confront him about his part in persuading his niece to call off the wedding.
Gurd walked around Melksham for several hours looking for Richards, finally locating him in a public house. Becoming increasingly angry and vengeful by the minute, Gurd waited outside the pub until Richards left the premises then, as Richards was walking home along Spa Road, Gurd pulled a revolver from his coat pocket and shot Richards twice in the back. As Richards fell to the ground mortally wounded, his assassin simply turned and walked away.
Spa Road, Melksham, 1915. (Author’s collection)
Unfortunately for Gurd, the incident had been witnessed by a woman who was subsequently able to give police an excellent description of the killer. Another bystander, Mr Harris, actually asked Gurd what the noise was, to be told that it was only some boys letting off firecrackers.
The police immediately issued a description of ‘Louis Hamilton’, which stated that he was wanted for wilful murder at Melksham. He was described as ‘aged 29, height 5ft 7in, with a fair complexion, sandy moustache, no whiskers, with a thin face and dark brown hair, rather curly or frizzy.’ The description also carried a warning: ‘May be carrying a revolver’. A massive hunt for the fugitive was launched, with police following up supposed sightings of Gurd in Bath and Frome.
On 12 April, the landlord of the White Hart Inn at Corsley was holding a ‘lock in’, with several of his customers enjoying an after-hours drink. They were disturbed by a loud banging on the door of the pub, which the landlord went to answer. He was confronted by Gurd, demanding entry. After spending three days on the run, Gurd’s appearance gave him the look of a down and out and the landlord told him in no uncertain terms to leave the premises, slamming the door in his face. Moments later, the drinkers heard the sound of a gunshot from outside the pub and, when they went to investigate, they saw the dishevelled Gurd disappearing in the direction of Melksham. One of the drinker’s horses, which had been tethered in the pub yard, had been shot in the neck.
The police were summoned and, after questioning the landlord and getting his description, determined that the man who had confronted him on the pub doorstep was their fugitive. Four uniformed policemen – Superintendent Perrett, Sergeant Molden and two constables – quickly set off along the Frome road in pursuit of their quarry.
Spa Road, Melksham, 2008. (© N. Sly)
They caught up with him about 300yds from the gates of Longleat Park. Hearing their approach Gurd called out, ‘Do you want me, Sir?’
‘I believe I do,’ replied Superintendent Perrett.
At that, Gurd turned and ran back towards the police officers, reaching into his coat pocket as he ran. Perrett guessed that the man was about to pull out a gun and managed to seize Gurd around the waist and throw him to the ground. As they fell, two shots rang out and Sergeant Molden immediately cried out, ‘Oh dear! I’m shot!’
The other officers grappled with Gurd and Constable Langley finally managed to seize his gun and disarm him. Only when Gurd was subdued were the officers able to attend to their fallen colleague, who was lying in the road, clutching his side with one hand. He was taken to a nearby cottage, but before medical assistance could arrive, he uttered his last words, ‘Lord have mercy on my soul’, and died. It was later found that one bullet from Gurd’s gun had entered his left breast.
Gurd, now safely handcuffed, was asked why he shot the sergeant and replied, ‘Because you didn’t give me time to shoot myself.’
Sergeant Enos Molden was buried at Christ Church, Warminster with full police honours. His funeral was attended by more than 120 of his fellow officers, including the chief constable. Tragically, he had been due to retire to the village of Shrewton on the day after his death. Having served for eleven years, villagers had planned to celebrate his return with a testimonial and a marble clock, specially purchased for the occasion.
The High Street, Melksham, in the 1960s. (Author’s collection)
Gurd appeared before the Melksham magistrates on 20 April, charged with the murders of Henry Richards and Sergeant Enos Molden. He was committed for trial at the next Wiltshire Assizes at Salisbury.
When the trial opened before Mr Justice Charles, Gurd shocked everybody by pleading guilty. Mr Charles told him that he must stand his trial but Gurd insisted, ‘I wish to say I am guilty and I am quite willing to pay for what I have done.’
Eventually, he was persuaded to plead not guilty and his defence counsel tried to convince the jury that Gurd had been very depressed at the time of the shootings as a result of the end of his engagement and that, on both occasions, he had been drinking heavily before committing the murders. However, the jury had already heard Gurd’s confession at the beginning of the trial and thus any attempt at defending him was futile. They took just eight minutes at the end of the trial to return with a verdict of ‘Guilty’ and Gurd was promptly sentenced to death.
James Billington carried out his execution at Devizes on 26 July 1892. Billington made a slight error in calculating the necessary drop and, as a result, Gurd’s death was due to shock rather than dislocation of the spinal vertebrae. Even so, it was recorded as having been ‘practically instantaneous’. Before his death, Gurd had expressed remorse at killing Sergeant Molden, but had shown no contrition for the murder of Henry Richards and, indeed, had spoken of his intentions to kill Florence Adams at the same time as he had murdered her uncle. Had she been out with her uncle on the evening of his murder, as she often was, Gurd would undoubtedly have shot her too.