Some Victorian Murder Stories

Victorian Murder Cases:
15/12/1856
Robert Marley – London


A murder almost at the seat of government occurred on October 20th, 1856, when a robber bludgeoned to death Robert Cope, manager of a jeweller’s and “curiosity” shop in Parliament Street, London.
A passer-by was alerted when he heard moaning from inside the shop A group of men gathered on the pavement told him dismissively: “Don’t worry. It’s just a couple in there quarrelling with each other.”
Not satisfied, the passer-by went into the shop and found Robert Marley, 39, beating Mr. Cope over the head with a 14-inch long life preserver. He rushed outside shouting for help, only to find that the group of men had vanished.
Marley ran from the shop but was caught by other passers-by and was charged with assault and robbery. A fortnight later Mr Cope died from his injuries and Marley was tried at the Old Bailey for his murder.
The court was told that the murder weapon was found alongside George Canning’s statue in Parliament Square. Marley had been transported in 1853 for burglary, and had only recently returned to London.
The accused agreed that he had struck Mr. Cope during the course of the robbery, but claimed that his victim actually died of lung disease. The jury didn’t accept that, and he was hanged on Monday, December 15th, 1856, outside Newgate Prison, before “an unusually large concourse of persons.”
No one ever discovered the identities of the men on the pavement for, expecting to be executed, Marley refused to name any of his accomplices.


Victorian Murder Cases:
11/12/1876
Charles O’Donnell – Chelsea, west London


The dinner guest was in a jaunty mood. He sat down at the table apologising for his wife’s absence, but remarking how pleased he was to be among the company. As the dinner went on, the guest, Charles O’Donnell, 57, said a few more things too, and from the way the conversation was going one or two of the other guests got the impression that there might be a sinister reason why Mrs. Elizabeth O’Donnell wasn’t there that night.
The O’Donnells, they remembered, were not the average sort of people you invited to dinner. O’Donnell had recently been released from a mental asylum. After that the couple had separated for a short time, then come together again, renting a room in Rawlings Street, Chelsea.
When the dinner was over one of the guests decided to call in at Chelsea police station. What he told officers there prompted them to call on O’Donnell. They found his room splattered with blood, and his wife lying dead on the bed. She had been battered to death with a pair of tongs that still lay bloodstained on the floor.
Charles O’Donnell, the man who came to dinner and had too much to say, was tried at the Old Bailey in November 1876, and was hanged on Monday, December 11th, 1876, at Newgate Prison.

Victorian Murder Cases:
16/12/1839
William Lees – London


“I am a murderer!” declared William Lees, a 35-year-old hairdresser, when he arrived at his sister’s house in Islington. When he told her how and why, she went with him by coach to his hairdressing salon in Chapman Street, Shadwell, in east London, where he lived with his wife Elizabeth.
There, just as he had said, was Elizabeth, 30, lying dead on the shop floor in a pool of blood. Her head had been almost severed by slashes from a razor.
Lees told his sister that he struck Elizabeth first with a piece of wood when they began to quarrel. He added that he had hidden a piece of rope inside his shirt because he intended hanging himself.
He had been an alcoholic from the age of 18. When he married he became very jealous of Elizabeth – once when she stayed out all night with friends he threatened to beat out her brains.
At his trial at the Old Bailey defence witnesses said that Elizabeth was often drunk too, and would frequently hit her husband. That plea failed to save him, and he was hanged on Monday, December 16th, 1839, outside Newgate Prison, before a crowd said to be “more numerous than normal but with fewer women present.”

November 13th
13/11/1849
Frederick and Marie Manning – Bermondsy, London


John Massey, a medical student, looked aghast when his landlord asked him: “Can a man under the effects of narcotics be induced to sign cheques?” What was going on, young Massey wondered? Surely the landlord wasn’t planning on robbing someone?
Before he could think of an answer, more questions came thick and fast: “What happens to someone when they are chloroformed?” and “What happens to someone who gets shot by an air gun?”
Massey had an inkling of the purport of the questions – he knew that Marie, the wife of the landlord, Frederick Manning, was having an affair with another man, and he knew that Manning knew about the affair. He didn’t want to be around if murder was going to happen, so he gave in his notice and left.
Murder, indeed, was what Frederick Manning, 30, owner of a beer shop, had in mind. He was tired of being cuckolded by Patrick O’Connor, an elderly Irishman of some means, and it seems that Marie, 28, was tired of her lover too. So on August 9th, 1849, they invited O’Connor to dinner at their home in Bermondsey, London, and Marie shot him through the head. Manning was to say later: “I heard him moaning in the kitchen. I never liked him very much, so I finished him off with a ripping chisel.”
They buried O’Connor under the slabs of the kitchen floor, and next day Marie went to her ex-lover’s house and took away bonds, shares, money and two gold watches. Manning was sent off to sell the shares, and raised £110. Next day Marie went back to the house to collect more securities, but this time Manning’s nerve failed, and he declined to sell the shares.
Marie, who was born in Switzerland, was furious. “You wimp!” she stormed. “What do I need a man like you for?” So saying, she stormed out of the house with all the stolen money, went to Euston station and took a train to Edinburgh.
O’Connor’s relatives, meanwhile, raised a hue and cry. The police went to the murder house, and discovered the body under the kitchen slabs. Marie was arrested in Edinburgh, and her husband, who had fled to the Channel Islands, was arrested in a village near St. Helier, Jersey.
At their trial the Mannings refused to look at each other, each blaming the other for the murder. Both were found guilty, and hanged on Tuesday, November 13th, 1849, in front of a vast crowd outside Horsemonger Lane Prison. In a moving letter to The Times, Charles Dickens, who was one of the spectators, denounced the levity of the crowd and the ritual of capital punishment.
Marie Manning wore black satin for her execution – a fact that caused black satin dresses to go out of fashion.

All nabbed from the website: http://www.truecrimelibrary.com/
These stories are really handy. They have tons more on ther as well, from differant parts of the UK.

Tish x

characters

WHEYYYY I CAN COMMENT!! thankyou tish :))
character idea list guyysss...

Pickpockets- brother and sister trying to get by without going into the workhouse.
Prostitutes- with personality. forced into the industry but afraid of it.
Painter- 'Posh lover' gets inspiration through absynthe and prostitutes.
Mickie Finn- has a stall on a market. (black market dealing)
Doctor- doctor who doesnt give a 'shit' about the patients.
Tommy Hat- Landowner of the pub and 'fancy man' (pimp) to prostitutes.
Snuff- significant yet subtle child who interlocks with all characters. (possibly a ghost) and draws images of what he witnesses but cannot speak.
Pandora- prostitute with money problems, prostitute of tomy hat.
Abby- was married in high class but has now become a prostitute due to leaving her hubby
Cynthia- sister to abby, a prostitute who is pregnant and needs to decide on an abortion or not.
Jonothan Carol- Former husband of abby, smuggles drugs from hospital.
Mary Carol- daughter of Jonothan, gets forced into drug habits.

:))
Leo

Okay so we're a little way into the devising now and we all have a jist of the kind of characters we want to play. ( I don't actually have a list so if someone could post one up that would be great)

A summerisation of the ideas we've had thus far:

- The guildhall presents the oppurtunity to have two main performances to be going on at the same time, the audience split into two to watch this and then change rooms during interval ( where will be acting out the streets of London)

- Interlinking storylines, are what we're trying to work on at the moment however I think its important to carry on with research whilst this is going on so we don't steer away from the facts.
a website I've found really great and has like loads of information on everything we need is:
http://www.victorianlondon.org/

- As everyone is aware there is the devising day with that group thingy on thursday, just a reminder to bring 5 pounds

anything I've missed out?

kat

6 Case studies of Crima and Punishment in the victorian era

http://vcp.e2bn.org/case_studies/index.php

2nd Lesson (Wednesday 9th September)

Summary of today's lesson:

Things to do: Visit Guildhall - space issues, lighting, mood (GROUP VISIT IMPORTANT)
Contact Sally Waters

Individual roles (to be decided by Friday):
Reuben - set design/performer Tish - performer/director
Josie - performer Charlie - performer
Amy - performer Charlotte - performer/director
Kat - performer/director Leo - performer
AJ - performer Callum - performer
Hatty - performer Cameron - set design/performer
Courtney - performer/director Victoria - ?

• The Hat transforms for upper, middle and lower classes
• Themes from Ghost Town --> area used to be thriving, descending into squalor
• --> time periods; change in time
• Promenade - set changes and scenery changes made easier
• Narration? -->Landlady making audience move (FORM - practioner influence e.g. Brecht)
• Changes in tone (contrasting themes/genre in each piece)
• Audience arrives into piece -->dark dank atomsphere/upper class afternoon tea
• A constant unchanging character e.g. the girl from Billy Elliot

CALLUM'S GROUP - GENRE

• Comedy/dark --> mass contrast
• Building process needed to create effective pathos scene
• Audience needs an understanding of the characters to appreciate

REUBEN'S GROUP - CLASS

• separation of classes doesn't work well e.g. one scene from each class
• classes all present in one area e.g. kitchen staff, landlady, customers

TISH'S GROUP - TIME

• murder mystery
• looking back in time; periods in which stimulus stems from
• -->2009/70s/20s-30s/Victorian

CORRUPTION OF POLITICS --> 2009 corruption present in V era still present

Steve speaks: "Powerful drama is a combination of the political and the personal, therefore the drama must mean something to the actors"

H/W: research corruption in 18th century

Charlotte

Company Rules

Here are the rules we all settled on last term, any problems?

1. If you cannot make it to the lesson, post it on the absense thread of the blog

- A VALID illness- Something that will ail your acting ability
- Something that will spread ( swine flu)
- NO HANGOVERS
- Other issues: -Family/personal issues
- transport issues (post bus times on blog)
- Post on blog your work timetables

2. each company member should be aiming to post at least 1 every 2 weeks (place name at the bottom of every post)

3. Please try not to fall out (often) Seperate personal life and work

4. MAKE SACRIFICES: remeber your education is generally more important tha your social life, right?

5. FUEL yourself, the way YOU need to be fueled. EAT. DRINK. SLEEP

6. Wear black, BLACK CLOTHES we are not goths . we are theatre geeks

Kat