Murderous Stories From Suffolk

Murderous Stories from Suffolk – Frightful Fridays
News of the Times Episode 198 | 1851 & 1920
***DISTURBING CONTENT***
In today’s episode, we are in Suffolk investigating two grisly murders that took place there.
In our first story, it is 1851 and pretty milk maid Mary Baker has been stabbed openly at a county fair, by her master, well to do farmer John Mickleburgh. We take a look at the antecedents to the crime and the reason why she was so violently murdered.
Our second story from 1920 is both disturbing and shocking, even by today’s more jaded standards. Some young boys who have collected at the local pond to go fishing are horrified to see a hand sticking out of the water which the press dubbed “the beckoning hand”. Thirteen-year-old Edith Howes has been murdered with her body dumped in the local pond. The identity of the murderer shocked the public.

Two grisly murder cases from the beautiful county of Suffolk is today’s episode of Frightful Fridays.

Hosted by Robin Coles.

#NewsofTheTimes #VictorianCrimeStories #HistoricalCrimeStories #VictorianMurders #Historicalcrimedocumentary #historicaltruecrime #suffolk #murderplan

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@newsofthetimes
Email: newsofthetimespodcast@gmail.com

EPISODE
If you like this, here are links to some other recommended videos:
1738 – 1895: Stories of When Children Kill | Ep158

1760 + 1825: Aristocracy: Murder and Scandal | Ep162

1886 – 1946: Lancashire Murder Stories | Ep166

1924: The Crumbles Murder – Part 1 | Ep170

1920: Crumbles Murders – Part 2 | Ep174

1850 – 1897: Salacious Stories From the Stage | Ep178

1874 – 1878: Infamous Murders in Wales | Ep182

1900 – 1912: Murders at Yarmouth | Ep186

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News of the Times Frightful Fridays – Murderous   Stories from Suffolk Welcome to News of the Times   In today’s episode, we are following up on a  request for murderous stories from Suffolk.   Our first story takes place in the village  of Thrandeston in 1851. Pretty Mary Baker is  

Openly stabbed at a fair on the village  green. The culprit is her employer,   John Mickleburgh, who seems upset to see  her enjoying herself with her sweetheart.   Our second story from 1920 is the highly  disturbing case of 13 year old Edith  

Elisabeth Howes whose body was discovered  in a pond from her hand sticking out of   the water. Her killer is discovered but  makes this case even more disturbing.   Two horrific crimes set in the beautiful  backdrop of Suffolk is today’s episode   of Frightful Fridays. We hope you enjoy the show!  

*** THRANDESTON MURDER of MARY BAKER, 1851   Our first Suffolk story takes place in the  small village of Thrandeston in July, 1851.   It is the annual fair on the village green of  Thrandeston, of the hundreds attending are:   John Mickleburgh – property owner, Mary Baker – milkmaid and  

Servant to John Mickleburgh , John Bootman, Mary Baker’s sweetheart   Clara French, Mary Baker’s sister And John French, Mary Baker’s brother-in-law.   *** All seem   to be having a jolly time. Some wine and brandy  and water is bought, and much chatting at what  

Appears to be a convivial meetup at the fair. On the outskirts of the village green is a beer   house where Mary and her sweetheart repair to  after having had some drinks with the others   and seen some of the stalls at the fair. It is here that the murder of Mary Baker  

Takes place in plain view of the 40  or so people within the beer house.   *** From THE SUFFOLK CHRONICLE, 09 August 1851   ATROCIOUS MURDER AT THRANDESTON A young woman, named Mary Baker had been stabbed  

By one John Mickleburgh at Thrandeston fair on  the evening of Thursday the 31st of July 1851.   The unfortunate woman died from the effects of  the wound on Friday afternoon and the charge   against Mickleburgh, who was arrested soon after  the occurrence, and remanded for the next morning  

To Ipswich gaol to await the result, consequently  assumed the most serious complexion.   *** Mickleburgh, it appears, is a small   farmer, residing on the green at Thrandeston, a  village between three or four miles from Eye.   His occupation consists of about 40 acres of  land, of which about 2/3 are his own property  

And he possesses besides certain rights of  common land, and is the owner of various   cottages in Thrandeston, and Shelfanger,  Norfolk from whence he originally came.   *** He is upwards of 40 years of age,   is married, and has a family of three daughters. The victim of this brutality is a young woman,  

Named Mary Baker, the daughter of a  respectable labouring man at Shelfanger.   She was about 21 years of age, and at the  time of the murder was, for the second time,   in the prisoner’s service, her present period of  servitude having commenced at Michaelmas 1850.   *** She is described as a young  

Person of considerable personal attractions,  and, it is rumoured, in the neighbourhood,   that Mickleburgh was much attached to her. Indeed,  he has not scrupled to boast of an intimacy with   her of a positively immoral character. It is only an act of justice to her,  

The unfortunate deceased Mary Baker, to state that  she has denied to her friends the existence of any   grounds for his boast. ***   In Thrandeston, a very large stock and  pleasure fair is annually held on the green,  

On the last day of July and the first day of  August. It is usually attended by numbers of   the peasantry of the district for miles around. On the present occasion it commenced on Thursday   week and is currently reported that Mary Baker,  having obtained permission from her mistress  

To attend the fair, announced her attention to  Mickleburgh of going there with her sweetheart.   “If you do,” exclaimed the fellow with an  oath, “you shall not sleep tonight.”   *** Heedless of this threat,   the girl went in the afternoon, accompanied by  a young man named William Bootman, a brickmaker  

Living in the parish of Thrandeston. Mickleburgh also went to the fair,   and in the early part of the evening was seen  in a booth sitting beside Bootman and Baker.   *** Singularly enough,   he appeared then on friendly terms with both  and actually treated them to wine and brandy and  

Water. Among the parties in the booth at the time  were Clara French, the sister of the deceased,   and her husband John French. There is no evidence  forthcoming to show that anything passed to arouse   Mickleburgh’s anger, but we believe he has himself  stated that the girl made a gesture with her  

Hand indicative of her preference for Bootman. Between 7:00 and 8:00 the deceased, Mary Baker and   Bootman left the booth and repaired to a cottage  close against the railway bridge about 100 yards   distant from the green kept by Charles Barrett and  opened as a beer house during the fair time.  

The prisoner, with John French and his wife,  shortly afterwards left the booth and walked   towards the outskirts of the green. ***   Mickleburgh, a man of unbridled temper from all  accounts, partly excited by drink and partly   maddened by the indifference of the girl towards  him seems, at this moment, to have determined upon  

Her destruction. Calling Clara French aside, he  declared he would be revenged, without specifying   the object of his vengeance, and asked her to  tell her sister to be home at 9 instead of 9:30   and he would meet her in the Meadow. Parting from John French and his wife,  

There seems little doubt that he proceeded  straight to the stall of William Sayer, a Hawker,   and purchased a spring back knife with a stiletto  blade 4 1/2 inches in length for which he gave two   shillings. ***   With this weapon in his possession, he followed  his intended victim to Barrett’s house,  

Near the railway bridge, resolving to put his  diabolical purpose into immediate execution.   *** THE MURDER   The prisoner walked across the  room with a knife in his hand,   towards where Mary Baker was sitting. Upon  seeing him she said “Ah master, here am I.”  

He made some reply and then passed through into  the back house and was absent about a minute. No   one but the deceased seems to have seen him return  but a sudden heart-rending shriek from her “I’m   dead! I’m dead” silenced the noise and directed  the attention of everyone present to the spot.  

The prisoner, Mickleburgh, was then seen  drawing back from the girl holding the   knife before him. She herself was not  aware he had stabbed her until she felt   the wound which it seems he accompanied with a  brutish exclamation “Ah you have it now!”.   *** John French who was sitting near instantly seized  

Him by the arms and held them from behind whilst  the company shouted to take the knife from him.   Using a filthy expression in allusion  to his alleged connection with the   deceased he added “But if she will go with  Dickie, I must give her cold steel.”   *** Mary Baker’s Death  

In the meantime, a messenger had been  dispatched for medical assistance,   and then in the course of an hour or so Mr W  Miller, surgeon of Eye, was in attendance.   At his directions the young woman was undressed  and placed in bed. The knife was found to have  

Penetrated through her shawl dress stays and under  clothing and entered the body between the 8th and   9th ribs on the left side of the chest leaving  an incision about half an inch in length.   *** The poor creature suffered  

The most acute agony and throughout the night gave  utterances to her sufferings in the most pitiful   terms. Mr. Miller remained with her sometime and  saw her again on the following morning rendering   all the assistance his skill could suggest.  The poor creature gradually sank and expired  

Between 4:00 and 5:00 in the afternoon. It was found upon a postmortem examination being   made that the knife had penetrated the body to  the depth of between four and five inches passing   through the diaphragm and spleen. ***  

That Mickleburgh had with forethought gone to  purchase a knife at one of the fair stalls,   then followed Mary Baker to the beer house on  the outskirts of the green is beyond question.   What everyone wanted to know was why. The answer seems to have come directly from   Mickleburgh himself. ***  

From THE SUFFOLK CHRONICLE, 27 March 1852 MURDER AT THRANDESTON   Whilst I had hold of Mickleburgh, I said,  “Mickleburgh, whatever do you mean by what   you have done?” He said, “I meant to do it.  I went and bought the knife on purpose.’  

He said to the policeman, “You may take me, and do  what you like with me. I have done what I intended   do, and I hope to have done it effectually.” He said, “I wish my arm had been a little   stronger and I would have given  her four more inches of it.”  

I cautioned him that anything he  said could be used in evidence.   He then said, “I have done  what I intended to do.”   He continued, “I have always done what I liked  with her, ever since she had been living at   mine.” ***  

At the police station he said, “I went to a stall in the fair and purchased the   knife. I gave two shillings for it. When I went  into Charles Barrett’s, Mary Baker was sitting   there. She said, “Ha, master, her am I.” I said, “Ha Mor, you shan’t be long before you  

Have this piece of steel.” ***   I afterwards went into the backhouse and  opened the knife, and when it was opened,   it was like a dagger. If she gets well, and  doesn’t come to my proposals, I have the best  

Brace of pistols the world can produce.” He then stated, “On Wednesday my wife went   to Diss, and Mary Baker slept with me  that night.” When he said he went into   the backhouse and that the knife looked like  a dagger, he added, “I hope she will die”.  

*** On the following morning his wife came to see him.   He said to her, “You have suspected me before –  Now you know all about it. If you had died a year   or two ago, this would not have occurred.” ***  

The motive for the murder seems to have been one  of unbridled jealousy, although Mary Baker had   always told friends that there were no illicit  relations between herself and Mickleburgh.   Appearing at the fair in public with her  sweetheart – they had been courting for some 6  

Months – seems to have pushed Mickleburgh over the  edge. And, in blind jealousy, he killed her.   *** THE TRIAL   The trial was open and shut in terms of the  murder and the identity of the murderer.  

The real question was whether Mickleburgh knew  what he was doing at the time of the murder.   *** Much evidence was produced of   his history of insanity within the trial. From all  accounts, he would most likely have been diagnosed  

With bi-polar disorder as his history described  a cycle of manic fits followed by deep depression   that had gone on throughout his lifetime. The Judge, in his summation, stressed that the   letter of the law was based on whether Mickleburgh  understood at the time of purchasing the knife  

And then following Mary Baker and his subsequent  stabbing of her whether he was aware of what he   was doing and if he realised that it was wrong. ***   The Jury took a few minutes to consider and  concluded that Mickleburgh was guilty.  

Mickleburgh then asked to say a few words. What follows is a rambling speech stating that   he knew his defence of insanity would not work  because he was clearly sane. He goes on to say   that if the jury and learned judge had known  the whole truth, they would have found him   innocent. ***  

Mickleburgh does not relay what the  whole truth that he refers to is.   The Judge pronounced the death sentence. As expected, pleas for clemency are submitted   to the Home Secretary and actually succeed. He is  admitted to having a “diseased intellect” and his   death sentence is commuted to life in prison. ***  

He is released with time served  20 years after sentencing.   But, John Mickleburgh himself is murdered in 1888  – 35 years after his killing of Mary Baker.   *** From THE   NORTHAMPTON MERCURY, 10 March, 1888 TRAGIC END OF A MURDERER  

Kenninghall Workhouse, Suffolk, where an inmate  was killed about 12 months ago, has again been   the scene of a fatal quarrel, the victim in  this case being a man named John Mickleburgh,   who was himself 35 years ago sentenced to death  for the murder of a girl at Thrandeston Fair.  

Mickleburgh was an inmate of the sick ward,  and among the attendants was a pauper named   John Revell Burrows. A quarrel took place between  them about a week ago, and Mickleburgh, who was   severely beaten, died on Thursday week. ***  

The Thrandeston murder, for which he was  sentenced to death, happened so long ago that the   circumstances are almost forgotten, but they were  brought to remembrance a few months back by some   proceedings in the Ipswich Bankruptcy Court. At that time, it was reported that Mickleburgh was  

Obtaining an honest living, and in deference  to the man’s own position, as well as to the   feelings of the family, no public notice was taken  of the old story. It appears that Mickleburgh,   after his sentence, was reprieved, and released  twenty years later on a ticket-of-leave.   *** THE CORTON POND MYSTERY, 1920  

Our second episode of murderous Stories from  Suffolk is the disturbing case of the death of   13 year old Edith Elizabeth Howes. From THE DAILY HERALD, 01 July 1920   THE BECKONING HAND YOUNG GIRL’S BODY FOUND FLOATING IN POND   SUFFOLK MYSTERY Some schoolboys who had gone to fish on Saturday  

In a lonely tree-shadowed pond, near Corton, a  village just north of Lowestoft, were startled   to see a hand protruding from the water. Seized with horror, they rushed from   the scene to the neighbouring village. There they found the constable named Bickers who,  

On hearing the story, hastened to the spot  with the boys following timidly behind.   *** When he reached the pond,   the policeman saw that the boys had been  telling the truth and that a hand was   indeed apparent above the placid and desolate  waters in an attitude of ghastly beckoning.  

Summoning up his courage, he caught hold of the  ice-cold fingers and brought to light the body of   a young girl that apparently had been floating  a little below the surface of the water.   *** BODY IDENTIFIED   Inquiries that were quickly set on foot, soon  resulted in the body being identified as that  

Of Edith Elisabeth Howes, an attractive girl of  13, who had been living with her parents at 2,   Factory-street, Lowestoft. It soon became evident that death   was due to violence, and the report by the  police surgeon stated that the girl had been  

Outraged previous to death. At the inquest on  the girl, which was opened here this afternoon,   a girl named Emma Ellen Tuttle gave evidence of  identification, and said that she last saw Edith   Howes at 9.20 on Saturday morning walking along  the Corton road with her father, about 1 ½ miles  

From the scene of the tragedy. ***   CORONOR AND FATHER The father was present at   the inquest and on the advice of the coroner, he  reserved his cross examination of the witness.   The only other evidence was that given by the  police who described the recovery of the body  

And the inquest was adjourned until June 21  in order to allow the police to compete their   investigations. ***   The pond where the body was found is in a  field almost opposite Corton pleasure gardens,   which once belonged to Colman, the mustard king –  a thickly wooded garden of great extent. The pond  

Is almost entirely screened from observation from  the main road and has steeply sloping banks.   *** This brutal attack shocked the public and made   national headlines. It was not just the murder;  it was the outrage / violation itself which  

Added to the highly grim nature of the crime. This shock was heightened to disbelief when the   girl’s own father became the primary suspect. ***   From THE YARMOUTH INDEPENDEN T, 05 June 1920 There was a sensational development in   connection with the girl’s death when  on Wednesday, William Howes, (aged 40),  

Her father, was charged at Lowestoft Police  Court with murdering his daughter.   Evidence, which was only formal, was given  by Superintendent Newson that the prisoner,   when asked to account for his movements,  could not do so satisfactorily.   *** A post-mortem  

On the girl’s body revealed the fact that she had  been outraged, probably stunned, and put into the   water alive, the cause of death being drowning. Prisoner was seen to part from his daughter at   Duke Head’s Street, Lowestoft, on the morning  of the tragedy, and evidence had been obtained  

That he was seen near the spot on Corton Road  with the girl on the morning when this affair   took place. ***   ABOUT WILLIAM JOHN HOWES Howes was a decorated soldier   who had served in the Boer War and had seen  action in Loos and Ypres during the great  

War. Howes had been blown up in Ypres and was  known to suffer from trembling of his limbs,   insomnia and weakness. He had been given a  medical discharge on the 30th August 1918.   Investigations by police discovered some  disturbing stories of the Howes household.  

*** In February 1920, 13 year old Edith was sent   on a bus to Kessingland on a Saturday night. She  was found there alone and crying and returned to   her family by police. Before she was found, Howes  had reported her missing to the local police,  

Although he had placed her on the bus. In hindsight, this begged the question of   whether Howes had been pre-staging  the scene of the murder to come.   *** Howes had been married three times and  

Had two daughters aged 13 and 11 whom lived with  him. His third wife left him on the 7th of May,   1920 and reported being afraid of him. Howes  had complained that she was trying to poison   him and that she had given him syphilis. Both  accusations were medically proven to be untrue.  

The history and family background of Howes,  as well as the physical and mental frailty   which was very apparent to all, played a  part in the decision that was to come.   *** From THE DAILY NEWS London, 03 June, 1920  

At the brief hearing at the Police Court  today, Howes gave the appearance of a   neurotic. He was trembling from head to foot,  and this was explained by the fact that he   had sustained shell-shock at the front.. He  clearly declared that he was not guilty.  

Superintendent Newson said that although the  prisoner had declared to them that he parted   with the girl in the main street at 10:00, he was  seen with her near then pond at a later hour.   *** BURIAL   There was a pathetic scene at the local  cemetery this afternoon when the funeral  

Of the dead girl took place. It was attended  by a large number of school children.   *** Howes was remanded as investigations proceeded.   When asked to give his movements on the critical  day, Howes stated he was at the market when the  

Crime took place. No corroborating evidence  could be found to support his statement.   Instead, the police managed to collect 20  witnesses placing Howes at the scene of the   crime during the murder window. His trousers  also were seen to be wet when he arrived back  

Home and there were scratches upon his  face which he had no explanation of.   *** From THE DAILY HERALD, 09 July, 1920   GIRL DEAD IN POND VERDICT AGAINST FATHER   A coroner’s jury at Lowestoft today returned  a verdict of “wilful murder” against William  

John Howes, aged 40, fisherman, the  body of whose daughter, aged 13 was   recovered from a pond in Corton on May 29. A post mortem examination, it was stated,   showed that the girl had been violated, stunned  and thrown into the pond. Howes was seen in the  

Vicinity of the pond in the girl’s company, and  later it was noticed that his face was scratched   and bleeding. ***   Asked if he would like to give evidence,  Howes replied, “I have nothing to say except   what I told Detectives White and Macraw.”