Record Office opens files on brutal Hankelow murder

THE County Record Office recently opened its files on one of Cheshire’s most brutal crimes of passion, a Lady Chatterley–style romance that ended with a slaying …and sent a woman and her servant lover to the Chester gallows.

Documents relating to the grisly mur der of wealthy farmer George Morrey went on show at the Record Office , in Duke Street, Chester, last month.

On April 11, 1812, Morrey was found on the bedroom floor of his Hankelow farmhouse. His throat had been slashed with a razor and his head almost decapitated by an axe.

John Lomas, the servant, later confessed to the crime but revealed that he had been persuaded to murder by his mistress, who actually held a candle whilst the blows were struck.

A short time after being arrested, the victim’s wife Edith, 35, attempted to cut her own throat - but was saved by the surgeon’s prompt actions.

Being pregnant, her date with the hangman was postponed…but only until four months after the birth of a son.
After their executions both lovers had their bodies dissected in the interests of medical science. Edith’s went on public view…minus its heart.

Said Archivist Caroline Picco: "The case certainly diverted local attention from the Napoleonic War and provided the papers with endless scope for boosting circulations.

"Strangely perhaps, there was some sympathy for Lomas, who many thought had been seduced into committing the crime but relatively little for Edith, very much regarded as the wicked lady."

The black events at Hankelow have now, centuries later, provided enough material for a book ,"Rope Dance" by the Chester author Maureen Neild .

Other displays at the County Record Office Open Day included a medical and recipe book compiled by members of the Stanley family between 1620 and 1760, with ‘the Countesse of Derbye’s dyett drinke’ and Mr.Bate’s ‘local medicaments for the small .

The award winning Cheshire and Chester Archives and Local Studies Service is the Guardian of 900 years of local history.


BACK TO ARCHIVES INDEX