Transcription
Today we are looking at a case from the mid-19th century, so sit back as we go to England.
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Fanny Adams was born on the 30th of April 1859 in the small market town of Alton in the English county of Hampshire. She was one of six children. Her father was named George Adams and, like many men at the time, he worked on the land. Hops were grown on the farms around Alton, and the town was home to many breweries.
19 years earlier, in 1830, Parliament had passed the Beer House Act, which liberalized the regulations governing brewing and the sale of beer. This allowed any ratepayer to brew and sell beer on payment of a license. The intention of the act was to increase competition between breweries, lower prices, and encourage people to drink beer instead of strong spirits. However, it resulted in the opening of thousands of new public houses and small breweries throughout the country. It also increased the demand for hops.
Fanny went to school. She was a bright girl and always seemed older than her years. She would help her mother around the house and liked to visit her grandparents, who lived close by. During the summer, she would spend much of the time with other children playing outside. She was a happy, sweet, and polite child, and she always looked out for her younger sister.
On a hot summer's day in August, Fanny asked her mother if she could go to Flood Meadow with her friend named Minnie Warner. It was only a short walk from her house, and Fanny often went there. Her mother had no objection. She knew that her daughter was a sensible girl. It was a Saturday, and many children would be playing outside. Fanny said that she'd be taking her younger sister, Lizzie.
As the three girls walked from their home in Tan House Lane, Mrs. Adams waited outside her house. She stayed there watching until the girls had turned the corner and were out of sight. Mrs. Adams then went back inside. She could now get on with what she needed to do, as her two daughters were out and her husband had gone to play cricket.
At around 5 pm, the girls made their way home. As they approached Tan House Lane, they were stopped by a lady named Mrs. Gardner, who asked Lizzie why her sister Fanny was not with them. Lizzie and Minnie then told Mrs. Gardner a horrifying story about the events that had happened a few hours earlier. They said that as they were making their way to Flood Meadow, they were stopped by a man they did not know. His name, but they had seen him before in the town and in the church. They said that he was wearing a coat, light-coloured trousers, and had a tall hat. He gave them all money. First, he had given Minnie and Lizzie three halfpence. Then, he gave Fanny a halfpenny. They said that he watched them for a while as they played, and then he asked Fanny if she would walk with him along the hollow and to the nearby village of Shorden. Fanny replied that she would not. The man, however, just picked her up and carried her into the hop fields and out of sight.
Mrs. Gardner asked the girls why they had not come back straight away to tell someone what had happened, and somewhat strangely, Minnie replied that they had. She said that she and Lizzie ran straight home and told her mother, but she had not thought it important and told them to carry on playing outside.
Mrs. Gardner rushed to Fanny's home to tell Mrs. Adams what the two girls had told her. Mrs. Adams was very concerned, and immediately the two ladies went off in the direction of Flood Meadow to investigate. Not far from the hop field, they saw a well-dressed man walking towards them. He was wearing the same clothes that Minnie and Lizzie had said the man who took Fanny was wearing. As the man acknowledged the ladies, they stopped and said that they wanted to talk to him. Mrs. Gardner then started to question him about the whereabouts of her neighbour's daughter. The man told them that his name was Frederick Baker and that he worked as a solicitor's clerk for a local gentleman named William Clements. He told the ladies that he had given the three girls some money to buy some sweets, but the last time that he had seen them, they were all playing happily together.
Although Mrs. Adams and Mrs. Gardner did have their suspicions about Mr. Baker, they considered that the fact he had a respectable position in one of the town's most well-known legal establishments, he must have been an upstanding member of the community. Both ladies went home thinking that Fanny would still be playing in the summer in the fields and would return before dark.
By seven that evening, Fanny had still not come home. Her mother was now getting quite concerned. It was not like her to stay out so long. She was a good girl, and why had she not come back with her sister? Mrs. Adams decided to go and look for her. It would be dark in around an hour, so she had to be quick. By now, neighbours had learned about the story of the strange man who had given the three girls money and taken Fanny into the hop field. They accompanied Mrs. Adams as she walked along Tan House Lane and into the surrounding meadows. It was quiet, no noise from children playing or workers in the fields. Everyone went off in different directions and called her name as they searched.
A farm worker named Thomas Gates walked towards the hop field. He peered down the rows and saw something on the top of two poles. It looked very strange indeed. He slowly approached it, wondering what it could be, but as he got closer, he realized that it was a child's head. Scattered around, he could see other parts of a dismembered body.
A neighbour broke the news to Mrs. Adams, trying to console her as she told her what had happened to her daughter. Mrs. Adams was distraught. She said that she had to tell her husband, so accompanied by a neighbour, made her way to the cricket grounds, but overwhelmed with grief, she collapsed before she arrived.
When Mr. George Adams learned of what had happened to Fanny, he returned to his small house in Tan House Lane, took his shotgun, and set out to find the person who had committed such a horrifying act. Realizing what he was about to do, his neighbours persuaded him not to take the law into his own hands and instead let the police investigate the murder.
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Police Superintendent Cheney was informed as to what had happened to Fanny Adams and started an investigation. He went to a pub called the Leather and Bottle in Emery Street, which was where the remains of the child had been gathered and laid out on a table. He immediately initiated a search to find the missing body parts. When he was told that Frederick Baker had given the children money and taken Fanny into the hop field, he decided to pay him a visit. Mrs. Gardner informed Superintendent Cheney, but Mr. Baker told her that he worked as a solicitor's clerk for a local gentleman named William Clement.
Accompanied by one of his officers, the Superintendent went to Mr. Clement's office. It was now 7 pm, so he did not expect to find anyone still working, but to his surprise, Mr. Frederick Baker was there. Mr. Baker told the Superintendent that he had given the children money and continued on his way. He certainly had not harmed any of them. The Superintendent, however, wanted to speak to him at the police station and carry on the investigation.
By now, the local people had heard Minnie and Lizzie's story about how a strange man, who they believed to be Frederick Baker, had carried Fanny into the hop fields. And as the news of what had happened spread throughout the town, a large and angry crowd gathered outside the solicitor's office, seemingly wanting to execute their own form of justice. Mr. Baker was taken out of the building by way of a back door. He was then safely locked up in the police station before the crowd realized he had gone.
When he was searched, the police discovered that he had in his possession two small knives. Small blood spots were found on the sleeve of his shirt, and his trousers were wet. It was as if they had been cleaned while he was wearing them, possibly to remove blood stains. Mr. Baker, however, seemed unconcerned about the police findings and continued to deny any involvement in the crime.
Superintendent Cheney spoke to Mr. Baker's work colleagues, who told them that Mr. Baker left the office at around 1 pm and returned at around 3:30 pm. He stayed for about two hours before leaving again. This coincided with the time Mrs. Adams and her neighbour Mrs. Gardner had seen the man near the hop field.
An inquest was held at the Duke's Inn on Tuesday, the 29th of August. The evidence was reviewed, but Mr. Baker still claimed that he was entirely innocent of the crime. Nevertheless, he was transferred to Winchester Prison to await trial, and the police continued the investigation.
It was not until October that another witness came forward, a young boy named Alfred Vince. He said that he had seen Mr. Baker at around 2 pm on Saturday, the 24th of August. Alfred claimed that he was leaving the hop field when he saw a man covered in blood. The man then stopped by the river to wash himself. The boy added that he saw him put two objects in his pockets. One was a small knife, but he could not identify the other one. When asked why it had taken him nearly two months to tell the police about what he had seen, he said that he had told his mother.
The police searched the area for a full 16 days in the hope that they would find the larger objects, but they were unable to find it. Forensic testing of the blood found on the small knife that Mr. Baker had on his person when initially arrested concluded that it was human. Further examination of the clothes that he had been wearing showed small traces of diluted blood on the waistcoat, trousers, socks, and shirt cuffs. While in Winchester Prison awaiting his trial, Frederick Baker was a model prisoner and continued to deny any involvement in the crime.
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The trial opened at Winchester Crown Court on the 5th of December 1867. The first witness was Minnie Warner, who told the court how the defendant had given herself, Lizzie, and Fanny money. She added that he then picked blackberries and watched them play before carrying Fanny off into the hop field. Fanny's mother, Harriet Adams, told of how she had spoken to Mr. Baker at the gate of the hop field and how he had said that he'd given the girls some coins and then went on his way. Mrs. Gardner also testified. She gave a very similar account to that given by Mrs. Adams and identified Mr. Baker as a man that she had spoken to by the hop field. She said that his manner was very relaxed.
Morris Biddle was a gentleman who worked as a solicitor's clerk with the defendant. He told the court that on the day of the murder, he had a drinking at the Swan Inn with Frederick Baker. He had said to Mr. Baker that he was able to turn his hand at anything, and strangely, Mr. Baker replied that he thought that he would be able to work as a butcher.
Frederick Baker's defence, however, informed the court that the defendant was in fact insane. They told of how his father had been a violent man, that a cousin was sent to an asylum, and one of his sisters had died as a result of brain fever, and he himself had attempted to take his own life after a failed love affair. It was a strange defence, as Frederick Baker pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers had said that the evidence against him was not sufficient to find him guilty. Yet, they seemed to be arguing that if he was guilty, it was due to insanity. Frederick Baker's father and sister both testified that they'd always considered him to be of unsound mind. This was also confirmed by Alfred Johnson and John Davis, who had both known the defendant for many years. A doctor in Alton named Dr. Curtis said that some of the defendant's actions could be put down to his mental state, and the doctor who had attended him for 25 years, named Dr. Taylor, told the court that Frederick Baker had always had a delicate mind.
After the judge summed up the relevant points, the jury was sent out to deliberate. This, however, did not take long, and fifteen minutes later, they returned to find the defendant guilty, and the judge sentenced him to death.
Before his execution, Frederick Baker wrote a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Adams expressing his sorrow for what he had done and asked for their forgiveness. On the 24th of December 1867, in front of a crowd of about 5,000 people, Frederick Baker was hanged outside Winchester Jail.
In Britain today, the name Fanny Adams lives on. There is an expression, "sweet Fanny Adams," which was started in 1869 by sailors in the Royal Navy. At this time, tins of mutton were introduced to their food rations. When the sailors opened the tins, they said that the contents looked inedible and must be the butchered remains of "sweet Fanny Adams." By the early 20th century, the expression "sweet Fanny Adams" or "sweet FA" became commonplace. Instead of saying you had done nothing, someone may say you have done "sweet Fanny Adams" or "sweet FA." This continued into the 21st century, although many have replaced "FA" with something other than Fanny Adams, but it all originated after the terrible crime committed in Alton in 1867.
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Hello everyone, and thank you so much for listening. As usual, please leave any comments or feedback you may have, and I hope to see you all again in the next brief case.