Murder of Margery Wren
Margery Wren (1850 – 25 September 1930) was a former maid and sweetshop owner who was murdered at her premises in Ramsgate in 1930.[1][2]
Margery Wren | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1850 Broadstairs, England |
| Died | 25 September 1930 (aged 79–80) |
| Cause of death | Complications from blunt force trauma |
Life
She was born in 1850 at 3, Charlotte Street, Broadstairs.[1] Her parents were William Wren, a house painter, and his wife Elizabeth.[1] She had at least one sibling, a sister named Mary Jane Wren, who was born in 1855.[1]
Margery worked as a servant in London and was living in Islington in 1871 and was living with her parents at 42 Spencer Street, Clerkenwell, working as a maidservant until at least 1891.[1]
A relative, Mrs Wroughton, died in the 1890s, leaving Margery and Mary Jane and her sweet shop at 2 Church Road, Ramsgate.[1] The sisters moved there and ran the shop, living on the premises.[1]
Mary Jane died on 31 January 1927, leaving Margery £921 12s 7d and her share of the shop.[1] Neither sister had married.[1][2]
Day of attack
Albert Williams, a 69-year-old man from Dover, visited her about 1pm to complain to her about his nephew, who was leaving to find lodgings elsewhere.[1] Children from the local school bought sweets from the shop at lunchtime and coal was delivered by Reuben Beer about half an hour afterwards.[1]
A woman with a red hat visited the shop shortly before the murder.[1]
She was attacked around 5:30pm.[2]
Shortly after 6pm Ellen Marvell arrived to buy blancmange powder for her mother and found the shop shut, knocked on the door.[1] Margery came to the door, unkempt and bleeding badly from a head wound.[1] Ellen asked her for some blancmange powder and Margery let her select it.[1] Margery told her father what happened when she got home and he went to the shop.[1] When he arrived at the shop, he found Margery had passed out, he then sent his daughters for a doctor and police.[1]
On regaining consciousness, Margery told Mr Marvell that she had fallen and hit her head, but Dr Richard Archibald, her doctor, saw she bore signs of multiple blows of a blunt instrument.[1] She told him that she had been assaulted by a man with the tongs.[1] The fire tongs bore bloodstains.[1] The doctor was puzzled that she did not want the name of her assailant to be known.[1]
Hospital
She was taken to Ramsgate hospital where she survived for another five days.[1] She was confused and gave further accounts of what happened to her with inconsistent details such as the name and number of attackers.[1][2]
When the magistrate came to take her statement she said "I do not wish him to suffer. He must bear his sins. I do not wish to make a statement".[1][2] The local vicar could not persuade her to name her attacker.[1]
The Chief Constable of Ramsgate contacted Scotland Yard, who sent Chief Inspector Walter Hambrook to take over the investigation.[1] He arrived on 24 September, but Margery had slipped into a coma.[1][2]
Investigation
Hambrook inspected the shop, finding it had little stock, as well as being verminous and dirty.[1]
The victim had told some people she owned valuable property in London, but told others she was quite poor and was known to have meals at a soup kitchen.[1][2]
Two elderly cousins, Hannah Cook, 72, and Ann Wilson, 84, were beneficiaries of her will, though neither could have physically carried out the attack, especially Wilson, who was an invalid.[1] Hannah's son Arthur Cook was investigated, but he was a police constanble with a perfect record and there was no evidence of blood on his clothes.[1]
John Lambert, a prisoner, confessed to the murder, but when Hambrook questioned him, he made many untrue statements and could not describe the landscape of Ramsgate.[1]
Albert Williams was one of those named by Margery in her inconsistent ramblings, but nothing emerged to link him to the murder.[1] She had also named "Hamelyn of number 19", which matched the name of Arthur Hamelyn, a butcher's assistant of 19 Church Road.[1] He had once nearly accidentally knocked her down with his motorbike, but he had an alibi for the murder.[1]
Hambrook thought she knew her attacker, but for some unknown reason kept it to herself.[1][2]
She also said "Hope did it! Hope was the one that did it!", leading police to investigate everyone with that surname in Ramsgate.[1] A man of that name in Dene Road was found to be 84 and his sons were in Tunbridge Wells at the time of the murder.[1]
Of six people she named, three had solid alibis, Hambrook thought one of the other three was her killer.[2]
Possible suspect
The police file on the murder indicates that their main suspect was one Charles Ernest Hope (1 October 1910 - January 1983) of 88 Church Road.[1] The police file refers to him as "Ernest Charles Hope".[1] He was a former private with the Royal Corps of Signals who was discharged for larceny.[1] He spent time in Borstal.[1] On 27 August he was arrested in London for stealing jewellery worth £10 from a luggage compartment of a train.[1] On 18 and 19 September he stayed in the Salvation Army hostel in Euston Road, then took a train from London Victoria station to Ramsgate railway station the following day.[1] He arrived at 4pm and by 4:20pm was at his parents house in Church Road.[1]
He claimed that bloodstains on his clothes and kit bag were from cutting himself during the train robbery, but this was contradicted by the police inspector who arrested him.[1] He lied about his movements on 20 September, claiming he got off the train at Dumpton Park railway station.[1] He was never named as a suspect or charged with the murder.[1]
He married Mary Rosamund, abandoned his life of petty crime and became a foreman carpenter.[1] He moved to Langley.[1] He died from a burst duodenal ulcer.[1]
Inquest
The inquest was opened by Dr. F. W. Hardman on 26 September and went on to 24 October.[1] Bernard Spilsbury and Dr. Gerard Roche Lynch testified that Margery had been held very firmly by the throat in an attempt at strangulation, then beaten repeatedly with the tongs.[1] A policewoman testified at length about Margery's confused comments on her deathbed.[1] The woman in a red hat was never identified, despite a police appeal.[1] The inquest returned a verdict of murder against a person or persons unknown.[1] Nobody was ever charged with her murder.[1]
Today
The former shop has been converted into a private residence.[2]
References
- Bailes, Kathy (24 December 2017). "A Penny Dreadful tale: The 1930 murder of Ramsgate sweet shop owner Margery Wren". Isle of Thanet News. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- Britcher, Chris (10 January 2022). "Unsolved murders in Kent: Four cases - including Margery Wren, Sheila Martin and David Short - which bamboozled police detectives". Kent Online. Retrieved 12 January 2022.