Genealogy Chat

Wow thank you very much I now know he is not the James in my tree but have came across him in the census.

I will have a look at the insight of the prison and thank you so much for you kind help in this.

Regards Zena

If it was James Henry Keatley you are referring to ................... who was found guilty of attempting carnal knowledge of a child, and then later of manslaughter .........................

I found this by Googling his name (scroll down the page)


http://www.blackcountrymuse.com/apps/forums/topics/show/4624124

January 27, 2012 at 11:57 AM

All of Worcester was agog in 1888, at the news that one of the towns Publicans, had been despicable poisoned. Not, I should add, as some would have it, by his own beer either. Henry Powell, was a well known figure in the Town, having served for many years in the Worcester Militia, where he had risen to the rank of Staff Sargeant. He seemed to be happily married, to Mary Eleanor Powell, who came from Preston, Lancashire, and was 10 years her husband junior. Around 1863, he left his cosy little house at 6, Kingston Terrace, Cherry Orchard, and took up the licence at the New Inn, Freeth Street. There now appeared a fly in the ointment, one James Henry Keatley, who rapidly became a regular customer. The beer was the reason he frequented the place, but the main attraction was 35 year old Mary. Now James Keatley, wasn't a very nice man, a hairdresser by trade, he had a wondering eye, which two years before he met Mary got him into trouble. On 16th January,1886, he was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment for an " Attempt to have carnal knowledge of a girl under the age of 13 ". He was released in May,1887, so had no job, no prospects, and more importantly, no money. Mary Eleanor Powell was a godsend, she had, so to speak, everything he desired, including an insurance policy on her husband, for the sum of £200. They decided to do away with Henry Powell, and put into his morning coffee, a dose of Morphia. If they were hoping it would be recorded as a natural death, they were mistaken, most of the customers at the New Inn knew about the affair and soon tongues were wagging. Arrests followed when half a grain of Morphia were found in Henry's Stomach, they even arrested the bar maid, Helen Humphries. The charge of murder had to be reviewed before the trial, because it was claimed that the pair had not intended to kill him, but only render him ill, so they could carry on with their affair. The charge was therefore reduced to one of Manslaughter, and the servant, the young miss Humphries, was aquitted. Not so the two lovers, they both got 12 years penal servitude, and most people thought they had got off lightly, you may think the same. An insight into the state of Prisons at the time, can be found on the Prison Conditions Page.

He was a naughty man by the sounds of it there was a James Keatley to I looked at he was naughty to.

I don't know if they fit into my tree as there are no ages of them.

Thanks for looking for me.

Regards Zena

he was a naughty man ...................... it means having sex with animals.

Thank you for having a look for me. I think I need to google that one.

Thank you Zena

I think it reads as bestiality

Hi

Could someone please look up William Keatley in the England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 please on the 23 Mar 1863 Warwickshire.

I cant read what his crime was I be grateful if someone else could see if their can read it.

Thank you

Zena