Welsh Murders Volume 1: 1770-1918

Period: 1877 . Place: Dolgellau, Merionethshire
Victim;  Sarah Hughes of Pencraig, Brithdir village
Convicted Perpetrator: Cadwalader Jones of Parc farm who was hanged in Dolgellau on 23rd November 1877

Places mentioned:

• Pant-yr-Arran, 15
• Felin Ucha, 15
• Dead House/Workhouse, 16
• Coedbach, 17
• Ffridd Arw Wood, 17
• Unicorn Lane, 17
• Caerynwch, 17
• Ship Mill, 17
• Dolgun/Wood, 17
• Torrent Walk, 17
• Town Hall, 21
• Frongoch Factory, 21
• Coed Mwsoglog farm, 22

People mentioned:

• Roberts, Edward, scavenger, Arran Bridge, 15
• Clough,---Captain, Chief Constable of Merionethshire, 15
• Jones, Owen, Police Inspector, 15
• Thomas, Griffith, weaver, Aberneint Factory, 15
• Edwards, John, Frongoch Factory, 16
• Williams, Humphrey, 16
• Jones, Daniel, Idris Factory, 16
• Lloyd, William, Idris Factory, 16
• Williams, Robert, 16
• Jones, John, 16
• Owen, Humphrey, builder, Dolgellau, 16
• Hughes, Margaret, sister of Sarah, 16
• Ellis, Anne, 17
• Griffiths, Catherine, servant at Eldon Cottage, 17
• Williams, Margaret, Unicorn Lane, 17
• Williams, Anne, 17
• Williams, Griffith Jones, coroner, 21
• Williams, Lloyd Dr, 21
• Jones, Edward Dr, 21
• Lewis, Gwen, Penrallt, 23
• Hughes, Lewis, father of Sarah, 24
• Williams, ---, Police Sargeant, Corwen, 24
• Hughes, Hugh, Police Superintendent, 24
• Vaughan, Richard, Police Constable, 27
• Cross,---Mr, Home Secretary, 28
• Hughes, Thomas Mr, who set up scaffolding,, Aldford?, near Chester, 28
• Pugh, David Mr, barrister/solicitor, 28
• Griffiths, ---Rev, 29
• Marwood, ---, executioner, 30

Period:   1913 . Place: near Haverfordwest
Victim: Mrs Vaughan and her son John
Perpetrator: John Vaughan who also died, by explosion

Places mentioned :

• Cuckoo Lane, off  Broad Haven Rd
• Merlins Bridge, 35
• Albany Chapel, Haverfordwest, 35
• Dew St, 36
• Infirmary, 36

People mentioned :

• Price, ---Mr, coroner, 32
• Evans, Matilda, neighbour, 33
• Lewis, James, Milford Haven, 33
• Griffiths, Richard, Little Cuckoo farm, 33
• Allen, ---Mrs, Albert St, 34
• Thomas, Henry, neighbour, 36
• Harries,---Mr, South Cuckoo Lane, 36
• Childs, ---, Police Constable, 36
• Lewis, Fred, neighbour, 38

Period:   1769/1770.  Place : Glanareth, Bethlehem , Carmarthenshire
Victim: William Powell of Glanareth
Convicted Perpetrators: William Spiggot, William Morris, David Morgan, William Walter Evan, Charles David Morgan, David Llewellin. They were all hanged at The Gallows Tumps outside Hereford on 30 March 1770

Found not guilty; John Spiggot, William Thomas, William Charles Morgan, Morgan James [of these William Thomas was later hanged for horse stealing]

Walter Evan and John Isaac turned King's evidence and were pardoned.

William Williams, the arch-conspirator somehow evaded the initial hue and cry and is assumed to have escaped to France. He again avoided capture when discovered in Hampshire in 1779, one account of his eventual fate has him as a school master in Lincolnshire and drowned in a swimming accident

In March 1771 Marmaduke Bowen was tried for being an 'accessory before the fact ' to the murder of William Powell. Lewis Lloyd Bowen, and John Williams were also tried for being 'accessories after the fact'. They were all found not guilty.

Places mentioned:

• Brecon Gaol, 42
• Hereford County Gaol, 43
• New Bear Inn/Llandovery, 47
• Cwm-du farm, 49
• Llwyn-y-Maendu, 51
• Talsarn, 55
• Pen-y-rock, 56
• Llwyn-Jack, 56
• Cefn Trefna country house/Cilycwm, 56
• Drayn-fun-ddu/Cardiganshire, 57

Names mentioned :

• Powell, William, victim's father, Glantowy, 40
• Powell, Catherine, the victim's estranged wife, 41
• Williams, William, draper, Llandovery
• Rees, Rees Thomas, carpenter, Cil-y-cwm, 42
• Lewis, Rees, glover, Llandovery, 42
• Leech, Thomas, New Bear/Llandovery, 42
• Williams, Thomas Rees, Gwynfe, 42
• Lewis, David, 42
• Williams, John, Llandovery, 42
• Bowen, Marmaduke[Captain], Cefn Trefna/Cilycwm, 42
• Morgan, David, tinker, Llandeilo, 43, 46
• Evan, William Walter, labourer, Llangadog, 43
• Davis, ---, schoolmaster, Islington, 44
• Baxter, ---Mr, notary, Llandovery, 46
• Thomas, William,  a catchpole/under bailiff, Llandovery, 46
• Spiggot, William, barber, Llandovery, 46
• Morris, William, sadler, Llandovery, 46
• James, Morgan pedlar, Llandeilo, 46
• Isaac, John, yeoman, Llangadog, 46
• Morgan, Charles David, farmer, Llangadog, and son William Charles, 46
• Spiggot, John, yeoman, Llandovery, 46
• Evan, Walter, tinker, Llywel/Brecon, 46
• Llewelin, David, farmer, Myddfai, 46
• Llewelin, John, tenant farmer, 46
• Morris, Thomas, 47
• Williams, John, clerk to William Powell, 47
• Davis, Ann, landlady of Inn in Cilycwm, 48
• Jones, Margaret, servant to Wm Powell, Glanareth, 54
• Owen, David William, 54
• Morgan, John, servant, 54
• Eynon, Hugh, 54
• Bowen, William Reece, neighbour, 54
• Summers, Lewis, 54
• Jones, John, nephew to Wm Powell, 54
• Daniel, John Morgan, Quarter Bach, 55
• Bowen, Lewis Lloyd, Cefn Trefna/Cilycwm, 56
• Rhydderch, Magdalen, 57
• Prothero, ---Dr, surgeon, Llandeilo ?, 58
• Pogson, William, neighbour, 58
• Edwards, ---Dr, 58
• Phillips, George, Coed-Gain, 59
• Mansel, William Sir,  Blue Coat Hunt,59
• Lewis, Thomas Rev, Gwynfe, 59
• Howarth,---Mr, magistrate, 60
• Lloyd, William, magistrate, Dan-yr-allt, 60
• Jeffreys, Richard, magistrate, Merthyr Tydfil, 60
• Williams, Richard, Newtown/MGY, 60
• Graham, George, printer, Broad St/Llandovery, 61
• Yates, Justice Mr, trial judge, 61

Period: 1878  .  Place : Llangibby [Monmouthshire]
Victims : William Watkins, his wife Elizabeth and children Charlotte, Frederick and Alice
Convicted Perpetrator: Joseph Garcia, a Spanish seaman, executed on 18 Nov 1878 at Usk County Gaol.

Places mentioned:

• Usk prison, 68
• Llandolwais farm, 69
• White Hart Inn, Llangibby, 72

Names mentioned:

• Boyer, Harriet, Llangibby, 68
• Watkins, Ann, Llangibby, 68
• Jones, Ann, 69
• Evans,---Mr, Cefallweb Farm, 70
• Morgan, ---Mr, 70
• Tooze,---, Police Constable, 72
• Poyall, ---, Police Constable, 72
• Whiting, George,  prison warder,  Usk, 72
• Watkins, Mary Ann, dau of murdered family, 74
• Pollock, Baron, Assizes Judge, 74
• Moddy, ---Mr, solicitor, 74
• Ensor, ---Mr, barrister, 74
• Usalla, ---Signor, Spanish Ambassador, 74
• Bromwell, Lord Justice,  Trial Judge, Gloucester, 75

Period: 1875  .  Place : Fort Hubbertson/Milford Haven
Victim : Phillip Carrol Walker, Lieutenant, Royal Artillery
The alleged  perpetrator, Sidney Alder, Surgeon Major, was found not guilty

Places mentioned:

• Brigade Depot/Fort Hubberston, 76
• Southhook Battery,  near Hubberston, 76
• Herbranston Churchyard, 87

Names mentioned:

• Alder, Sidney, Surgeon Major, 76
• Randolph, Edmund, Lieutenant, 61st Regiment of Foot, 76
• Bracken, Patrick, Captain, 41st Regiment of Foot, 76
• Moller, J A, Lieutenant, 41st Regiment of Foot, 76
• Walker, Phillip Carrol, Lieutenant, Royal Artillery, 76
• Griffiths, ---Dr, Milford Haven, 77
• Green, ---, Corporal, mess orderly, 77
• Turton, ---, Major, 83
• Fitzgerald,---, Major, 69th Regiment, 84
• Wilson, ---Dr, Army Surgeon, 84
• Cockburn, Alexander Sir, Lord Chief Justice, 87

This chapter is a profile on James Berry, the hangman, of Bradford who was  also known as 'Jack Ketch'. He was born in Bradford in the first half of the C19 and died just before WW1.  He officiated at several Welsh executions.

Other names mentioned;

• Botting, James, hangman, 90
• Nash, James, executed at Swansea prison in 1880, 90
• Nash, Martha Ann, murdered dau of James, 90 [see chapter ' The Swansea Pier Murder']
• Goodall, Robert, executed at  Norwich Castle in 1885, 93
• Murphy, James, executed at York in 1886, 93
• Leffey, Mary, executed by Berry, 94
• Britland, Ann, executed by Berry, 94
• Pearcy, ---Mrs, prison warder, 94
• Lee, John, whose sentence of death in 1882  at Exeter was commuted to life imprisonment  by Queen Victoria after Berry's several attempts to hang him had failed, 95

Period:  1961  .  Place : Brandy Cove, Gower Peninsula
Victim : Mamie Stewart alias Mrs Mamie Shotton, Caswell Bay reported missing in 1919.
The  perpetrator: ?

Places mentioned ;

• Bishopston Police Station, 99
• Craig Eithin/Caswell Bay, 102

Names mentioned ;

• James, D R, coroner, 99
• Mcnamara, Colin Lloyd, 99
• Corke, John, 99
• Jones, Graham. 99
• Barnett, David, Police Constable, 99
• Griffiths, John Lewis Glasbrook  Dr, Bishopston, 99
• Jones, William Reginald Lester Dr, Home Office Pathologist, 100
• Shotton, George, deceased's husband who died himself in 1958, 100
• Hardy, Edith May Mrs, Redcar, niece of deceased, 101
• Evans, Elsie May, Seamills/Bristol, 101
• Symonds, William, retired  postman, Mumbles, 102

Period:   1812  .  Place : Penrhyndeudraeth, Merionshire
Victim : Mary Jones [of Caergraig], servant at Penrhyn Issa, Penrhyndeudraeth village.
The  convicted perpetrator: Thomas Edwards, Amwlch; hanged on 17 Apr 1813

Places mentioned;

• Parys Mountain, Amwlch, 105
• The Great Embankment/Tremadoc, 105
• Parys Mine, 106
• Mona Mine, 106
• Penrhyndeudraeth village, 107
• Boston Lodge, 108
• Hafod-y-wern farm, 108
• Tanybwlch, 117
• Parc Mawr, 117
• Traeth Bach, 118
• Maentwrog village, 119
• Clifton Gaol/Dolgellau, 119
• St Brothen church, 119
• Bodlondeb, new county gaol, 124
• Ketch, Jack, hangman, 124

Names mentioned ;

• Madocks, William Arthur, builder, Tremadoc, 105
• Williams, John, Ynys Tywyn, 106
• Hughes, William, Parys Lodge, 106
• Earl of Uxbridge, 106
• Roose, Stephen, mine agent, 106
• Roberts, Ann, Bwlchyfedwen/Penrhyndeudraeth, 107
• Leeson, Robert , The Hon., Morfa Lodge, 107
• Shelley, the poet, and Harriet, 107
• Roberts, John and Catherine, Penrhyn Issa farmhouse, 108
• Jones, Mary, servant, Penrhyn Issa farmhouse, 109
• Lewis, John and Catherine, drover, Caer Craig/Penrhyndeudraeth, 109
• Pugh, Grace neighbour, 109
• Thomas, Dorothy, 109
• Evans, John, nephew of John Roberts, 109
• Holland, J Rev, 113
• Williams, P B, clerk, 113
• Jones, Hugh, Deputy High Sheriff, Dolgellau, 113
• Owen, Griffith Rev, Rector of Llanenddwyn/Llanddwywe, 113
• Williams, William, coroner, 113
• Davies, Thomas, farmer, 114
• Parry, Owen, labourer, 114
• Pritchard, Evan, labourer, 114
• Jones, Sarah, sister in law of John Roberts, Penrhyn Issa, 116
• Williams, Henry, labourer, 116
• Williams, Robert, deceased's uncle, 118
• Williams, David, labourer/farmer, Talsarnau, 118
• Humphreys, John, smith, 118
• Evans, Cadwaladr, Maentwrog, 119
• Edwards, Margaret, wife of Thomas, 120
• Morris, Richard, Rhosbach/Amwlch, 120
• Pritchard, Robert, overseer of the poor, Amwlch, 120
• Williams, Henry Rumsey, lawyer, Caernarvon, 121
• Ellis, David, Attorney General for N. Wales, 121
• Leycester, Hugh, Chief Justice, 122
• Kenrick, William, Second Justice, 122
• Davies, Edward, poultry rustler, 122
• Greenwood, John, forger, 122
• Jones, Edmund, gaoler, Dolgellau, 122
• Owen, David, official surgeon, Dolgellau, 123

Period: 1811  .  Place : Little Cuckoo, Haverfordwest
Victim : Mary [Molly] Griffiths .
The  convicted perpetrator: John Griffiths, her husband; hanged 13 Apr 1811.

Names mentioned ;

• Davies, Ann, Griffith's first wife who died inexplicably, 126
• Thomas, Mary, Griffiths' second wife, the deceased, 126
• Estance, Dinah, 126
• Freeman, ---Dr, 129
• Luke, ---Rev, Tabernacle minister, 130

Period: 1876   .  Place :  Dolaucothi Mansion, Carmarthehshire
Victim :  John Johnes
The  perpetrator: Henry Tremble, dismissed butler at Dolaucothi Mansion ; he committed suicide before he could be charged .

Places mentioned

• Sexton's Inn, Caio, 133
• Myrtle Cottage, Caio, 135
• Dolaucothi Arms, Pumpsaint, 135
• Caio Inn, Caio, 140
• Llandulais graveyard, 145

Names mentioned ;

• Cookman, Charlotte, dau of John Johnes, 131
• Johnes, Bertha, other dau of the deceased, 132
• Tremble, Martha, Henry's wife, 133
• Dixon, Anna, Miss, maid at Dolaucothi Mansion, 135
• Alexander, John, lay reader, Caio, 136
• Chidlow,---Rev, Vicar of Caio, 136
• Chidwell, C . Rev, 143
• Jenkins, Jane, house maid at Dolaucothi Mansion, 137
• Sturdy, Arthur, footman at Dolaucothi Mansion, 137
• Davies, Margaret, cook at Dolaucothi Mansion, 138
• Wilkinson, 'Cottie', Lady, 139
• Llanover,---Lady, 139
• Davies, John, Caio Inn, 140
• Davies, ---, Police Constable, 140
• Morgan, William, Albertmount, Caio, 140
• Thomas, ---Mr, surgeon, Llandovery, 140
• Durnford, ---, Police Superintendent, 141
• Tremble, Elizabeth, dau of Henry, 141
• Phillips, ---Canon, 143
• Griffiths, John Rev, Rector of Neath, 143

Period:  1820.  Place:  Deep Lake, near Haverfordwest  
Victim:  Griffiths, gamekeeper of Picton Castle, or was it William Davies ?
The  perpetrator: John Roblin, or was it William Roblin ? The latter was definitely hanged  at Haverfordwest Castle on 23 Apr 1821 for the murder of William Davies.

Places mentioned;

• New Inn, 146
• Merryborough Mountain, 146

Names mentioned;

• Thomas, T, 147
• Davies, William, 147

Period: 1868  .  Place: Trawscoed, Cardiganshire
Victim:   Joseph Butler, gamekeeper, Trawscoed estate
The  perpetrator: William Richards, also  known as 'Will Cefn-Coed', a poacher, who escaped to Ohio and was never charged for his crime

Places mentioned ;

• Dolfar Alders, Trawscoed estate, 150
• Trefenter village, 150
• Tynyberth wood, 150
• Caergwyn field, 151
• Cwmbyr cottage, 152
• Cwmbyrbach, 152

Names mentioned ;

• Morgan, James, gamekeeper, Trawscoed, 149
• Lisburne, Earl of, 150
• Jones, Morgan and Henry, Tynllwyn, 150
• Jones, Richard, gamekeeper, Trawscoed, 150
• Evans, Morgan, watchman, Trawscoed, 150
• Vaughan, George, The Hon Captain, 150
• Jones, John, Police Constable, Llanilar, 153
• Rowlands, Rowland, surgeon, 153
• Parry, G W, magistrate, 154
• Bishop, ---Mr, solicitor, Llandovery, 154
• Kelly, Fitzroy Sir RH, Judge, 154
• Joseph, David, watch cleaner, Tregaron, 158

This is the story of Edward Higgins' infamous career, an Englishman, his Welsh connection is that he was caught and executed at Carmarthen on 7 Apr 1739. His hanging was remarkable that a forged reprieve was received.

Period:  1885  .  Place:  Swansea, Glamorgan
Victim:  Martha Ann Nash, dau of James Nash
The  perpetrator: #James Nash, labourer, Greyhound St, Swansea; he was hanged at Swansea Prison in Feb 1886 with almost 4000 people gathered  outside .

#A pertinent comment from W Glamorgan Archives November 2001
"The book Welsh Murders Vol 1 is mistaken in describing the murderer as William Nash. The correct name is Thomas Nash, executed 1 March 1886. The full story is rehearsed in ' For whom the bell tolls' by Peter Goodall (Gomer Press, 2001), still in print "

Here is the relevant 1881 census entry for this man and his family;

• Dwelling: Neath Road
• Census Place: Clase, Glamorgan, Wales
• Source: FHL Film 1342290 PRO Ref RG11 Piece 5353 Folio 61
• Page 80
• Marr Age Sex Birthplace
• Thomas NASH M 34 M Castle Martin, Pembroke, Wales
• Rel: Head
• Occ: Furnaceman At Spelter Works
• Martha NASH M 37 F Gelly, Glamorgan, Wales
• Rel: Wife
• Sarah NASH 13 F Llanwadder, Glamorgan, Wales
• Rel: Dau
• Occ: Scholar
• Martha A. NASH 1 F Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales
• Rel: Dau
• Walter PEACH U 21 M Somerset, England
• Rel: Lodger
• Occ: General Labourer
• Charles PEACH U 17 M Somerset, England
• Rel: Lodger
• Occ: General Labourer

Names mentioned in the book;

• Goodwin, ---Mrs, Plasmarl/Swansea, 179
• Fender, Thomas, pilot's assistant, 180
• Owens, William, pilot's assistant, 180
• Davies, D J, Police Constable, 181
• Pritchard, George, waterman, 181
• Bennett, William, labourer, 181
• Thomas, David Howell , coroner, 181
• Benson, ---Mr, prosecution counsel, 181
• Gascoigne, ---Mr, defence counsel, 181
• Richards, J B, solicitor, 182