Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths in and Around Mansfield

219 Pages·2013·5.95 MB·English

by  Geoffrey Sadler

FOUL DEEDS AND SUSPICIOUS
DEATHS SERIES
Wharncliffe’s Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths series explores, in detail,
crimes of passion, brutal murders and foul misdemeanours from early modern
times to the present day. Victorian street crime, mysterious deaths and modern
murders tell tales where passion, jealousy and social deprivation brought
unexpected violence to those involved. From unexplained death and suicide to
murder and manslaughter, the books provide a fascinating insight into the lives
of both victims and perpetrators as well as society as a whole.

Other titles in the series
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Blackburn & Hyndburn, Steve Greenhalgh
ISBN: 1-903425-18-2. £9.99
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in and around Chesterfield, Geoffrey Sadler
ISBN: 1-903425-30-1. £9.99
More Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in and around Chesterfield, Geoffrey
Sadler
ISBN: 1-903425-68-9. £9.99
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in and around Durham, Maureen Anderson
ISBN: 1-903425-46-8. £9.99
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in and around Halifax, Stephen Wade
ISBN: 1-903425-45-X. £9.99
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Leeds, David Goodman
ISBN: 1-903425-08-5. £9.99
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Manchester, Martin Baggoley
ISBN: 1-903425-65-4. £9.99
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Newcastle, Maureen Anderson
ISBN: 1-903425-34-4. £9.99
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Nottingham, Kevin Turton
ISBN: 1-903425-35-2. £9.99
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths around Pontefract and Castleford, Keith
Henson
ISBN: 1-903425-54-9. £9.99
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in and around Rotherham, Kevin Turton
ISBN: 1-903425-27-1. £9.99
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths Around the Tees, Maureen Anderson
ISBN: 1-903425-26-3. £9.99
More Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Wakefield, Kate Taylor
ISBN: 1-903425-48-4. £9.99
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in York, Keith Henson
ISBN: 1-903425-33-6. £9.99
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths on the Yorkshire Coast, Alan Whitworth
ISBN: 1-903425-01-8. £9.99

Please contact us via any of the methods below for more
information or a catalogue.
WHARNCLIFFE BOOKS
47 Church Street – Barnsley – South Yorkshire – S70 2AS
Tel: [phone] – 734222 Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected] –
Website : www.wharncliffebooks.co.uk

First Published in Great Britain in 2005 by
Wharncliffe Books
an imprint of
Pen and Sword Books Ltd.
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

Copyright © Geoffrey Sadler 2005
9781783408313

The right of Geoffrey Sadler to be identified as Author of this Work has been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission
in writing of the publishers.

Typeset in 11/13pt Plantin by Mac Style Ltd, Scarborough.

Printed and bound in England by
CPI UK.

Pen and Sword Books Ltd incorporates the Imprints of Pen & Sword Aviation,
Pen & Sword Maritime, Pen & Sword Military, Wharncliffe Books,
Pen & Sword Select, Pen and Sword Military Classics and Leo Cooper.
For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact
PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2BR
England
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
Table of Contents
FOUL DEEDS AND SUSPICIOUS DEATHS SERIES
Title Page
Copyright Page
Introduction
CHAPTER 1 - He Could Not Tell What Possessed Him 1817
CHAPTER 2 - A Jealous Lover 1877
CHAPTER 3 - Where is Old Jack? 1878
CHAPTER 4 - The Revolting Crime 1881
CHAPTER 5 - She Has Been My Ruin 1883
CHAPTER 6 - He Wished it was Over 1894
CHAPTER 7 - The Slaughter at Star Terrace 1895
CHAPTER 8 - I was Not Well on Sunday 1896
CHAPTER 9 - The Haystack Horror 1899
CHAPTER 10 - Murder Away from Home 1902
CHAPTER 11 - I’m Tired of Life 1902
CHAPTER 12 - The Cruellest Cut 1904
CHAPTER 13 - A Younger Man 1908
CHAPTER 14 - Scarred By Love 1908
CHAPTER 15 - They Brought Him In Dead 1910
CHAPTER 16 - The Sherwood Skeleton 1912
CHAPTER 17 - She Wanted Company 1914
CHAPTER 18 - A Villain in the Night-Time 1914
CHAPTER 19 - I Wonder if you Think of Me 1915
CHAPTER 20 - Shots in the Graveyard 1916
CHAPTER 21 - A Mohair Boot-Lace 1924
Index
Introduction
‘Mansfield in the centre of Sherwood Forest.’ The proud claim has been made
for many years, and is still encountered today on direction signs approaching this
historic Nottinghamshire town, although nowadays the built-up area of
Mansfield and its outlying district reveals rather less evidence of the surrounding
woodland. In the Middle Ages, when Sherwood covered two hundred square
miles, it would have been a different story, with Mansfield and other settlements
little more than clearings in the wild wood. Not so long ago a tree still stood in
Mansfield’s Westgate which was said to have been the former centre of old
Sherwood. The site is now marked by a commemorative plaque set there by the
Old Mansfield Society.
Ever since it received its charter from Henry III in 1227, Mansfield has
existed as a thriving market town, with no shortage of historical and legendary
associations. That most famous of outlaws, Robin Hood of Sherwood, has long
been claimed as an adopted son, and still draws tourists to the town and to the
forest at nearby Edwinstowe, although his Nottinghamshire lineage has often
been disputed by Yorkshire historians. And if there is argument over Robin, the
Sheriff of Nottingham was real enough, as was the outlaw’s old adversary King
John, who made frequent visits to his hunting lodge at Clipstone a few miles
from Mansfield, and who died at Newark in the same county. Within close reach
of the town are Newstead Abbey, the ancestral home of Lord Byron, and the
mining village of Eastwood, birthplace of D H Lawrence, while three centuries
ago Mansfield’s own poet Robert Dodsley earned himself a share of immortality
with his popular ballad The King and the Miller of Mansfield.
With the industrial development of the county, Mansfield found itself in the
centre, not of a forest, but the North Nottinghamshire coalfield, ringed about by
the headstocks of collieries such as Sherwood and Crown Farm and the booming
pit villages they supported. These, and the town’s own native industries, not
least the world-famous Mansfield Brewery and its many public houses, added
greatly to Mansfield’s prosperity over the past two centuries. With their decline,
the town still draws visitors with its large, attractive market place, its shopping
centre, extensive retail parks, and its historic tourist associations.