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| Guildford |
On Tuesday November
3rd 1863 there was a feeling of rising tension among the residents
of Guildford in Surrey. Some were
looking forward to the excitement of the bonfires and celebrations they had
become accustomed to on November 5th but many prominent citizens,
including the Mayor, were worried about the damage and destruction they
expected from the “Guildford Guys,” a group of increasingly defiant revellers.
Almost
un-noticed, a young couple booked into a room above the Coachmakers’ Arms in
North Street. The young man, Joseph
Mahaig (Maharg), was tall, with dark hair and hazel eyes and was a sergeant in
the 3rd Buffs. His “wife” was
in fact an unmarried servant called Elizabeth Waterer. Elizabeth was described as a fairly tall,
good looking girl of about 28. Joseph
Mahaig had served in China during the Opium War and was shortly to embark to
India.
At this time
marriage was not a straightforward option for a young soldier in the British
army. As the army increased in
professionalism, women found themselves excluded. Although officers were encouraged to marry,
other ranks were positively discouraged. Only a proportion of one in twelve men
were granted permission by their commanding officer to marry and fewer still
were allowed to bring their wives to accompany them overseas. There the wives and children shared the
barracks with the other men using blankets hung over rope lines for some
privacy.
Joseph and
Elizabeth stayed on the second floor of the Coachmakers’ Arms and were stated
to be, “remarkably quiet and civil.” They
had breakfast and tea on Wednesday, but had no food on Thursday November 5th,
although Joseph told Mrs Hedges, the Beerhouse Keeper’s wife that they were
expecting Elizabeth’s mother to join them.
By Friday afternoon there was a sense of unease among the other residents
of the Coachmakers’ Arms since nothing had been seen or heard of the couple for
over 30 hours. When there was no
response to knocks on the door, a sergeant of the 37th regiment, who
was billeted there, suggested breaking it open but Mrs Hedges decided to send
for the police instead.
Superintendent
Vickers arrived, accompanied by Sergeant Steads and P C Davis who made up the
full strength of the police force in Guildford at that time. When they forced open the door, it appeared
that the young couple were lying dead on the bed. The woman looked as if she had been strangled
and the man had a large gash on his throat.
Mr F D Ross,
a local surgeon, was quickly summoned, together with Dr. Chapman of the 37th
Foot. The gash on the soldier’s larynx
was carefully stitched and, “A small quantity of brandy was given to the man,
upon which he slightly rallied.” The two
doctors believed that the young woman, whose head was hidden under a pillow, had
been dead for at least 2 days.
A post
mortem examination was conducted by Mr Phillips MRCS and his colleague Dr Sells. Their problem was that the head and neck were
in an advanced state of decomposition.
The question was, had Elizabeth been smothered or strangled or had she
taken poison. Elizabeth had been
witnessed purchasing a threepenny packet of Butler’s Vermin powder, which
contained two grains of strychnine, from a local chemist on the day she
died. No doubt she had read of the young
lady in Shoreham, who earlier that year had poisoned herself with that powder
when denied the right to marry her desired suitor by her father.
At the
Coroner’s inquest, Mr Phillips stated that a partial analysis of the contents
of her stomach suggested poison had been taken but that he was of the opinion
that the immediate cause of death was suffocation caused by strangulation. Mr Sells added that there were marks around
the neck and under the skin suggesting strangulation. However the state of the heart was not
consistent with strangulation. He could
not positively say that death had been caused by poison.
In the room
where the young couple were found were several relevant letters, two written by
Elizabeth and three by Joseph. In one
of Mahaig’s letters he stated that having left the room, he returned to find
Elizabeth with a rope around her neck. He took it off and then that they both
took poison.
Because of
the doubt over cause of death, the inquest was adjourned and at the insistence
of the Home Secretary, further analysis of the contents of the stomach was made
by Professor Taylor of Guy’s Hospital.
Professor Taylor concluded that there was clear proof that Elizabeth had
died from poisoning.
Dr Phillips
had feared that Joseph would not recover from his neck wound since it was severely
inflamed so he was taken, on November 6th to Guildford Union
Workhouse where he was kept under police guard, to prevent further suicide
attempts, until the inquest was resumed at the end of November. While in the Workhouse he wrote a statement
about the events which had occurred at the Coachmaker’s Arms, since he was
unable to speak. Although the jury found
that Elizabeth Waterer destroyed her own life, they found Joseph Mahaig guilty
of aiding and abetting her in this. He
was therefore bound over to appear at the next Surrey Assizes in Kingston-upon-Thames on the
charge of, “Wilful Murder.”
At the trial
in December Joseph was found guilty but the jury strongly recommended mercy. Despite this appeal the Judge passed sentence
of death on Mahaig who stood upright and heard his sentence without
flinching. He was taken to Horsemonger
Lane Gaol where he was due to be executed on January 12th. A number of the residents of Guildford, many
of them Quakers, appealed to the Home Secretary that mercy should be
applied. According to the Sussex
Advertiser of January 2nd 1864, “Several philanthropic ladies are
desirous of exercising their good offices by visiting the condemned cell, but
their entreaties had been refused.”
At the last
moment, Mahaig’s sentence was Respited during her Majesty’s pleasure and on
January 24th it was commuted to penal servitude for life. More than a year later Joseph was transported
on board the convict ship Racehorse to Western Australia. On 22nd of October 1865 he was
drowned while apparently attempting to abscond in Champion Bay and he was buried
in Old Geraldton Cemetery north of Perth, Western Australia.
Elizabeth
Waterer had been laid to rest in St Mary’s churchyard in Guildford on November
9th 1863.
A letter, written by
Joseph Mahaig, while he was recovering in Guildford Union Workhouse. The letter was handed to a police constable
to be given to the Coroner. Joseph was unable to speak owing to his neck
wound.
26th November 1863
I do not know what to write what you may ask for shall I put
this day the 26th of the month?-where am I going after that? I may let you know that we both partook of
the poison at the same time, but the poison that I took, that she gave me, she
bought at another shop. It had a blue
cover and half an hour afterwards she was dead.
I think it was the night of the 3rd. We both said, as she would not leave me, we
would die together. She died in my
arms. On the Tuesday evening she had a
rope cord round her neck when I came upstairs.
At night we both took the poison in some gin about 5.30. We both sent, at least left, a letter to both
our mothers on the table. I don’t wish
anyone to see this. Dear friend, I don’t
care. I wish to God I had went with her.
Joseph Mahaig
Birmingham Journal
Dec 26th 1863
Sources
Sheldrake’s
Aldershot and Sandhurst Military Gazette
14/11/1863 & 12/12/1863
Sussex
Advertiser 2/1/1864
Maidstone
Telegraph 5/12/1863
Sheffield
Telegraph 2/1/1864
Birmingham
Journal 26/12/1864
Letters
written by Elizabeth Waterer and Joseph Mahaig (Maharg)
