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Saville's Spinney: True Story of the Colwick Murders of 1844
Saville’s Spinney is a tragic tale. A seemingly unconnected set of events will spark the bloodiest murders ever known in Nottingham. A marriage in trouble, a town embroiled in a strike, a doomed love triangle will lead to four savage and brutal deaths, a Coroner's inquisition followed by a long Assizes trial in which the accused is sentenced to death. Yet more death and mayhem will follow. The public hanging attracts an enormous and rowdy crowd but in the seconds following the drop the crowd panics and more innocents lose their lives. Twelve spectators die at the scene and over one hundred are badly injured. Another Coroners Inquisition is called, the Police make an investigation. Questions are raised in Parliament but many questions remain unanswered…….. Who really killed the babes in the wood and why? Who threw the bloody shirt in the canal? Was a man hung for murders he did not commit? Why did a key witness refuse to attend the assizes to give evidence, feign an injury and send his brother in his place ? Why were there so many deaths and injuries at the hanging? This is a true crime novel based on very real events from 1844. Note to prospective buyers. The 20% Vat tax charge has been absorbed in the price and you will only pay the listed price and no more!
- GenresTrue Crime
221 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 24, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 22, 2015
On May 22, 1844 a man named John Swinscoe discovered the bodies of three children all with their throats cut. The parish constable William Parr was notified, after viewing the bodies he began a search for the murder weapon and found a fourth body, this was a woman, she was later identified as the mother of the three children.
This was a troublesome time in the region, times were hard financially and many working men felt they were being dealt with unfairly. This lead to a strike and the police were worried about possible mob action. In the midst of this was a bloody and sensational murder. The husband was a suspect from the very beginning. He ended up being convicted and executed, but that is not the end of the story, there is more tragedy to follow.
It’s possible that William Saville did not murder his children and wife although all the facts seem to point to that. It was impossible to properly investigate the crime scene as it was overrun by ‘spectators’. Some people just wanted to stand on the scene of a murder, some believed the relics from a murder could serve as a talisman against evil. Many people held fast to old superstitions. One such superstition was that hangman’s rope could cure skin blemishes. For this reason a hangman would sell inch long pieces of the rope.
For obvious reasons Mr. Sheridan could not interview anyone directly connected with this account. Also many of the original documents had ‘disappeared’. He made extensive use of the newspapers and there is much in here directly quoted from them. He has also used ‘editorial license’ to recreate some events, although he has not created any characters. Everyone mentioned was alive at one point.
This is definitely not one of those true crime books that reads like a novel. It is also not just a dry recitation of facts. Mr. Sheridan has done his best, through research into the time period to flesh out the events and breathe some life into the story. He states in the introduction: “My aim has been to take the reader right back to 1844, to immerse them in the controversy, the judgements and the terrible events that occurred as if they were there.” By directly quoting from the newspapers, relating surrounding events, I feel he has done just that.
This was a troublesome time in the region, times were hard financially and many working men felt they were being dealt with unfairly. This lead to a strike and the police were worried about possible mob action. In the midst of this was a bloody and sensational murder. The husband was a suspect from the very beginning. He ended up being convicted and executed, but that is not the end of the story, there is more tragedy to follow.
It’s possible that William Saville did not murder his children and wife although all the facts seem to point to that. It was impossible to properly investigate the crime scene as it was overrun by ‘spectators’. Some people just wanted to stand on the scene of a murder, some believed the relics from a murder could serve as a talisman against evil. Many people held fast to old superstitions. One such superstition was that hangman’s rope could cure skin blemishes. For this reason a hangman would sell inch long pieces of the rope.
For obvious reasons Mr. Sheridan could not interview anyone directly connected with this account. Also many of the original documents had ‘disappeared’. He made extensive use of the newspapers and there is much in here directly quoted from them. He has also used ‘editorial license’ to recreate some events, although he has not created any characters. Everyone mentioned was alive at one point.
This is definitely not one of those true crime books that reads like a novel. It is also not just a dry recitation of facts. Mr. Sheridan has done his best, through research into the time period to flesh out the events and breathe some life into the story. He states in the introduction: “My aim has been to take the reader right back to 1844, to immerse them in the controversy, the judgements and the terrible events that occurred as if they were there.” By directly quoting from the newspapers, relating surrounding events, I feel he has done just that.
March 10, 2015
Interesting story, and one I hadn't heard of before. Sets the scene well - the grinding poverty of the poor in Victorian England.
The way the crime scene was dealt with (load up the bodies on a cart why don't you, and stick them in a barn)is just drastic, but we are talking about a time without forensics.
Rather too many exclamation marks in the text, but overall well written.
The way the crime scene was dealt with (load up the bodies on a cart why don't you, and stick them in a barn)is just drastic, but we are talking about a time without forensics.
Rather too many exclamation marks in the text, but overall well written.
February 25, 2023
This was an interesting book of the account of the murders of three small children and their mother in 1844. It was also interesting to see the inside workings of a fledgling prototype police force.
Saville wasn't a particularly nice individual, he had put his wife and children in the workhouse because they had scabies; he was philandering away with another woman who was innocent of the fact that he had a wife and children; he was planning to go away to America with or without the new girlfriend and was thwarted when his family left the workhouse, cured presumably.
Then his wife and three children are found with their throats cut in a spinney close to the town. He was arrested for the murder of all four. He protested his innocence. Everyone protested his guilt. Lots of facts in this book, all long and drawn out, he is tried and found guilty and hanged. But several questions remain unanswered.
Why wasn't there blood on his clothes, a bloodied shirt was later found wrapped in string and thrown into the river, was it his? Could the wife had killed the children and then herself?
We will probably never know the truth, the only truth which we did know was that after he was hung, there were enormous crowds who came to watch a public hanging and they all surged to leave the scene but were funnelled along the tight streets and pushed to the ground, several lost their lives, among them many young children. Now that was truth.
Saville wasn't a particularly nice individual, he had put his wife and children in the workhouse because they had scabies; he was philandering away with another woman who was innocent of the fact that he had a wife and children; he was planning to go away to America with or without the new girlfriend and was thwarted when his family left the workhouse, cured presumably.
Then his wife and three children are found with their throats cut in a spinney close to the town. He was arrested for the murder of all four. He protested his innocence. Everyone protested his guilt. Lots of facts in this book, all long and drawn out, he is tried and found guilty and hanged. But several questions remain unanswered.
Why wasn't there blood on his clothes, a bloodied shirt was later found wrapped in string and thrown into the river, was it his? Could the wife had killed the children and then herself?
We will probably never know the truth, the only truth which we did know was that after he was hung, there were enormous crowds who came to watch a public hanging and they all surged to leave the scene but were funnelled along the tight streets and pushed to the ground, several lost their lives, among them many young children. Now that was truth.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews