Chippenham <1>
11 March 1861
Dear Sir,
I can pay over £200. on receiving your directions – The Wilts Assizes commence on Monday the 25th inst at Devizes – but the Grand Jury will not be sworn till Tuesday morning – Shall I put your Name on the Grand July Panel?
I have just heard that the Road Murder is out – Constance<2> is said to be raving Mad, and the Father to have acknowledged that she is the Culprit, having committed the Act in a fit of frensy–,<3> This intelligence is given me by a Gentleman just come from Town, likely to be well informed – but I do not vouch for it
Yours obliged
West Awdry.
Notes:
1. Chippenham, Wiltshire: largest town near Lacock, 3 miles N.
2. Constance Emily Kent, later Ruth Emilie Kaye (1844-1944), the daughter of Samual Savill Kent, a factory inspector.
3. Road (now Rode) was a small parish between Trowbridge and Frome, about 10 mi SW of Lacock. On the night of 29 June 1860, the body of 4 year old Francis Savill Kent was discovered in the outhouse, with his throat slit. At first the nursemaid was suspect, but soon Francis's 16 year old half-sister Constance was identified as the perpetrator of this hideous crime. A magistrate found her innocent and she was soon made into a heroine; Scotland Yard's Detective Jonathon Whicher, who had charged her, was dismissed from the force. Five years later, Constance confessed to a clergyman, saying the crime was taken in revenge against her step-mother. She was tried and sentenced to death, but this was commuted to 20 years in prison. She afterwards moved to Australia. Suspicions remain that she was actually protecting her brother, William Savill Kent, who either acted alone or in concert with her.