Age: 40
Sex: female
Date: 23 Apr 1915
Place: 99 Magdalene Road, Oxford
Lucy Strange was beaten to death in her home.
A 24 year old gardener who worked in Wheatley was tried for her murder but was acquitted. He was said to have been the last person to see her alive.
She was found dead in her kitchen with her skull fractured. A pair of tongs were found on a table nearby with hair and blood on them.
The gardener said that Lucy Strange had twice that day been visited by a man described as 'Jack' from London who on the second visit had struck her and threatened to do her in.
It was ascertained that Lucy Strange had been in the company of the gardener at her house at 7.30pm on the previous Friday evening.
She was discovered by her sister on the Saturday who called but could not get in. She called a neighbour who climbed over the railings at the back of the house and looked through the window to see Lucy Strange lying on the floor.
Her husband was serving with the colours.
see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
see National Archives - ASSI 6/50/5
see Western Mail - Saturday 12 June 1915
see The Scotsman - Saturday 08 May 1915
see Reading Mercury - Saturday 01 May 1915
see Reading Mercury - Saturday 15 May 1915