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Jack Wilfred Wright

Age: 10 weeks

Sex: male

Date: 8 Apr 1907

Place: Gatcombe, Awre, Gloucestershire

Jack Wilfred Wright was found dead in a well on 8 April 1907.

His mother was tried for his murder but acquitted.

She said that while she was attending to her household duties that he was stolen and put into the well by someone unknown.

No one saw anyone put the child in the well, however, it was noted that there could be no doubt that murder had been done.

Jack Wright's mother had been married for barely a year at the time, her husband being a platelayer, and they had lived with her husband’s mother in Gatcombe.

Before her marriage, Jack Wright's mother had been a clerk in the Post Office at Cheltenham and bore an excellent character.

On 8 April 1907 Jack Wright's father went away to work at 5am, his intention being to remain away at work for a week, which was customary for men of his occupation. His grandfather, a fisherman, went to work in the river and his grandmother had also gone away to Blakeney, leaving Jack Wright's mother feeding him.

It was heard that it had been arranged that the following day Jack Wright's mother was to go away on a visit to Gloucester and that she had left Jack Wright on the sofa whilst she went upstairs to do some packing.

At 6pm a neighbour called and Jack Wright's mother answered from one of the upstairs windows, and then immediately came down to see her. It was heard that Jack Wright's mother made no allusion to the fact that Jack Wright was missing, and told the woman that she was going to take him away the next day.

Whilst they were talking Jack Wright's grandfather, the fisherman came in and Jack Wright's mother said, 'O, I must go and get dad's tea'. She then immediately came out when her father-in-law called her to see the dog killing a rat and when she went back into the room where Jack Wright had been left she raised a cry that somebody had taken him away.

A search was then made by Jack Wright's mother and others and the police were then communicated with.

Jack Wright's mother also went to see some neighbours, including a fisherman and his wife who were having tea at about 6.30pm.

She asked the fisherman’s wife 'Have you got my baby?'. The fisherman’s wife replied 'Certainly not. Whatever is the matter?'. The mother then said, 'Somebody has taken it'. She then said 'I thought you might have taken it in a joke', and the fisherman’s wife said, 'It is no joking matter'. She then said, 'It was taken off the sofa and the bottle was left whilst I was upstairs packing.'

They then all went back to her house to search for her baby. They searched a number of places including a closet and a deep ditch at the back of the house and then at about 8.30pm they went to the well where they met the mother and another woman coming from the well with a light. He said the mother said, 'There isn’t anything in the well is there? If there was anything white we should have seen it.' The fisherman’s husband then got a pole and another man got a drag and they searched and pulled the baby out.

The effect on Jack Wright's mother was described as very distressing and she swooned away and remained in an unconscious condition for several hours.

A woman said that she remained with Jack Wright's mother until the police arrived and whilst waiting asked her, 'How did it happen?', and the mother replied, 'I dont know. I was upstairs and I thought I heard baby cry. I came down to give him a bottle when I found the baby was gone I made a search for it'. She also said that the mother had told her that she thought another lady had taken the baby.

Medical evidence showed that Jack Wright's death had been due to drowning and that he had been dead for about four hours at the time he was found, showing that he must have been missing at the time the woman called and spoke to the mother.

When Jack Wright's mother regained consciousness, she remarked, 'When my husband went away this morning he kissed baby and not me'.

When the police arrived they found the baby on the kitchen table all wet and the mother unconscious on the sofa. The police waited with her until she awoke at about 1am and said that she asked her sister-in-law where her husband was and was told that he was at work and then the mother then said 'He kissed the baby this morning but he did not kiss me'.

When the doctor examined the baby he said that it had been dead for about four hours and that there were no marks of external violence.

It was heard that it was clear that somebody had murdered Jack Wright, and that anybody might have walked into the house whilst Jack Wright's mother had been upstairs and put him in the well, but that anyone on the river could have seen them.

However, it was heard that there was no suggestion that anybody had been seen near the house except Jack Wright's mother and that it was an easy conclusion to arrive at that she had put Jack Wright into the well.

However, it was also heard that she had been a most devoted mother and that her actions after the body was found were consistent with that of a woman who had heard of the sad occurrence for the first time.

Jack Wright's grandmother said that her son went to work in the morning of 8 April 1907 and that she went out between 2pm and 3pm, at which time Jack Wright's mother had been engaged in feeding Jack Wright on the sofa. She said that when she returned from Blakeney at 7.45pm in the evening Jack Wright's mother informed her that someone had taken her baby and that she had left him on the sofa whilst she went upstairs to pack for Gloucester, and that when she later came down and got tea she found he was missing.

Jack Wright's grandfather said that when he got home on the evening of 8 April 1907 that he saw his daughter-in-law talking to a woman at the gate and that he heard her say, 'Here's dad coming, I haven’t got his tea' and went into the house. He said that he then saw a rat near the house in a trap and told his daughter-in-law to let the dog out to kill it, which she did. He said that she then went back into the house and immediately called out in a frightened and distressed voice, 'Dad, come quick', and that she showed him Jack Wright's bottle and wraps on the sofa but that Jack Wright was gone.

He noted that the eiderdown quilt was on the sofa in the same position as when Jack Wright had been under it.

He said they then made a thorough search and then called the police.

He said that Jack Wright was later found in the well which was covered with a large stone slab and only used on Saturdays when water was got from it for scrubbing.

He said that Jack Wright's mother had always been on the best of terms with her husband and everyone else and that she had been perfectly calm when he returned from work until she went into the kitchen and screamed out that Jack Wright was gone.

The grandfather said that he first thought that it had been a joke on the part of one of the neighbours, and suggested that to Jack Wright's mother.

The woman that had called at the house and spoke to Jack Wright shortly before Jack Wright was discovered to be missing, said that she called at about 6pm on 8 April 1907 and that after answering from the bedroom window, Jack Wright's mother came down and stood in the kitchen talking to her. She noted that she saw the sofa with the eiderdown on it, but didn't notice Jack Wright.

She said that Jack Wright's mother told her that she wanted to finish her packing before Jack Wright awoke.

She said that they talked for about ten minutes and that she didn't see Jack Wright during that time and that she returned to her own house when the grandfather returned from work.

The postmortem showed that Jack Wright's death was due to drowning and that he had been dead for about four hours. It also showed that he had been well nourished and that his stomach was full of food.

When Jack Wright's mother was charged with his murder she said she was not guilty, stating:

I loved my baby far too much to harm him.

She was tried on 19 June 1907, but found not guilty.


*map pointers are rough estimates based on known location details as per Place field above.

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Gloucester Journal - Saturday 22 June 1907

see Gloucestershire Chronicle - Saturday 22 June 1907

see Gloucester Citizen - Wednesday 19 June 1907

see National Library of Scotland