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Mary Mullarkey

Age: unknown

Sex: male

Date: 7 Jun 1915

Place: 57 Hunter Street, Liverpool

Mary Mullarkey fell out of a window.

Her husband was tried for her murder at Manchester Summer Assizes but the judge said that there was not sufficient evidence to go before the jury and declared that he was holding the case and ordered the discharge of her husband.

Mary Mullarkey and her husband had been married for 15 years but it was heard that they didn't live happily.

It was heard that her husband joined the army in September 1914 where he was wounded. After his discharge from hospital he was stationed at Seaforth and Freshfield. He was in the 4th King's but had been attached to the 15th at Formby.

It was heard that late on the night Mary Mullarkey fell from the window her husband went to see his mother and said, 'Mary has thrown herself through the window. will you give me a penny for a packet of cigarettes.'. His mother said that she replied, 'No, but stop where you are and I’ll get you a packet'. It was heard that his mother got him a packet and that when she gave them to her son he went off.

Mary Mullarkey's mother-in-law said that Mary Mullarkey had previously tried to throw herself through the window at the house they had lived at previously.

A woman that lived in the same building said that Mary Mullarkey and her husband used to drink a lot. She also said that Mary Mullarkey had a very bad temper and that when they drank they often quarrelled. She said that Mary Mullarkey had described her husband to her as mad jealous.

It was also heard that Mary Mullarkey used to sell firewood, was in receipt of a separation allowance and drank to excess.

The woman said that shortly after Mary Mullarkey fell from the window she saw her husband in with his head down in the hall but said that she could not tell whether he had come from a room or the yard. She said that she thought he was 'in a muddle of drink'.

It was heard that Mary Mullarkey was later found in the yard bleeding and groaning. It was thought that she was drunk and so she was taken upstairs and laid on her bed where she was left overnight, and the following morning she was found to be dead.

Several other witnesses said that they heard the quarrel between Mary Mullarkey and her husband but said that they thought that Mary Mullarkey was in a drunken bout.

Mary Mullarkey's husband later returned to his unit on 8 June 1915 in an excited state. The sergeant of his battalion said that he had been absent between 13 May and 8 June 1015 and he was put in the guardroom. He was later handed over to the police who arrested him for causing the death of Mary Mullarkey on 7 August 1915.

When he was arrested he said, 'She stood on the table and jumped through the window'. It was heard that he had told the police on another occasion, 'She threw a basin at me in the room'.

The police said that from the condition of the room, it was impossible to say whether Mary Mullarkey had got through the window herself or whether she was pushed through by somebody else.

Mary Mullarkey's husband was charged with her murder but acquitted on lack of evidence.


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

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Liverpool Echo - Wednesday 16 June 1915

see Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Tuesday 13 July 1915

see Manchester Evening News - Monday 19 July 1915