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George Sanger

Age: unknown

Sex: male

Date: 28 Nov 1911

Place: Park Farm, Eastend Road, East Finchley

George Sanger died from head injuries after being attacked on the evening of 28 November 1911 at his home.

A man was suspected of murdering him but he killed himself before he could be arrested. He was found decapitated on a railway line on 30 November 1911.

He was said to have attacked both George Sanger as well as two other men before getting away in a heavy fog.

It was said that the man had felt he was not getting enough attention from George Sanger and so he killed him with a hatchet.

45 years later the grandson of the suspected man wrote a book saying that George Sanger actually struck his head accidently with a brass candlestick during an affray and whilst still conscious went to bed where he died in his sleep. The book was called The Sanger Story by John Lukens.

George Sanger was known as Lord George Sanger and was a famous showman and circus proprietor.

He was said to have been attacked at his home known as Park Farm in East End Road, Finchley and to have died later the same night.

The man that was alleged to have murdered him had been an employee on the farm but had previously been George Sanger's personal assistant but demoted.

It was heard that the attack had taken place around 6pm whilst George Sanger had been in his drawing room and being read to by a one of the well-known brothers who, as bare-back riders, had achieved considerable fame in the circus ring.

It was said that in the usual course another man had read to George Sanger but that on that occasion the rider was reading to him whilst the usual man was in the kitchen.

Then, shortly after 6pm, the man suspected of killing George Sanger, the son of a farm bailiff, came into the house and asked the man that usually did the reading a question and that then, practically without any warning, he was alleged to have rushed at him with a razor and to have cut him severely.

He was said to have then dropped the razor, which was later found broken on the floor, and to have picked up a hatchet and then gone into the house where he was met by the rider who had heard a noise outside who he attempted to hit with the hatchet. However, it was said that he warded off the blow and that the man had then gone on to attack George Sanger who had risen from his chair, striking him several blows with the hatchet.

He was said to have then fled into the mist and darkness, leaving via the back door, and that as the only people that knew of the attack were the three men at the farm house that by the time the alarm was raise that he had got clear away.

The man in the kitchen was said to have suffered two wounds to his throat, although he had managed to get to the street where he summoned assistance. The rider had two large wounds to his head and was left insensible, whilst George Sanger, who had wounds to the top and side of his head managed to crawl to the door where he fell unconscious.

George Sanger was able to make a dying deposition before he died soon after midnight.

It was said that the motive had been jealousy as the man had formally been George Sanger's personal assistant and had even slept in the same room as him but that he had been replaced about six weeks earlier with the other man that had been in the kitchen at the time. It was heard that the man used to previously have the duty of reading to George Sanger as well as accompanying him to market and the City and had acted as a valet and confidential friend to him.

Park Farm was described as an old fashioned two-storeyed house in East End Road not far from St Marylebone Cemetery. It stood sideways to the road and was surrounded by commodious out-buildings, whilst in front there was an ornamental pond and the skull of an elephant placed on a seat along with white and red parrots. It was said that the elephant skull was that of an elephant that some years before had broken loose at the Crystal Palace and killed the keeper.

The man that was suspected of murdering George Sanger was found decapitated on the railway line between Crouch End and Highgate on 30 December 1911. When his possessions were examined he was found to have had a pocket book with his name in it and a rambling badly written statement addressed to his father, but it made no mention of the murder other than saying that he supposed that he had heard of the trouble that had taken place.

It was not known how he got to the place where he was found although it was noted that whilst some distance from East End Road, that it was still in the same district of North London. It was thought that he had got there during the heavy fog and that there were a number of empty houses in the neighbourhood in which he could have taken shelter.


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

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see The Sanger Story by John Lukens

see Dundee Evening Telegraph - Thursday 30 November 1911

see Shepton Mallet Journal - Friday 01 December 1911

see Leicester Daily Post - Thursday 30 November 1911

see Evening Mail - Friday 01 December 1911

see Illustrated Police News - Saturday 09 December 1911