Edith Jarrett

Edith Jarrett was found dead in a field on 3 February 1917.

Her 23-year-old mother was sent for trial for her murder but the bill was thrown out at the Birmingham Assizes on Friday 16 March 1917.

Edith Jarrett's mother had been a munition worker.

The body of Edith Jarrett was found by a 12-year-old boy that had lived with his parents at 10 Moor Lane in Witton. The boy said that at 12.40pm on Friday 9 February 1917 that he had been returning home from school with a friend, when he found it in a hedge. He noted that there was a field to the side of Moor Lane that extended from Brookvale Road to some houses opposite the cemetery. He said that on one side of the field was the canal, and on the other side a privet hedge. He said that he went into the field through a fence and that whilst walking towards his home that he saw on the bank, close by the privet hedge, something that looked like a bundle of clothes and that when he went to look at it he saw that it was a baby. He said that it was dressed and had a pinafore over its face, but said that its feet were bare.

He said that he then called to his friend and that they then went home and told his mother.

A police inspector stationed at Lozells Road said that he was called to Witton Cemetery on the Friday where he saw the body of Edith Jarrett. He said that after the body was seen by the doctor that he conveyed it to the Central Mortuary.

He said that the body was undressed, but that there were also the following articles of clothing:

• White bonnet.
• Blue frock with blue flowering ornament.
• Two pink undervests.
• Whole knitted undervest.
• White buider.
• White pinafore.
• Two napkins.

A woman that lived at the Croft in Gipsey Lane, Erdington said that Edith Jarrett's mother came to her house about four weeks earlier with a baby, a little girl who she told her had been about nine weeks old, saying that she had been working at Kynochs and desired her to look after the child for a weekly payment. She said that they discussed her coming to live at her house herself as well, but said that Edith Jarrett's mother told her that she could not come herself until the following Saturday.

She said that she then took charge of the child and that Edith Jarrett's mother came herself a week later.

She said that on Saturday 3 February 1917 that Edith Jarrett's mother, who had been working nights, came in at about 7.30am from work and told her that she would have to find another place for herself and her baby and that she left her house later that day at about 2.30pm with her baby, saying that she was going to take it to a creche at the corner of St Luke’s Road.

The woman noted that at that moment that the child had been quite well in health and that she lent her travelling rug to carry the baby in.

She said that she later went out and returned at about 1pm to find Edith Jarrett's mother asleep in a chair without her baby. She said that she asked her if they had taken the baby in at the creche and said that she told her 'No'. She said that she then asked, ''Where is she then?' and that the mother said, 'I was walking up and down outside the creche and a woman told me of another place at Kings Heath'. She said that she asked whether she took the baby there and said that Edith Jarrett's mother replied, 'Yes'.

She said that she then asked her whether there had been many babies there and that Edith Jarrett's mother replied, 'Only two or three'. She said that she then asked her who looked after them and that Edith Jarrett's mother replied, 'An old woman and her daughter'. She said that she then asked her whether she had to take them any clothes, and said that she replied, 'No, because they send it away to another place'. She said that she then asked her whether there were any visiting days and said that Edith Jarrett's mother told her that they had said that it didn't matter about visiting the child.

The woman said that Edith Jarrett's mother stayed with her at her house from then on until the morning of 12 February 1917 when she received a letter from her mother enclosing a newspaper cutting describing the finding of the body of Edith Jarrett with its clothing. She said that after speaking to her husband that she asked Edith Jarrett's mother, 'What is the name and address of where you left the baby?' and said that she replied, 'Why?'. She said that she then said, 'I want to know. I am going to see it?'. She said that Edith Jarrett's mother then said, 'I don't know the address', and she then said to her, 'That is your baby that has been found in the field', to which she said the mother replied, 'It is not'.  She said that she then said, 'It is, I can tell the clothes'.

She said that after further talk that she told her that she had to come with her to see the baby that had been found and said that she, her husband, Edith Jarrett's mother and her little girl all went off to Victoria Road Police Station.

She said that before they left the house, that she said to her, 'That was your baby, why did you put it there?, to which she said Edith Jarrett's mother replied, 'It was dead when I put it there'. She  said that she then asked, 'What brought it dead?' and that the mother told her that she had been getting off the car at Witton after 9pm at night when she stumbled and dropped the baby into the road.  She said that when she asked her whether anyone saw her drop the baby into the road that she replied, 'There was no one about'.  The woman said that she then said, 'Go on, Witton would be all alive at that time of night. Did she cry?', and said that the mother said, 'She screamed till we got to the Yew Tree and then a woman came and asked me what was the matter with the baby', and went on to tell her that the woman thought that Edith Jarrett had had a stomach ache.

The woman said that the mother went on to tell her that she afterwards unrolled the rug to look at Edith Jarrett and thought that she must have been nearly gone then and that she thought that the child must have had a fit and that she thought of dropping her in the water, but said that it had been a moonlight night and so she took it to the field and lay down with it for some time.

The woman said that when they got to Victoria Road station that they found that the body of Edith Jarrett was not there.

She said that she then made her statement to the police and whilst in her presence, Edith Jarrett's mother made a similar statement.

She noted that from her house in Gipsey Lane to the field where Edith Jarrett's body was found was only a few minutes’ walk.

The woman later saw the body found in the field and said that she could identify the clothing as that worn by Edith Jarrett when she last saw her, but said that she could not speak with certainty as to the child, as the face appeared to have changed.

A police surgeon for the C Division said that he was called to see the body of Edith Jarrett at 1.30pm on Tuesday 9 February 1917. He said that Edith Jarrett had by then been dead for some time.

He said that he then carried out a post mortem examination in which he said he found no marks of violence, although there were a few abrasions around the mouth. He said that one hand was flaccid, and the other clenched, and that her tongue was between her gums and her knees drawn up. He noted that there was a little soreness round the buttocks of no moment.

He said that internally there was no sign of congestion or bruising on the surface of the brain.

He said that in the chest he found that there was some congestion of the hinder and lower part of the lungs. He said that the heart on the right side was full of frozen blood, and that the left side was contracted, but not very firmly.  He said that in the stomach that there was nearly an ounce of milk food, frozen in flakes. He added that the liver, kidneys and other organs were all normal.

He said that the appearance of the body was consistent with the body having been dead and exposed for some days. He said that her tissues were frozen hard and had not fully thawed after being in an enclosed room for 24 hours.

He concluded that there were no strong indications of the precise manner of death. He said that the congestion of the lungs was not sufficient to had caused death if she had been properly cared for. He noted that some of the other appearances would be consistent with suffocation, but yet others of heart failure, and further that he could not say positively that death did not occur before the exposure of the body. However, he noted that if it did occur after exposure, that the period of exposure before death was not a long one.

Edith Jarrett's mother was sent for trial at the Birmingham Winter Assizes on 16 March 1917, but the Grand Jury found no true bill in her case and she was discharged.