DR JOHN BLAKELY OF CROOKES AND HIS 1934 TRIAL FOR MURDER
Originally from Glasgow Dr John Blakely lived and worked from a large house 203 School Road, in the Crookes district of Sheffield. His practice opened soon after the end of the First World War and he became, in subsequent years, the most popular doctor in the district. Tall dark and distinguished he had "the old-fashioned family doctor's air of curt, infallible mystery" that soon won the respect of any doubters. His patients were predominantly lower middle class: most were employed in either ill-paid white-collar jobs or in skilled trades. However the prospect of unemployment and ill health were never far away in the Sheffield of the late 1920's and 1930's and so it was not uncommon for families to descend into poverty almost overnight. Prior to the founding of the NHS poverty meant no access to doctors as doctors visits had to be paid for. Fortunately John Blakely never refused to treat a patient on the grounds of ability to pay and would allow them to pay his bill at the rate of sixpence a week should circumstances dictate such an arrangement. This concern with the welfare of his patients was to be reciprocated in the first few months of 1934 when Dr Blakely was charged with the murder of a 25 year old unemployed waitress
On
10 February 1934 a small news item appeared in the Daily Herald under the
headlines:
|
DYING
WAITRESS RIDDLE - DRIVEN HOME THEN CAR VANISHED The
story of a dying girl being driven home in a motor which
disappeared was told at the inquest yesterday at Sheffield on Phyllis
Staton, aged 25, an unemployed waitress who died in hospital. The inquest
was adjourned. The girl's father said that she had been keeping company with a professional man for two years. In the middle of January she left home and he received two letters with a Sheffield postmark but no address. On Saturday last, he added, the girl returned home and fell on the floor saying: 'Oh Mother I shall die.' The father rushed outside and saw a motor car being driven away. The girl's sister said that when she asked who had brought her back she said 'The Doc.' |
In December 2009 I went to the local archives in Sheffield and accessed the corresponding report in The Sheffield Daily Telegraph
Eleven days later on 21 February 1934 the Daily Telegraph carried a longer news story under the headlines:
|
DOCTOR
& WAITRESS
ALLEGED
STATEMENT IN MURDER CHARGE Dr John Blakely, 49, of School Road, Sheffield, appeared on remand at Sheffield yesterday charged with the murder of Phyllis Staton, 25, an unemployed waitress. A further charge was preferred of unlawfully applying a drug for a certain purpose. Mr. J. W. Chant, prosecuting, said that during the past eighteen months the woman had been continually in the company of Dr Blakely. She left home on 15 January and her parents did not see anything more of her until 3 February when there was a knock on the back door of the house and the girl fell in. Dr Blakely was then seen driving away in his car. The woman died in hospital the next day from acute septicaemia. Detective Superintendent Bristow produced a statement alleged to have been made by Dr Blakely in which he said that he had given the woman some drugs but denied having carried out an illegal operation. He admitted intimacy with the girl but said that she had been with other men and that she had picked upon him because of his being better off than the others. Superintendent' Bristow in answer to Mr. F. W. Scorah, defending, said that he could find no evidence to support any allegation about Miss Staton's relations with men. Dr James Clark, medical superintendent of Sheffield City General Hospital, said there was no evidence of any illegal operation or the taking of drugs. Asked if it was possible for a medical man to procure an abortion without leaving any evidence the doctor replied 'Yes, it is.' The hearing was adjourned until today. |
The Manchester Guardian dated 21st February 1934 also carried a report of Dr Blakey's court appearance
The following day
22 February the Daily Telegraph reported:
|
DOCTOR
ACQUITTED ON MURDER CHARGE After hearing the speech for the defence the Sheffield magistrates last night dismissed the charges brought against Dr John Blakely, 49, of the murder of an unemployed waitress Phyllis Staton, 25, and of supplying a certain drug to the girl knowing it to be intended for unlawful use. The presiding magistrate said the evidence was so weak that no jury would convict. For the prosecution it was alleged that Dr Blakely had procured a miscarriage in such a way that a post-mortem would not implicate him and that a drug had been used. For the defence, Mr F. W. Scorah said that the miscarriage was perfectly normal. There was no evidence that the accused had anything to do with it. |
Taken from The Times dated Friday, February 23rd 1934 (page4,Issue 46686)
However the most detailed report of the proceedings and the eventual acquittal was in the local daily paper The Sheffield Daily Telegraph dated 22nd February 1934
No one can fault the Sheffield magistrates' opinion that no jury would convict on that evidence. The Crown's case was a non starter as Dr Blakely had admitted nothing damaging in his statement and the principal witness, Miss Staton, was dead. What does not appear to have been questioned was the fact that Miss Staton had been Dr John's mistress for at least eighteen months prior to her death. However the effect of the trial on the doctor's practice was nil - whatever the patients thought they kept to themselves. The goodwill the Doctor had built up in the district had indeed stood him in good stead
However the case put a further strain on his marriage to his wife Annie. By 1934 John and his wife Annie had been married 21 years and were the parents of three boys Derek Andrew Gustav, John Brian, David Moffett Drummond and a girl Maureen. According to people in the locality the marriage was not a particularly happy one. Dr Blakely was very much the archetypal doctor, fond of golf and staying at home, whilst his wife, who was by all accounts a smart sophisticated woman, preferred a far more active social life. The children were looked after be a nanny The youngest son David Blakely was almost five when his father appeared on this charge of murder and it is most improbable that he either heard or knew of the case. Nevertheless it was clearly an incident that was unlikely to strengthen the marriage of David's parents. Phyllis Staton was one of the major frictions in the break-up, which came early in the Second World War. On 24 May, 1940, Mrs Blakely was granted a decree nisi for the dissolution of her marriage 'by reason that since the celebration thereof the said Respondent [Dr Blakely] had been guilty of adultery'. No woman was named in the suit. The divorce became absolute on 2 December, 1940. On 4 February, 1941, at the age of 47 Mrs Blakely remarried Humphrey Wyndham Cook, the wealthy son of a wholesale draper.
On the face of it this is just a small provincial drama that in most cases would have been forgotten in the mists of time. The reason why it was not forgotten lies in the life (and death) of Dr Blakely's youngest son David. David Blakely was shot and murdered outside the Magdala pub in Hampstead, London on Easter Sunday 1955. The person who pulled the trigger was
Ruth Ellis who was hung for the murder - the last woman to be hanged in England.
The Daily Telegraph dated June 27 1999 contained an article on David Blakely's car and threw an interesting light on the events surrounding his murder.
As a final thought, 145 women since 1900 have been sentenced to death, but only 14 were actually executed. Given the circumstances surrounding the death of David Blakely, it seems rather strange that Ruth was not reprieved by the then Home Secretary
Notes
1. David Moffett Drummond Blakely was born on 17 June 1929, at the Oakdale Nursing Home, 33 Collegiate Crescent, Sheffield, at that time the city's best nursing home.
2. David was nearly eleven when his parents were divorced. Later, when he talked about it with friends, he recalled the event with sadness. The emotional security which should envelop a boy of eleven had gone. He was devoted to his father and fond of his mother. Mrs Blakely was awarded the custody of the children and the divorce became absolute on 2 December, 1940. On 4 February, 1941, Mrs Blakely remarried. David's stepfather was Humphrey Wyndham Cook, the wealthy son of a wholesale draper.
Before the Second World War, Humphrey Cook was one of Britain's best-known racing car drivers. He was forty-seven, the same age as his new wife. He had also been married before and was divorced. For the Register Office wedding at Caxton Hall in London Mrs Blakely gave her address as the Hyde Park Hotel, London, and Humphrey Cook gave his as 38 Upper Brook Street,WI. This time Annie Blakely, nee Moffett, had changed her mind about the profession followed by her father John Moffett (deceased). At the 1913 wedding to Dr John Blakely in her home town of BalIynahinch she gave her father's profession as 'horse dealer'. At the Caxton Hall wedding it was given as 'of independent means”.
Annie Cook nee Blakely, nee Moffett had no difficulty in fitting into the Mayfair living of Humphrey Cook. Her suits came from Michael, her jewellery from Cartier and Boucheron. Those who knew her after the war recall that she was well-built, of medium height (five feet five inches) with grey hair, blue eyes and was charming. Like many families the war split the Blakely's, and the two elder sons, Derek and Brian, were in the Forces. David went to Shrewsbury, a second division public school in a small Midlands town on the borders of Wales
3.
Humphrey Wyndham Cook1
Humphrey Wyndham Cook was born 16th March 1893 in Chelsea, London. He was the
son of Wyndham Francis Cook and Frederica Evelyn Stillwell Freeland. He married,
firstly, Gillian Hedderly, daughter of Frederick William Hedderly, on 18 August
1926. They were divorced in 1932. He married, secondly, Anne Moffet, daughter of
John Moffet, on 4 February 1941.1 He died in Westminster London 3rd August 1978.
Humphrey Wyndham Cook was educated at Harrow School, Harrow on the Hill, London,
England.1 He was educated at Christ Church College, Oxford University, Oxford,
Oxfordshire, England. Cook started racing in 1914. Raced Vauxhalls in the
early 1920's and Bugattis in the late 1920's, mostly at Brooklands. Raced Aston
Martin in 1931. Donated £75000 to set up the ERA concern and later raced some
races with the ERA. Retired from racing 1937
Child of Humphrey Wyndham Cook and Gillian Hedderly
* William Wyndham Humphrey Cook2 b. 1928
Citations
1. [S37] Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th
edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical
Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 880. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage and
Baronetage, 107th edition.
2. [S37] Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition.
Sources
The Daily Herald 10th February 1935
The Sheffield Daily Telegraph dated 10th February 1934
The Daily Telegraph 10th February 1934 - 27th June 1999
The Times - 23rd February 1934
Ruth Ellis - The Last Woman to Hang (1963) - Robert Hancock
Ruth Ellis - a good overview of the case and its main protaganists
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This page was last updated on 03/02/10 10:07