EDWARD POPE - THE MURDER OF HENRY WATTS
GREENHILL, SHEFFIELD 7th FEBRUARY 1939
"It would be difficult to imagine a more clearer case of murder"
I spent most of my childhood living in the Greenhill district of Sheffield and attended both Greenhill Infant School and Greenhill Primary School. In those days it was a walk to school, and so each morning and afternoon I used to pass a cul-de-sac called WESTWICK GROVE. Until recently I had no idea that this quiet suburban road was the site in 1939 of a particularly gruesome and savage murder.
I first came across the tragedy in The Manchester Guardian dated 9th February 1939 when it reported on an Inquest that was held in Sheffield the previous night
The inquest was "adjourned sine die" which in effect meant that the hearing was to be postponed until unknown date in the future. The reason for this was that earlier in the day EDWARD WILLIAM POPE had been remanded in custody for eight days on a charge of murder.
Searching the local newspapers I found a copy of the Sheffield Star dated Tuesday 7th February 1939 which reported what had happened earlier that day
The following day the same paper gave a full account of the day's proceedings before the city's magistrates and the coroner.
AXE TRAGEDY SEEN BY MAN FROM WINDOW
RAN FROM HOUSE TO HELP POLICE
the next article I have been able to locate is a brief account of the remand hearing that took place on Thursday February 16th 1939
The Director of Public Prosecutions was ready and the trial began on 23rd February 1939.
The case was referred to the next sitting of Leeds Assizes.
Edward Pope was found guilty of Murder and sentenced to death. Dr Skinner stated that at the time of the offence Edward Pope was in a state of paranoia. It is a complicated area of metal health but the MIND website gives this succinct explanation
"Paranoia is a symptom of some mental health problems but not a diagnosis itself.
Paranoid thoughts can be anything from very mild to very severe and these experiences can be quite different for everybody. This depends on how much:
you believe the paranoid thoughts
you think about the paranoid thoughts
the paranoid thoughts upset you
the paranoid thoughts interfere with your everyday life
Lots of people experience mild paranoia at some point in their lives – maybe up to a third of us. This is usually called non-clinical paranoia. These kind of paranoid thoughts often change over time – so you might realise that they are not justified or just stop having those particular thoughts.
At the other end of the spectrum is very severe paranoia (also called clinical paranoia or persecutory delusions). If your paranoia is more severe then you are more likely to need treatment.
Paranoia can be one symptom of these mental health problems:
paranoid schizophrenia – a type of schizophrenia where you experience extreme paranoid thoughts
delusional disorder (persecutory type) – a type of psychosis where you have one main delusion related to being harmed by others
paranoid personality disorder.
From the reports it evident that Edward Pope was at the extreme end of the paranoia spectrum and needed treatment for this condition. But he was not insane and did not meet the legal definition of the term. Insanity in English law is a defence to criminal charges based on the idea that the defendant was unable to understand what he was doing, or, that he was unable to understand that what he was doing was wrong. Edward Pope did know what he was doing was wrong and whilst he may have "invoked "God's Will," he was found guilty of willful murder by the jury and Mr. Justice Asquith had no option but to pass the mandatory death sentence.
The jury did add a recommendation for mercy to the verdict but the matter now lay with the officials and ministers at the Home Office. The papers for the case are closed for 100 years and are not due for publication until 2043. This was one of the reasons why I publish articles like this. I would like to know what the officials were thinking.
It was on 12th May 1939 The Manchester Guardian reported that Edward Pope had been reprieved and that his sentence had been commuted to life imprisonment. There is something unusual about this. A delay covering three Sundays between sentencing and execution was all the law stipulated. The three Sundays rule dated back to the Victorian era. It was felt to allow enough time for any new evidence to come to light, the convict to make his peace with his or her God and also to not prolong the inevitable end. An appeal might hold things up for slightly longer - but not by much. The appeal system was introduced in 1908, but the vast majority of appeals were rejected. It normally shifted the execution date back by approximately two weeks at most. I cannot find evidence of an appeal but in this case it took nearly six weeks for the reprieve to come through. My guess and it is only a guess is that Edward Pope was subjected to further psychiatric evaluation. In nearly all cases those sentenced to death would be hung at the prison they were incarcerated in after the sentence provided they had the facilities to conduct the hanging. Edward Pope should have been hung in Armley Gaol Leeds in mid April 1939 but the reprieve only came through a month later, six weeks after the trial ended. The Home Office must have accepted the conclusions of the evaluations but tellingly Edward Pope was not committed to a mental institution or similar. The 1939 National Register finds him as an inmate at Maidstone Gaol in Kent. It is unlikely that he would have received treatment for his condition
Three years later Edward died in Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight age 49. The cause of death is not known.
There is no doubt that Henry Watts suffered a severe attack and suffered an appalling death at the hands of Edward Pope but was the death penalty an appropiate response for a person who was clearly suffering acute mental distress in the days leading up to the crime
Notes
Deaths Jun 1942 Pope Edward W 49 I. Wight Volume 2b Page 1127
Surname First name(s) Spouse District Vol Page
Marriages Jun 1924
Lowe Winifred M Pope Ecclesall B. 9c 964 Pope Edward W Lowe Ecclesall B. 9c 964
Births Mar 1928
Pope Dorothy Lowe Chesterfield 7b 1261
1901 Census Record
Personal Information
Name Edward W Pope
Relation to Head of Family Son
Age Last Birthday 7
Sex Male
Profession or Occupation Juvenile
Condition as to Marriage
Where Born Derbys Brampton
Address 87 Fogambe Rd
Civil Parish Chesterfield
Rural District Town or Village or Hamlet Chesterfield
Ecclesiastical Parish Holy Trinity
Parliamentary Borough or Division Chesterfield
County Borough, Municipal Borough or Urban District Chesterfield
Administrative County Derby
Ward of Municipal Borough or Urban District North Ward
Reference Information
Folio 183
Page 52
Piece 3248
1911 Census Record
Name Eddie Pope
[Edward William Pope]
Age in 1911 17
Estimated Birth Year abt 1894
Relation to Head Son
Gender Male
Birth Place Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England
Civil parish Chesterfield
County/Island Derbyshire
Country England
Street Address 5 Princess Street Chesterfield
Marital Status Single
Occupation Student Parttime & Joiner
Registration District Number 438
Sub-registration district Chesterfield
ED, institution, or vessel 15
Piece 21094
Household Members (Name) Age Relationship
Edward Pope
42
Head
Emlie Pope
43
Wife
Eddie Pope 17 Son
Frances Pope
16
Daughter
May Pope
13
Daughter
Doris Pope
9
Daughter
Birth
July 1893 • Brampton, Derbyshire, England
Birth of sister Frances Louisa Pope(1895–)
January 1895 • Brampton, Derbyshire, England
Birth of sister May Golding Pope(1898–1928)
January 1898 • Brampton, Derbyshire, England
Birth of sister Doris Amelia Pope GRO ¥(1901–1997) -
Death of sister Doris Amelia Pope GRO (1901–1997) Canada
July 1901 • Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England
Residence
1901 • Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England
Relation to Head of House: Son
Residence
02 Apr 1911 • Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England
Marital Status: Single; Relation to Head of House: Son
Death of sister May Golding Pope(1898–1928)
Jun 1928 • Ecclesall Bierlow, Yorkshire West Riding, England
Sep 1939 • H M Prison, Maidstone, Kent
Inmate in HM prison. A Building contractor.
Name Edward W Pope
Gender Male
Marital Status Married
Birth Date 22 May 1893
Residence Date 1939
Address H.m.prison.maidstone
Residence Place Maidstone, Kent, England
Occupation Building Contactor
Line Number 8
Schedule Number 1
Sub Schedule Number 201
OVSPI Inmate
Enumeration District Dibu
Borough Maidstone
Registration district 51-3.
Sources
The Manchester Guardian dated 9th February 1939 12th May 939
Sheffield Star dated Tuesday 7th February 1939 8th February 1939 16th February 1939 23rd February 1939
Sheffield Star 01st April 1939
This page was last updated on 02/10/23 16:23