Today in the Pace case: 10 June

Sunday, 10 June 1928: The Sunday News reports that Beatrice’s defence fund has reached £950.

Today in the Pace case: 8 June

Friday, 8 June 1928: The Dean Forest Guardian reports that Beatrice’s defence fund has reached £700.

Today in the Pace case: 7 June

Thursday, 7 June 1928: A. A. Purcell, M.P. for the Forest of Dean, is reported in the Daily Herald as stating he was ‘in touch with a first-class K.C.’, i.e., ‘King’s Counsel’, to plead Beatrice’s case at her trial.

Today in the Pace case: 5 June

Tuesday, 5 June 1928: Beatrice Pace is moved from Cardiff Prison, where she has been held since being charged on 22 May, to Birmingham Prison.

Today in the Pace case: 4 June

Monday, 4 June 1928: The ‘committal proceedings’ at Coleford end with the magistrates sending the case on to the next Gloucestershire assizes which open within a few days. Because of the shortage of time to prepare, however, the actual hearing of the case will be delayed.

A female barrister in 1920s Britain

One of the central issues in The Most Remarkable Woman in England revolves around the perceptions of gender roles in the inter-war period.

There are many intersections between the topics of gender and murder in the 1920s (as in any other period).

I ran across one of the more striking ones today: a pair of newspaper stories in the Daily Herald on the first time a female barrister led the defence in a murder trial in Britain.  (It is also worth noting that a female barrister, Florence Earengey, participated in Beatrice Pace's defence.)

Woman Counsel Makes History 

Leads for First Time in Murder Trial. 

For the first time in the history of murder trials a woman barrister, at the Old Bailey yesterday, led for the defence of a man charged with the capital offence.

The woman to whom this distinction fell was Miss Venetia Stephenson, who has on several occasions defended prisoners at the Old Bailey.

Miss Stephenson wears horn-rimmed glasses and is petite and business-like.

A lucid speaker, she has several times been complimented by judges on her ability in conducting cases.

The case yesterday was that in which William John Holmyard, aged 24, a musician, was charged before Mr. Justice Humphreys with the murder of his grandfather.

Miss Stephenson had as her junior Dr. F. Hallis. Mr. Percival Clarke and Mr. G. B. McClure were for the prosecution.

 Mr. Clare, in opening the case, said the dead man, William Holmyard, aged 72, was a commission agent, living in Tachbrook-street, Pimlico. He was found at his house on December 7 with a fractured skull and other injuries, and he died in Westminster Hospital on December 10.

From time to time he had assisted Holmyard, who with his father lived next door. Asked to explain his movements on the day of the tragedy, Holmyard said he had been at Kennington all the time. Bloodstains were found on his coat, and he was asked how they got there.

Miss Stephenson asked that Holmyard’s answer to this question should not be disclosed to the jury, and Mr. Clarke commented contented himself with saying that Holmyard had made a statement which might be read later.
(Daily Herald, 16 January 1929)

Judge’s Compliment 

Ability of Woman Counsel in Murder Trial 

The first woman barrister to appear as leading counsel for the defence in a murder trial was complimented by Mr. Justice Humphreys at the Old Bailey yesterday on the ability she had displayed on her client’s behalf.

The barrister, Miss Venetia Stephenson, defended William John Holmyard, aged 24, a musician, charged with the murder of his grandfather, a commission agent, in Pimlico. He was found guilty and was sentenced to death.

Mr. Justice Humphreys prefaced his summing-up to the jury with a tribute to the “learned counsel for the defence.”

“This case,” he said, “has been defended with conspicuous ability. I am sure you will agree that a serious responsibility lies on her shoulders, but at least she may feel that she has discharged her duty to her client in a manner that reflects the highest possible credit upon her carefulness and her own ability.”

“It is a satisfaction to know that everything possible that could possibly be said for this young man, or done for him by advocacy, has been said and done.”
(Daily Herald, 17 January 1929)

There is, certainly, something condescending about the tone of comments directed towards Miss Stephenson; however, her efforts in this case were certainly one example of the continuing progress of women in the professions in this period.

As for Mr. Holmyard: he was hanged at Pentonville Prison on 27 February 1929.

Today in the Pace case: 1 June

Friday, 1 June 1928: The Dean Forest Guardian reports that A. A. Purcell, Member of Parliament for the Forest of Dean, has started a legal defence fund to enable adequate representation of his impoverished constituent at her upcoming trial for murder.

‘The plight of Mrs. Pace and her children', Purcell is reported as saying, 'had moved him very deeply’

Today in the Pace case: 31 May 1928

Thursday, 31 May 1928: The ‘committal proceedings’ at the magistrates’ court in Coleford open, presided over by five magistrates (four men and one woman).

Officially, the magistrates have to decide whether there was a prima facie case against Beatrice Pace, though this was in some sense redundant: because she was charged under a coroner’s ‘inquisition’ the case would continue to trial in any case.

However, importantly, the main evidence would be restated (under the ‘rules of evidence’ that governed trial procedure) and be written down to produce the ‘depositions’ that could be referred to at the main trial.

Today in the Pace case: 23 May 1928

Wednesday, 23 May 1928: Parliament, London.

Labour MP Will Thorne raises questions to the Home Secretary about the Pace matter, suggesting that the police had used ‘third degree’ methods.

On ‘third degree’ accusations in the 1920s and 1930s, see an article I wrote in the journal Twentieth-Century British History, and another on the 'police and public' debates in the late 1920s in Crime, Histoire & Sociétés/Crime, History and Societies. (A draft version of the latter is available here.)

Today in the Pace case: 22 May 1928

Tuesday, 22 May 1928: 12th sitting of the coroner’s inquest, in Coleford.

Rowland Ellis is recalled and gives brief testimony about a ‘dolly tub’ at the Pace home—one which Harry and Beatrice used to ‘dip’ lambs—that contained water with arsenic in it. Afterwards, the coroner, Maurice Carter, summarises the evidence and then sends off the jury to make their decision.

Determining that their first verdict is unsatisfactory—for complicated reasons discussed in the book—Carter sends them off again to reconsider things. (This aspect of the verdict will be the subject of much discussion in press and Parliament.) They return, declaring that they have reached their verdict: that Harry Pace had died from named Beatrice Pace. Beatrice is brought before magistrates and charged with murder.

That evening, she is taken to Cardiff prison.

There, she will await the next legal stage in the case: the committal proceedings in the magistrates’ court.

Today in the Pace case: 15 May 1928

Tuesday, 15 May 1928: 11th sitting of the coroner’s inquest, in Coleford.

After brief testimony from police superintendant J. Shelswell and a recalled Alice Sayes, the main event of this sitting is testimony by Beatrice Pace herself, who denies giving poison to her late husband. At the end of her testimony, she breaks down.

As reported by the Dean Forest Guardian: ‘the policewoman handed her some smelling salts as she began to sob and bury her face in her hands.’ (18 May 1928, p. 7) The inquest is adjourned for a week.

It is anticipated that a verdict will be reached at the next session.

Today in the Pace case: 14 May 1928

Monday, 14 May 1928: 10th sitting of the coroner’s inquest, in Coleford.

Other than brief testimony from a former quarry co-worker of Harry’s, Ralph Dowle, the medical testimony continues. Ellis is recalled, and extensive evidence is given by Professor Isaac Walker Hall of Bristol University (who had analysed the organs and blood sent to him after Harry’s post-mortem) and Sir William Willcox, a renowned forensic expert and medical advisor to the Home Office.

Edward Aston, a retired insurance agent, testifies about the life insurance policy he sold to the Paces.

Today in the Pace case: 10 May 1928

Thursday, 10 May 1928: 9th sitting of the coroner’s inquest, in Coleford.

Drs Du Pré and Nanda are recalled to clarify certain matters. Chief Inspector George Cornish of Scotland Yard describes his investigations and the circumstances that led to Beatrice’s 11 and 14 March statements to the detectives.

The statements themselves are given to the inquest jury to read. Rowland Ellis, the analyst for Gloucester and Gloucestershire demonstrates how the sulphur can be removed from sheep dip to produce a colourless (and largely flavourless) arsenic-rich liquid: this is important, as no sulphur but much arsenic was found in Harry’s organs and blood.

All subsequent proceedings focus on sheep dip as the likely source of the arsenic that killed Harry Pace.

Today in the Pace case: 9 May 1928

Wednesday, 9 May 1928: 8th sitting of the coroner’s inquest.

Having heard a great deal of what could be called ‘circumstantial evidence’ in previous sittings, the coroner’s inquest finally turns to medical and forensic testimony. Key witnesses here are Dr William Du Pré (the Pace family’s doctor), Dr Ram Nath Nanda (who had been brought in by Harry’s kin to give a second opinion about his illness the preceding autumn), Dr Norman Mather (who had treated Harry while he had been in the Gloucester Royal Infirmary the preceding autumn), and Dr Charles Carson (who conducted the post-mortem examination of Harry Pace on 14 January).

Brief testimony is also given by Henry Smith, an expert on sheep dipping.

Today in the Pace case: 3 May 1928

Thursday, 3 May 1928: 7th sitting of the coroner’s inquest, in Coleford.

Testimony is given by Alice Sayes (one of Beatrice Pace’s closest friends) and her husband Leslie. Both of them firmly deny the rumours circulating that Leslie Sayes was having an affair with Beatrice Pace (who also denied such claims).

This issue, however, was a focus of this part of the testimony. (Inquests had wide discretion and were not restrained by the rules of evidence that governed trial procedure.)

Leslie, Beatrice’s nine-year-old son, also testifies. Dorothy Pace, who had originally given testimony on 18 April, is recalled to clarify some statements she made then. Trevor Wellington, Beatrice’s solicitor, criticises the police’s treatment of Dorothy during questioning. Elizabeth Porter, Harry’s mother, is briefly recalled.