Mike Covell’s Blogg

This morning I had the pleasure of visiting both Beverley’s East Riding Archives and Hull’s History Centre in the search for information, photo’s and press cuttings on Frederick Bailey Deeming. 

I was shocked to discover a press cutting from 1892 linking Deeming to an unsolved murder case dating back to 1891, a short while after Deeming was released from Hull Gaol!  With this in mind I searched, and subsequently discovered the press reports from the 1891 cold case.  It transpired that a girl had been brutally murdered on the outskirts of Hull between Preston and Hedon.

At the time numerous suspects were taken before the police and numerous eyewitnesses reported the murderers escape, but at the time the Hull Police were stumped.

It was only in March 1892 during the trial of Deeming in Melbourne that the Hull Police decided to reinvestigate the case and the possibility that Deeming was responsible.

I am also pleased to announce that today I obtained not one but two photographs of Frederick Bailey Deeming.  Both of which were taken by Messrs Barry Photographers of Park-street, Hull, during Deeming’s 1890 visit to the city. 

It has been on the cards for a while, but this morning I finally got the time to travel through to Beverley and visit East Riding Archives and it wasn’t going to a wasted journey.

I had always wanted a copy of the Marriage of Deeming, under his alias Lawson, to Miss Matheson of Beverley and among the parish registers of St Mary’s Church I found it.  The certificate has seen better days and a large tear exists along the centre, but all the details are readable.

With the certificate in hand I decided to search the Beverley Guardian for the period, and found the Wedding among the BMD’s.  Again, this provided yet more details of the couple.  Especially Deeming, who had writted not one, but two different names and surnames for his father!

Next up I decided to search the same publication for the trial of Deeming in September 1890.  This was the trial where Deeming was charged with Fraudulantly obtaining jewellery from Messrs. Reynoldson and Son.  Not only did I find several newspaper articles pertaining to this case, I also discovered more than was initially featured in the Hull Press at the time!  Among the articles were several local articles with commentary from people that knew Deeming whilst he was in Beverley.

Next up I decided to check the same publication for the year 1892 for the trial of Deeming, and sure enough not only did I find new articles, but many of them featuring the local slant on the case, and interviews with Beverley locals!

After this I perused a scrapbook that featured Deeming on several occasions and consisted of newspaper cuttings from the Yorkshire region. 

I was also informed of two photographs on file of Deeming, and managed to look at one of them taken by Barry of Spring-street, Hull!

The staff at East Riding Archives were fantastic and really helpful, often pointing me in the right direction and helping me with the reader printers which seem to differ from Archival Centre to Archival Centre.

Afterwards I took a walk through Beverley market, taking in the sights and smells of the stalls and made my way up to the St Mary’s Church.  As a child we had visited here, and I had been informed then of the alleged link between Lewis Carroll and the rabbit carved in stone in St Michael’s Chapel here.  After walking around the church I managed to find the rabbit and after asking permission was allowed to snap several photographs.

I also managed to obtain photographs of the Chancel, where Deeming, posing has Harry Lawson, would have stood in 1890, telling his new bride that he was a single man, and thus begining his downfall.

Hull History Centre 

Yesterday I managed to track down several previously unseen reports dating back to the 1890’s regarding Frederick Bailey Deeming.  I had previously found the reports relating to Deeming’s fraud trial in Hull in September 1890 and had heard there were other reports from this period, but sadly these could not be traced. 

I did, however; find over 50 new reports from the Hull Daily Mail dating from April and May 1892 and covering the trial of Frederick Bailey Deeming.  Many of these reports offered new insights into the criminal life of Deeming, and some offered the local slant on events.  Many of the reports came from former Governor of Hull Gaol, Harry Webster, who was in Australia during the trial and who had Deeming, alias Lawson, under is charge at Hull Gaol for the frauds he committed on a Hull Jeweller.

 East Riding Archives

Tomorrow I hope to visit the East Riding Archives and St Mary’s Church in Beverley.  The archives hold all the parish registers for Beverley and I am hoping to obtain the wedding entries for Deeming, under the alias Lawson, and Nellie Matheson. 

Whilst there I also aim to visit St Mary’s Church, a location associated with Frederick Bailey Deeming and Lewis Carroll, a suspect proposed by Richard Wallace in his book Jack the Ripper- Light Hearted Friend.

In 1931 the Dallas Morning News published a weekly column about Scotland Yard entitled Forty Years of Scotland Yard.  The column was written by Frederick Porter Wensley, who was formerly the Chief Constable of the Criminal Investigation Department at New Scotland Yard and ran for two months.  The articles features some familar names, cases, locations, and events in the history of the yard.  People wishing to view the articles can do so here,  

http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?t=9757&page=2

Despite numerous articles and texts alluding to the frauds carried out in Hull by Frederick Bailey Deeming, very few newspaper accounts have surfaced, with only one exception which stated that Deeming had been given 9 months for his criminal deeds. 

I managed to track down the Calender of Prisoners for 1890, and the Michaelmas Quarter Sessions on the case, but they did not run to much, and contained very little useful information. 

With this in mind, and a new wind, I once again trawled the Hull Press for the year 1890 and sure enough, I discovered several newspaper reports covering Deemings criminal activities in Hull, and the chase that the Hull Detectives gave across the globe. 

More interestingly, I uncovered an article written by Detective Grassby, the man responsible for capturing Deeming in Monte-Video, and bringing him back to Hull.  Grassby’s article was a great find, as it contained many hiterto unknown details about Deeming’s conduct on the journey back to Hull.

The headlines said it all “Hull Ripper Scare,” “Jack the Ripper Scare in Hull,” and “Jack the Stabber at large.”  These were the reports I discovered this week in several newspapers and covering an incident where 5 women were stabbed.  I managed to trace several different newspapers, giving different views, and some of them featured illustrations of the suspects.  I was also able to ascertain who the culprit was, and managed to obtain birth, marriage and death data.

Hot on the trail I also uncovered the entry in the Calendar Entry of Prisoners, and from this the actual court proceedings of his case!  More info to follow!

Was Jack the Ripper a Cricketer?  That was the question asked by Ken Mountford, from London, to ESPN’s Cricket Guru Steven Lynch.

Lynch replied that the murderer’s identity was never conclusively proven, and states that Montague John Druitt, who was a respectable cricketer, could well have been the murderer, as he was found dead after the last confirmed Ripper murder!

To read more on Steven’s page: http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/453687.html

The Hull Daily Mail featured the following article on Tuesday March 23rd 2010,

Hull History Centre looks set to beat its target of attracting 30,000 visitors in its first year.

A total of 10,000 people have visited the Worship Street centre in the past six weeks.

The number of schoolchildren using the centre is also beating all expectations.

Managers had hoped 1,500 pupils would visit in the first year.

But already 800 have trawled through the archives.

The 10,000th visitor was Keith Lyon, of Bilton Grange, east Hull, who attended a lunchtime club talk on Jack The Ripper and his connection with Hull.

Mr Lyon said: “I saw the history centre being built and was very keen to get inside and start using it.

“I’m very keen on local history and I’ve been really impressed with what’s on offer here. I’m going to be a regular visitor.”

Martin Taylor, city archivist for Hull City Council, said: “I’d like to pay tribute to the staff here who have dealt with the influx of visitors with professionalism, enthusiasm and good humour.

“Family history is proving the most popular subject for research, but there have been a pleasing number of academic researchers from Britain and overseas.”

His colleague Judy Burg, University of Hull archivist, said: “During the few weeks we have been open I have been struck by the enthusiasm of our visitors.

“Those who are familiar with historical research have appreciated the improved facilities, but it is especially rewarding to see so many coming to the building to investigate archives and local history for the first time.”

The Heritage Lottery Fund awarded a grant of £7.7m enabling the centre to be built.

Hull is the first city in the UK to bring together its city and university archives, local studies resources and specialist staff into one building.

The article appears online here: http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/news/10-000-people-visit-Hull-History-Centre/article-1932521-detail/article.html

 Having the 10,000 visitor at my lecture was something that was discussed, but no one knew whether the target was hit, so it’s nice to see that the 10,000 visitor was recognised, and awarded a commemorative paperweight from Councillor John Robinson.

Here is to the next 10,000!

The Financial Times ran a review today of the Jenny Woolf book, The Mystery of Lewis Carroll, and it looks into, and attempts to debunk the mystery of whether or not Carroll was involved in the Jack the Ripper murders. 

Carroll was proposed in the Jack the Ripper, Light Hearted Friend, by Richard Wallace, who used anagrams from Carroll’s work to create confessions of guilt! 

Carroll’s Uncle, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was a resident of Kingston upon Hull for many years, working for both the Hull Customs and Trinity House, Dodgson was married at the Christchurch church on the aptly titled Worship-street, which is now home to the Hull History Centre!

To read the review in the Financial Times, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/d7ac3e8c-32de-11df-bf5f-00144feabdc0.html

I have the book on order, and will review it upon it’s arrival.

The statement “I’ve killed more than Harold Shipman, Jack the Ripper, and Myra Hindley” made me sit up and take notice, the hairs on the back of my neck rose, but all is not as it seem’s.

For these are not the words of a serial killer, but from Charlotte Madison, a 26 year old Apache Helicopter pilot!  Her story is serialised this week in The Sun, and her book Dressed To Kill, by Charlotte Madison (Headline) is published on March 18, £14.99.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/2891056/Extract-from-book-by-Apache-pilot-Charlotte-Madison.html#ixzz0iEgQNWkF