Background
John Tawell was born in 1784, the second son of Thomas Tawell, a shopkeeper in Aldeby, Norfolk, where John grew up. Tawell attended the village school for about seven years and afterward entered service with a Quaker lady who ran a general store at Pakefield near Lowestoft in Suffolk. He spent the next five years there and during this time joined the Society of Friends (Quakers).
While in this employment, he struck up a close friendship with Joseph Hunton, who introduced Tawell to the crime of forgery. Hunton was hanged at Newgate for this in 1828.
Around 1804, Tawell moved to London and worked in a large drapery store in Whitechapel. There he met and later married a lady named Mary, by whom he had two children.
In 1814, he was convicted of forging a £10 banknote, for which he was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to 14 years’ transportation to Sydney, Australia. He worked as an assistant in the convict hospital, where he was highly respected. In 1820, he was granted a ticket of leave (freedom) but chose to stay in Australia, where he ran a successful chemist’s shop. Mary and the children emigrated to Sydney to join him, and the family returned to England in 1831, purchasing a house in Southwark, London.
Mary became ill and died in 1838. Tawell employed Sarah Hart to nurse her, and after Mary’s death, the couple formed a relationship. He had two children by Sarah. She later moved into a cottage in the Salt Hill area of Slough in Berkshire, which Tawell paid for.
In 1841, Tawell remarried a Quaker widow but continued his relationship with Sarah Hart. He still practised the Quaker faith and regularly attended their meetings.
In the early 1840s, Tawell suffered from varicose veins and took a remedy called Scheele’s Prussic Acid. Prussic acid, better known as hydrogen cyanide, is extremely toxic. (In gaseous form, it was used in gas chamber executions.)
The Crime
Around 6 o’clock in the evening of Wednesday, January 1, 1845, Sarah Hart’s neighbour, Mary Ann Ashley, heard a scream from Sarah’s house. She sensibly summoned a constable, and they went to investigate. She observed a man dressed as a Quaker emerging from the home, appearing confused and trembling. She had seen this man earlier that afternoon, and he now made off at a brisk pace toward Slough.
Mary and the constable entered the house and found Sarah lying on the floor groaning. Mary fetched her neighbour, Mrs. Barrett, and called a surgeon, Mr. H. Montague Champneys, who bled Sarah. A few moments later, she was dead.
On the table were the remains of a glass of stout and half a bottle of the same beverage. These were taken for analysis.
Arrest
The vicar of Upton, the Rev. Edward Champneys, accompanied his cousin, the surgeon, to Sarah’s house and then went to Slough station, where he observed a man in Quaker garb boarding the 7:42 p.m. train to London Paddington. He informed the station master, who offered to telegraph Paddington so that the police could be alerted in time to arrest the man.
The Great Western Railway had experimentally introduced a two-needle Cooke-Wheatstone telegraph for communication between Slough and Paddington stations in 1843. However, this system could not transmit the letters J, Q, and Z, and substituted G for J, K for Q, and S for Z. Thus, the message sent from Slough to Paddington actually read:
A MURDER HAS GUST BEEN COMMITTED AT SALT HILL AND THE SUSPECTED
MURDERER WAS SEEN TO TAKE A FIRST CLASS TICKET TO LONDON BY THE
TRAIN WHICH LEFT SLOUGH AT 742 PM HE IS IN THE GARB OF A KWAKER
WITH A GREAT COAT ON WHICH REACHES NEARLY DOWN TO HIS FEET HE IS
IN THE LAST COMPARTMENT OF THE SECOND CLASS COMPARTMENT
The operator at Paddington had difficulty understanding what a “KWAKER” was and asked for the message to be re-sent. The police were informed, and Sgt. William Williams observed Tawell leaving the train at 8:20 p.m. and followed him. Tawell was not arrested until 1 p.m. the following afternoon by Williams and Inspector Wiggins. He told them he had not been in Slough the previous day and that he was innocent.
Sarah’s inquest was held at the Three Tuns public house in Salt Hill. Surgeon Champneys detected the smell of prussic acid on her. He autopsied her body and sent the stomach contents to Mr. John Cooper, Analytical Chemist and Lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence, along with the bottle of stout and the glass found at the scene. The bottle was found to contain cyanide.
Police discovered that on the day of the murder, Tawell had purchased two drachms of Scheele’s Prussic Acid from a chemist in Bishopsgate Street, London. Tawell was present at the inquest and was remanded in custody afterward.
Trial
Tawell’s trial opened on Wednesday, March 12, 1845, at Aylesbury County Hall before Baron Parke. A huge crowd filled the Market Place trying to get a seat in the public gallery. Mr. Sergeant Byles and Mr. Prendergast prosecuted, with Mr. Fitzroy Kelly, Mr. O’Malley, and Mr. Gunning defending. Tawell, aged 61, pleaded not guilty.
Mary Ann Ashley recounted the events surrounding Sarah’s death. She was cross-examined by Mr. Kelly, as was Mary Barrett. Henry Gratten told the court that he had sold Tawell a ticket to Slough at Paddington Station for the 4 p.m. train on January 1. George Lewis, a post boy at Salt Hill, recalled seeing Tawell that day. He had known him for two years or more. Other witnesses, including the Rev. Champneys, gave evidence identifying Tawell and confirming his whereabouts on the day in question.
Mr. John Cooper gave evidence on his tests of the stomach contents, bottle, and glass, finding at least one grain of prussic acid in Sarah’s stomach. He was cross-examined by Mr. Kelly regarding the effects of that quantity of poison. Henry Smythe of bankers Barnet & Hoare testified that on January 1, Tawell’s bank account was overdrawn, as it had been on several recent occasions.
Mr. Fitzroy Kelly opened for the defense, arguing that the case against his client was purely circumstantial and that there was no proof that Tawell had actually administered the poison. He explained the purchase of Scheele’s Prussic Acid as a remedy for varicose veins and called witnesses to attest to Tawell’s good character.
Baron Parke began his summing up on the third day of the trial, Friday, March 14. He reaffirmed the cause of death but told the jury it was for them to decide whether the prisoner had administered the poison or whether Sarah had taken it herself. He also pointed out that Tawell had lied to the police about not having gone to Slough on January 1. The jury took just half an hour to return a guilty verdict, and Baron Parke sentenced him to death.
Execution
John Tawell, wearing his distinctive Quaker coat, was hanged by William Calcraft at 8 a.m. on March 28, 1845, on the “New Drop” gallows erected in front of County Hall in Market Square, Aylesbury. The Buckinghamshire County Gaol was immediately behind the County Hall.
An estimated 10,000 people watched the execution. Tawell was brought out by Calcraft and a warder around 7:45 and trembled violently as he climbed the steps to the platform. Once on the trap door, Calcraft drew the white hood over his head and allowed Tawell to kneel in prayer for a minute before assisting him to his feet and placing the noose around his neck.
It was reported that there was no chain to attach the other end of the rope, causing a delay while Calcraft lashed it to the beam. At length, the drop fell, and Tawell convulsed for several minutes before becoming still. After hanging for the regulation hour, the body was taken down and immediately buried in a pre-dug grave in the gaol.
At least five broadsides were published about this case.
Confession
Tawell made a full confession to the chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Cox, and its contents were communicated to the press by the Governor of Aylesbury Gaol. He stated that he had murdered Sarah to prevent his wife from discovering his affair, not for monetary reasons. He also wrote to the Governor thanking him for his kindness during his imprisonment.
Footnote
The two telegraph instruments from Slough and Paddington were presented by their makers, Reid Brothers, to the Science Museum in London in 1876, where they are preserved.
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