For more information on Sarah Watts, visit my blog at http://sarahwatts.blogspot.com

Sarah was born around 1837 at Woodlands, near Frome in Somerset. Her father was John Watts, an agricultural labourer originally from the nearby parish of Corsley. Her mother Leah Watts (nee Lydbury) was from Nunney. This was not a good time to be an agricultural labourer. It was the beginning of the ‘Hungry 40s’, which extended from about 1837 to 1842/3.  Several years of poor harvest would force many farmers out of work. So the first few years of Sarah’s life were probably lean. There would not have been a great deal of food around, and this may well have contributed to her being small for her age when she was a teenager.

Her parents were married in the church at Nunney in 1817, but they were non-conformists and probably attended the chapel at Trudoxhill, so it is possible that Sarah was baptised there. Sadly, the baptism records have not survived.

When Sarah was 4 years old, she was living with her parents and an older brother Thomas (10 years old) and Martha (7 years old) at Marston Gate. It is possible that she had an older brother, David, who was married and working as an agricultural labourer. He lived with his wife in Barton’s Lane. This link has not yet been established. We do not know whether she had other brothers and sisters, because of the loss of the Trudoxhill baptism records.

The family fortunes changed in 1849 when Sarah’s mother inherited almost £50 from her sister Martha, the widow of Henry Cornish. Two years later the John, Leah and their daughter Sarah are living on a small 18 acre dairy farm in West Woodlands –Battle farm..

According to her father Sarah was very small for her age, and had no friends apart from some acquaintances from school.

On Wednesday 24th September 1851, at about 9 am, Sarah’s parents went to market as usual, leaving 14 year old Sarah and their dog to look after the farm. They returned at about 4pm, and John went into the house first. He called out to his daughter to bring him his boots, and he sat down to change them. There was no answer. The only sound was that of the dog, lapping. He got up to look for his daughter, and found her lying in the dairy. She was bruised and bloody, her clothes were torn and she was dead. He ran to the tollgate to get help. At around 7:30 that evening a surgeon came and declared that she had been struck on the head, drowned in the whey tub and strangled. She had also been raped.

Three people, William Sparrow, William Maggs and Robert Hurd (known as ‘Frome Bob’) were subsequently arrested and tried for the murder and robbery at the Spring Assizes, Western Circuit, Taunton before Mr Justice Erle, April 6th/April 7th 1852

The Trial

The trial is well documented, and I do not intend covering the ground again here. However, the case seemed to depend on the following evidence:

 1. A handkerchief found at the scene of the murder was said by three witnesses to belong to Sparrow. Sparrow denied owning a silk handkerchief for several years apart from the one he wore round his neck.

 2. Sparrow’s thumb was seen to be injured a few days after the murder. There was a bloody thumbprint on the wall of the dairy. Sparrow claimed to have injured the hand in a fight in a beer-house, but eye-witnesses claim that he did not get involved in the fight. Also the fight was too recent to have led to the hand becoming infected.

 3. One of the three spoke of the murder revealing information about the manner in which Sarah was killed which was not generally known, a few days after the murder.

 4. The three of them were seen in the vicinity of the Watts farm at around the time Sarah must have been murdered. They were seen later having changed their clothes.

All three were acquitted after the jury had deliberated for only 20 minutes. The three prisoners appeared not to understand the verdict, and began to proclaim their innocence.

Hurd said: ‘My Lord, we are all innocent. Providence has done this’

Maggs said: ‘I declare to God we are innocent.’

Sparrow said ‘We were not within a mile of the spot. God has done it’

Hurd then said, ‘My Lord, it will all be found out within a month. Let me speak to Mr. Smith (the detective officer). They all then said ‘Let us see Mr Smith.’

Ten years later, on the 17th September 1861, Joseph Seer walked in to a police station and confessed to the murder. After a lengthy police investigation it was shown that at the time of the murder Joseph was in Bombay, so could not have been the murderer.

Sarah’s father died sometime between 1851 and 1853, and is also buried at Trudoxhill.