The Cretingham Murder by Sheila Hardy Page A

stood at £927 0 s 6 d .
    So, she had sufficient means to provide her with a small annuity. Where then, would a woman who had been through the horror of a murder and the ensuing legal proceedings go to recover and start a new life? In 1998 I was unable to answer that. Exhaustive enquiries had failed to find any trace of her following the trial in November 1887. There was no record of her embarking on a third marriage, so that raised the possibility that she had left the country and ended her days abroad. Widows often settled on the Continent in the late nineteenth century, the climate being more beneficial to the health and the cost of living substantially lower than in England. Could she have gone to America, Australia or perhaps returned to New Zealand? Even after all the drama in which she had been involved, one could not imagine her settling down to a mundane old age. My own theory was that she re-invented herself yet again with a new name, and in time, a new husband.
    I was wrong on almost every count. According to the 1891 census, Harriet Louisa Farley was living in Kensington, London, acting as a companion to an elderly Canadian-born lady. How long she held that post is unknown but even more surprising was her location in 1901. On census day she was a ‘visitor’ in the Liverpool home of William Argent, a professor of music. So what was she doing there? Had her employer died and left her a legacy or even property in Canada? And was she ‘boarding’ with the Argents while she waited for a passage across the Atlantic? Unfortunately, her name does not appear on any shipping list of the period – not even on that of the Titanic, which would have been another dramatic event in her life. It looks as if the conclusion to Harriet Louisa’s story will continue to tantalize me.
    In April 1927, the Framlingham News ran a short piece recalling the murder of forty years earlier as a way of announcing that Arthur Gilbert-Cooper had died in Broadmoor on the 19th of that month. Unfortunately, the Broadmoor records for that period still remain closed to public scrutiny, so we have no knowledge of his behaviour, or the deterioration or improvement of his mental state during the almost forty years that he remained in custody. Arthur’s father, who died in 1901, made reference to him in his will: ‘I bequeath to my trustees the sum of five hundred pounds in Consols upon trust to apply the income as they think fit for the benefit of my son Arthur Edward during his life.’ That Arthur’s needs were simple is shown by the fact that when he died, his brother was granted probate to his estate valued at £361 11 s .
    To all intents, the story of the Cretingham murder was wound up with Arthur’s death. No doubt, the case originally captured the public interest through its unusual cast of players – two clergymen, one from a ‘good’ family, an attractive woman and the setting of a quiet country village. But why should we, in a more sophisticated age, give it a second thought?
    It is that very sophistication that has made armchair detectives of us all. From television programmes we have become familiar with the great variety of police procedures. We also think we know all about forensic techniques, coroners’ duties and the legal proceedings of the courts. In addition, we believe ourselves to have a close understanding of the inner workings of the criminal mind!
    In 1887 the Oxford Times wrote:
    It seems next to incredible that the Vicar’s throat could have been cut whilst he was in bed and no blood stains to be found on the bed or the bed clothes. However, the whole matter has been passed into the hands of the Public Prosecutor and although there is much mystery surrounding the case, there can be no doubt that the facts will be thoroughly investigated and the public curiosity satisfied as far as judicial means can be employed.
    The optimistic hope expressed in the second part of that last sentence was not fully realized and it is