The Wheeler family is almost certainly unique in having the father and daughter both hanged, a little over 10 years apart, for two completely separate murders. Mary's father Thomas Wheeler, was executed by William Marwood at St. Albans prison in Hertfordshire on the 29th November 1880 for the murder of a local farmer, one Edward Anstee. In the condemned cell Thomas had written a letter to the farmer's widow apologising for what he had done and asking her forgiveness and prayers that his sins should not be visited on his wife or then fourteen year old daughter. Sadly this was not to be.

Mary Eleanor Wheeler was born in 1866 and little is known of her childhood or what effect her father's execution had on her when she fourteen. At the time of her arrest she was 24 and was described as being five feet six inches tall with "lovely russet hair and fine blue eyes" She was of normal build and had nice shapely hands. Her face was not overly pretty but she seemed to have no difficulty in attracting men.

In her late teens she had a relationship with a carpenter named John Charles Pearcey and although they never married, Mary took his name and continued to use it after they split up, probably to avoid the stigma attaching to her father's name. She associated with better off men and had never worked or ever needed to - one of her several admirers, Charles Creighton, had rented rooms for her at 2 Priory Street, Kentish Town in North London around 1888. Mary was known to suffer from depression and had only her aged mother and an older sister as relatives. She also drank quite heavily.

In addition to Mr. Creighton who visited her once a week, she also fell for Mr. Frank Samuel Hogg who was a furniture remover and who impressed Mary by having printed business cards. Mary used to put a light in her window to let Frank know that she was free and he had a key to the house. There was however one serious snag to Mary's happiness, Frank was married and had a daughter, both his wife and the little girl being called Phoebe.

Phoebe Hogg was 32 at the time of her death and had been quite ill in the February of 1890. She had married Frank Hogg in November 1888 when she was 3 months pregnant by him and had given birth to their daughter, Phoebe, in the summer of 1889. Frank's affair with Mary had been going on both before and during their marriage.

On the morning of 24th October 1890 Mary it is alleged asked a young lad to run an errand for her. She gave Willie Holmes a penny for delivering a note to Phoebe Hogg inviting her to tea that afternoon. Around 4.00 p.m. Charlotte Priddington, Mary's neighbour, heard the sound of breaking glass coming from Mary's house and called over the fence to check that she was okay but received no reply.

At 7.00 p.m. a woman's body was discovered lying on a pavement in Crossfield Road by a man returning from work and he promptly reported it to a policeman. The woman's head was wrapped in a cardigan which he removed to yield the blood stained face of Phoebe Hogg with a huge gash in her throat.

The body was removed and taken first to Hampstead Police Station and then to the morgue. It was found that the deceased had a fractured skull and that the throat had been cut so violently as to nearly sever the head. There were also bruises on the head and arms, consistent with her having tried to defend herself. Examination of the place where the body was found indicated that the murder had taken place elsewhere.

At this time the police did not have an identity for the corpse. Later that evening a constable on the beat discovered a heavily blood stained pram in Hamilton Terrace, about a mile from where the woman's body was found.

The following morning the body of a small child was discovered. She was found to have died from suffocation and was otherwise unmarked except for a few scratches. It was possible that little Phoebe had either been suffocated during or after the murder of her mother or alternatively been placed in the pram alive with her mother's body on top of her and that it was the weight of her mother's body that suffocated her.

Frank Hogg and his sister Clara reported Phoebe missing after reading about the discovery of the woman's body in the Saturday evening paper. Frank sent Clara round to Mary's to ask if she had seen Phoebe which Mary denied, but agreed to accompany Clara to the morgue to see if was indeed Phoebe's body. Mary's behaviour there was very strange. Having consented to go with Clara she did her best to try and prevent Clara identifying the body and became almost hysterical when the full extent of Phoebe's injuries became apparent.

The police asked Mary and Clara to view the pram which Clara identified as belonging to Phoebe. A neighbour of Mary's stated that she had seen Mary pushing the pram with a large object in it on the evening of the murder. Frank Hogg was informed of the positive identification of his wife and as a possible suspect himself, was searched by the police. He confessed to having the affair with Mary when the key to her house was found.

The police decided to interview Mary next as they were already suspicious of her behaviour in the mortuary and so went round to Priory Street and carried out a thorough search of her home.

They found substantial blood stains and spatters in the kitchen together with a blood stained carving knife and fire poker. There were also clear signs of a struggle - with two broken windows in the kitchen. A rug showing blood stains smelt strongly of paraffin where an attempt had been made to clean it. Mary's behaviour became more bizarre during the police search. She sat at her piano singing and whistling loudly and attempted to explain away the blood stains by saying that she had been "killing mice, killing mice", a hardly credible excuse.

Detective Inspector Banister decided to arrest Mary at this point and charge her with the murders of both mother and child. When Mary was searched blood stains were found on her clothes, scratches on her hands and two wedding rings on her fingers, one of which was later identified as Phoebe Hogg's. Mary was kept in custody and appeared before Marylebone police court, who after hearing the evidence committed her for trial.

While in the police court awaiting the committal hearing she told Sarah Sawhill, the woman looking after her, that Mrs. Hogg had indeed come to tea that afternoon and that as they were having tea Mrs. Hogg had made a remark that offended Mary and that an argument developed. Mary realised that she was incriminating herself and declined to say anymore.

Mary was tried at the Central Criminal Court of the Old Bailey before Mr. Justice Denman who had 11 years earlier tried Kate Webster, her three day trial opening on December 1st 1890. The prosecution was led by Mr. Forrest Fulton assisted by Mr. C.F. Gill and her defence by Mr. Arthur Hutton. Mary entered a formal plea of not guilty and then the prosecution began to outline its case against her.

They read out various letters that Mary had written to Frank Hogg, which they said showed the depth of her passion for him, prior to his marriage to Phoebe, which was forced upon him by Phoebe's pregnancy. Mary had told Frank that even if he had to marry Phoebe she did not want him to leave her and that she would treat Phoebe as a friend (which for a time at least, it appears she did). The suggested motive for the murder was jealousy of Phoebe, now that Mary had to share Frank with her.

Evidence was also given regarding the place of the crime and the nature and method of infliction of Phoebe's injuries. John Pearcey identified the cardigan found round Phoebe's head as one he had given to Mary and evidence was given of the blinds being drawn in Mary's house on the afternoon of the murder. Arthur Hutton questioned the circumstantial evidence against her and also whether a woman of her size and build would be capable of inflicting such dreadful injuries on the deceased. Mary gave no evidence at the trial and remained impassive throughout.

She was found guilty after just 52 minutes on the lunchtime of the third day. In accordance with normal practice Mary was asked "if she had anything to say why the Court should not give her judgement of death in accordance with the law" to which she replied "I say I am innocent of this charge". Mr. Justice Denman then donned the black cap and sentenced her to hang.

There was no appeal in those days - it was to be 1907 before the Court of Criminal Appeal was set up. However her solicitor made considerable effort to save her alleging that she was not in control of herself at the time of the killing and that this was due to epileptic fits that she had suffered since birth. The Home Office were not swayed by this argument and after due consideration her case papers were marked with the fatal words "the law must take its course".

At Mary's request, Frank Hogg was given permission to visit her on the Monday afternoon in Newgate but did not show up which greatly upset Mary who wept inconsolably on her bed when she realised he was not going to come. Other than that she remained very composed through her last day and night.

On her final evening Mary was visited by Mr. Freke Palmer, her solicitor, whom she asked to deal with certain bequests and also to place a personal advert for her in the Madrid newspapers which was to read "MECP Last wish of MEW. Have not betrayed. MEW. (Mary Eleanor Wheeler) Mary refused to elaborate on the meaning of this message and also refused point blank to confess to Mr. Palmer, despite persistent questioning, with the promise that he would put any relevant facts before the Home Secretary in a last ditch attempt to get a reprieve.

Mary was to be hanged by James Berry two days before Christmas 1890 (three clear Sundays after sentence) at London's Newgate prison. On arrival back at Newgate from the Old Bailey she would have been made to take a bath and been given prison uniform - a plain grey shift dress, before being taken to the condemned cell where she was guarded round the clock by three warderesses.