Herbert Rowse Armstrong was born in 1870 at Newton Abbot, Devon. His
parents were not particularly wealthy, and it was through the support of
relatives that Armstrong obtained a good education and went to Cambridge
University, where he was a spare Cox for the University Eight. He gained
his law degree, and became a solicitor in 1895. He initially practised
in Newton Abbot before moving to Liverpool.
While at Liverpool in 1906, Armstrong heard of a vacancy in the town of
Hay, in Brecknock, where there was an opening for a managing clerk.
Armstrong moved to Hay, and put some of his savings into the partnership.
When Mr. Cheese, the oldest of two partners died, Armstrong succeeded to
the practice.
Armstrong's improved business circumstances allowed him to marry a
friend from his Newton Abbott days: Miss Katerine Mary Friend, who was
from Teignmouth. They moved into a house in a valley called Cusop Dingle,
the stream in this valley forming part of the border between England and
Wales. They had three children in as many years, before moving into a
larger house in 1910, which was also located in Cusop Dingle.
Armstrong was a keen gardener, and was obsessed with eradicating garden
weeds. He kept a stock of weed-killer, and used to buy arsenic and made
up his own concoctions. His rather plain business premises in Broad
Street, Hay, were part of a shop, the remaining portion occupied by a
firm of estate agents. Across the street were the offices of Mr.
Griffiths, who was also a solicitor. Mr. Griffiths was Welsh, as had
been the late Mr. Cheese, whereas Armstrong was a stranger to this small,
conservative town. However, the business was doing reasonably well and
Mrs. Armstrong had her own income of £2000.
With the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Armstrong who
had previously been a member of the Territorials, was called up to the
Army with the rank of Captain, and he was later promoted to Major. After
a short posting to France, Armstrong returned to the UK which enabled
him to look after his practice in Hay.
Meanwhile, his business rival Mr. Griffiths was becoming increasingly
frail. Armstrong saw an opportunity to expand his business, and offered
to amalgamate the two practices. But Griffiths had decided on other
arrangements. Early in 1919, just after Armstrong left the Army, Mr.
Oswald Norman Martin joined Griffiths as a partner. Martin had been
invalided out of the Army after suffering a head wound which affected
his facial muscles. At the end of 1920, Mr. Griffiths died.
Armstrong's life at home was very different from the relative freedom he
had enjoyed while in the Army. Armstrong, who was only just over 5 feet
tall and 7 stones ( 98 lbs or 45 Kg) in weight, was dominated by his
wife. Although she was a devoted wife and Mother, she treated her
husband and children with a strictness which denied them many harmless
activities. For example, Armstrong was only allowed to smoke in one room,
and never outdoors, he was not allowed to drink alcoholic drinks (except
in other people's houses when he had a cold), he was rebuked in public
by his wife for keeping servants waiting and she often called him away
from some parties because it was his bath night. While Mrs. Armstrong
was much respected in the local area, there was some sympathy for her
husband.
During the period May 1920 and February 1921, a series of highly
significant events occurred. While visiting London, Armstrong dined with
a lady he had first met while he was in the Army stationed at
Christchurch in 1915. In July 1920, Armstrong drew up a new will for his
wife (or at least in her name), in which she left everything to him,
with no provision for their children. He also made one of his periodical
purchases of weed-killer.
During August 1920, Mrs. Armstrong's physical and mental health
deteriorated to such an extent that she was admitted to the Barnwood
Asylum in Gloucester. During January 1921, at the request of both Mrs.
Armstrong and her husband she was, she was discharged from the asylum
and returned home on 22 January 1921. It was also during January 1921
that Armstrong made another purchase of a quarter of a pound of arsenic.
On 11 January 1921, Armstrong made what was to be his last purchase of
arsenic, at the chemist shop of his rival Martin's prospective Father-in-law,
Mr. Davies.
One month after she returned home, Mrs. Armstrong died on 22 February
1921. Her Doctor, Dr. Hincks certified her cause of death to have been
heart disease, the result of a long course of rheumatism, and itself
bringing about nephritis. She had also suffered from acute gastritis.
Three days later, Mrs. Armstrong was buried in the churchyard at Cusop.
After Mrs. Armstrong's death, life at Mayfield went on very much was
before, but Armstrong was now master in his own home. He still had a
housekeeper and a maid; his youngest child was at home, and he had the
companionship of school friends during their school holidays. His
practice had continue to develop, he was now clerk to the justices of
Hay, Bredwardine and Paincastle, and in addition to these posts, he was
hopeful of being appointed to a similar position with the bench at
Talgarth. The only business worry was Mr. Martin, who was pressing
Armstrong to complete the long overdue formalities arising out of the
sale of property, in which there was the matter of £500 paid to
Armstrong as a deposit. Although Armstrong had been left £2300 in his
wife's second will, which had been proved, Armstrong never made any
substantial claims on the money, and it would have been enough to cover
the debt owed to Mr. Martin.
Around the time that he was pressing for the completion of the property
transaction, Mr. Martin was anonymously sent a box of chocolates at his
home. Mrs. Martin ate some, and they were later produced at a dinner
party held by Mr. and Mrs. Martin. One of the guests was taken ill, and
after examination, it was discovered that arsenic had been inserted
through holes pierced in the base of the sweets. Later, these holes were
found to correspond with the nozzle of a weed-eradicator used by
Armstrong.
Suddenly, professional relations between Martin and Armstrong improved,
as the closing of the building sales seemed to be drawing to a close. On
26 October 1921, Armstrong invited Martin to visit his house for
afternoon tea. During tea, Armstrong passed Martin a scone, apologising
for using his fingers. The contracts and the £500 were not discussed,
although Martin could have raised the subject. Later that evening, after
returning home, Martin became ill.
Dr. Thomas Hincks, who had treated Mrs. Armstrong, called at the
Martins' house early the next morning. He found Martin in bed, with a
severe bilious attack and a very rapid pulse. Dr. Hincks made daily
calls to examine Martin, who was slowly improving, but he still had a
high pulse rate. On 31 October 1921, Dr. Hincks sent a sample of
Martin's urine to the Clinical Research Association for analysis. A week
later, when Martin had recovered sufficiently to return to work, the
results arrived with Dr. Hincks. The report stated that the urine sample
contained 1/33rd of a grain of arsenic.
Dr. Hincks knew that none of the medicines prescribed by him for Martin
contained no arsenic. He had questioned Martin about the food he had
consumed immediately before his illness started. He knew that Martin had
eaten lunch on 26 October 1921, which had been shared by Mrs. Martin and
their maid. Both these ladies were fine, and had suffered no ill effects.
Dr, Hincks was struck by the similarities betweens Martin's illness and
the illness suffered by Mrs. Armstrong in the period leading up to her
admission to the Barnwood Asylum. Dr. Hincks suspicions were raised when
he contacted the Asylum, and doctors there confirmed that they may have
also been misled as to Mrs. Armstrong's physical ailments. Dr. Hincks
them forwarded his concerns to the Home Office in London. Dr. Hincks
kept his concerns to himself, although he did warn Martin.
The authorities eventually decided to take action on Dr. Hincks
suspicions. But the investigations had to be conducted carefully. If
Armstrong was guilty, they could not afford to alarm him. If he was
innocent, then they could not afford to cause unnecessary scandal. The
investigating police officers, led by Chief Detective Inspector
Crutchett, went to Hay after dark and made discrete calls on Mr. and
Mrs. Martin, Dr. Hincks and Mr. Davies (the chemist and Martin's
Father-in-law).
During this period, from Martin's return to work until Christmas 1921,
Armstrong made numerous attempts to invite either Martin, or Martin and
his wife, to visit Armstrong for tea. Martin, who was aware of the
police investigations, repeatedly declined the invitations. However, the
situation was becoming strained. On one occasion, Martin sent an order
across the road to the local cafe for tea and buns.
On
2 January 1922, Mrs. Armstrong was exhumed and the pathologist Bernard
Spilsbury removed some samples before she was reburied. The samples were
examined and found to contain 3½ grains of arsenic. On 19 January 1922,
Armstrong was charged with the murder of his wife.
During the process of his 10 day trial in April 1922, Armstrong was kept
in Gloucester Prison. Everyday of the trial, he was taken to court in
Hereford. The Prosecution case was presented by the Attorney-General
(Sir Ernest Pollock). Armstrong was represented by Sir Henry Curtis-Bennett.
Armstrong selected Curtis-Bennett, a fellow Cambridge man, as "Cambridge
always wins" Armstrong later stated. On the day before the trial started,
Cambridge beat Oxford in the annual boat race by 4½ lengths. The trial
judge was Mr. Justice Darling, who was hearing his last murder case
after a 25 year career as a judge. He was 73 years old at the time of
the trial, and the same small, slight build as Armstrong. Darling later
said that the Armstrong case was one of the most interesting cases that
he heard.
On
the first day of the trial, 3 April 1922, a legal debate took place,
with the trial jury removed. The legal argument concerned the admission
of evidence regarding the poisoning of Martin. Although Armstrong had
been charged with poisoning Martin, the case had gone no further. Mr.
Justice Darling ruled that evidence regarding the Martin case could be
admitted. He latter stated in his summing up " ... that the Defendant
had arsenic in his possession and that he would use it to poison a human
being".
During the trial the defence claimed that Mrs. Armstrong had been
suicidal, and that she had finally committed suicide by swallowing the
arsenic which she had found that her husband had purchased to kill his
garden weeds. This was countered by the Prosecution showing that Mrs.
Armstrong was not capable of leaving her bed in the week before her
death, and that she had said to her nurse on the morning of the day that
she died: "I am not going to die, am I? Because I have everything to
live for - my children and my husband".
The lady who had first met Armstrong in Christchurch, and later in
London three months after Mrs. Armstrong's death testified for the
Prosecution that Armstrong had spoken to her about marriage. Bernard
Spilsbury testified that the amount of arsenic in Mrs. Armstong's body
could have only occurred through poisoning. Mrs. Armstrong's own Doctor,
Dr. Hincks testified that she could have administered any medicine
herself on the day of her death.
It
was to be expected that a well educated and professional man like
Armstrong, who was also Worshipful Master of the Hay Lodge of Freemasons
and a church-warden who read the lessons on Sundays, would testify in
his own behalf.
After completing his testimony and cross-examination, Armstrong was
about to leave the witness box when the judge asked Armstrong to wait,
as he had some questions to put to Armstrong. The judge's questions
exposed the inadequacies of Armstrong's earlier replies. It was
presented in earlier Prosecution evidence that Armstrong had made up
some twenty small bags of arsenic, as he stated to put into individual
dandelion holes to kill these weeds. Now the judge asked why he had done
this, when it would have been easier to pour the poison straight from
the original packet into holes in the ground. Armstrong replied: "I
really do not know. At the time it seemed the most convenient way of
doing it."
The judge continued by asking why Armstrong, who was a solicitor by
profession, did not tell the police about this experiment. Why did
Armstrong not tell the police earlier about the two packets found in his
desk at home? The questions continued to be asked by the judge, and
Armstrong was showing more signs of floundering, as the judge's
questions continued to hit home.
After the Prosecution and defence had been completed, the judge summed
up the case for the 12 man jury; which was composed of 8 farmers, a
fruit grower and 3 professional gentlemen. The judge stated that the
possession of the two bags of arsenic in Armstrong's desk, showed just
possession of arsenic and nothing else. The main point was the state of
Mrs. Armstrong in her last few days before her death at home. Mr.
Justice Darling also reminded the jury that if it was wrong for him to
have allowed the evidence of Martin's poisoning, then this was a matter
for the Court of Criminal Appeal should Armstrong be found guilty.
Armstrong was found guilty of the murder of his wife, and sentenced to
death by hanging. On 16 May 1922, the Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed
Armstrong's appeal, ruling that Mr. Justice Darling was correct in his
decision to allowed evidence regarding Mr. Martin's poisoning to be
presented by the Prosecution.
The day before his execution, Armstrong wrote the following letter:
Gloucester Prison
30 May 1922.
My dear Matthews
My heart was too full today to say all I wished. Thank you, my friend,
for all you have done for me. No one could have done more. Please convey
also to all your staff my gratitude for the work they put in. No
team could have worked more loyally or with more devotion to duty.
Ever your faithful friend,
(sgd). H Rowse Armstrong
On
31 May 1922, Herbert Rowse Armstrong was hanged at Gloucester Prison.
The Executioner was John Ellis, who was assisted by Edward Taylor.
The Armstrong children were taken care of by an Aunt. The house was sold
and its name changed. Mr. Martin eventually became a prominent solicitor
in Hay-on-Wye. However, his health had been affected by the attempts on
his life and the subsequent trial. He suffered from depression, becoming
afraid of the dark. In 1924, Martin and his wife moved to East Anglia
where he died shortly afterwards.
