George Clarke

George Clarke was a forty two year old former tailor and discharged army pensioner, who ran a public house at Aldershot after retiring from the army. Clarke ran the bar with his wife and children, including his step- daughter Annie Vaughan who was just eighteen. Two years earlier, Clarke and Annie had had an affair but they stopped for fear of his wife finding out. On 5th February, Annie spoke to her father about a man whom she wished to marry. Clarke told her that he disapproved of her intended, but she told him she was adamant. The next morning, one of the children saw him leaving Annie's bedroom. When someone tried to rouse Annie, she was found dead with her throat cut so savagely that the head was almost severed. Clarke was tried and found guilty and sentenced to death at Winchester Assizes by Mr Justice Field.  He was hanged by James Berry on the 27th March 1888 in Winchester.