Lewis Massey

Lewis Massey was convicted of the  murder of his 35-year-old wife Margaret Hird and sentenced to death.

He battered her to death at 8 Alfred Terrace, Camp Road, Leeds on 5 November 1919.

Lewis Massey had been a blacksmith's striker and prior to 1917 he had worked for a firm in Leeds where his character as a workman was described as good. However, it was noted that in 1913 he had got six weeks for stealing a ring.

In April 1917 Lewis Massey joined the RASC, although he never served abroad.

Then in December 1917 he married Margaret Hird, who had been the widow of a man that was killed in action and had three small children.

However, their married life was unhappy from the first week, and in September 1918 Margaret Hird got a separation order on the grounds of Lewis Massey's persistent cruelty. The payment was only 1/- a week as Margaret Hird had her Army allowances.

They later co-habited again but soon parted and after Lewis Massey was demobilised in September 1919, Margaret Hird, from 30 September 1919, got her separation payment increased to 25/- a week.

At the time of the murder they had had one child together that was aged about four months.

Prior to getting the increased payment, Margaret Hird, who had been in terror of Lewis Massey, lived for protection with her sister. However, on 1 November 1919, she and her children returned to her own house at 2 Alfred Street in Leeds.

On the evening of Sunday, 2 November 1919 Margaret Hird had been in her house with her sister, the outer door being bolted. However, Lewis Massey gained admittance by asking, in an assumed voice, if Mr Hird lived there.

Lewis Massey then asked Margaret Hird to take him back, but she refused, saying, 'I have forgiven you too often'. Lewis Massey then took her up the passage and spoke to her, and it seemed, also threatened her.

That night Margaret Hird returned to her sister’s house to sleep and the following day she took out a summons against Lewis Massey for threats.

The following evening, Tuesday, 4 November 1919, Lewis Massey again called at 8 Alfred Terrace whilst Margaret Hird's sister and another woman were there, and Margaret Hird was heard to say, 'No, I will not have you back again to do me in. You have said that they would not hang you because of lunacy in the family'. The other woman there said that Lewis Massey then admitted to having used that expression, to which Margaret Hird said to her, 'There, you heard it'.

However, it was then agreed that if Lewis Massey wrote a letter undertaking not to come near Margaret Hird, that she would not go on with the summons for threats.

Lewis Massey then left.

The following night, 5 November 1919, at about 9pm, Margaret Hird and her sister had been in a public house for about ten minutes where they each had one drink. However, it was thought that Lewis Massey had seen them there and followed them back to 8 Alfred Terrace.

Soon after, when a little girl left the house to get fish and chips for supper, Lewis Massey slipped through the unbolted door and bolted it from the inside after him.

Margaret Hird then asked him to go away, or she would go to Sheepscar Station for the police. She got to the door and tried to lift the latch but Lewis Massey knocked her down.

Margaret Hird's sister then seized the poker from the fire place, but Lewis Massey took it from her and beat her about the head and body as she lay on the floor. Margaret Hird's sister then crawled upstairs and then heard Lewis Massey attacking Margaret Hird. Margaret Hird's sister said that she then heard Margaret Hird say, 'Do not kill me because of the child', and then in a low voice, 'I will live with you'.

She said that she then heard thuds and then called for help from the upstairs window after which Lewis Massey ran out.

Margaret Hird's head was found to have been battered to pieces with the poker and a hatchet, both of which were found bloodstained.

Her arm and fingers of both hands were broken.

After the murder Lewis Massey went back to his lodgings where he told two men that he had found a man having connection with his wife and had done her in and that he was off to Blackpool.

However, he did in fact go off to Bradford where he was arrested at 4am the following morning, hiding behind the furniture in his sister's house.

When he was arrested he told the police that he had killed Margaret Hird because she had been drinking 'all the week' with her sister, which it was noted was not true.

Margaret Hird was given a good character by the police and her neighbours, and it was said that they was no reason to believe that she or her sister had been drunk.

At the trial Lewis Massey said that when he had gone 'to see the baby' in Margaret Hird's arms that Margaret Hird's sister hit him on the head with the poker and that that had so maddened him that he knew no more until he saw Margaret Hird's body lying in  blood on the floor and then ran out into the street.

It was noted that his defence had been a mixed one of provocation by the blow and insanity, but that that was rejected by the jury, who made no recommendation to mercy, or the Court of Criminal Appeal.

The police report stated that they didn't think that there had been any provocation, noting that Margaret Hird's sister had only picked up the poker after Lewis Massey had knocked Margaret Hird down with the baby in her arms. She had said that she had aimed a blow at Lewis Massey, but failed to hit him, and the police report stated that it seemed that if the very slight scars on Lewis Massey's head were caused by the poker at all, that they were caused in his effort to wrest it from her hand.

It was noted that Lewis Massey's sister had died in Minston Asylum and that he had had a brother that had been there for 25 years.

A doctor from Leeds that had examined Lewis Massey said that he found him to be of sound mind and understanding, but of low intelligence and education. It was further noted that Lewis Massey's remark that they would not hang him on account of his lunacy in the family had also to be borne in mind with reference to his answers to the doctors test questions.

It was noted that Lewis Massey stammered very badly, but that the fifteen pages of transcript evidence did not give the impression of a man with the mind of a child of 12½.

It was also noted that whilst his family history was bad, that it had often been laid down that family history was of little importance in the absence of personal symptoms of insanity and that there were many cases where an even worse family history had been disregarded.

The police report concluded that Lewis Massey had a perfectly sane motive for the murder, namely, the fact that he had been ordered to pay 25/- a week out of his wages of £2.19.0, with it further being noted that he had done his best by cajolement and threats to get Margaret Hird to take him back, and that having failed to do so he had murdered her in the most brutal fashion and endeavoured to escape, and submitted that they could see no grounds whatever for interference with his sentence.

Lewis Massey was executed at Armley Gaol, Leeds on 6 January 1920.

Alfred Terrace has since been demolished. Camp Road is now called Oatland Lane. Alfred Terrace ran through what is now the Little London Housing Office and Little London Community Primary School.