Thomas Hargreaves Wilson

Thomas Hargreaves Wilson was convicted of the murder of his 46-year-old wife Annie Maria Wilson and sentenced to death.

He cut her throat at 41 Evanston Row in Kirkstall, Leeds on 16 January 1920.

They had married on 17 May 1917 and two months later Thomas Wilson joined the army and later demobilised in February 1919.

He then went to live with Annie Wilson at 41 Evanston Row in Kirkstall, Leeds where she had been living with the three children of her former marriage until 21 November 1919 when she obtained a separation order against him on the grounds of cruelty and neglect.

It was noted that Annie Wilson had been in such fear of Thomas Wilson that she had habitually kept the doors of the house locked. However, on the day of her murder the door was unlocked and Thomas Wilson came in.

He entered the house and asked Annie Wilson for a receipt to which she denied any knowledge. Then after some high words Thomas Wilson said to Annie Wilson, 'How long are we going to live like this?' to which Annie Wilson made no reply after which Thomas Wilson threatened to kill them all.

He then appeared to seize a knife from the table and sprang upon Annie Wilson. A little girl that was in the room then took a picture from the wall and hit Thomas Wilson whilst another woman that had been there tried to pull Thomas Wilson away. The girls then ran upstairs and escaped into the street for assistance.

A police constable then broke into the kitchen and found Annie Wilson and Thomas Wilson lying on the floor, both suffering from wounds to the throat. It was noted that there had been a hatchet lying nearby on the floor.

Thomas Wilson then got up and tried to stab the constable with a knife, but the blow missed and the constable struck Thomas Wilson with his truncheon after which he went to the assistance of Annie Wilson who was still alive, but she died soon after.

Thomas Wilson was then removed to the infirmary where he recovered ten days later. When he was then charged with murder he said, 'I do not remember anything about it. Do you mean to say my wife is dead?'. When he was told that she was he made no reply.

At his trial Thomas Wilson said that he had gone to 41 Evanston Row to procure a receipt for payments he had made into court under the separation order. He said that he had locked the door because he was determined to have the matter out. He said that when he picked up the little girl to kiss her that Annie Wilson said, 'Put her down', and made as though to knock the wall to attract the attention of the people next door, as she had done before.

He said that he then went to pull her away whereupon Annie Wilson took a picture frame from the wall and hit him on the head with it. He said that that angered him and that he said, 'If you don't stop that and clear out I will kill you, all of you'.

When he was asked whether he meant to kill them all he said, 'No, that was not the first time I had said the same thing. A man says a lot of things when he is in a temper that he does not mean'.

He said that he then followed the girls upstairs and that when he came back down again Annie Wilson was standing by the kitchen door and that he then remembered receiving some more blows on the head, but from whom he did not know.

He said that that made him very excited and that from that time he did not know what happened until he found himself in the infirmary.

Annie Wilson's 20-year-old daughter who worked as a machinist and lived at 41 Evanston Row, said that Annie Wilson had been a widow and had seven children, including herself and one away and that Thomas Wilson had had one child. She said that Annie Wilson married again in May 1917 and had not worked since and that after the separation her aunt also came to live in the house.

She said that the separation order was made in November 1919 by the Leeds Magistrates for persistent cruelty and that Annie Wilson was allowed 2/6 a week and costs.

She said that she had heard Thomas Wilson threaten to injure Annie Wilson many times and that one time she saw him pick up a knife which caused all the children to scream, noting that that was on the night of the day that the separation order was made out.

She said that she didn't know where Thomas Wilson had lived after he left, but that they had the address as 3 Westmoor Street in Bramley.

Annie Wilson's daughter said that Thomas Wilson had been down about twice since the order was made out and that one night he forced his way in and they sent for the police but he left before they arrived, noting that Annie Wilson had always ordered him away.

She said that on Friday 16 January 1920 that she had been home with a friend as well as her little sister, aunt and her mother, noting that her aunt had been an invalid and had her bed downstairs under the window.

She said that at about 8pm she was sat in an arm chair near the fire in the kitchen. She said that ordinarily they kept the door locked because of Thomas Wilson but that at that time it was not locked. She said that she didn't hear any knock, and just saw Thomas Wilson come in.

She said that Annie Wilson had at that time been standing near the long table in the middle of the floor when he came in and that Thomas Wilson went straight up to the table and drew a blue paper out of his pocket and showed it to Annie Wilson and asked her if she had got a receipt.

She said that Annie Wilson replied that she didn't know what he was talking about and told him to go out and that Thomas Wilson then gave the paper to her and said, 'You read it'. However, she said that she just glanced at it and didn't see what it said as she was watching him. She noted that when he had entered the house that he had been in a rage.

She said that her little sister had been standing near the door and that she beckoned her to go out, which she said Thomas Wilson didn't see, but that he saw her the second time and went to kiss her sister whilst at the same time he locked the door and put the key in his pocket.

She said that Annie Wilson ordered him out several times and that she also asked him to go out, but he would not.

She said that Thomas Wilson then asked Annie Wilson who else lived in the house beside her aunt and that Annie Wilson replied 'Only our own family', to which Thomas Wilson said, 'You are a liar', and accused her of having another man in the house. Annie Wilson's daughter noted that the man that Thomas Wilson was referring to didn't live in the house and had not done so since they had been living there, but that he had previously lived with their aunt before she came to live with them. She added that the man had visited their aunt twice since she had moved in.

She said that Thomas Wilson then got near the table and threatened Annie Wilson where she was standing beside  the table and that he then jumped on her and threw her on to the sofa, noting that Annie Wilson backed round by the sofa when she saw him going towards her.

She said that the knives, forks and spoons had been on the table ready for cleaning and that Thomas Wilson picked something up, but that she didn't see what it was.

She said that Annie Wilson screamed as she fell back and that she then jumped on him to try and drag him off of her but that he was too strong and so she took a picture from the wall and hit him on the head with it. She said that it was a small picture in a gilt wooden frame and that she only hit him with it once and that he then turned on her friend who then ran upstairs followed by her little sister and that she also ran up. She said that they went to the front door and tried to open it but found that it was locked and that she knew that the back door was locked and that Thomas Wilson had the key and so they broke a window upstairs and got out and gave the alarm.

She said that they afterwards went and looked through the kitchen window through the curtains and saw Thomas Wilson stood by the side of the table, noting that his hands up to his elbows were blood stained. She said that she couldn't see Annie Wilson and that when Thomas Wilson saw them he said, 'Get away you buggers'.

She said that the police then arrived.

A police constable with the Leeds City Police Force said that he had been on duty in Evanston Avenue on Friday 16 January 1920 when a girl came up to him and made a report in consequence of which he went to 41 Evanston Row where he saw a crowd gathered in the street.

He said that he then went and had a look under the blind in the kitchen window and saw a man in a kneeling position by the side of the bed with his shoulders working. He said that he tried the door but it was locked and so he drew his staff and broke the window and pulled the blind away and got inside onto the bed, which was an ordinary iron bedstead.

He said then that Thomas Wilson raised himself up on his left hand and made to strike at him with a knife but that he jumped out of his reach and gave him a tap on the right temple with his staff and he collapsed on the floor.

He said that he then turned Thomas Wilson onto his back and then noticed Annie Wilson's head and shoulders in a pool of blood protruding from under the bed.

He said that her hand lay outstretched and that there was a small axe about three or four inches from her hand. He noted that some would have called it a small coal hammer or chopper. He added that there was also another knife three inches above Annie Wilson's right shoulder.

He said then that with the help of some others that he pulled Annie Wilson out from under the bed and noticed that her clothing was pulled up over her waist and that she was still alive. However, he said that she expired within a few minutes and that he then saw that she was wounded about the neck and head.

He said that when he then turned his attention to Thomas Wilson that he saw that he had a cut in his throat and was bleeding freely, which he was able to stop, and that he was unconscious and had a large wound on the top of his head.

He said that Thomas Wilson was then taken to the infirmary, but that before he was taken away someone shouted through the kitchen window that the door key was in his pocket and so it was taken out and the door was unlocked, noting that it would not unlock from the inside and so the key was passed out through the window and the door unlocked from the outside.

When Thomas Wilson appeared at the Leeds Assizes his defence was one of insanity, to which the Lord Chief Justice commented that the pleas of insanity were becoming somewhat common, stating that it seemed to be thought that if a murderer could prove that he had a relative who had been detained in an asylum or had died there he had sufficient proof to show that he was insane at the time he committed the murder. He then added that fortunately juries did not accept such evidence and that the Court would not look at it either.

He was convicted of murder with no recommendation to mercy and sentenced to death and executed on 6 May 1920 at Armley Gaol.

Evanston Row has since been demolished, but was just to the northwest of where Evanston Avenue is today, under the site of the Kirkstall Waste Transfer Station.