Frederick Quarmby

Frederick Quarmby murdered his 37-year-old girlfriend Christine Ann Alexandra Smith and was sentenced to death.

He cut her throat at Pendlehurst, 7 Ripon Road in Blackpool on 3 December 1920.

Frederick Quarmby had formerly been a clerk but since April 1919 he had done no work and was said to have got through about £2,000 living a loose live at Blackpool.

In 1918 he had been in the employ of his father and uncle, cotton spinners at Hilywell Green. He was later called up for the army, but only graded C3, which was said to have depressed him very much.

He quitted his employment and went to live in Blackpool where in May 1919 he made the acquaintance of Christine Smith, a married woman parted from her husband and apparently living the life of a prostitute in Blackpool. Frederick Quarmby then lived with her on and off until the time of the murder.

However, they frequently quarrelled and on two occasions Christine Smith summoned him for assault. In the latter case, in May 1920, he cross-summoned her and they were both bound over in the sum of £10. On that occasion, Frederick Quarmby accused Christine Smith of taking his stick from under his arm and hitting him in the face.

Several times during those months, Frederick Quarmby was said to have threatened to shoot Christine Smith, saying that she was 'a rotter'.

On 29 or 30 November 1920, Frederick Quarmby purchased a butcher’s knife from a cutler in Blackpool. He said that he wanted it ground on the back edge and the cutler sent him to his brother who had a shop over the way, where Frederick Quarmby had the knife ground double edged.

At that time Christine Smith had been living at 7 Ripon Road, which was a house that the police had under suspicion of being a brothel, but Frederick Quarmby had been lodging elsewhere.

At about 8pm, Christine Smithleft her house and she and Frederick Quarmby were later seen drinking in a public house after which they returned to 7 Ripon Road at about 9pm.

It was stated that it was clear at any rate that Christine Smith had thought that Frederick Quarmby's intention was to have connection with her.

A little later, the man that kept the house heard screams coming from the room and when he went to see found the door locked and called for Frederick Quarmby to open it. However, he said that Frederick Quarmby refused and that when he threatened to call the police, Frederick Quarmby said:

The landlord then called two constables and when they arrived they found Frederick Quarmby standing at the front door and he took them into the dining room where they saw Christina Smith lying dead on the floor behind the door.

Her head was nearly severed from her body, her throat being cut to the spine, and she was severely slashed and cut about the face, back and hands.

Frederick Quarmby then said:

The double-edged knife was found on the table and Frederick Quarmby said:

Frederick Quarmby repeated remarks of that kind several times before he was taken away, and also later, when he was charged.

It was heard that he had been obviously much excited and had had some drink, but the police said that he was certainly not drunk and knew perfectly well what he was doing.

Just before he left the house, he remarked, ironically:

It was stated that Christina Smith had evidently prepared herself for intercourse, her skirt and upper clothing lying on a chair, and she was wearing only a chemise, undervest and stockings. A French letter was also found on the mantlepiece, and Frederick Quarmby tried to throw it into the fire, but a police officer recovered it.

Frederick Quarmby said:

It was thought, based on the plan of the room showing where the body was found behind the door near the electric switch and the fact that the struggle seemed to have taken place in that small place, that it was possible that what happened was that Christina Smith, after having undressed, saw Frederick Quarmby produce the knife, and that she then made a rush at the switch and put the light out and that he had seized her and slashed at her and cut her throat in the dark.

It was further noted that the two empty stout bottles, which Frederick Quarmby had brought from the public house, were on the table, and Frederick Quarmby said that he had drunk them after having killed Christina Smith.

It was not clear what Frederick Quarmby's grievance had been against Christina Smith's mother, or whether he had had any.

Christina Smith had married her husband in 1913, but her husband had parted with her immediately after the ceremony as she told him that she meant to have other men as well. She was confined seven days later of a child, which might have been her husband's.

It was said that when Christina Smith first met Frederick Quarmby that she posed as a widow, but that in a few days he discovered that she was married, however, he lived with her notwithstanding and her husband later got a maintenance order annulled on the grounds of her adultery with Frederick Quarmby.

The only defence at the trial was that of insanity, and in support of that, two mental experts gave evidence, the effect of their evidence being that the crime had been due to an irresistible impulse that had come over Frederick Quarmby at the moment when, as he said, the light in the room went out, and that for the time being he was in fact a homicidal maniac. However, both doctors had had great difficulty in distinguishing between what they called an 'irresistible impulse due to insanity', and an impulse to commit the crime that was in fact not resisted.

Further, three prison doctors, who it was said had as much claim as either of the defence witnesses to be regarded as mental experts, said that they were clearly of the view that Frederick Quarmby had been perfectly sane, and that they could see no reason to think that he was otherwise than sane when he committed the crime.

However, whilst the evidence of the doctors was put quite fairly to the jury, they returned with their guilty verdict after only 13 minutes of deliberation.

Frederick Quarmby appealed his conviction, but it was dismissed.

At his appeal it was heard that Frederick Quarmby had been hypnotised by a doctor to see what he would say about the crime and that he had given the same story whilst hypnotised as he had under his own free will. The judge asked whether the theory was that a man would be more likely to tell the truth when hypnotised, and the doctor said that the theory was that a hypnotised man would not tell lies. When the judge asked, 'Because he cannot, is that the idea?', the doctor said that he was not so much up in psycho-analysis as to be able to say.

It was also commented on the issue of the hypnotism being an aid to law:

The counsel for the defence stated that the grounds for the appeal were that Frederick Quarmby had committed that crime during an irresistible impulse, and that he had been suffering from impulsive insanity and that:

1. The judge misdirected the jury by withdrawing the possibility of an acquittal.
2. That the verdict was against the weight of the evidence.
3. That the judge misdirected the jury in not dealing fully in detail with the evidence of the medical witnesses on the question of insanity.
4. That the judge had himself admitted that he had failed to understand the evidence of the medical witnesses.

Counsel for Frederick Quarmby further noted that in the Thaw case in America, that it had been shown that so long as a man stood in fear of the electric chair that his sub-conscious mind had dominated his actions, but that after he had escaped the chair, his conscious mind then gained mastery. They went on to stated that in Frederick Quarmby's case, that the hypnotism showed that Frederick Quarmby's conscious and sub-conscious minds were the same, as he had told the same story all through.

The judge then asked whether a great ruler, who planned for war for years, could be said to be a victim of impulsive insanity all the time, the defence said that he could not say that , the judge retorted:

the court then dismissed their appeal without calling on counsel for the Crown.

Frederick Quarmby was executed at Manchester on 5 April 1921.