The Inquest Opens

The delayed inquest into the murder of Willie Starchfield finally begins.

I hope all my readers have had a wonderful Christmas and a fabulous start to the New Year.

Today is the 111th anniversary of the murder of Willie Starchfield. I’ve been looking forward to the events of 15th January 1914 and the opening of the inquest because so many of the statements that were missing from the main murder file appear in the National Archives file marked CRIM_145_3. This contains statements and depositions for the inquest and subsequent trial. I deliberately held off reading any of them until we reached this point, so they are as new to me as they are to you.

The job of an inquest is not to apportion blame, or find anyone guilty, or not guilty, of a crime. It’s purpose is to ascertain how the deceased met their death.

The inquest was opened by Dr Wynn Westcott at 10 a.m. on Thursday 15th of January, exactly one week after Willie’s murder. It was was set to run over three days, the 15th, the 22nd and the 29th of January. A large crowd had gathered outside the Shoreditch Coroner’s Court, many of them trying to gain entry to watch proceedings, but the small size of the court meant that less than a quarter would be allowed in.

The crowds surrounded the taxi cab when Agnes Starchfield arrived accompanied by two men and another woman. The woman was her landlady, Emily Longstaff, we do not know who the men were. Agnes shrank back from the faces peering in at her through the taxi’s windows, whilst the others tried their best to shield her from view. Dressed in mourning, and wearing a black hat with a large feather, Agnes threw a shawl over her head and ducked behind an umbrella, shielding her features from the spectators. With her companions on either side, she pushed her way through the masses in a state of near collapse and staggered into the court, ‘a pathetic figure’.

John Starchfield arrived shortly after, on foot and alone, wearing a dark overcoat with the collar turned up, only to find himself locked out. He had to hammer on the door of the court for several minutes before he was let inside. One newspaper reported that he had to go to a different door before he was admitted. He was immediately surrounded by the crowd and made no attempt to hide himself from the photographers.

Arriving shortly after John, in another taxi cab, was Chief Inspector Gough. With him was Mr. Basil Thompson, Assistant Commissioner of Police and Head of C.I.D.

Dr. Bernard Spilsbury, the famous pathologist came after.

Upwards of twenty witnesses had been summoned to attend, many of whom were employees from the North London Railway, dressed smartly in their uniforms.

On opening the inquest, Dr Wynn Westcott gave a brief outline of the main facts of the case, suggesting that it might be the work of a maniac and lamenting the fact that it would not be possible to undertake the inquest in one sitting.

Dr William Wynn Westcott in Rosicrucian robes.

On a side note, Dr Wynn Westcott had said in 1885, that over education could lead children to suicide by encouraging a ‘precocious development of the reflective faculties, of vanity and the desires.’ He was also a theosophist and Freemason, practised Ceremonial Magick, wrote numerous books on the occult, and co-founded The Golden Dawn. His handling of the inquest would later be critcised as unconventional and sloppy.

After the witnesses were sworn in, John was the first to give evidence.