Work over for the day, the girls spilled out of the nail and button factory in St James’ Square. Hurrying home among them was 22-year-old Ada James, her destination Clark’s Buildings, Union Road, St Philip’s. She and her brother Alfred were due to attend the Bible Class tea at the Shaftesbury Crusade. The date was January 27th, 1913.
Plump, dark-haired Ada had become engaged to her longstanding boyfriend, Ted Palmer.
Ted, who was 23, was an unstable individual who took a sadistic enjoyment in brandishing a gun to scare his mother and two sisters, with whom he lived in Albany Place, Montpelier.
Ted had experienced a brief spell of glory in the boxing ring and was now finding life as a chair maker somewhat tame by comparison. He had spent almost the whole of 1912 in Canada seeking more conducive employment and had not worked since his return to these shores in early December.
Poverty, however, did not appear to curtail his drinking habits. He had spent much of the Monday in question in various hostelries, arriving at Ada’s house in the evening where he waited until she returned at 7.30. The two of them then set out for a walk to Narroways Hill, St Werburgh’s, apparently on the best of terms. During their walk, if Ted is to be believed, he mentioned the possibility of leaving in the near future to try his fortune in the West Indies. His plan was that he would send for Ada once he was established.
Ada, who had probably been fed the same line prior to his departure for Canada, reacted to this scheme by throwing her engagement ring at him and saying, ‘If you do go I shall go on the town. I’ve done it before and will do so again.’ At this point, according to Ted, ‘everything went black’.
The knowledge that his memory rejected was that he savagely slit her throat from ear to ear with a razor and made off towards Ashley Road, where he made attempts at two different shops to purchase writing materia~... presumably to pen his subsequent suicide note.
This accomplished, he headed for Hodders on the corner of Warwick Road (now the 'Ebony' Hair Salon) to obtain laudanum. It was but a brief step to his grandmother’s house in Bean Street (a small portion of this thoroughfare remains at the rear of the Greek Orthodox church at the top of Claremont Street; the rest is covered by Easton Way). Here he washed in her back kitchen and, presumably, imbibed the poison.
Image Left: The spot where Edward Palmer left poor Ada James for dead - old railway bridge at Narroways Hill, St Werburgh’s
Police finally caught him, still wandering in the area at 2a.m. He declined to make a statement other than that he had taken poison. The suicide attempt must have been a half-hearted one as he suffered no serious ill-effects.
The next day he was told that Ada had been found on the corner of Lynmouth Road, having staggered some distance, bleeding to death from a throat wound, and had been taken to the Infirmary where she had later died. ‘You don’t mean to say she got over that stile?’ was Palmer’s response. ‘Do you think she suffered?’
Ted was then charged with her murder. Before she died Ada had scribbled Ted’s name on a scrap of paper and whispered, ‘My fiance did it’.
Edward Henry Palmer was tried on February 19th, 1913. He appeared unmoved as he stood to face the charge, exchanging amicable greetings with his friends in the court. He pleaded not guilty.
Prosecuting Counsel attempted to prove premeditated murder in as much as Palmer was carrying a razor newly purchased on the Sunday morning before the crime.
The remains of this fearless but misguided girl lie in Greenbank Cemetery.
His explanation was that he had lost his own razor and evidence put forward by his family would endorse this. His sister had hidden it due to his threatening behaviour. Still, if he had bought the razor on Sunday why was it still in his pocket on Monday night? According to Ted, he was too drunk on the Sunday to shave. It seemed likely that he had it in his mind to frighten Ada.
Executioner Pierrepoint
Palmer was sentenced to death at Gloucester Assizes by the Lord Chief Justice on 19th February, and hanged by Thomas Pierrepoint and George Brown on the 19th March 1913 in Bristol.
Ted Palmer was a shallow poseur; one who compensated for his lack of stature by dramatic and empty gestures; his fundamentally unbalanced nature aggravated by alcohol abuse.
Ada was emotional and strong-willed, but failed to understand the effect her impulsive words had on those to whom they were directed.
Throughout the enquiry and subsequent trial there were hints of witnesses having their silence bought. There was also the suggestion that Ada’s father was charging the morbidly curious a fee to view his dead daughter’s body while it was laid out in the James’ front parlour.
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