Jane Clouson

Disclaimer: this article contains details which may be upsetting for some readers. Discretion is advised.

We're going to head back to 1871 to the district of Eltham, south-east London. A young woman - only seventeen years old - was found by a patrolling policeman in Kidbrooke Lane, brutally beaten and close to death. Although this crime is officially listed as 'unsolved', a suspect would be tried and acquitted of her murder, leaving mixed feelings in the local community.

Jane Maria Clouson was born in Deptford, south London, in April 1854 to parents James and Jane Clouson (nee Hancock). She was the second of three girls borne to the couple, with Jane's elder sister, Sarah, sadly dying of consumption in 1863 when Jane would have been nine years old. Consumption is a historic term used to depict tuberculosis, a bacterial infection which targets the lungs and respiratory system - something which was a leading cause of death during the 1800s due to the speed and ease that the bacteria could spread, as well as the lack of good sanitation and medical treatment at the time. Only a few years later, when Jane was thirteen, her mother passed away, leaving James Clouson responsible for the household and his two remaining daughters.

As we have discussed in previous cases, child employment laws during the Victorian era were non-existent. On the contrary, children were seen as a necessary part of the workforce - they were able to fit into smaller spaces, had more energy than their adult counterparts, and worked for a pittance of the wages given to older employees. It was routine that children did not attend or finish school, and would instead be sent out into the workforce to earn money for their families or as an orphaned child. Children could be expected to work in mines, chimneys, or around heavy machinery, and received no basic rights. Beatings were common punishment for mistakes, and death in service was not unusual based on the dangerous tasks children were expected to complete.

With three mouths in her family home to feed, Jane found herself sent out into the workforce in the employment of printing factory owner Ebenezer Pook and his wife as a household maid. The hours would still have been painfully long, and the work would have been exhausting. None of the household machines and tools which we rely on today would have existed, meaning that floors would have been scrubbed on hands and knees, and laundry would have been completed using a washboard and mangle. Irons were exactly as the name describes - heavy blocks of iron heated in front of the fire place, and bathtubs were filled and heated by hand.

Image 1: an artists portrait of Jane Clouson

Those who knew Jane reported her to be well presented, clean, ambitious and hard working. It was a surprise to her friends and family, then, that she was dismissed from the employment of the Pook family in April 1871 after they reported finding her unkempt in appearance, with a lazy and unpleasant attitude. It would transpire that Jane had been involved in a relationship with Ebenezer Pook's son, twenty-year-old Edmund Walter Pook. Three years older than Jane, he had reportedly declined to marry her. Edmund's brother had married a young lady who Ebenezer Pook deemed to be 'below his station', and he was keen that his younger son Edmund should avoid doing the same. Victorian Britain put a large emphasis on societal class, and members of the higher class would have been expected to marry someone within their social standing. For Jane, however, marrying a man who hailed from a wealthy family such as the Pook's would have likely set her up for a far more comfortable lifestyle than she was used to - it would have meant an end to her domestic service, and a complete change of lifestyle.

Jane was evicted from the household and subsequently moved into lodgings near her aunt Elizabeth Trott (nee Hancock), her deceased mother's sister, and Elizabeth's daughter, Charlotte, in Greenwich. Despite being removed from the Pook household and denied the opportunity to marry Edmund, she continued to exchange letters with the young man, and Jane reportedly divulged to Edmund in one of these exchanges that she suspected that she was pregnant with his child. The letters have never been found and the exact nature of their contents - or, indeed, whether they existed at all - remains a mystery.

On Sunday 22nd April, Jane visited her aunt Elizabeth's house for tea, arriving between 3pm and 4pm. According to an account which Charlotte, Jane's cousin, would later give the police, Jane told her: '"you must not be surprised if I am missing for some weeks, for Edmund says I must meet him either to-morrow night or on Tuesday night to arrange to go with him into the country. He says he will have such a deal to tell me, and we shall have to make all the arrangements. He says he is going to take me to a christening with him at St. Ives. Then we shall go somewhere else, to such a nice place, where I shall be so happy; but I am not to tell anyone where I am going or write to any one for some time, as he does not want any one to know where I am. You must not be surprised if you miss me for some weeks, but you shall have the first letter I shall write to any one. Edmund says I shall not want for money, and if it's five pounds I shall have it, and I shall be so happy."' Elizabeth would confirm that this remark was made by her niece, with Jane clearly very excited at the prospect of leaving with the young Mr Pook.

At 6pm, Jane left the house with Charlotte, where they walked together to the park in Blackheath. During this walk, Jane had told her cousin that she would be meeting Edmund at 7pm the following day (Monday) to discuss whether they would be leaving for the country on Tuesday or Wednesday. Jane reported that this trip would be taken alongside Edmund's brother, Thomas, and Thomas' wife. Charlotte parted ways with Jane in the park, after which she would never see Jane again.

It's worth mentioning at this stage that neither Elizabeth nor Charlotte were aware that Jane was pregnant. Charlotte would also later mention to police that Jane had the interest of another young man by the name of Harley Fletcher, who was away at sea at the time.

On the evening of 25th April Jane informed her landlady, Mrs Hamilton, that she would be going to meet Edmund Pook at the top of Croom's Hill, on the edge of Greenwich Park. Edmund would later claim to the police that he had not met Jane that night, but her landlady was clear on where she was heading when she left the house. Mrs Hamilton described Jane as wearing a brown dress, a black jacket, and a black hat decorated with pink roses.

The Discovery

Image 2: an artists depiction of the discovery of the injured Jane Clouson in Kidbrooke Lane by constable Donald Gunn

Patrolling policeman Donald Gunn had started his nighty beat at 10pm, reaching Kidbrooke Lane in Eltham some four hours later. Finding it quiet and empty, he had continued on his way before circling back to the lane at around 4am. In the gloom, he stumbled across a young woman with blood coating her face. She was barely conscious as the policeman gave her shoulder a shake and asked her what had happened. Donald Gunn would later state: 'as I stretched forth my hand she fell flat on her face, and said '"let me die!" - she never spoke after that'. Once he realised that she had stopped responding, he took a better look around the immediate area where he noticed a pool of blood containing what he described as a large clot, a pair of ladies gloves, a hat, and a number of footprints.

Unsure whether he was already too late to call for medics, Donald Gunn ran to nearby Well Hall Farm, knowing that the stable staff would be awake and working at the early hour. They alerted Sergeant Haynes from Gunn's police station, who rushed to the scene as Donald Gunn went to the local surgery in search of a stretcher.

Jane was conveyed to St Guys hospital, where she arrived at around 7am on the morning of the 26th, and was examined by house surgeon Michael Harris.

The Investigation

Sergeant Frederick Haynes would remain with the victim throughout transit until she was placed in a hospital bed awaiting examination. Upon a search of her pockets, he found a handkerchief, a purse containing 11s 4d (eleven shillings and four pence - equivalent to approximately £35.48 today), a brooch, an empty locket and two keys, but no document containing details relating to the woman's identity.

Michael Harris, house surgeon, would report that Jane arrived at hospital at 7am on 26th April, unconscious and cold to the touch. He found a vast number of wounds to the front of her head, stating in court: 'there was a wound down to the left temporal bone, and it was smashed in; the bone itself was fractured and depressed - on the bone being raised, the brain was discovered to be lacerated', 'there were two wounds which were more severe than the others on the face - one above the right eye, about 3 inches in length; the bone was completely smashed up, so much so that several fragments were lying quite loose, and the brain was protruding'. In addition to the significant injuries to her head, the doctor would also note a broken jaw bone, and a number of wounds to her arms and the back of her hands which he felt were indicative of a struggle - likely obtained as Jane tried to defend herself. He noted that many of her wounds were caused by a sharp instrument. He would later give evidence at inquest that the injuries could have been inflicted shortly before her discovery by the police, or anywhere up to eight or ten hours before this with the victim drifting in and out of consciousness throughout this time.

Dr Harris was able to confirm that Jane had been pregnant, but had miscarried some two weeks before the attack - the baby had not been passed from her body at the time of her death. Jane's miscarriage would have occurred around the time of her dismissal from the Pook household.

A police officer would sit beside Jane's hospital bed in case she woke and was able to speak, but despite the best efforts of the doctors and medical staff caring for her, Jane would pass away at around 9pm on 30th April, four days after she was attacked in a dark London lane. She never regained consciousness after her final words to constable Donald Gunn, and her cause of death was deemed to be the significant injuries to her head and brain.

The hospital were able to confirm that there was no sign of sexual assault at the time of Jane's attack, and her purse still containing money effectively ruled out a sexual or financial motive for the attack. It was likely that Jane was facing her attacker, as the majority of her wounds were to the front of her body and head. This could have meant that she knew and had met the culprit, or that she was confronted by the assailant. From this information, it seems unlikely that she was attacked by a stranger - after all, what would the motive of a stranger attack had been with the above two possibilities ruled out? It seems much more likely that there was a personal reason for the crime, and that the culprit had met with Jane in premeditation and already armed with the weapon they used to inflict the wounds.

Police conducted a thorough search of the area, beginning immediately after Jane was found. There were a number of footprints in the immediate area where Jane had been lying, and a trail leading away from the area with spots of blood at intermittent points. However, police reported at the inquest that the condition of the ground was such that the prints could not be preserved at the time.

A gardener at Morden College, Thomas Brown, found a plastering hammer whilst carrying out his duties (this implement was described as having a narrow point at one end, used to remove old mortar, and a hammer on the other end). It had been largely wiped clean, but some evidence of blood remained. Knowing of the recent attack, Mr Brown handed it over to police - but made them aware that he could not confirm how long it had been there, as it was not in an area which was regularly checked. The pathway near where Mr Brown had spied the hammer led from Kidbrooke Farm to Morden College, and police felt it possible that anyone heading that direction from Kidbrooke Lane could have thrown it to one side. The hammer was found to have been recently purchased from a tool shop on Deptford High Street, at a cost of 1s 4d (one shilling and four pence, or approximately £4.17 today). Mr Thomas, the owner of the tool shop, was the only store to keep this particular item in the Deptford area.

Despite studying Jane's injuries, it could not be assessed - either by police or by medics - whether the culprit was left or right handed, as it was possible that some of the victims injuries were inflicted whilst she was standing, and some may have been caused whilst she was on the floor. She had injuries to both sides of her face and head.

Police spoke to Elizabeth Trott and her daughter, Charlotte, who was able to identify Jane - despite the heavy damage to her face - by her nose, mouth, and a mole on her left breast. The pair informed the police that Jane spoke of Edmund Pook, who she called her fiancé, frequently, and relayed the events of the final time they had seen her at tea the previous Sunday.

Once Jane was able to be identified, police were quick to approach the Pook family for information about her recent employment and relationship. Ebenezer Pook and his wife stood fast in their report that the dismissal of Jane was due to her presentation, and not in any way related to Jane's relationship with their son. They informed the police that they had given her a number of warnings regarding her poor appearance and substandard work habits, but released her from their service after they failed to see any improvements. As mentioned earlier in the article, Jane's family and friends were unhappy with this representation of her, as they had known her to be quite the opposite. Edmund would deny all involvement with the deceased, and refute the claim that he had been the father of Jane's baby.

Edmund Pook was identified by a resident in the Kidbrooke Lane area as running from the scene the night of Jane's attack. Police tried multiple avenues to find the man who had purchased the hammer in the tool shop prior to the 26th April, but were unable to make a firm identification. Upon being interviewed by police, Edmund Pook agreed that he had seen Jane on the night of her attack, but he had seen her in the company of another man. He had returned home and told his brother this fact - a story which his brother was quick to corroborate. The clothes he was wearing on the 26th were examined and found to be bloodstained and covered in mud. Edmund explained this away by informing police that he had a history of seizures, that he had a fit on that night and had bitten his tongue during the episode, causing blood to spill onto his clothing. Edmund had no other explanation as to his whereabouts on the night of Jane's attack other than telling the police he had been 'somewhere else' until he felt a fit coming on and ran home. He was not able to explain to police why multiple witnesses had seen him in the area of Kidbrooke Lane that night with a woman.

Edmund Pook was arrested at the beginning of May 1871. His solicitor submitted an application for bail, citing that multiple witnesses could attest to his whereabouts on the evening of the attack, and that the suspect had always been of good character. In late May, newspapers would report that Edmund had since told the police that he had been at the Greenwich Literary Institution during the evening of 26th April, and had returned to his father's home no later than 9pm, where he had remained for the rest of the night. This meant that, after 9pm, the only people who could likely attest to his whereabouts were his family members.

Image 3: an artist's portrait of Edmund Pook

Image 4: Jane Clouson's memorial

Jane's funeral was held in her home district of Deptford on Monday 8th May 1871. As though to match the sombre mood, the weather turned dark and a storm of thunder and lightning accompanied the funeral procession as it commenced its journey at 3pm from Elizabeth Trott's house towards Jane's final resting place. The streets were crowded - police had to be called in to clear a way through the thousands of spectators to enable the horse-drawn hearse to convey the elm coffin - covered with a black baize cloth - towards the cemetery, followed by a series of carriages for family members. All of the pall-bearers were young women dressed symbolically in a maid's uniform of a black pinafore, white apron and black boots. I'm unsure whether this was in memory of Jane's working life or whether it was a statement aimed at the Pook family. It feels like an unusual act to choose for the pall bearers to represent the profession of the deceased - I'd be interested to know your thoughts in the comments. Could it have been a not-so-subtle message to the Pook family after reports emerged that Edmund would not marry Jane because of her social class? Or perhaps a symbol of defiance after she had been dismissed from their service?

The procession ended its journey at the overflowing cemetery chapel, with every available pew and standing space packed with mourners. The publicity which the case had received was such that it was no surprise that most of the local community - and likely some from further afield - had turned out to pay their respects.

Jane's coffin was lowered into a cemetery grave which had been donated to her family by the local council in a site nearby to her mother and sister. A public appeal would later fund a memorial for Jane (pictured left) - a praying child perched on top of a pillar with the inscription: 'a motherless girl who was murdered in Kidbrooke Lane, Eltham aged 17 in 1871... her last words were "oh, let me die"'.

The Coroner's Inquest

An inquest would rapidly be opened and held at Guy's hospital in front of deputy coroner for the city and borough of Southwark, Mr Payne. The family of Jane Clouson were represented by Mr Willis, with Superintendent Griffin present on behalf of the police force.

Coroner's inquests are not fought between two opposing sides - the purpose is to establish facts and find a reasonable and accurate conclusion to provide answers and insight into a death. The court will aim to ascertain the identity of the deceased as well as when, where and how they died. Generally speaking, the coroner's court should not be finding anyone responsible for the death of the person, nor should they be instructing the police on an arrest. However, if evidence is very clear and the coroner considers that there may be an ongoing risk to the public, they may write a report which requests further investigation from an organisation. Mr Payne was quick to step in during the inquest if he felt that the line of questioning was too close to that of a criminal trial, and to advise that no person was being held accountable for the attack at that stage.

In addition to evidence given by constable Donald Gunn, Sergeant Haynes, Elizabeth Trott and Charlotte Trott, a witness who had seen Edmund Pook that night was called. Thomas Lazell, resident at Walker's Cottages in Kidbrooke Lane, had left his property on the evening of 25th April at 6:40pm. Mr Lazell headed to Greenwich to pay a membership fee at a club on behalf of his father, who remained at the property. As he reached the end of Kidbrooke Lane, he spotted Edmund Pook. Thomas Lazell had known Edmund Pook for over a year, and although he had only met him a few times he recognised him immediately. Thomas told the inquest that Edmund Pook was accompanied by a young woman, and that Edmund had his arm around her waist. The couple passed Mr Lazell in the lane before the young man hurried on towards Greenwich, cutting through Kidbrooke Farm and the grounds of Morden College on his route. He turned back to look at the couple as he walked away, noting that they were heading down towards the brook. He estimated that the time he had seen them was 6:50pm, about ten minutes after he had started his journey. Unfortunately, Thomas Lazell was unable to recall the clothing that Edmund Pook had been wearing, nor Jane's clothing and hat - he told the inquest that he had been in a hurry to get to Greenwich, and had not paid enormous attention to the situation. In fact, he was unaware that a murder had occurred on the street until the following week, when he heard that Edmund Pook had been arrested.

Also called to give evidence Louise Billington, who met Edmund in her local confectionary shop that evening. She gave evidence that Edmund Pook - who she knew well, and could recognise by sight - had visited the shop somewhere between 8pm and 8:30pm on either Tuesday 25th or Wednesday 26th April. Ms Billington was able to tell the time accurately, as she had left her property to walk the three minutes to the shop at precisely 8pm. Mrs Plane, the owner of the store, was also present in the store and noted that Edmund Pook looked hot and was perspiring. Mrs Plane had glanced outside to confirm that it wasn't raining - on the contrary, the weather was pleasant. Edmund explained that it was because he had run a distance to the shop, and asked Mrs Plane if he could borrow a clothes brush. He scrubbed at his trousers, with the witness noting that he concentrated more effort on the right leg than the left leg, before handing the brush back to them, remarking that he would use a sponge to get rid of the rest of the mud when he returned home. As the shop was lit only by a gas lamp, it was difficult for either of the women present to tell the condition of his clothing, but they did note that he was wearing a hat. He purchased some lozenges before heading on his way.

Mrs Payne, the owner of the shop, was also called as a witness. Like Louise Billington, she was unable to recall the precise day of Edmund Pook's visit but was able to tell that it was a weekday and not a weekend. The account she gave was similar to that of the previous witness, but she did remark that she thought that Edmund was going to have a fit when he left the shop - she told the court that she was aware that he had seizures.

Evidence would be presented by the police relating to Jane's clothing and the hammer as the suspected murder weapon. When the inquest came to a close, the jury of twenty-two people found the manner of death to be wilful murder. Edmund Pook was heavily implicated by the information provided to the court, leading to a criminal trial being arranged for 10th July that year.

The Trial

During the criminal trial, Edmund Pook would be defended by Mr Huddleson, QC, with the prosecution led by the solicitor general. The court was overseen by Judge Sir William Bovill - a fact which would be a cause for controversy throughout the trial and during its aftermath. Before proceedings were fully under way, the judge would rule that any statements made by Jane in the leadup to her death were hearsay and therefore inadmissible in court. This would encompass any remarks which Jane had made in relation to Edmund Pook and an anticipated marriage, including comments to her friends and family that she was planning to meet Edmund on the night of the attack. He also publicly chastised the police, informing them that they had arrested Edmund Pook in order to obtain a quick outcome for the case, and accusing them of hounding the Pook family without any real evidence of their son's involvement.

After these remarks from the judge, the trial could be considered doomed to fail. With the jury being party to remarks which were likely to sway their judgement, it was little surprise that they deliberated for only twenty minutes before finding Edmund Pook not guilty on 15th July. The large crowd which had filled the public gallery and gathered outside the court building erupted in a display of anger and disappointment at the verdict, with the immediate assumption being made that Edmund had escaped justice due to his social class and family influence - his father having worked his way up through the ranks at the Times newspaper before establishing himself as a printer in his own right. The sense amongst the general public that Edmund was, in fact, guilty, and had somehow managed to pay off any criminal conviction would impact the Pook family for many years to come.

The murder and the conduct of the police investigation were discussed in an editorial of the Times published on 18th July - only three days after Edmund walked free from court. Whether Ebenezer Pook's association with the company contributed to the article is unclear. The same conversation would be held in parliament two days later as the case was stamped as being unsolved.

Regardless of the outcome of the criminal trial, the Pook family had experienced trial by media during the lead up to the proceedings. Large portions of the community would continue to consider Edmund as the guilty party, and the backlash that this presented gave the family little option other than to leave the city. Pamphlets had begun to circulate in the area naming Edmund as the killer - something which would give him cause to hire a lawyer and start a civil court case for slander. Despite the best intentions of the Pook family, this would backfire on their son as he took the stand in court and was faced with a barrage of questions which had not been permitted in the criminal trial. Despite this - and the general public consensus that Edmund was guilty - he was awarded £50 in damages from the court, a total equating over £3,000 today. At the time, this quantity would have been equivalent to nearly a year's wages of a skilled tradesman, surely adding even greater insult to injury in the eyes of the general population.

The Aftermath

The case would go quiet for a couple of years before, on Saturday 22nd March 1873, the Cornwall Gazette printed an article reporting that a soldier from the 52nd Regiment in Aldershot had stepped forward to make a confession to the police. He claimed that he had made Jane's acquaintance and had fallen in love with her.

The soldier - surname given as Bingham - would tell the police that he had seen Jane three nights prior to the attack, and that she had made a comment which had offended him. After parting with the teenager, he had gone to a tool shop to purchase a hammer. He arranged to meet her during the evening of 26th April, where they had an argument which ended with the soldier hitting Jane repeatedly with the recently purchased hammer. He left her in the street, he said, where she was still just alive, and ran into the night. The soldier told police: '"I have escaped justice ever since and travelled about a great deal, but I have never been happy, and I have had such dreadful dreams that at last I gave myself up. I have been so miserable ever since. I hope God will forgive me, Mr Clouson, and Mr Pook and all. I know my fate. I am guilty. Mr Pook never was. This is the truth and the whole truth, on my solemn oath."'

Little credit appears to have been given to this soldiers confession from the outset. He was the son of a respectable family in Plymouth, with a brother serving in the 64th Regiment - however, the soldier had recently been admitted to hospital with concerns for his mental health, and police strongly suspected, following reports and feedback given to them, that he was confessing in a bid to be discharged from the army. He had been known to have run away from school on multiple occasions as a child before being enlisted into the army at the age of eighteen. After attempting to leave, he was again enlisted in an attempt to garner some army discipline. Based on his whereabouts on the date and at the time of the murder, it was assessed that he could not be guilty of the crime.

No other suspect was arrested or suspected in the case of Jane Clouson's death. As with many crimes of this nature, rumours began to circulate that Kidbrooke Lane was haunted by the Jane's ghost, clad in a white dress and covered in blood. It is still the subject of paranormal musings to this day, and officially remains a historic unsolved murder. What are your thoughts on this case? Some of the information collected by the police, and evidence given by witnesses at the inquest, seem very damning, but Edmund Pook was found not guilty in a court of law. What do you think of the public opinion that he avoided justice because of his financial and social status?

Jane's memorial stands in Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries in London, where people can lay flowers and pay their respects to a young woman who, at the age of just seventeen, should have had her whole future ahead of her.

References for text:

Murder of Jane Clouson - Wikipedia

The true story of Jane Clouson, by her cousin - Friends of Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries

Jane Maria Clousen – Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Victorian Child Labor and the Conditions They Worked In

Currency converter: 1270–2017

The Mysterious Murder At Eltham. | Wellington Journal | Saturday 13 May 1871 | British Newspaper Archive

The Eltham Mystery. | Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette | Thursday 11 May 1871 | British Newspaper Archive

What is the purpose of a Coroner’s Inquest? - OM&M

The Eltham Murder | Royal Cornwall Gazette | Saturday 22 March 1873 | British Newspaper Archive

The Eltham Tragedy. | Nowlen's Weekly Chronicle | Saturday 06 May 1871 | British Newspaper Archive

Further Particular& | Woolwich Gazette | Saturday 06 May 1871 | British Newspaper Archive