William French (bef. 1816 - 1852)

Born before 4 Aug 1816 in Chiddingly, Sussex, England, United Kingdom

Husband of Sarah Ann (Piper) French — married 14 Sep 1844 in Hellingly, Sussex, England, United Kingdom

Died 7 Jan 1852 after age 35 in Chiddingly, Sussex, England, United Kingdom

Biography

William French was christened on 4 August 1816 in Chiddingly, Sussex. He was the son of William French and Lucy (Baulcombe) French.^[1]

William married Sarah Ann Piper on 14 Sep 1844 in Hellingley. Neither had been married before. Their fathers were named as William French and Reuben Piper. She was said to have been well advanced in pregnancy when they married, and they had only one child, James French, who was born not long after the wedding.

In about 1849, William and Sarah went to watch the hanging of Mary Ann Gearing, who had poisoned her husband and sons.

Their little boy was ill for an extended period in 1851, and receiving medical attention from the surgeon's assistant. Sarah's sister Jane's ex-boyfriend, James ("Jim") Hickman, who was eighteen and lived about half a mile from Wiliam and Sarah, used to come two or three times a week to read stories to the boy. Eventually the child made a good recovery.

The Frenches lived in a tenement, which had mice. On 1 Nov 1851, and again on 20 Dec 1851, William bought a small amount of indigo-coloured arsenic to use against the mice, and gave it to Sarah to keep somewhere safe. This wasn't unusual; their neighbours in another flat in the same tenement had used arsenic on the mice a previous year. Around this time Sarah had become strongly attracted to James Hickman. William was uncomfortable with how often James was at his house, and had asked James' father to ask him not to visit so often; he claimed he feared if he asked James himself, Sarah would hear and be very upset and might do away with herself.

On Christmas Eve 1851, Sarah served her husband an onion pie, which was a special treat as he particularly liked it and didn't have it often. After this he fell ill. Christmas Day and Boxing Day were holidays, but he tried to go to work the day after, but vomited in the yard when he arrived and was sent home again. He died on January 7th.

William had already complained to the surgeon's assistant a week before Christmas of feeling faint and sick in the morning and having pains in his bowels, so his death wasn't a bolt out of the blue to everyone, although other witnesses had thought him in good health up till his death, and he had done a day's work threshing in apparent good health on Christmas Eve before going home for his supper.

An inquest found he had died of natural causes, but the constable investigated further, and Sarah was charged with William's murder. James Hickman testified against her, among others; Sarah had made a statement to the effect that James had given her husband poison and had been the main instigator, so by the time of the trial they were both doing their best to pin blame on the other. Witnesses also testified she had gone shopping at Horsbridge either two days or one day before her husband's death (the accounts differ as to the day) and bought white arsenic from the farrier's wife. William was already gravely ill by then, but it was almost two weeks since Christmas Eve, and he hadn't died yet, so (assuming she was actually guilty) perhaps she was worried he would recover and thought she needed to give him more to finish him off. White arsenic would be easier to conceal in food than the deliberately-coloured indigo stuff, and also easier to mistake accidentally for something edible, as she was warned when purchasing it.

Sarah's defence lawyer spoke eloquently and did his best to shift all the blame onto James Hickman, who although he had been detained at one point was never charged. The judge in his summing-up poked holes in various statements people had made; one of his comments pointed out something implausible James had said, but several of them pointed out weaknesses in the defence case, and most critically, he pointed out that if Sarah had even been aware James was poisoning her husband and hadn't reported it to anyone or attempted to stop him, then she would still be guilty.

Sarah was convicted and sentenced to death, which appeared to leave James Hickman completely unmoved. She was taken back to gaol, where according to the chaplain she confessed her guilt to him, and a few days later she was hung. The case convinced the local authorities that public hanging was not useful as a deterrent to crime, and that hangings should be private in future.

Research Notes

The newspaper reports mention that her husband had a brother Thomas French, and a brother John French who testified; John lived a mile and a half from William and Sarah. Sarah had a sister married to brickmaker Samuel Deering, and the Deerings lived on the Dicker. A John Piper (labourer of Hellingley) was one of the witnesses at the trial, but his relationship (if any) with Sarah isn't stated in the reports.

Sources

1. ↑ A better source for this information is needed, it is from his FamilySearch tree entry but unsourced there.

• Marriage "England, Sussex, Parish Registers, 1538-1910", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KFPQ-97P : 7 December 2017), William French and Sarah Piper, 1844.

• "England and Wales Census, 1851," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SG8H-2MJ : 8 November 2019), Sarah French in household of William French, Chiddingly, Sussex, England; citing Chiddingly, Sussex, England, p. 13, from "1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion_Pie_Murder

• http://www.sussex-opc.org/ParishDetails/EastSussex/Chiddingly/ChiddinglyMurder/ChiddinglyMurderA.htm

• http://www.sussex-opc.org/ParishDetails/EastSussex/Chiddingly/ChiddinglyMurder/ChiddinglyMurderB.htm

• http://www.sussex-opc.org/ParishDetails/EastSussex/Chiddingly/ChiddinglyMurder/ChiddinglyMurderC.htm

• http://www.sussex-opc.org/ParishDetails/EastSussex/Chiddingly/ChiddinglyMurder/ChiddinglyMurderD.htm

• http://www.sussex-opc.org/ParishDetails/EastSussex/Chiddingly/ChiddinglyMurder/ChiddinglyMurderE.htm

• http://www.sussex-opc.org/ParishDetails/EastSussex/Chiddingly/ChiddinglyMurder/ChiddinglyMurderF.htm

• http://www.sussex-opc.org/ParishDetails/EastSussex/Chiddingly/ChiddinglyMurder/ChiddinglyMurderG.htm

• http://www.sussex-opc.org/ParishDetails/EastSussex/Chiddingly/ChiddinglyMurder/ChiddinglyMurderH.htm

See also:

• FamilySearch tree entry https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/2DTP-FXF