The Dastardly Murder of William White,
Yeoman Farmer of Hoo.
(Much of the original grammar and spelling gathered from newspapers and articles of the day has been retained to convey the atmosphere of the time)
On the evening of Sunday December 11th 1808, Mr. William White, a yeoman farmer from Hoo, Nr Rochester in Kent was sitting in his own house by his fire side, with his family around him, listening to the holy precepts of the inspired writings, which one of them was reading; thoughtless of harm, unconscious of impending danger, his mind was absorbed in the contemplation of the great truths which he was hearing, and of their practical utility in their journey through life. The guns were firing on the prison hulks in the Medway to signal the curfew, when in the interval between the guns fired by one ship and another, some remorseless and sanguinary villain leveled a piece, loaded with pebbles, and fired through the window at Mr. White; unfortunately the villain effected his purpose, and Mr. White fell, and instantly expired amidst his astonished and petrified children. The scene that followed cannot possibly be imagined. It must have been terrible, almost beyond conception, and its terrors were aggravated in the minds of the children by the recollection that, only a few weeks before, their mother was snatched from them, without any previous indication of illness, and suddenly expired. The elder members of the family were sitting near the victim and the eldest daughter had just risen to reach something from an adjoining cupboard when the shot was fired. The shot entered the back of the head and came out under the right eye.
An immediate search was made for the perpetrator, but no-one was found. A gun, recently discharged, was found in a ditch about 40 roods (220 yards) from the house, near the River Medway; from which it was presumed that the villain escaped by water.
The deceased had an excellent character and left a family of 11 children. He was one of the 'gentry' of the village and in 1790 was one of only two franchised householders in the village and therefore able to vote.
The person committing the crime must have known the layout of the house and the habits of the family well as it was necessary for the pantry door to be opened in order to get a good view from the window where the gun was fired, of Mr. White sitting by the fire. The most deliberate aim must have been taken by the perpetrator, as he had placed a hurdle in front of the window to rest the gun on. The gun was an old musket-barrel fastened to the stock by nails in the breach. So crude was the gun that the hammer would not hold at full cock but was fastened back by a piece of twine, which was presumed to have been cut at the time of firing.
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Both local and national newspapers carried reports of the murder. It was also reported that two men had been apprehended but later released due to lack of evidence. Their names were Day and Driver and the latter was the owner of the gun used for the murder. They were picked up in Bapchild and it was assumed that they were on the run. They were questioned by the coroner, but when he found he did not have enough evidence to prosecute them he had them removed to 'one of his Majesty's ships' (i.e. press ganged). They were later marched back from Portsmouth to Rochester for further questioning and once again press ganged, but finally released without charge.
Thomas Denton, brother of William White's wife Sarah, was also implicated in the murder. He was, after the death of Sarah in March 1808, sole executor of William White's will. On a coach journey from London to Rochester he is said to have made some startling remarks about the murder to his fellow passengers, who were strangers to him. He implied in the conversation that he bore some responsibility for the murder.
The murder remains unsolved to this day, although there was much speculation at the time that is was the son, George White who had killed his father. George was never convicted and eventually disappeared among rumours of moving to Australia, although as he was not convicted, he would not have been deported.
The vicar of Hoo (1802 – 1834), Rev. Richard Jordan was so convinced that it was George White who was the murderer, that he preached a sermon on the matter and opened a book, asking everyone to write down where they were at 8pm on that fateful Sunday evening.
Memoranda
on the
Death of William White,
Yeoman Farmer of Hoo
who was Shot
as he sat in his House
on Sunday evening
Dec. 11th 1808.
By the
Rev. Richard Jordan
Vicar of Hoo
Statement of circumstances collected at different times and opportunities with a view to discover who was the person that barbarously murdered Mr. William White, Farmer, of Hoo, near Rochester, Kent, Dec. 11. 1808, by shooting him through a window in his house, as he sat by the fire in his chair. - His own son, George White, being suspected of the murder, the following statement relates to him.
March 9. 1809
Mrs. Lee, an elderly woman, keeps a little shop at Hoo, and states that about a quarter after seven o’clock Dec. 11. 1808 George White came to her house, and bought a penny worth of nuts, and that he did not enter her house any more that evening.-
[Note. Mrs. Lee said on the Sunday when G. White called a Vestry, that the times of buying the nuts was nearer eight o’clock than seven, that it was about half past seven.]
Joseph Green - Wagoner's mate to the late Mr. White at Cockham farm house, where the murder was committed, states that about half past six o’clock in the evening of Dec. 11. 1808. - he saw some person standing up under the trees, a few yards from the back of Mr. White’s house, and he believed it to be George White, as, he was evidently dressed in a dark coat, (G. White was that day dressed in black) and because he very soon after came into the house, where the mate had just gone. Upon being asked by Joseph Green whether it were he, he answered in the negative. After this, George White invited Joseph Green to go with him to Hoo Street; and that as soon as they were gone a few yards from the house, G. White said he must go back again and fetch his handkerchief : the Wagoner's mate, J. Green, sat upon the stile in the yard, waiting his return : and says he did not go into the house, but that he went to the back part of it, on one side, and returned to him, at the stile in the yard, from the other side. He says, he was gone at least ten minutes to get his handkerchief. [Note. The Gun with which Mr. White was murdered, was rested upon a slat Gate set up close to the window of the pantry, that the assassin might take a sure aim: and it is no wild conjecture to suppose that under pretence of going back for his handkerchief, G. White might take that opportunity to fix the gate; if he were the person who shot his father. He asserted with great positiveness that he knew the slat gate was not standing at the pantry window during the day. He made his assertion at the examination of two persons taken up on suspicion of the murder and afterwards discharged] After this, he and J. Green walked together to the Street at Hoo, went to the Chequers public house, where the latter left G. White, and saw no more of him that night until he appeared, with many other people at the house, some time after Mr. White had been murdered. Joseph Green says, that prior to his having seen some person standing under the trees near the back of the house, he had certainly seen him sitting about upon the stiles near that spot before it was quite dark. [Note. When G. White was asked from whence he came at the time he entered the house, and Joseph Green asked him if it were he that was standing under the trees, he said he came from the Street. Upon being asked again whom he had seen to prove that he did come from the Street; he said, he had not been quite to the Street, but only part of the way in the fields]
March 10.
William Baker states that the last he saw of George White, Dec. 11. 1808, was at the yard gate of the Bells public house, about a quarter before eight o’clock in the evening. He also says, that Joseph Green had told him he believed the person he saw under the trees, was George White. [Note. See further to April 3. what William Baker says about the time of buying the nuts of Mrs. Lee]
March 12.
A Book was opened at Hoo, January 29. 1809, in which it was proposed, that every person should enter his name, stating where he was at 8 o’clock in the evening of Dec. 11. 1808 and whom he could bring to prove the truth of such statement. In that book George White has entered his name thus:-
‘George White, walking with William Baker
William Baker, ‘at home’, witness, James Davis.
March 15.
Richard Jordan. - George White told me this day, that at the time the guns were firing upon the River Medway Dec. 11. 1808 at eight o’clock in the evening, he was at the spot where William Baker says he last saw him. - viz.: - at the gate of the Bells public house yard. He also told me that when he went back for his handkerchief and left J. Green to wait his return at the stile in the yard, he did not see any person in the house: and that, in reality, he did not go into the house to get his handkerchief but up a staircase at the back part of it, to where the handkerchief was. [Note. George White did not get any handkerchief at this time: after the people were assembled at the house, he was without a handkerchief, and then went and got one] He told me also that the Wagoner's mate had said to him, he believed it was he (George White) whom he had seen under the trees.
Francis Smith - Wagoner to the late Mr. White, states that the gun he found concealed in a clover stack near Mr. White’s house about a month before the murder, was by him deposited in the hay-loft. Two or three days afterwards he missed it; was told by G. White that his Father had taken it away, destroyed the stock and lock of it, and thrown the barrel into a lumber room.
March 21.
Richard Everist states that his Son was at the Chequers public house about twenty minutes after seven o’clock Dec. 11. 1808 and that he saw G. White come out of the house, and saw him no more that day.
March 25.
Mrs. Richardson, an elderly woman, who lives in the same house with Mrs. Lee, states that she opened the back door of the house, and heard a dreadful screaming of children at Cockham farm house about or after eight o’clock in the evening of Dec. 11. 1808. [Note. The precise time of the murder of Mr. White is fully ascertained by this circumstance; it happened just as the Guns were firing from the Ships in the River Medway; which, at that time of the year is at eight o’clock. The firing of these Guns seldom passes unnoticed by the inhabitants of Hoo: they generally set their clocks by it, and is, with many, the signal for going to bed] After that, she went to the front door, looking into the street, and saw G. White, coming, as from the Vicarage house: he was groaning very much, but she could not understand anything he said. He went towards Cockham farm house, whither, a great many people from the Street had already gone, upon the alarm of murder being spread. [Note: Mrs. Lee owned what is now the Hairdressers in Church Street. The old Vicarage was on the land now occupied by some of the houses of Butt Haw Close behind what is currently the hardware shop on the corner of Church Street and Vicarage Lane. Mrs. Richardson would have been able to see the Vicarage house, through the trees by looking into Vicarage Lane. Behind the hairdressers was nothing but open fields]
Mrs. Green and her son John Falconer, who live in the Vicarage house, state that about twenty minutes past eight of the evening Mr. White was murdered, as they were sitting by the fire, a groaning was heard in the passage, and the door of the room in which they were, was opened by G. White, who said his Father had just been shot. John Falconer said he did not believe it; it must be a mistake. G. White answered no; it was so, he was sure his Father was dead. John Falconer then went with him to Cockham farm house, and found that his Father really had been shot, and a great many people from the Street were assembled at the house. He says, G. White was so much agitated and out of breath, as to fall down, as they were going to Cockham farm house, and he, (J. Falconer), waited some little time for him to recover, before they could reach the house.
Mr. Simmons, the Coroner, suspects G. White to be the person who shot his Father, and has some minutes he made at the time of taking his Inquest - to justify his suspicions.
R. Jordan - I met G. White this morning and questioned him about the Gun, found by the Wagoner concealed in the clover stack. He told me his Father knocked it to pieces and burnt it. I asked him if the lock of it were in being, as he could not burn that? He answered, the lock and barrel were thrown into the lumber room. I sent him to fetch me the lock, which he said he had no doubt must still be there; he returned in a short time and told me he could not find it. He went a second time, and said he would try if he could find any of the brass parts of the gun. He did not return to me again, but rode immediately to Strood, where Mr. Pearce, Senr of Hoo, met him with his horse in a profuse sweat.
Two Bow Street Runners - upon viewing the premises of Cockham farm house, talking with G. White and others, upon the subject of his Father’s murder, immediately fixed upon him, as the person they suspected of the murder, i.e. George White.
The name of one of them is, Thomas Friend, 215 Tooley St. Bow, Southwark.
His conduct when talked with upon this subject, is such as to increase the suspicion entertained of him; viz.: shy, confused, and apt to listen when he thinks others are talking of it, witness Mr. Epps of Troy Town, Rochester, and Mr. Edmeads of Chatham.
March 26.
The following is a statement which G. White made at a Vestry, called by himself, this morning at Hoo, for the purpose of clearing himself from the suspicions entertained of his having murdered his Father Dec. 11. 1808. Viz.: That, at seven o’clock of the evening of that day, he came out of Cockham farm house with Joseph Green, the Wagoner's mate, and that when they had got as far as the yard gate he, G. White - went back again to the house to get a handkerchief; after that he went with J. Green to Hoo Street; went into the public house kept by Tomlin (the Chequers); staid there, until half past seven o’clock: came out, and met Mr. Richard Everist’s Son at the door: went up to the Bells public house, where he saw John Pearce, William Baker, and others: the time still about half past seven. Then he went as far as Mr. Richard Everist’s house, and returned immediately, met Wm Baker at the Bells; left him and bought some nuts at Mrs. Lee’s: went up the Street again, to Wm Day’s, now eight o’clock, heard the guns fired upon the River Medway while he was there: was in the road between the blacksmith’s forge and Mr. Sand’s house - when the alarm of murder was spread; then he went to the Vicarage house, to Mrs. Green; and afterwards, with Mrs. Green’s Son, John Falconer, to Cockham farm house, where many other people from Hoo Street were assembled.
Nota Bene - He brought no persons to prove the truth of any part of the above statement.
April 3. -
Richard Jordan - This morning I was talking with Wm Baker, near the Bells public house at Hoo, relative to his seeing G. White the last time of the evening of Dec. 11, who told me it was near the gate of the yard belonging to the Bells, and about twenty minutes before eight o’clock: I enquired of him, whether George White after that time, went to Mrs. Lee’s to buy nuts. He answered that he had bought the nuts prior to that time, and had been cracking them at the Bells. At this moment G. White came up to us; and upon my observing to him that he must have bought the nuts much earlier than he had affirmed he did, because Wm Baker had seen him cracking them at the Bells; he immediately replied that he bought nuts of Mrs. Lee twice that day. Soon after this, I took Mr. Richd Smith with me to Mrs. Lee, and in his presence enquired of her if she had sold nuts to G. White twice on the evening his Father was shot: her answer was, positively - only once. Mrs. Richardson who was with her, as positively asserted the same thing. I put the question to them distinctly three or four times, and they continued to make the same answer.
This day being Easter Monday, a numerous party of the inhabitants at Hoo, dined together at the Bells and settled their Parish accounts, the number must have been upwards of forty. G. White had come at my recommendation, in order to make a second attempt to clear himself of the suspicion. After dinner I stated to those at the table, what he had said of himself at the Vestry. In going through it I demanded of him to bring witnesses that they saw him at any time between a quarter before eight o’clock in the evening and a quarter past Dec. 11. 1808; he said he could not bring any, for he saw no persons whatever during that half hour. Questions were put to him by different people at the table, and although there were present more than forty - not a man of them declared he was satisfied with the account G. White had given of himself, or thought he had done away the suspicions entertained of him. [Note. All this, can be proved by witnesses] I questioned him as to the terms upon which he and his Father lived, whether he had been a dutiful Son and his Father affectionate to him; to all this he answered in the affirmative. I then said I was afraid it could be proved that he had been very disrespectful to his Father, that he had at times used some dreadful expressions towards him; such as, he wished he were dead, and that I was also afraid it could be proved that upon one occasion he had clenched his fist at his Father’s back as he sat in his chair, grinding his teeth in a menacing manner. All this he denied; some, however, at the table asserted the truth of it. Some also said that G. White had been informed that his Father was about to make a new will for the purpose of leaving him (G. White) and his Brother in law Rutherford out of it. If G. White be the person who shot his Father, his motive for it must have been the immediate possession of his portion of his Father’s property; and to prevent also the making a new will by which he would inherit nothing.
Thus far has been deposed by the several persons above mentioned and might be proved upon oath.
Much more important matter would appear upon a legal investigation before a Magistrate, as the above is no more than what was afforded me by occasional conversations.
Richd Jordan, Vicar
of Hoo, Kent.
Remark -
It is to be believed that George White, when he heard the alarm of his Father’s murder should pass through the most populous part of the whole parish; and through the midst of people crying murder, as he says he did, and never ask one of them the circumstances attending it, but went to the Vicarage house, losing his time, to tell the inhabitants there what had happened instead of going as fast as he could to Cockham farm house to the assistance of his family? The inference from this circumstance is, that he was not at the spot he affirms he was when the alarm was spread; but that he came directly from Cockham farm house, to the Vicarage: and it is possible, that he might wait near the Vicarage, until he heard the cry of murder in the Street, and then went into the Vicarage house, to shew himself.
General Observations.-
The late Mr. White, of Hoo had made a will sometime in the month of January 1808, his wife was then living; and he had appointed her, and a brother of hers, Thomas Denton, now of Strood, in the county of Kent, his Executors. The last mentioned person, dictated the will, and Mr. Lockwood, of Strood, drew it out in regular form, and sent it over to Cockham farm house, for the signature of Mr. White, (who was extremely ill in bed) and that of the witnesses. It happened, that Mrs. White died instantaneously without the least previous illness, the latter end of March following. Mr. Denton then became sole Executor: and one day observed to his Nephew, G. White, that if it should please God to take his Father now his Mother was gone, they two could carry on the business of the farm very well. At the time Mr. White was murdered he had in contemplation to make a new will; which had he lived until Tuesday after the Sunday on which he was murdered, would have been executed. This circumstance was known to a great many people at Hoo, and of course to his own Family. Had he lived to make a new will, it was his intention to have appointed Mr. Richard Everist of Hoo, and Mr. George Smith of St. Mary’s his executors: two very upright men. Soon after Mr. White was murdered, Mr. Denton, now sole executor, determined not to carry on the farming business for the benefit of Mr. White’s family, in all ten children; but to sell the whole of his property and dispose of the money as he thought best for them. Some part is already sold, and the rest advertised to be sold in May next. This proceeding created a good deal of anxiety in the minds of the friends of the late Mr. White, who were of opinion that his children would be great sufferers. A number of them went to Mr. Simmons, attorney at law, St. Margaret’s Bank, Rochester; February 13th 1809; and advised that the Court of Chancery should be applied to, to prevent Mr. Denton going on with this plan. In Mr. Simmons room, and in the presence of the said friends of Mr. White, Sarah Rutherford, a married woman, daughter of the late Mr. White, attested the truth of the following words, written from her own mouth, and now in the possession of Mr. Simmons. Viz.- That she came into a room at Cockham farm house, soon after the death of her Father, where she saw Mr. Denton alone and crying. She said to him, Uncle! What is the matter? He replied, O Lord! Sarah, I am afraid this murder will be found out now: that rascal George is going to swear my life away!!!
With respect to the gun with which Mr. White was murdered, it is most likely the gun that was found in the ditch near Cockham farm house, the morning after the murder. This gun is the property of Thomas Day of Hoo; who on that account, was taken up on suspicion with another person named Driver and after examination, were both discharged, and clearly innocent. Thos Day acknowledges the gun to be his, and says he had deposited it at the blacksmith’s forge eight or ten months before the murder, and he had never seen it since. By whom it was taken from the blacksmith’s, is at present, not known. With this gun it is probable the murder was committed: if G. White were the person who did it; it seems pretty clear that it was; since his being at the Vicarage house as soon as the alarm of murder was spread, agrees very well with the supposition of his going thither from the point the gun was found. The gun is now at the office of Mr. Twopenny, Attorney at Law Rochester; and is a very rusty one, with stock and lock very much out of repair. From the circumstances of the act, it appears clearly to have been done by some person well acquainted with the premises, and the habits of the family. It was necessary that the pantry door should be open before the assassin could get a view of Mr. White sitting at the fire in the adjoining room. The pantry door was always opened by some of the family about the hour of eight in the evening. A stranger would hardly be aware of such an opportunity as this afforded to commit the murder and therefore little doubt remains of the assassin being well acquainted with the customs of the family. Interested motives must have been the spur to this dreadful act; and it is not possible to point out any person or persons who could gain anything by the death of Mr. White, except his own relatives. With respect to Mr. Denton it is worthy of observation, that on the eighth of February last, he came from London in a Rochester Coach, and two of his fellow-travelers in the Coach, strangers to him, entered into conversation together respecting the murder of Lieut Johnson near Deptford. This brought up the subject of the murder of Mr. White, at Hoo: and Mr. Denton’s conversation about it was so extraordinary, and pointed so strongly to himself, as being if not the perpetrator, at least privy to the murder, that his fellow travelers, who were Mr. Roberts, Navy Surveyor, Somerset House, and Mr. Walker, linen draper at Chatham - were persuaded he was, and actually told him so. Mr. Roberts said he saw something so important in this conversation with Thomas Denton, that he declared he would report it to Mr. Graham, and Mr. Walker engaged to come forward on the occasion.
About an hour after Mr. White was murdered, his Wagoner was dispatched on horseback to Mr. Denton’s house, to inform him of it: and the conversation between them as they came together to Cockham house is of a very extraordinary nature and does tend to throw suspicion upon Thomas Denton. The Wagoner's name is Francis Smith. Denton, although sole executor and Brother in law to the late Mr. White, took no pains himself to discover the assassin; and used opprobrious language to those who did. Richard Ballard, miller at Hoo, will state what appellations he applied to him on account of the pains he took to bring the murder to light. When Thos Day and Edmund Driver were under examination, which was continued for four days, Denton never thought fit to attend, until the Magistrates, before whom the examination was taken, sent for him: and the answer he returned was as extraordinary as the rest of his Conduct: it was, that he had something else to do just then, and that when he was at leisure from what he was then engaged in, he would come. In about an hour after this he made his appearance and sometime afterwards brought a lad, 14 years of age, to swear that he had seen Thomas Day with his gun in his hand, at the blacksmith’s forge, at Hoo, as he walked past on the opposite side of the horseroad at six o’clock in the morning, within a day or two of the time Mr. White was murdered. No credit was given to the deposition of this lad: as it seemed to bear strong proofs that he had been suborned by somebody to say what did upon the occasion. During his deposition Denton put words into his mouth. It appears that Denton very often remarked to G. White that if his Father were dead, they could carry on the business better than it was now done.
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William White was Churchwarden at Hoo from 1790 – 1791 and it is believed that the current weather vane was donated by him and his wife. The inscription reads:
WW . IW
1804
Mr. White’s wife was called Jane but it is known that a ‘J’ was often written as an ‘I’.
(The grave can be found about 20 yards east of the main North Church door)
Inscription on the
Headstone
in
Hoo Churchyard
In Memory of
William White of this Parish, Yeoman, who was, on Sunday evening, the 11th Dec. 1808, most inhumanly murdered in the Bosom of his afflicted Family by a Gun discharged at him through a window whilst sitting by his own fire-side.
The perpetrator of this horrid deed, is not yet discovered, but, there is One who is ‘about our bed, and about our path, and spieth out all our ways,’- Who will, some time, bring it to light.
He lived esteemed by all who knew him, and his sad end is universally regretted.
He left issue, 6 sons, and 5 daughters, to bewail his loss - and died at the age of 58 years.
This stone was erected June the 24th 1809.
By whose assassinating hand I fell
Rest yet concealed, and none but God can tell;
Drop, Reader O’er my Grave one silent Tear,
(And, still remembering that your God is near,)
If rich, or poor, or relative you be,
Strike your own breast, and say, it was not me.
In memory of
Mrs. Jane White, wife of Mr. Wm White, who drop’d down, and suddenly departed this life, March the 24th 1808 aged 44 years.
Brethren the time is short. Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.