Background to the Tragedy
Squire Edward Watts and William Farrow
How was it that the lives of these two men - Squire Edward Watts and gamekeeper William Farrow - intersected so fatally on that day in July 1912 ?

This section of the story deals with the background to the Tragedy, detailing what is known of the lives of the two men, their families, and the working side of Hanslope Park.
Squire Watts

Edward Hanslope Watts was the last but one of a series of Lords of Hanslope. He had inherited the title of Squire of Hanslope in 1853 at the early age of 8.

In 1868 he married Sophia Edith Selby-Lowndes, the third daughter of Mr R Selby-Lowndes of Bletchley, and one of the "Eight Belles of Bletchley" - a nickname given to the daughters of the Selby-Lowndes family. The couple had just the one child - a daughter named Irene.

The Squire's position meant that he necessarily took an interest in a wide range of issues within the district. The eulogies printed in the Press after his death (and confirmed by memories of those who knew him) speak of him as a kindly, compassionate man, but there was another side to him which occasionally revealed itself. North-east Buckinghamshire was still at that time a fairly feudal society where the Squire held enormous power and influence, due in part to the fact that he owned large areas of the villages of Hanslope and Tathall End. The records of Hanslope Parish Council show that at the formation of the Council in 1894, the Squire was not voted onto the Council, and in fact came a long way down the poll. When the Council wanted to take the initiative of getting wells sunk to provide a reliable water supply to Hanslope and Tathall End, the Squire opposed test boring on his land. And the issue of street lighting for Hanslope also led to friction and an eventual court case between the Squire and the Council, which the Council lost. After ten years of frustration, the Council saw the light and invited the Squire onto the Council and voted him Chairman. He took no part in meetings for the first year, but after that, all obstacles over water and street lighting miraculously disappeared!

Edward Hanslope Watts was quite an active man. Up to about 1910 he had done his own gamekeeping on the Hanslope Estate. His son-in-law, Mark Poore, then prevailed on him to have a rest from this by taking on another gamekeeper. It isn't yet known whether Henry Martin, Under-Keeper at the time of the Tragedy, was already employed at Hanslope in 1910, but at any rate the Squire took the fateful decision to employ William Farrow as Head Keeper. Farrow was at the time employed as a Keeper at the estate of the Selby-Lowndes family at Whaddon Hall (to the west of what is now Milton Keynes). Why the Squire chose William Farrow is not recorded - as Farrow was employed by the Squire's in-laws, it might be supposed that he came recommended.

Hanslope Parish and Estate includes a number of "Ends" whose names survive today. Henry Martin was Keeper for the Pindon End part of the estate, and lived there. As William Farrow was to take responsibility for the part of the estate nearer the mansion, the Farrows were given a cottage in Tathall End. The Squire's harder attitude came to the fore again when the family who were already living in the cottage were unceremoniously moved out, though another cottage was found for them.

One or two things emerge from reports and memories of life at Hanslope Park in the two years William Farrow worked there. Press reports after the Tragedy state that in 1911, the Squire and William Farrow went out shooting on a hot day and Farrow suffered a severe case of sunstroke which rendered him unconscious for a couple of hours. Also, there were incidents at the Park. According to Mary Fearn, granddaughter of the Coachman at Hanslope Park, her grandfather George Green once caught William Farrow ill-treating one of the horses and threatened to report him. The Squire's nephew Edward French claims in his book "The Hanslope Park Tragedy" that Farrow's work had been unsatisfactory, culminating in the death by neglect of Mrs Watts' favourite dog while the Squire and his wife were on holiday and the dog was in Farrow's care. Edward French states that his uncle's patience finally ran out and he decided to dispense with William Farrow's services and do some of his own gamekeeping again.

It is interesting to reflect on the Squire's options. He could retain William Farrow or he could dismiss him; and if the Squire were to start doing his own gamekeeping again at the age of 67, it would make sense to do the part of the estate nearest the mansion - which was the section Farrow did. There was in fact a third option - he could dismiss Henry Martin and move Farrow to the Pindon End part of the estate. That he chose not to do this may say something either about his estimate of William Farrow's worth or about other possible reasons for the dismissal.

Whatever the motives and reasons, he gave William Farrow a fortnight's notice. A nephew of the Squire - a Mr H.E.Bull, who represented the family at the Inquest - testified that Squire Watts was looking for another position for William Farrow and was in active discussion with someone over this matter, but this has never been corroborated further. Seven days later, on his way back from Morning Service at Hanslope Parish Church, he passed along the road between North Spinney and South Spinney. Within sight of the gatehouse to his estate, and walking a few yards ahead of his wife, Edward Watts was shot dead by William Farrow.

William Farrow

Very little was recorded locally about the life of William Farrow and his family before the Tragedy. However, some facts can be pieced together from public records, and embellished by newspaper reports and personal memories.

His wife Annie testified at the Inquest into the fatal shootings that he would have been 46 "on the morrow". We can therefore fix his date of birth as July 23rd 1866. It is also known that he came from Lancashire - he was married there; several newspapers allude to the fact that the family came from the Wigan district; and the Northampton Herald reported after the Tragedy that "Mrs. Farrow, widow of the murderer of Mr. Watts, is shortly leaving to join her relatives in Lancashire."

William Farrow may have come from Lancashire to take up employment in Buckinghamshire, but thanks to the 1901 Census we now know that he was not born in Lancashire. William Farrow was born in a tiny hamlet in Cambridgeshire, called Carlton Green. (Click here for the details). He was the youngest of seven children, and like his father he was an agricultural labourer.

The Civil Records for 1898 list a marriage between a William Farrow and an Annie Bullen which took place in the first quarter of the year (ie January to March) in the Wigan registration district of Lancashire.

The interesting question is : by what process did William Farrow move from Cambridgeshire to Lancashire then down to Buckinghamshire?

The 1901 Census records list him as working in the Wigan district as a gamekeeper, so we can assume he had spent most of his working life outdoors (even if some sources at the time of the Tragedy refer to him as an ex-miner). By 1901, William and Annie Farrow had had their first daughter Jane, who - interestingly - bears the same name as William Farrow's mother and one of his elder sisters.

The Old Wrestlers pub Mursley BucksSometime in the early 1900's, Farrow was employed as a gamekeeper on the Whaddon Estate. We know that the family was living at a pub called "The Old Wrestlers" in Mursley, a small village to the east of the estate.

(Right) The former pub "The Old Wrestlers" in Mursley. It is now a private house, but still bears the name "The Wrestlers". Apparently, in its time it was - variously - a pub, a Post Office and a shop.
In 1910, when Farrow was "headhunted" by Squire Watts, the family moved from Mursley to Tathall End. By this time the Farrows had three daughters. The two eldest were Jane and Annie. This is confirmed by the entries in the Hanslope Primary School Registers given below:

Hanslope Parish School Records

Hanslope Parish School Records

These confirm that Jane and Annie Farrow were the daughters of William Farrow, Keeper (ie Gamekeeper) of Tathall End, that their dates of birth were 6 November 1900 and 18 August 1902 respectively, that they joined Hanslope School on 24 October 1910 and left on 10 September 1912. The latter date is indicative - they were missing from the school at the start of the new term. The records show them as having moved away ("Left Parish").

No real details are yet known concerning the third daughter. Newspaper reports of the Tragedy say the Farrows had three daughters, the youngest being 6. She was therefore born in either 1905 or 1906, it was hoped that this might have been while the Farrows were at Mursley. Checks with the baptismal records there, however, list no one by the name of Farrow being baptised in the relevant period.

Reference has already been made above (in the section on the Squire) that William Farrow's life at Hanslope Park did not run smoothly. Reporters quickly unearthed local memories of the attack of sunstroke (see above), and some reports of the Inquest carried reference to an apparent argument William Farrow had with Henry Martin earlier in the year over things being said about him. On the stand, Henry Martin claimed that it had all been cleared up and relations between them were amicable.

There is no clear consensus of William Farrow's height and general manner. Some newspapers reported him as being about six feet in height, others that he was shorter and rather stocky. The only known photo available (shown above) seems to confirm the latter. Similarly, some reports describe him as "taciturn" by nature. The description would seem to fit the events, but has not been corroborated by any other source.

Whether William Farrow expected to be dismissed or not can never be known. Local gossip has it that the Squire came to him and told him he would have to go as he (the Squire) had to make some economies. His wife Annie testified on the witness stand at the Inquest theat he had made no mention to her that he was under notice to quit, and the first she heard of it was when PC Cooper came to tell her of her husband's death. How many others knew it has never been ascertained, but it is slightly surprising that in the small and relatively close-knit village communities of the time it wasn't common knowledge, at least among the estate workers if nowhere else. In the week after he was given notice he seems to have been drinking and off his food - or so his wife testified at the Inquest. While this is hardly surprising in the circumstances, the final outcome certainly was. He borrowed a shotgun from a neighbour - a Mr Ruff of Woad Farm - and at some time towards the end of his first week of notice he hid this gun and his own, probably in North Spinney and possibly at the scene of the murder.


Manor Farm - still owned by the Beasleys -
Parts of it date back around 500 years
On the morning of July 21st 1912, with his two eldest daughters at Sunday School, he put eight shotgun cartridges in his pocket, saying they were for a neighbour, and left his home between 10.00 and 10.30. He returned around 11.00, drank a jugful of primrose wine and made an entry in his gamebook, which he took with him at he walked out of the house for the last time. He made his way up the road from Tathall End to Hanslope Park, past the Park gates and over to Manor Farm, which was occupied by the Beasleys - tenants of Squire Watts.

Mary Beasley testified at the Inquest that William Farrow turned up at the Farm at about 11.45 - calling at the back door where he begged a glass of beer, saying that his throat was parched. She claimed that his manner unnerved her - she was terrified by the glassy, agitated look in his eyes.
The back gate and the back doorway of Manor Farm. Although the door and kitchen window have both been replaced with more modern versions, and there is a new building opposite the back of the house, it is still possible to envisage how things were when William Farrow called there in 1912

The door connecting the back door passageway and the kitchen. The door is the original one, and the kitchen interior (right) is little changed in substance since 1912, though a new tiled floor has been added.

William Farrow was kept in the back door/passageway, i.e. between the kitchen and the back door.


While she fetched him his beer, she and her daughter Olive, who was also at the house, heard William Farrow play about with the family shotgun, which - as was so frequently the case in those days in rural areas - stood propped against the back door. He was heard to made a clicking sound with it, as if he were pulling the trigger.

William Farrow drank his beer, then horrified Mary Beasley even more by asking for a razor to have a shave "before they come out of church". He claimed his own razor had gone to be sharpened. She could only utter a stunned "What?" before he left. He didn't get the razor, and he didn't take the shotgun - she didn't see which way he went.

Leaving Manor Farm, and in a state of mind that can only be guessed at, William Farrow walked back towards the Park and made his way through North Spinney to a point where the road from Hanslope enters the Spinney.



A view of the road coming from Tathall End to Haversham and Wolverton, past the gates of Hanslope Park. North Spinney is on the left. In 1912 the road from Hanslope made a crossroads with this road and the entrance to the Park.

This view was taken about ten years or so after the Tragedy, but at the same time of year, and gives a good impression of the route that William Farrow took in his last hour of life.
At about 12.45, walking slightly ahead of his wife as was their custom, the Squire passed the spot where William Farrow stood. William Farrow shot him twice - in the head and in the back - with the shotgun he had borrowed from his neighbour. Making off into the Spinney, and with the Squire's wife weeping over the body of her dead husband, he shot himself through the mouth with his own shotgun.

It was left to the doctor when he finally arrived to pronounce both men dead at the scene. A group of neighbours and estate workers carried the Squire to the Mansion on a stretcher. A group of estate workers found a sheep hurdle, covered William Farrow's body with hessian sacks, and carried him back home to his unsuspecting wife and children.




The murder scene, taken from a map of 1900.

The beige areas are roads; the dark green lines show hedgerows; the light green represents roadside verge/grass etc.

A very small stream ran through North Spinney and through a culvert under the road opposite the Park gates.



The sequence of recorded events is:

1. Squire Watts and his wife meet two children pushing a pram.
2. Dr Rutherford stops to talk to the Watts' as he returns on his bike to Hanslope.
3. From his position at the entrance to North Spinney, William Farrow shoots Squire Watts.
4. Squire Watts falls to the ground, mortally wounded.
5. Lily Green and her son William hear the shot(s) and come running out of the gatehouse lodge.
6. William Farrow withdraws to the back of North Spinney, about forty yards from where he shot the Squire, and commits suicide.