The Death of Squire Watts

as reported in The Daily Mirror - date unknown, probably Mon July 22nd

A terrible tragedy disturbed the peacefulness of an old-world English village.

Mr Edward Hanslope Watts, a popular J.P. of Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire, and squire of the village of Hanslope, was shot dead yesterday morning by his gamekeeper, who afterwards turned the gun on himself and committed suicide.

The grim horror of the tragedy was increased by the fact that Mrs Watts was walking with her husband back from church when the fatal shot rang out, and it was only by her dropping down beside her husband's body that she escaped the effects of the assassin's second shot.

The gamekeeper, who was under notice to leave, was a married man, named William Farrow, whose mind, it is believed, became unhinged by the recent heat. About a year ago, it appears, he had a bad attack of sunstroke.

Mrs Watts, whose sister is the wife of general Sir John French, was overcome by the appalling disaster, and last evening was still in a state of complete prostration.

NEWPORT PAGNELL, July 21st -- It was while Mr. and Mrs. Watts were returning home from divine service at the fine old church of Hanslope that the popular squire met his death. The chief personages in the awful Sunday Morning Tragedy were as follows:--

MR EDWARD HANSLOPE WATTS J.P. of Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire, Squire of Hanslope. Owner of Hanslope House and Park, to which he succeeded at the age of seven.
He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, and was sixty-seven years of age. He was married in 1868 to

MRS SOPHIA HANSLOPE WATTS, a daughter of Mr R. W. Selby-Lowndes of Elmens, Bletchley, and sister of Lady French, the wife of General Sir John French. One daughter was born of their marriage: she is married to a son of Major Robert Poore, and brother of Lieutenant-Colonel R. M. Poore, the famous Hampshire cricketer.

WILLIAM FARROW, a gamekeeper, under notice to leave his master's employ. Aged about forty-five, married and leaves a wife and three children ranging from six years of age to twelve. Was prostrated by sunstroke a year ago.

Mrs. Green, wife of the lodge keeper at Hanslope Park, who first rushed to the squire, gave me a pathetic description of the terrible scene enacted just outside the park gates.

"I was in the lodge at about a quarter to one," said Mrs. Green, "when I heard a shot. I did not think very much of it at first, but when I looked out of the window I saw the squire lying on the ground and Mrs. Watts bending over him screaming.

"There was man behind the spinney with a double-barrelled gun, and a second or two after the first shot another shot was fired.

"Squire and Mrs. Watts were walking back from church arm in arm. Mr. Watts wore a silk hat and a black frock coat and Mrs. Watts a lovely brown dress.

"They were within a dozen yards of the drive, and opposite the lodge gates, when the shot was fired. It was a most terrible sight.

"There was poor Mrs. Watts beside herself with grief, crying and screaming, bending over the dead form of her husband. She was begging him to speak, if only to say one word, just one goodbye.

"She kissed him, held his hand and stroked his face, and I saw that her face and hands and dress were covered with his blood.

"The first charge had hit Mr Watts in the back of the head, and the second shot in the middle of the back, tearing his clothes to tatters.

"My son went up on his cycle and brought the doctor and the police. Dr. Rutherford soon arrived and said that Mr. Watts was dead.

"Somebody fetched a stretcher and they placed his body on it.

"All this time Mrs. Watts had refused to leave her dead husband, and was still holding his hand and begging him to speak.

"The body was carried to Mr. Watts' own residence and poor Mrs. Watts went with it.

"Meanwhile the man who had fired the shot ran off into the wood, and then we heard another shot. When his body was picked up we were surprised to find that it was Gamekeeper Farrow. He had been in the squire's employ for about two years.

"The squire, Like Mrs. Watts, was loved by everyone. They were most generous to all, and often visited their tenants. Three generations of the squire's family had lived at the Park, and he has lived here all his life.

"Mr. Watts seldom went out unless accompanied by his wife."

Mr. Watts, who was the village squire, was highly esteemed not only in North Bucks, but throughout the county generally.

Only a few months ago he succeeded the Duke of Grafton as chairman of the Stony Stratford bench of magistrates.

Mrs. Mark Poore, of Greenwich, is the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Watts, and she was married about eleven years ago. To-night she came to Hanslope Park by motor-car.

The inquest will be opened tomorrow.

The scene of the crime was Park road, opposite the lodge gates, and running right and left is the Newport Pagnell and Wolverton Road. Park road leads to Hanslope village and church.

According to another account, Mrs. Watts, after the first shot, caught sight of the assailant half-hidden in the trees, with his gun still at his shoulder.

Exclaiming "He's firing again!" the lady dropped by the side of her husband's body, and thus probably avoided a similar fate.

NEWPORT PAGNELL, July 21 -- It is plain that William Farrow, after his act of madness, ran back from the hedge to the back of the spinney and there shot himself.

What can have been the motive for his terrible act no one in Hanslope can tell, but it is recalled that about a year ago he had a bad sunstroke and was brought home unconscious.

It is thought that the recent heat brought on a recurrence of the stroke, and had the effect of unhinging his mind, which may have been disturbed by the knowledge that he was under notice to leave.

He seemed in his usual spirits this morning, and was at work in his garden for some time. Later he went on his rounds, and returning home at about eleven o'clock told his wife that he wanted some cartridges to lend to a neighbouring farmer.

It is now believed that he had secreted his gun in the woods, and that, having secured the cartridges, he went back for the gun, and, knowing that Mr. Watts had gone to church, he awaited his return, and deliberately shot him.

Farrow lived at Tathall end of Newport Pagnell road, half a mile from the park.

He was thirty-five years of age, and leaves a widow and three little girls, the eldest of whom is twelve and the youngest six. They live off the main road in a house surrounded by a kitchen garden.

When the body was taken home Mrs. Farrow was prostrated with grief. The three children are continually crying for daddy, and cannot understand why he does not speak. The scene is pitiable in the extreme.