Alexander Moir – Manslaughter
‘When the sheet… with which the remains were covered was thrown aside, an expression of horror escaped all present”[1]
Summary
The story of Moir and the death of his wife is one that resonates dramatically in the modern age. In 2018, current or ex-partners committed a third of the murders of women in UK[2].
What makes this tale so distressing is that despite one hundred and seventy years passing since the events, the level of horror which the Moir family experienced at the hands of its head, still occur each and every day.
Early Life
Alexander Moir was baptised in on the 13th of April 1806 in Kippen, Scotland [3]. His parents, John & Janet Moir had been married 13 years before in Kincardine. They would have been considered older parents at 40 and 31 respectively, as the average life expectancy during this period was no more than 42. There are few records of his early life, but we can glean much from the later information.
He trained to become a baker and moved to London before 1830 where he married the eighteen-year-old Susan Wurr at the age of twenty-four[4].
The pair went on to run at least two different bakeries in the capital city, the last of which being in Covent Garden London. The bakery was split over three floors, the basement bake-house, the shop and back parlour where the Moirs resided with their two children and the upper parlour which was let out to lodgers.
Crime
Alexander and Susan had been married for twenty years at the time of her death.
By all accounts, they did not live harmoniously. Amelia Meredes a lodger who’d lived with the Moirs for two months reported that Susan was frequently beaten and left with ‘blackeyes in that time’[5]. In addition, the journeyman baker John Johnson saw Susan hit with ‘fist’ and ‘open hand’[6].
The final straw on this tempestuous marriage came on the evening of the 22nd of March. An argument seemed to be raging between the pair and Alexander Moir, in his defence, claimed that Susan had been drinking. At 11pm John Johnson was called to tend the bread and bake ovens in the basement of the building and at half past eleven, he reportedly heard the sounds of a struggle from above: Susan was shrieking in pain.
The sounds of screaming and thrashing ‘as if a person was dragging another about’[7] continued for the next three and a half hours. At 3am Johnson wrapped on the ceiling to call Mr Moir to his work, and away from his battered wife. Moir stayed in the bakehouse until four-thirty, and Johnson recalled hearing no more after that.
At 8am on Saturday the 23rd of March 1850, Johnson laid eyes upon his master’s wife and by his account she was bruised, bloodied, and carried herself heavily, perhaps stupefied. He returned to his work shortly after and did not see Susan again until the evening.
Just after lunch Mary Ann Bryant, second cousin to Susan, came over. Mr Moir was apparently away from home and Mary and Susan had a discussion about her multiple injuries; bruised hands, swollen neck and eyes darkened behind her glasses.
Mary helped to cook the dinner to try and give Susan a rest, and before half an hour had passed, Alexander Moir returned.
After an argument about the children Moir began to swear at his wife, verbally castigating her and hitting her back, head, and ears with fists and cuffs. Bryant states clearly that each of these blows could have felled a person, and that they continued for quarter of an hour.
Undaunted, the family sat to dinner during which time he berated her consistently, threw bread at her head, and told her cousin that she’d been drunk the night before, explaining that as his reason for ‘vexation’.
Susan was clearly distressed and tried to leave the meal early. Moir told her if she didn’t finish her meat he would fetch a rolling pin ‘and force the piece of meat down her throat’. Susan stayed in her seat, but slipped the meat back onto the serving dish which infuriated Moir. He beat her again, so violently that she cried out ‘Man alive, don’t kill me’.
His chilling response was that he would kill her by inches, continuing ‘I am damned if I do not think I can cheat the government over you’.
Susan retreated to the bedroom, and Moir, in a rare display of empathy, requested that Bryant should go and bathe her wound as he thought he had ‘hurt her head very badly indeed’. And so he had, her ear was described as being the colour of sheep’s liver, her hair, matted with congealing blood.
Bryant asked Moir if Susan could go to bed, as she was in such a poor state but he responded that as it was a Saturday she was needed in the shop. Shortly after this, Mary Bryant had to return home, despite Susan’s ardent request that she not leave her alone. But Bryant agreed to reappear later, and she held to that, entering the store two or three hours after she’d left at five pm.
Susan was not managing. She was unsteady; suffering from what may have been a concussion, acting as though she had been drinking. Her husband, all the while, appeared to still be laying about with heavy blows and striking her constantly.
At six, she fell. Collapsing by the window. Bryant begged the prisoner to help her up, his response? ‘Let the damned bitch lay there until she comes to herself’.
At this point, almost beyond reason, Mary Bryant fled outside for some air, clearly sickened by the blood and violence. Within five minutes, she returned. Susan had roused herself and made her unsteady way to her bedroom, where she collapsed, again. Her head on the step between bedroom and kitchen.
Susan Moir was left to lie on the floor for two hours, despite Mary’s repeated pleas to Alexander to help lift her onto the bed. He replied that she would never lay on a bed of his again, and kicked her form repeatedly whilst she lay insensible.
Bryant’s husband arrived a little after eight, and between them, they manhandled the still unconscious Susan to one of the children’s beds. They bathed her face, and enjoined Moir to send for a doctor. He refused. The Bryants sat with their cousin until gone midnight when they finally returned to their own home, promising to revisit in the morning.
Mary Bryant returned the next morning, and Susan had not stirred. After much cajoling, Moir agreed to send for a doctor, Mr Watkins. Mary stayed with her cousin throughout the day and into the night of the 24th of March. On Monday the 25th, after being insensible since the Saturday before, she died.
Mr Watkins, the surgeon, performed her autopsy the following day. Her death deemed to be caused by a subdural haematoma likely from the blows to the head and neck. There were multiple other contusions noted, and it was clear that Susan had been the victim of systematic abuse.
Watkins also made a review of her liver and viscera to ascertain if she was a drinker, as claimed by her husband, and he denied this, stating that the health and scent of her organs completely discounted the possibility.
On the 6th of May 1850, exactly six weeks after her death, Susan Moir’s killer husband was found guilty of Manslaughter. Amongst the witnesses was their lodger, the journeyman and, most distressingly, their eldest child. Thirteen-year-old Alexander George Moir in court confirmed his father’s threats of murder.
Alexander Moir was sentenced to transportation for life.
Imprisonment
On the 8th of July, Moir was received at Millbank Prison to begin his period of separation.
Seven months later on February 4th, Moir was transferred to the ship “Cornwall” hired specifically to transport convicts, and through the long journey maintained his health whilst multiple convicts succumbed to diarrhoea. He was transferred to the convict prison at Gibraltar on the 4th of March. His behaviour was supposedly good, and better than average throughout his time there. One report in 1856 stated that throughout the previous 21 quarterly reports, Moir had consistently been either good or very good for this duration[8].
During his time in Gibraltar Moir was expected to work for the common good. Fulfilling the prison tenants of ‘Hard Labour, Hard Fare and Hard Board’[9] his work was consistently of the higher standard, and according to the records from Lewes he had been involved in public works[10].
In 1858 Moir was finally done in by the labour and rigours of the Gibraltan prison, he was invalided back to England on the prison ship “Stirling Castle” a hulk apparently repurposed to return prisoners from transportation. He was transferred during his journey home to the “Lady Macnaghten”, a ship with a past as diseased as Moir’s own. The Macnaghten had the dubious reputation of being the ‘fever ship’ of a previous journey where one in six of its passengers fell victim to the delirium.
But Moir continued relatively well, and was received in the temporary invalid prison at Lewes where he remained on lighter duties until his transition to Woking Invalid Convict Prison (the newer, state of the art facility) in March of 1860. He was 54.
In Woking whilst work was encouraged for the infirm, it was of the lighter varieties, no rock breaking in this prison! Alexander’s routine would have been prescribed to him, 13 hours of work each day (apart from Sundays). We can assume that as a baker in his less infirm moments he was likely employed in the kitchens.
After 2 years at the Invalid Prison, in 1862, Moir was released on licence. He had served only 12 years of his ‘Transportation for life’ sentence, and only 7 of those years had been abroad.
His description in the licence is telling, a thin man with a hooked nose, and no teeth. Years before he had been recorded as appearing ‘respectable’, even the reduced years of his sentence could not allay the vicissitudes of labour and years.
Aftermath
Moir is unremarked on for several years after leaving the prison, in 1866 he requests a change to his licence conditions to allow him to return to Middlesex. This is likely to be because of the poor law requirement for charity to only be provided in the hometown of the recipient.
In 1867 Moir was received at Cleveland Street Workhouse in London. He stayed there until February of 1871 when he was discharged to Edmonton Workhouse.
The last record for Moir was dated the 16th of April 1871 – Aged 65 – Dead. Edmonton Workhouse – London. [11]
Trivia
Moir’s trial produced incredible public outcry. The media published multiple pieces, one essay called “On Susan Moir” by Taylor-Mill referred to Moir as both wretch and ruffian, and lambasted the judge & jury for their verdicts of Manslaughter (under aggravated circumstances).[12]
[1] Collected Works Of John Stuart Mills (1st edn, University of Toronto Press 1986).
[2]‘Homicide In England And Wales – Office For National Statistics’ (Ons.gov.uk, 2019) <https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/homicideinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2018#how-are-victims-and-suspects-related> accessed 4 July 2019.
[3] (Findmypast.co.uk, 2019) <https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=R_696030076/2> accessed 4 July 2019.
[4] ‘Civil Marriage’ (Findmypast.co.uk, 2019) <https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=R_854619207> accessed 8 July 2019.
[5]Taylor Mill, ‘The Complete Works Of Harriet Taylor Mill’ (Google Books, 2019) <https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XUjpEmPJ57kC&pg=PA108&lpg=PA108&dq=On+Susan+Moir+murder&source=bl&ots=Mn97qGf_sk&sig=ACfU3U0CkV1x3QTZMahaRaf4x8xDo3SNTg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlt5bkupTjAhVBTxUIHdCQBQk4ChDoATAAegQICRAB#v=onepage&q=On%20Susan%20Moir%20murder&f=false> accessed 4 July 2019.
[6] Ibid.
[7] ‘Browse – Central Criminal Court’ (Oldbaileyonline.org, 2019) <https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=def1-922-18500506&div=t18500506-922#highlight> accessed 4 July 2019.
[8]‘Sign Up Today | Findmypast.Co.Uk’ (Search.findmypast.co.uk, 2019) <https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=TNA%2FCCC%2FHO8%2F128%2F310&parentid=TNA%2FCCC%2FHO8%2F0060901> accessed 4 July 2019.
[9] ‘A Victorian Prison – The National Archives’ (The National Archives, 2019) <http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/victorian-prison/> accessed 4 July 2019.
[10] ‘Sign Up Today | Findmypast.Co.Uk’ (Search.findmypast.co.uk, 2019) <https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=TNA/CCC/PCOM2/107/350&parentid=TNA/CCC/PCOM2/0101018> accessed 4 July 2019.
[11] (Ancestry.co.uk, 2019) <https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/60391/31436_191026-00300?pid=1334558&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc%3DEsm39%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource%26usePUBJs%3Dtrue%26indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D60391%26gsln%3DMoir%26gsfn_x%3D1%26gsln_x%3D1%26cp%3D0%26msrpn__ftp%3Dlondon,%2520london,%2520england,%2520united%2520kingdom%26msrpn%3D85535%26new%3D1%26rank%3D1%26uidh%3D241%26redir%3Dfalse%26msT%3D1%26gss%3Dangs-d%26pcat%3D36%26fh%3D25%26h%3D1334558%26recoff%3D%26ml_rpos%3D26&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Esm39&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.253523402.2133738074.1561998107-1973017558.1558978176> accessed 4 July 2019.
[12]‘The Complete Works Of Harriet Taylor Mill’ (Google Books, 2019) <https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XUjpEmPJ57kC&lpg=PA109&dq=baker%20at%20No.%2024%2C%20Brydges-street%2C%20Covent-garden%20moir&pg=PA109#v=onepage&q&f=false> accessed 4 July 2019.