In March 1846 there was a man in Sheffield, called Robert Withington Harper who had reached the end of his tether. Some months previously he had left his wife Sarah and their two children John and Mary Jane at their home in Bristol, whilst he went looking for employment in Sheffield. In his absence, his wife had been forced by her family to remove the children out of the marital house they had both shared together. Now he did not know where they were. Frantically Robert had sent letters to some of her relatives asking for the letters to be forwarded to his wife, but as there had been some dispute with them in the past, his letters were simply returned unopened.
Earlier that month Robert had gone to Sheffield and had found lodging with a Mrs Storey in Carver Street. He soon found work, but almost immediately became ill with an attack of rheumatism, and subsequently had been unable to take up his position. Because of this, it was not long before Robert found himself penniless, apart from a weekly postal order of 10s a week sent by his wife’s family to live on. As this was all the money he had, he wrote to his wife Sarah asking her to send him some warm clothing and some money to Sheffield, but had no response. In a state of absolute desperation Robert had written several letters to local men of the town, asking them to intervene in order to make contact with his family.
In desperation he had written to the Lord Mayor of Sheffield himself, Mr Samuel Butcher. In the letter which the Mayor received on Thursday 12 March, Robert asked him to use his influence to establish a meeting between himself and his family, so that some issues might be resolved. He warned that unless an advertisement giving the date of a meeting could be inserted in the Sheffield Independent of Saturday 14 March, he would take some poison which he had in his possession. Robert concluded that if he killed himself, his family would at the very least be obliged to attend an inquest and would learn of his plight. There they would be required to vindicate themselves to the Coroner and give for the reasons for his abandonment.
Thankfully the Mayor of Sheffield took his letter seriously and upon reading the letter, he went immediately to the lodging house in Carver Street to seek Robert out. There Mr Butcher found that there had been a man of that name staying at the house, who had appeared to be in a distressed position. However the landlady Mrs Storey told the Mayor that he had now left and she had no idea where he had gone. She gave him a description of Robert Harper and the clothing he had been wearing when she last saw him leave. Mr Butcher alerted the police authorities, giving them a description of the man. He instructed them that if Robert was found, he was immediately to be brought to him at the Town Hall. Police enquiries quickly established that Robert Harper had travelled to Rotherham.
It seems that once there, he had scoured the Saturday edition of the Sheffield Independent looking anxiously for the appropriate advertisement, but none had been found. With no hope that any help would now be offered to him, Robert returned back to Sheffield on Tuesday 17 March determined to kill himself. In order to carry out this final act, he went to the Bank Coffee House late in the afternoon, where he then ordered a cup of coffee. Robert then drank the coffee which contained the arsenic he had been keeping for that very purpose. He then went from there to the Town Hall where he asked after the Mayor. When Robert was told that Mr Butcher was not in, he informed a member of staff that he had taken poison and would soon be a dead man.
Two surgeons Mr Boultbee and Mr Wright were immediately sent for but it was too late to help Robert Harper, and he died later that night. Whilst he had been at the Town Hall, he had handed over to the office keeper, four small books in which was written his life story. The books revealed a slow but inevitable fall from grace, as Robert went from one disaster to another. The first book recorded his early life and stated how his father was a Mr Thomas Harper of Bristol. He had died in 1837 and had left a will stating that his estate should be shared out amongst his children equally. However it happened that some of his brothers and sisters had died since his father had made his will. Subsequently a row had developed over who should have the remainder. When his older brother claimed the inheritance of his deceased siblings as well as his own, Robert’s share had shrunk considerably.
The book related how even as a result of this small inheritance, Robert had found that he was in a good financial position, and so he decided to marry a woman whose dowry consisted of £950. Some of the dowry was handed over to him after the wedding, however her father’s trustees kept the remainder of the capital. With this windfall Robert went into business for himself, but he did not have a good head for such things and sadly ended up bankrupt. One of the other books listed how after his fathers death, Robert had managed to obtain employment in Reading, Berkshire. The book related how his wife Sarah and himself were happy there for some time, and eventually his widowed mother had joined them, living with them until she too died. Sadly that seems to have precipitated the beginning of the breakdown with his family, which renewed the dispute about the division in his fathers estate.
On top of that, Robert had recorded that he had signed a document which he was told would secure his wife entitlement to the rest of the money, which was still held by her appointed trustees. However in actual fact this document turned out to be one giving the trustees the power of attorney over Sarah’s remaining capital, instead of her husband. Subsequently, in 1841 Robert left Reading for some employment in London but once there, had an attack of rheumatism which he blamed on sleeping in cold, damp beds. As a result, Robert not only lost that position, but also ended up disabled through his rheumatism. In the book he described returning back to Sarah and the two children, but once again was unable to find work. He also complained bitterly about the influence his brother-in-law had over his wife in his absence.
It was shortly after that whilst he was in London looking for some employment, that Sarah left him and returned back to her family, taking much of the furniture and the children with her. However she left him a note saying that the trustees had agreed to pay Robert 10s a week. This amount was hoped to keep him until he gained some employment. The trustees had even arranged for him to go to Birmingham where there might be a job available. He did go to Birmingham, but he was not offered the post and it was at that point that he bought the arsenic. Subsequently Robert tried to arrange a meeting between himself and his wife’s relatives, but nothing was achieved. However he was told that they would give him his rail fare to Sheffield, where he might find employment there.
Instead the book described a period where the poor man was living in Sheffield almost in complete poverty. As his mental and financial situation slowly deteriorated, Robert had decided to send letters to local businessmen of Sheffield, threatening to take the poison unless they helped him. The last entries of the third and fourth book were later reported in the local newspaper, which illustrate his complete desperation at that time. The entries read:
‘Sunday morning 15 March 1846, Rotherham.
There was no advertisement in the Independent. I tried to read works of fiction, to get into company and to take walks, but I dare not. I wanted to think about my children, but I dare not. I think the people here in Rotherham think I am mad. Yesterday I watched the tombs in the churchyard from my bedroom window. Soon I shall be a mass of clay, a man tried, condemned and executed without meeting his accusers or knowing what his crime is. Dear John and Mary Jane, from their father who will never kiss them again.
The account continues, although after this there are no dates given. Robert writes that on one particular day he felt that he was struggling ‘with the Devils of Hell and Incarnate Fiends.’ His writing at this point becomes almost unreadable, as he is obviously in a state of unstable excitement. Thankfully in another portion from the fourth book, Robert appears more calm and his writing becomes more legible again. Nevertheless he is still trying to reach out to others for help. In this extract, also written in Rotherham he writes:
‘Last evening I went to Masbrough Chapel and heard Mr Stowell preach. He looks like a man of God and he preached like one, but that is nothing. However I was compelled to write to him and I have done so. What will be the result?’
Robert then lists sums of money left by his father, which should rightly have been his. He also lists instances when, in his own deluded opinion, his wife Sarah should have treated him better than she had during their marriage. The list of self-pitying excuses continue, which sadly reveal the poor man’s slow descent into madness and paranoia. Robert also lists the names of his ‘murderers’ who he states are driving him into killing himself. However he concludes:
‘Vengeance is mine and I will repay saith God, and to Gods vengeance I leave my murderers. May God forgive them, for I cannot do that. I cannot forgive them who have separated me from my dear children. God grant them repentance and may that mercy now be extended to me. What more shall I add? Nothing. Amen.’
Signed R.W.H.’
Other extracts continue along in this vein. In one such, just headed ‘Monday’ Robert again reports on how he was miserably looking out onto the Rotherham Church graveyard, when suddenly a wedding party appeared. He simply comments ‘such is life’ before sinking back again into a complete state of misery. It would seem that this was the catalyst which finally drove him to prepare the arsenic. His last entry is made on the following morning [17 March] before he returned back to Sheffield to take the poison.
Once again it is undated although it is headed ‘From Rotherham, Tuesday 10 am.’ He writes:
‘Tuesday morning and here I am still living. Am I asked why I have not kept my word? My answer is I want to keep out of hell as long as I can. I have lived till every shilling has gone, and tonight I have not the price of a bed. Do you wish to trace my conduct at Rotherham? The first night I slept at the Temperance Coffee Room; the second at the College Inn; and the last at Mrs Frith’s, at the Ring-of-Bells, on Church Street. Now to think of Sheffield, the hour has come, the solemn awful day is come, spirits of my parents look upon me.’
His last poignant words are in a note to his wife and it appears that these were written at the Sheffield Town Hall on the Tuesday evening after Robert had taken the poison. He simply writes:
‘My dear, My love to you and the children. I forgive you. R.W.H.’
The Sheffield Coroner, Mr Thomas Badger was informed of Robert Harper’s death and an inquest was held at the Town Hall on Friday 20 March 1846. As the Coroner opened the inquest, he informed the jury of the circumstances around the man’s suicide. He also read some of the extracts from the letters, indicating the deceased man’s state of mind at the time. Mr Badger said that he had thought it was his duty to communicate with Robert Harper’s relatives in Bristol and London. As a result he had received a reply from his brother-in-law, a man called Mr Daniel Lomas who was a Methodist preacher in London. Mr Badger told the inquest that Mr Lomas had said that he would try to attend the inquest however, although he was on the way, he had not arrived at that time.
Nevertheless the Coroner said he would proceed with the inquest and the first witness was called. It was Robert’s landlady in Sheffield, Mrs Storey. She told the court that Mr Harper had been lodging with her for nine weeks up to his going to Rotherham. During the time he had stayed with her, Robert had conducted himself in a quiet manner, but had seemed to her to be in a very depressed state. The witness told the inquest that he had told her of his financial troubles and had also read parts of the letters out to her that he had sent to various people. Mrs Storey said that her lodger had read one he had sent to his brother-in-law, along with some others he had arranged to be forwarded to his wife. She said that all the letters had all been returned unopened and unread. After that Mr Harper became very excited and talked to himself, as he walked restlessly up and down the house.
The landlady said he had also showed her the arsenic that he intended to take, if he got no response from the letters he had sent to the gentlemen in Sheffield. Her evidence was corroborated by her daughter, Lucy Pearce and she added that for most of the time Mr Harper had appeared perfectly sane, yet at others he seemed to be excited and quite irrational. However the witness added that in the conversations she had with the deceased man, she did not consider him to be completely insane. The Mayor of Sheffield, Samuel Butcher then gave his evidence and produced the letter he had received from Robert Harper. He described interviewing Mrs Storey at her house in Carver Street and explained his orders to the police officers regarding searching for the man. The Mayor stated that he had made enquiries every day as to whether Harper had been found or not.
He admitted to the inquest that his only regret was not having inserted something in the Independent newspaper as had been requested to do so by the deceased. Another witness was a woman called Jane Woolhouse, who introduced herself as a waitress employed at the Bank Coffee Rooms in Sheffield. She described Mr Harper ordering a cup of coffee before sitting with a man called Blackhurst for a while. Woolhouse described how the two men had talked for a short time before Harper left. The witness then told the jury that after the deceased man had gone, Blackhurst had brought the man’s coffee cup back and handed it to her. He instructed her to ‘wash it carefully’ as the man had just told him that he had taken some poison from it.
The next witness was a man called Frederick Shaw who stated how the deceased had come to the desk at the entrance to the Town Hall around 10 am. He had asking to speak to the Mayor and said that ‘there was no time to lose, as he should be a corpse in a few minutes’. Shaw said that Harper had told him that he had bought some arsenic in Birmingham three months ago which he had now taken. Inspector Wakefield was the next witness and he told the inquest that he had been called to the Town Hall and informed that a man there had taken some poison. He said that at that point the man was still alive although he was obviously suffering. The Inspector told the jury that from his observations, he had no doubt but that the deceased man was completely irrational and insane.
Medical evidence was also given by surgeon Mr Boultbee who had also been called to attend to the man. He said that himself and a colleague had tried everything they could to counteract the effects of the poison, but it had all been in vain. Mr Boultbee said that they had spent two hours trying to revive the poor man, but they knew that the case was hopeless. The witness described how Mr Harper was taken to the workhouse, where the two medical men had visited him regularly until his death at 11 pm. The surgeon told the inquest that Robert Harper had appeared easier in his mind after he had taken the poison and had asked the surgeon to pray with him, which he did. Just before the end he had asked Mr Boultbee to inform his family that his last words had been that he was not afraid that he would go to hell, for he felt that God had pardoned him.
Mr Badger then read more extracts from the letters and books and said that the words left little doubt in his mind as to the man’s irrationality being very real. The Coroner then read out a letter from the deceased man’s brother-in-law, Mr Nathaniel Lomas which had been received by the Mayor before Robert Harper’s death. He informed the jury that it would indicate the mind of the deceased man. However the letter simply revealed how his wife’s family had tried to paint him as a black hearted villain, whose ‘profligate behaviour’ had resulted in his own death. In the letter Mr Lomas had written:
‘I may state that for several years back, Harper has repeatedly left his family for several weeks together, taking with him all the money or silver plate he could obtain. After he had squandered it all away, he would return to abuse his wife and make her life wretched. On one occasion he took with him £180, which in nine months he had spent, before he again returned. His clothes and watch were pawned and several debts were contracted, which his wife had to pay.
It became at length absolutely necessary to remove his wife and children from him, taking the opportunity when he had once more left her. His desire to be returned to his family is principally that he may simply have a home to return to, when he has squandered all his money away. As to his threats to commit suicide, you need not be under any apprehension that he will destroy himself. This is an old attempt to frighten his friends, repeated frequently, but never seriously intended.’
The Coroner said the letter went on to explain that the deceased was not, as he frequently claimed to be, destitute and abandoned. On the contrary the family had allowed him 10s a week and urged him to find some kind of employment. Just as Mr Badger finished reading, the letter writer himself, Nathaniel Lomas entered the room accompanied by Robert’s brother, Mr A Harper. The two men apologised to the inquest for their lateness, before the Coroner asked Mr Harper if he would now like to give his evidence. He told the inquest that it was painful for him to have to speak of his brother’s terrible conduct. Mr Harper also described the frequent threats of suicide and his brothers profligate lifestyle, which had so alarmed his family at one point that he was taken before a magistrate in London. As a result he had been confined for some time in a lunatic asylum.
The witness spoke of another occasion when Robert had returned home, once more deep in debt and had written several letters asking for help to various parties. In those letters too he had threatened to commit suicide. When the witness had asked him whether he had really intended to kill himself, his brother had replied that he never had any intention of doing so. Consequently the whole family were convinced that the whole sordid plot had simply been a ruse to obtain money from the parties applied to. Contrary to the letters and the writings in the books, Mr Harper said that his own family had tried their best to help him. Only a month previously they had sent him some warm clothing to Sheffield in response to his request. In addition he said that he had also just recently been left a small legacy from an uncle. The witness said that despite this, there was no mention of either event in the letters or the notebooks.
At this point the Coroner summed up for the jury and told them that they had two tasks. Firstly they had to establish whether or not the deceased man had died from the effects of the arsenic, of which there could be little doubt. Secondly, they had to take into consideration his state of mind at the time the deceased took the poison. Mr Badger went over again the evidence of the witnesses, who had described how Harper’s excitement had manifested itself at times. He reminded them of the evidence of Inspector Wakefield who had said that he had no doubt that in his opinion, the deceased man was ‘completely irrational and insane.’ The Coroner said that he was glad to have had the confirmation from a member of the man’s own family as to the allowance of 10s a week.
Mr Badger added that this was backed up by a letter which had been given to him after Mr Harper’s death. It was unopened and was addressed to the deceased man, and inside was his weekly remittance. The jury took little time to return a verdict that ‘the deceased had died from having taken arsenic, whilst labouring under temporary insanity.’ Mr Harper’s brother then said that although he and his brother had not spoken together for some time, he still had a great affection for him. Although in the latter years he was unable to reach out to his brother, he wanted to take this opportunity to express his gratitude to the Sheffield Coroner and the jury ‘for the sympathy they had shown on this most melancholy occasion.’ Mr Badger then announced that the inquest on the tragic suicide of Robert Harper was now closed.