Knowsley Hall shootings
The Knowsley Hall shootings occurred on the evening of 9 October 1952 in Knowsley Hall, Merseyside, England. Harold Winstanley, a 19-year-old trainee footman at the house, shot his employer, Lady Derby, and three colleagues. Two of those shot died: the butler, William Stallard, and the under-butler, Douglas Stuart. Winstanley fled the scene, assaulting the chef while doing so, and went to a local pub. He later took a bus into Liverpool, where he surrendered to the police. Winstanley was tried for the two murders and found guilty but insane and committed to Broadmoor Hospital.
Background
Among the staff was Harold Winstanley, a 19-year-old trainee footman.[3][4] Winstanley had been born in nearby Aintree. His father had died when Winstanley was three years old, and some of his siblings and half-siblings had been taken into care. Winstanley remained with his mother and studied at the Walton Technical College, where he performed well academically.[5] Winstanley's mother was admitted to a mental institution in August 1946 and remained there until after the events of 1952.[6]
Winstanley had briefly served with the Scots Guards but was invalided on account of tuberculosis.[6] After his discharge he spent a period with the Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Wirral before joining the staff at Knowsley Hall on 15 December 1951.[4][5] Winstanley was trained in his role by the house's 40-year-old butler, William Stallard, and 29-year-old under-butler, Douglas Stuart, and was well-regarded by his colleagues.[4]
On 7 October 1952 Winstanley met a friend at
Shootings
At around 8:15 pm, Lady Derby was dining alone in the first-floor Smoke Room. She was eating a dinner brought to her by the staff while seated at a table facing the corner of the room, watching a television set to her left. The door from the First Library was to her right, and the locked door to the Second Library was to her left.[4]
Winstanley entered the room from the First Library, smoking a cigarette, which was not permitted for the staff.[3] Lady Derby asked him what he wanted, stood up, and turned to face him when she noticed he was holding the MP-40. Winstanley told Lady Derby to turn around, and when she did, he shot her. Lady Derby was wounded slightly in the neck and fell forwards onto the floor, where she feigned death. She was struck by one round, which had entered the back of her neck and exited near her left ear.[4] In a statement made to the police after his arrest,[nb 2] Winstanley said he had intended to ask Lady Derby to help him dispose of the gun but had shot her after he became frightened. He said he told her to turn around as he did not want to shoot her when she was looking at him.[6]
As she was lying, Lady Derby heard Stallard enter and address Winstanley before he was shot and killed. Stallard was hit by five bullets, two of which caused fatal wounds to his head. It was established at the trial that Stallard was responding to the staff call bell activated from the Smoke Room, and the prosecution stated that only Winstanley was in a position to do so. The prosecution maintained that Winstanley had hidden in the First Library as Stallard passed through and shot him after he entered the Smoke Room.[4]
After Stallard's killing, Lady Derby also heard Stuart, who is thought to have heard the first shots and come to investigate, enter the Smoke Room and say "no".[4] He pled for his life, noting that he had a wife, to which Winstanley told him "I will look after your wife" before shooting a burst of fire. Stuart made for the locked door to the Second Library but was hit by a second burst of fire and killed.[4][6] He was struck by five bullets in the head, chest, and abdomen, and the police surgeon thought that all bar one would have been fatal alone. The police determined that 17 shots had been fired in the Smoke Room, all from a position near the door to the First Library. They thought seven had been directed at Lady Derby and five each at the butlers.[4]
After killing the two men, Winstanley moved to the first-floor hall where he met William Sullivan, Lord Derby's valet. Sullivan had heard the shots from the second floor and moved to investigate. Sullivan asked Winstanley what he was doing, but he did not answer, instead asking Mitchell and another housemaid, watching from the floor above, to come down. When the housemaids refused, Sullivan ran downstairs to the ground floor, pursued by Winstanley. On reaching the ground floor, Winstanley opened fire, wounding Sullivan in the hand with one of eleven shots. Sullivan collapsed into the entrance to the lift shaft, and Winstanley was aiming at him when other staff arrived on the scene.[4]
The housekeeper, Turley, tried to calm Winstanley down. He told her he had killed Stallard, Stuart, and Lady Derby but would not hurt the female staff. Turley made to call for the police, but Winstanley threatened to shoot her if she did. In the meantime, Lady Derby's lady's maid, Doxford, had found her and called the police from an upstairs telephone at 8:45 pm. Winstanley went to his room on the ground floor to get his coat, and the chef, Dupuy, tried to reason with him. Dupuy tried to seize the gun as they walked down a corridor to the exit. Winstanley struck him over the head with it, causing nine rounds to discharge into the wall. Dupuy was only lightly wounded in the head. Winstanley then left the house.[4]
Police search
The
Trial
Winstanley was charged with the murders of Stallard and Stuart. He was brought before
At the
The case concluded on 16 December. The jury did not need to retire to consider their decision but, in a conference in the
Later developments
Winstanley was later released from Broadmoor; thereafter, he would write to solicitor Rex Makin every year, updating him on his life.[9]
Legacy
Lady Derby made a full recovery from her injury.
Between January 1953 and April 1954, an entire wing of the house and a library were demolished, reducing the footprint by a third. Significant remodelling was also carried out to the servants' quarters. This was the last time an English home was designed to accommodate a large domestic staff.[3]
Notes
- MP-40, developed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War, was commonly known as a Schmeisser after the weapon designer Hugo Schmeisser. Schmeisser played no role in developing the MP-40, though he did help design the MP-41 variant, which saw very limited production.[7]
- ^ At the trial, Winstanley's defence barristers applied for this statement to be discounted over the circumstances in which it had been taken, but the judge permitted the statement to be read after a short delay.[6]
References
- ^ Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, Privy Council, and Order of Preference. Burke's Peerage Limited. 1963. p. 706. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ISBN 978-1-4088-3407-7. Archivedfrom the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4735-6916-4. Archivedfrom the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Knowsley Shootings". Liverpool Echo. 5 November 1952. p. 7. Archived from the original on 10 March 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ a b c d "Knowsley Trial". Liverpool Echo. 16 December 1952. p. 8. Archived from the original on 10 March 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ a b c d e "Knowsley Hall Tragedy". Cairns Post. 8 November 1952. Archived from the original on 10 March 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ISBN 978-1-932033-96-0. Archivedfrom the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ a b c Traynor, Luke (27 June 2017). "Rex Makin's most famous cases: The shooting of Lady Derby & the Cameo Murders". Liverpool Echo. Archived from the original on 10 March 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ The Jewish Chronicle 2017.08.11, Elkan Rex Makin: Lawyer and journalist who championed the underdog against the establishment and bureaucracy