Wynne Edwin Baxter
Wynne Edwin Baxter
Legal career
Baxter was the son of William Baxter, youngest of three sons of
Baxter moved from Lewes to London in 1875, starting a solicitor's practice and an advertising agency at the same premises in Cannon Street.[3] He maintained a legal practice at Lewes, which eventually would be run by his son, Reginald 'Reggie' Truscott Baxter. As the Coroner for Sussex from 1880 to 1887, Wynne Baxter conducted the inquest of the Brighton 'railway murderer' Percy Lefroy Mapleton who was hanged in 1881, as well as that of his victim, Isaac Frederick Gold.
By 1885 Baxter held two Deputy Coronerships in London, the City of London and Borough of Southwark. In December 1886 he won a bitterly fought contest to be elected the Coroner for the County of Middlesex (Eastern District); he was later appointed Coroner for the County of Middlesex (South Eastern District) from 1889 to 1891, and then for the City of London (Eastern District) and the Liberty of the Tower of London from 1892 until his death.
In July 1887 he held the inquest of Miriam Angel, who had been poisoned by Israel Lipski at 16, Batty Street. The name 'Lipski' was to become well known in Whitechapel in the next year, as was that of Baxter himself.
Whitechapel Murders
Baxter played a key
Baxter, to Henry Tomkins, horse slaughterer: Are there any women about there?
Tomkins: Oh! I know nothing about them, I don't like 'em.
Baxter: I did not ask you whether you like them; I ask you whether there were any about that night.[4]
Baxter's own theory was that the murderer was attempting to obtain certain female organs for sale to doctors along with a medical periodical. Having heard medical evidence from Police Surgeon Dr George Bagster Phillips during the inquest into Annie Chapman's murder, Baxter said:
"The body had not been dissected, but the injuries had been made by someone who had considerable anatomical skill and knowledge. There were no meaningless cuts. The organ had been taken by one who knew where to find it, what difficulties he would have to contend against, and how he should use his knife so as to abstract the organ without injury to it....The conclusion that the desire was to possess the missing abdominal organ seemed overwhelming."[5]
This theory was disproved soon after Baxter suggested it.
Later life
Appointed a Life Governor of the
The painting of Baxter as the first mayor of Lewes (as used at the top of this page), which hangs in the Assembly Room of Lewes Town Hall, is an interesting one. He is shown with the red mayor's gown, the mayoral chain, the mace and the chair. However, these items had to be made and he only had them for the last week of his mayoralty.
He was Clerk to the Lewes Provision Market, Governor of the Lewes Exhibition Fund, a member of the Committee of the Lewes National Schools, and a director of the Lewes Victoria Hospital.
Between November 1914 and April 1916, during the First World War, Baxter conducted inquests into the deaths of eleven German
Baxter was a noted plant collector,[7] a Fellow of the Geological Society of London and a Fellow and Treasurer of the Royal Microscopical Society.[8] He was fluent in French, and, in the 1890s, translated a number of scientific books from that language into English. Baxter was also an antiquarian,[9] having in his library 3,000 volumes concerning Paradise Lost author John Milton, many of them rare editions.[10] He wrote and delivered academic papers on Milton. He was a member of the archaeological societies of Middlesex, Surrey, Kent, Sussex, and Gloucestershire. In addition, he was Clerk to two City Guilds, the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights and the Worshipful Company of Farriers. Moving to Stoke Newington he served as Chairman of the Public Library Committee, Chairman of the Licensing Bench,[11] and Manager of Barn Street School.[12] He was a prominent Freemason, being a member of the South Saxon Lodge No. 311.[13]
In 1907 Baxter said "I have held over 30,000 inquests, and have not had one body exhumed yet".[14]
Wynne Edwin Baxter died at his home at 170, Church Street, Stoke Newington, in 1920, at the age of 76. He has a memorial against the east wall of the churchyard of All Saints Church in Lewes.[15]
Legacy
Baxter's legal practice in Lewes exists today as Mayo Wynne Baxter LLP, which was formed in 2007 with the merger of Mayo & Perkins and Wynne Baxter. The firm has eight offices across Sussex employing about 250 staff.[16] In 2005 the Brighton and Hove Bus Company named their number 657 bus 'Wynne Baxter'. The name on the bus was unveiled during the 'Jack the Ripper' Conference, which that year was held in Brighton.[17]
Publications
- The Domesday Book of Kent – A Return of Owners of Land 1873. By Wynne E Baxter (1877); based on data in the Return of Owners of Land, 1873 government survey.
- The Domesday Book for the County of Middlesex. By Wynne E. Baxter (Lewes: 1877).
- The Microscope: Its construction and management. By Dr. Henri Van Heurck, Professor of Botany and Director at the Antwerp Botanical Gardens. Translated by Wynne E. Baxter, FRMS, FGS. London, Crosby, Lockwood & Son, New York, D. Van Nostrand Co., (1893)
- A Treatise on the Diatomaceae by Henri van Heurck. Translated by Wynne E Baxter. Pub. W. Wesley & Son, London (1896)
Media
In the 1988 TV mini-series
References
- ^ Who's Who 1920
- ^ 'The Jack the Ripper A to Z' by Paul Begg, Martin Fido and Keith Skinner. Pub. by Headline Book Publishing Plc (1992)
- ^ Kelly's Directory of London 1875–1888
- ^ The Daily Telegraph. 4 September 1888
- ^ Jack the Ripper: The Definitive History by Paul Begg. Pub. by Pearson Education Limited (2005)
- ^ The Times, 15 June 1917.
- ^ Aluka – Baxter, Wynne Edwin (1844–1920) (Aluka).
- ^ Geological Society – A – D Archived 28 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine (Geological Society).
- ^ Guide to Hackney Archives Collection Archived 20 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ Casebook: Jack the Ripper – Times (London) – 2 October 1920 Archived 18 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine (Casebook).
- ^ Casebook: Jack the Ripper – Inquest, London: The Life and Career of Wynne Edwin Baxter Archived 3 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine (Casebook).
- ^ Begg, Fido and Skinner pg 38.
- ^ News of the World, 3 October 1920.
- ^ ALL SAINTS Archived 3 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine at 66.102.9.104
- ^ Mayo Wynne Baxter, solicitors Archived 14 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine (Mayo Wynne Baxter LLP).
- ^ Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Travel Times Routes and Timetables Archived 27 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine (Brighton & Hove Buses).
- ^ "Jack the Ripper (1988)". Archived from the original on 11 May 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
External links
- Baxter on the Casebook:Jack the Ripper website
- Ray Desmond, Christine Ellwood (1994). Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturists. CRC Press. ISBN 978-0-85066-843-8.
- Baxter as Mayor of Lewes