Page 26 • The HERALD • 20th April 2023 v SAY YOU SAW IT IN THE HERALD v Your Local Professional Electrician • Complete Rewires • Periodic Inspection Reports • Fault Finding & Repair • New Consumer Units • New Circuits • Central Heating Wiring • Extra Sockets/Lights • PAT Testing • No Job Too Small • Part P Registered • Fast & Efficient Service • Free Estimates Telephone Gary on 07788 865081 forestelectrical@gmail.com Professional installers of Fascias, Guttering, Cladding, PVCu Windows & Doors Composite Doors • 10 year labour and product guarantees Repairs, cleaning and advice also available Tel: 023 8086 9715 or 07888 705455 enquiries@aztecfascias.com • Airport & Seaport Specialists • Highly Competitive Fares • Friendly, Reliable Service • Comfortable 6 Seater MPVs • Any Distance - Minimum Fare £10 Before booking your journey please call us for a free quotation 07770 967198 or 023 8194 8754 www.kazcarz.co.uk All General Plumbing • Boiler Installations • Boiler Breakdowns • Gas Appliance Servicing • Central Heating Repairs 023 8089 9300 07917 445369 petertarr1@hotmail.co.uk Reg: 3515993 PETERTARR Gas, Plumbing & Heating The Frost Lane Killing of Joseph Wran by Marc Heighway, mheighway@hotmail.com Marc hosts monthly local history talks, visit nfhwa.org/events for details If you happened to be a child of the working class living in the 1850s, you might have been given a magazine to read called “Band of Hope Review & Children’s Friend”. It was a journal printed by an Evangelical publisher to supplement Sunday school instruction. e principal message was one of abstinence, with an editorial theme designed to warn (and scare) children away from “The dangers of alcohol and public houses”. e January 1853 edition was particularly gruesome. Here’s an edited excerpt: “Dear young friends, many of you have been taken by your kind parents to have a ramble upon the town pier at Southampton. Do you remember the ferry boats crossing over to the little village of Hythe. We are sorry to tell you of a melancholy circumstance which took place at this village last Christmas. An old man named Joseph Wran, went to a public house, and sat drinking until half-past eleven. The landlord, sad to tell, cruelly sold him liquor until he was scarcely able to stand. The old man, attempting to go home, fell down. The police helped him up and set him on his way homewards. Poor fellow, he never reached his home. His occasional visit to the public house cost him his life. The next morning his dead body was found, lying near a pool of blood, not far from his own cottage. His head was dreadfully mangled, and his brains strewed in all directions on the road.” Quite the tale, I am sure you will agree. But just how true is this story? I am sorry to say that it really did happen. e pub in question is e Lord Nelson in Hythe, and the crime scene was a road many local readers will be familiar with. In 1852, Joseph Wran lived in Frost Lane and worked as labourer on the Cadland Estate. It was a typically cold Christmas Eve night, and he’d been paid for his week’s work. Rather than going straight home, Joseph decided to visit pub. Whilst in e Lord Nelson, he was frequently seen counting his money. He became heavily intoxicated and le at closing time. A er leaving he was seen to fall over near the shore where he was helped up by a policeman. Despite his drunken state, he managed to make it to Frost Lane in Hythe, but not quite as far as his front door. On Christmas Day the next morning, he was discovered lying dead in the road. A newspaper reported how his skull was fractured above each ear, “as if it had been split in two by violent kicks from a heavy ironed boot, and numerous other injuries, indicating almost unexampled brutality.” e crime scene was further described, with no holding back on the detail. “The deceased was lying on his face, with his left arm under his head, and his right-hand pocket turned inside out. The ground near where the corpse lay evidently showed that a struggle had taken place, with portions of the brains strewn about the ground. There was a large pool of blood about a foot from the head of the deceased, and picked up were completely splintered pieces of heavy stick, with portions of human hair and blood attached.” It is hard to imagine a more gruesome scene. e press also reported how he had been robbed of his wages, o ering a potential motivation for the crime. Fingers of suspicion soon pointed towards two local men who had been seen with Joseph at the pub. eir names were George Dumper, also of Frost Lane, and omas Wran, the latter being the deceased’s nephew. Dumper realised he was to be arrested, so ed. Police from Hythe Station, assisted by villagers, turned out to search for him. e fugitive was captured hiding near Dibden Bottom. His home was searched, and the police found a pair of discarded trousers saturated with blood. At the police station, Dumper claimed that omas Wran had argued with his uncle Joseph, knocking him down and leaving him unconscious. Dumper said the pair then went home but were afraid they would be found out and punished for assaulting the old man, so returned to the spot and nished him o . On 7th January 1853, both George Dumper and omas Wran were charged with murder before Hythe Magistrates at the local courthouse (the Drummond Arms pub). ey were sent to Winchester Prison to await trial. e trial would last three days at the end of which Dumper was found guilty of aggravated manslaughter. omas Wran was acquitted; Dumper was sentenced to life. Newspapers reported how the case was partly circumstantial with no witnesses, which might explain what appears to be a relatively lenient sentence. is leniency becomes more apparent later, as records show Dumper was living back in Frost Lane by 1861, just seven years a er being sentenced to life for manslaughter. omas Wran, Joseph Wran’s nephew, is recorded as residing in Prospect Place in Hythe. Whether this horri c case did stop working class children from drinking and going to go to the pub, I can’t tell you. But what I can do is leave the last word to the religious magazine I started the article with, as it o ers a degree re ection upon the events of 1852. “Dear young friends, avoid that first visit to the public house! Never commence the use of intoxicating drinks. This will form a valuable protection to you against the allurement of the public house when you grow up to be men and women!” A Charity Cake Day raising money for the neonatal unit at Princess Anne Hospital is taking place on Saturday 29th April, 11am to 3pm, at Hedge End Social Club, 4 Bursledon Road, Hedge End, SO30 OBR. ere will be co ee and cakes, a ra e and lots more. Parking is free. New Beginnings Charity Cake Day
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