Did you know ? SWEET F.A.

[nevthelodgemoorowl]

The term Sweet F.A. (Fanny Adams) came into being on 24th August 1867, just 11 days before the formation of The Wednesday Football Club.

On 24 August 1867 at about 1.30 pm, Fanny's mother, Harriet Adams, let the eight-year-old Fanny, her friend Minnie Warner (aged 7) and Fanny's sister Lizzie (aged 5) go up Tanhouse Lane towards Flood Meadow.

In the lane they met Frederick Baker, a 29-year-old solicitor's clerk. Baker offered Minnie and Lizzie three halfpence to go and spend and offered Fanny a halfpenny to accompany him towards Shalden, a couple of miles north of Alton. She took the coin but refused to go. He carried her into a hop field, out of sight of the other girls.

At about 5 pm, Millie and Lizzie returned home. Neighbour Mrs Gardiner asked them where Fanny was, and they told her what had happened. Mrs Gardiner told Mrs Adams, and they went up the lane, where they came upon Baker coming back. They questioned him and he said he had given the girls money for sweets, but that was all. His respectability meant the women let him go on his way.

At about 7 pm Fanny was still missing, and neighbours went searching. They found Fanny's body in the hop field, horribly butchered. Her head and legs had been severed and her eyes put out. Her torso had been emptied and her organs scattered (it took several days for all her remains to be found). Her remains were taken to a nearby doctor's surgery, where the body was put back together. The surgery is now a pub called the "Ye Olde Leathern Bottle" and some claim it to be haunted by the little girl.

Mrs Adams ran to The Butts field where her husband, bricklayer George Adams, was playing cricket. She told him what had happened, then collapsed. Adams got his shotgun from home and set off to find the perpetrator, but neighbours stopped him.

That evening Police Superintendent William Cheyney arrested Baker at his place of work: the offices of solicitor William Clement in the High Street. He was led through an angry mob to the police station. There was blood on his shirt and trousers, which he could not explain, but he protested his innocence. He was searched and found to have two small blood-stained knives on him.

Witnesses put Baker in the area, returning to his office at about 3 pm, then going out again. Baker's workmate, fellow clerk Maurice Biddle, reported that, when drinking in the Swan that evening, Baker had said he might leave town. When Biddle replied that he might have trouble getting another job, Baker said, chillingly with hindsight, "I could go as a butcher". On 26 August, the police found Baker's diary in his office. It contained a damning entry: 24th August, Saturday — killed a young girl. It was fine and hot.

On Tuesday, 27 August, Deputy County Coroner Robert Harfield held an inquest. Painter William Walker had found a stone with blood, long hair and flesh; police surgeon, Dr Louis Leslie had carried out a post mortem and concluded that death was by a blow to the head and that the stone was the murder weapon. Baker said nothing, except that he was innocent. The jury returned a verdict of willful murder. On the 29th the local magistrates committed Baker for trial at the Winchester County Assizes. The police had difficulty protecting him from the mob.

At his trial on 5 December, the defence contested Millie Warner's identification of Baker and claimed the knives found were too small for the crime anyway. They also argued insanity: Baker's father had been violent, a cousin had been in asylums, his sister had died of a brain fever and he himself had attempted suicide after a love affair. The defence also argued that the diary entry was typical of the "epileptic or formal way of entry" that the defendant used and that the absence of a comma after the word killed did not render the entry a confession.

Justice Mellor invited the jury to consider a verdict of not responsible by reason of insanity, but they returned a guilty verdict after just fifteen minutes. On 24 December, Christmas Eve, Baker was hanged outside Winchester Gaol. The crime had become notorious and a crowd of 5,000 attended the execution. Before his death, Baker wrote to the Adamses expressing his sorrow for what he had done "in an unguarded hour" and seeking their forgiveness. Baker's execution was the last to take place at Winchester.

Fanny was buried in Alton cemetery. Her grave is still there today. The headstone reads: Sacred to the memory of Fanny Adams aged 8 years and 4 months who was cruelly murdered on Saturday August 24th 1867. Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. Matthew 10 v 28. This stone was erected by voluntary subscription.

Edited July 21, 2012 by nevthelodgemoorowl

[fletch3181]

Thanks for the history lesson.

p.s.....Wrong Section.

[mrgund]

You don't see many Fanny's these days do you?

[themaskedowl]

You don't see many Fanny's these days do you?

Depends where you look.

Sorry.

Thanks for that Nev. I didn't know any of that. Very interesting. Horrifying, but interesting.

[cross owl]

Pity we don't still hang them . Poor little girl .

[since59owe]

Thanks for the history lesson.

p.s.....Wrong Section.

Ditto.

[theowlsman]

You don't see many Fanny's these days do you?

You speak for yourself.

[savi]

Damn ive read all that and no punch line,

I thought is was gonna have a moral behind it, something like any bugger who deals with blades deserves to be hung,

Bit far i thought but hey im not one to argue with justice.

she said no?

[HOOTIE AND THE SHIT TU]

You don't see many Fanny's these days do you?

Nope, same old, same old.

[mrgund]

[parkfieldowl14]

You don't see many Fanny's these days do you?

depends where you live.