Edward William Pritchard

"Edward Pritchard" redirects here. For the anthropologist, see E. E. Evans-Pritchard.

Dr Edward William Pritchard (6 December 1825 – 28 June 1865) was a Scottish doctor who was convicted of poisoning two family members. He was also suspected of the murder of a third person, though he was never tried for it. He was the last person to be publicly executed in Glasgow.

Early years

Pritchard was born in Southsea, Hampshire, into a naval family. His father was John White Pritchard, a captain. He claimed to have studied at King's College Hospital in London and to have graduated from there in 1846. He then served in the Royal Navy as an assistant surgeon with HMS Victory. For another four years he served on various other ships travelling around the world, before coming back on HMS Hecate to Portsmouth where he met his future wife Mary Jane Taylor, the daughter of a prosperous retired silk merchant from Edinburgh.

The couple married in 1851, but after a period apart, Dr Pritchard resigned from the Navy. He first took a job as a general practitioner in Yorkshire, living for a time in Hunmanby. There he became a prominent freemason in the lodge in nearby Scarborough, where he was Master of the Royal Lodge in 1857 and Master of Old Globe Lodge in 1858 and 1859. In 1859, however, he left under a cloud and in debt, moving to Glasgow.

Murders

In 1863 there was a fire in the Pritchards' Berkeley Terrace house in Glasgow, which killed a young servant girl. The fire started in her room but she made no attempt to escape, suggesting that she may have been unconscious, drugged or already dead. The procurator fiscal looked into the case, but no charges were brought.

In 1865 Pritchard poisoned his mother-in-law, Jane Taylor, 70, who died on 28 February. His wife, whom he was treating for an illness (with the help of a Dr Paterson), died a month later on 18 March at the age of 38. Both were living at the family's new home in Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. He was caught after an anonymous letter was sent to the authorities. When the bodies were exhumed, the poison antimony was found.

Trial

Pritchard was convicted after a five-day hearing in Edinburgh in July 1865 presided over by the Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Glencorse. He was hanged in front of thousands at the Saltmarket end of Glasgow Green in an 8am execution.

Family

Pritchard had five children with Mary.

In popular culture

In 1947 Scottish playwright James Bridie wrote Dr Angelus, based on the case. It originally starred Alastair Sim.

Pritchard was played by Joseph Cotten in an episode of the television series "On Trial" (episode name: The Trial of Edward Pritchard) in 1956.

In the "Sherlock Holmes" short story, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, while commenting on the apparent villain, one Dr Grimesby Roylott, Holmes tells Dr Watson that when a doctor goes bad he is the first of criminals. He then illustrates this with the comment that Drs Palmer and Pritchard were at the "head of their profession". Since neither was considered a good doctor, and Pritchard was considered something of a quack by the medical fraternity in Glasgow, the "profession" involved was that of murder.

References

• "An eminent lawyer", A complete report of the trial of Dr. E. W. Pritchard for the alleged poisoning of his wife and mother-in-law, Issue 8 of Celebrated criminal cases, William Kay, 1865. [2]
• William Roughead, Trial of Dr. Pritchard, Notable Scottish Trials, William Hodge, 1906 [3]
• William Roughead, "Dr Pritchard" in "Famous Trials 4" (ed. James H. Hodge), Penguin, 1954, 143-175

External links

• Article with photograph
• An account of the trial
• A transcript of the trial