Free Space; When You Find A Record That Shakes You To The Core

This blog post includes details relating to violence against women, and abuse of children. Please take care when reading.

One evening, whilst pootling about on Ancestry, looking at various records related to siblings of my direct ancestors, I came across something that so shocked me I actually gasped. Like a proper gasp; one that makes others around you sit up, pay attention, and ask, 'Is everything alright?' As it happened, I wasn't alright. This was the record I found.

Charles Vinall was the older brother of my 2x great grandmother. He was the 6th child (of 8) born to Henry Vinall and Jane Munro, in Brighton, Sussex, in October 1851. His two younger siblings were his sisters Louisa, and Mary Jane (my 2x great grandmother) born in 1854 and 1856, respectively.

In September 1872 Charles Vinall, at the age of 20, joined the army; specifically the Royal Artillery, based in Woolwich, Kent. The Royal Artillery had been based in Woolwich since the early 1700s. The Royal Artillery Barracks were built in the 1770s to better accommodate the regiment, which by then totalled more than 2,400 men. The Woolwich Garrison is still an active part of today's British Military, and the Royal Artillery continue to be based there. Unfortunately it no longer is deemed suitable for military needs, and the Ministry of Defence for the UK has announced that the site will close in 2028.

Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich, circa 1900

During his time in service, Charles participated in the 2nd Anglo-Afghan War (1878-80), the Anglo-Zulu War (1879), and the Anglo-Egyptian War (1882), and by the time he was discharged in 1890, at the age of 38, he had risen to the rank of corporal. At some point Charles married a lady named Emily. I have not been able to find a reliable marriage record, so I can't be sure what her maiden name was, or who her family were. The census return of 1891 tells us that she was from Wisbeach, Canbridgeshire, but that is all that I can find out, about her life. Sadly her death came too soon. Emily died in July 1896, at the age of 42, in the Brighton Workhouse, presumably because that was the best place for her to receive the medical care she needed for the endometrial cancer that was killing her. Charles was with her at her death, but was not a resident at the workhouse at the time. He was living at 27 Vine Street, Brighton at the time. Charles and Emily did not have any children together, so at her passing Charles was once again free from any ties or responsibilities.

The Women's Ward at the Brighton Workhouse

Shortly after Emily's death, and sometime before May 1898 Charles Vinall moved away from Brighton, where his family was based, and took up  residence in Emsworth, Hants. He had stationed in Portsmouth, Hants when serving with the Royal Field Artillery, and perhaps friends or a work opportunity had brought him to the Emsworth area. Later newspaper reports will tell us that Charles lived with a woman named Rebecca Meaden for several years. Possibly during the time that they lived together, Rebecca Meaden had a son by the name of William Arthur Meaden. There is no father named on the birth certificate of the child, so it's impossible to know who his birth father was, but it's highly possible that Charles was William's natural father.

Emsworth High Street, circa 1910

Rebecca Meaden was a northern girl from Salford, and the wife of a soldier named Frederick Meaden. They married in 1893, when Frederick was going by the last name Fry, and  was serving with the Liverpool Regiment. He had, however, previously been serving with the Wiltshire Regiment, with whom he had enlisted in 1889. In 1891 Frederick, who had been receiving 'good conduct' awards, was deemed a deserter by the Wiltshire Regiment, when in actual fact he was serving with the Liverpool Regiment, under a different name; Frederick Fry. Rebecca Taylor and Frederick Meaden (using the name Fry) married in 1893, and later the same year their daughter Emily was born. Her birth certificate gives her father's name as Frederick Meaden, which may have been the reason why Frederick returned to the Wiltshire Regiment in late 1893. With the Liverpool Regiment behind him, he remained with the Wiltshires, was court-martialled for his desertion, and then shipped off to India in 1895, where he stayed until his return to England and civilian life in 1908. While Frederick was away serving crown, country, and empire, their baby daughter Emily was sent to her Meaden grandparents in Trowbridge, and Rebecca, a laundress, moved to Emsworth, Hants. 

In the 1901 Census, living with her new son William, born in 1899, Rebecca was to be found living in Emsworth, Hants, and working as a laundress. This was many years after Frederick had left for India, and many years before he was to return. In 1901, Charles Vinall was not living with Rebecca Meaden, and little William, but was instead living just around the corner from them both, and working as a general labourer. Again, later newspaper reports tell us that they lived together, for a time, with Charles working as a relief postman, and Rebecca keeping house for him. They lived together for 7 or 8 years, until the time came for Frederick's return from service.

Whatever their relationship may or may not have been, Rebecca made the decision to leave Emsworth, and took little William with her under the name of Willie Cousins, to live with her husband. Rebecca moved to Holt, Wiltshire, in September 1907, where she set about preparing a home for a new family life, with her legal husband, who had returned from overseas military service after about 13 years, and her daughter, who had been thus far raised by her in-laws. She found work with a local laundry in Wiltshire, and kept house, while Fred finished up his time in the army at the nearby barracks. Charles remained in Emsworth, Hants, alone once more.

The White Hart public house, Holt (now know as the Toll House).

At Christmas 1907, Charles visited the family at Holt, Wilts. Frederick, who hadn't yet left the army, and was residing at the Devizes barracks, was visiting the home for the holidays too. I have wondered at what this holiday season might have been like for this family; a husband and wife who have been apart for 13 years, a daughter who had been raised mostly by grandparents, a son who was not a blood relation to the father of the house, and Charles- potentially the lover of the wife, and father of the boy. Despite the possible tension, Charles made some friends in the village, and was 'regarded as a quiet, gentlemanly man.' 

In May 1908 Frederick was finally released from the army. He packed up his old kit bag and made way to Holt, Wilts, and the new family home. After 13 years, he and Rebecca were to live once again, as husband and wife, with their new strange family. Three weeks after Fred's return, Charles arrived, unexpectedly, at the cottage door in Holt.

Before leaving Emsworth Charles had made some preparations. Inspector Frank Reasy of the Hants Constabulary gave evidence that on April 2nd, 1908, Charles Vinall had visited the Havant Police Station, to get a permit signed, so that he could buy a revolver. Charles had already attempted the purchase of a gun, but had been hampered by the need for a permit. The inspector asked why Charles wanted one and Charles explained, 'I want to amuse myself in the garden, and at the miniature rifle range adjoining.' When the inspector continued to argue that he did not know Charles, he argued back that his pension papers had been signed by police at the station for the past 5 years. After this, the permit was signed and returned to Charles. At the time of this interaction Charles Vinall seemed to the inspector, to be perfectly rational, and did not give him any reason to be suspicious.

After obtaining the gun, Charles set about preparing for what was to come after his final visit to see Rebecca. He got out paperwork pertaining to his insurance and pension, and collected his keys, placing them all together in his front room. Then he wrote a couple of notes, both addressed to his sister Louisa.

5, North Street, Emsworth, Hantt,
April 3rd, 1908

Dear Lou,

I have left all the keys I have, and there is my insurance papers and also the others but do not send them to them, but see if you cannot draw them for yourself. There is my pension paper, but you had better take them to the Registrar and he will give you one shilling for the one that have got the rings on. What I wanted you to do on Sunday was to have a good look round, so you could see where the things where. You can do what you like with the furniture, but there is one bill to pay, that is to Mr Blackmore for coals, a quarter of a ton. The rent is paid up to the 6th of the month, but I do not know whether they will give it to you or not, but you can try for it. Do not worry about me, for I shall be happy, more happier than living in this wicked world. I will  give you my love, my most kind sister, but God only knows what I have gone through this last seven or eight months, but now all is ended, thank  God for it. Good-bye and God bless you my dear sister. 

From your most miserable and broken-hearted brother- C. Vinall

Dear Lou,

If there should be any letters lying about on the floor pick them up, open them, and if there is a postal order you keep it yourself, and write to him and tell him that I am gone away, and while you are here tell them all letters directed to me are to be sent to 4, St Peter Street, Brighton, and you will know what to do.
12 midnight: I hope I shall be dead this time to-morrow night. Do not be frightened in keeping the P.O., if any comes, for it is money owing me.

I have wondered about to whom he was referring in the line 'write to him and tell him that I am gone away.' Who was the 'him'? Was it the person from whom he was expecting a postal order, or could it have been someone else...? The sister 'Lou' was undoubtedly Louisa, the aunt to whom my great grandmother must have turned, with her sisters, when their mother died and they found they were not wanted by their new stepmother. 

The following day, 4th April 1908, Charles arrived at the Meaden home in Holt, Wiltshire. The journey was not insignificant; today it would take about 2 hours to drive from one to the other. Charles had taken the train that day, from Emsworth, by way of Hilperton; a journey that today would take about 8 or 9 hours. The rail network has changed a lot over the years, in the UK, and the journey would undoubtedly have taken less time than that, but it was still a distance of some hours. Either way, he arrived at about 1pm on that Saturday afternoon. Charles was drunk on arrival at the house. Frederick said that this did not concern him. It was common for men to have a few drinks on pension day. Food and drink was offered to the guest, and the daughter Emily was sent to the White Hart pub, for bottles of beer. After the beers had been drunk, Fred said that he would be off to see the football match at nearby Melksham. Charles, and William left with him, and they walked together for part of the way. The men stopped off first at a pub, named the White Hart, where Vinall bought a round, and then the Three Lions, where Fred paid for a round. It was reportedly congenial between them, with talk about the weather and the boat race. (The 65th boat race, between Oxford and Cambridge was held on the 4th April, 1908; the same day.) After their drink Fred continued on to the football. Fred's last words to Charles were, 'I don't sit about in public houses in Holt, and I do not wish anybody who comes to see me to do so. Go home and treat the house as if it were your own.'  Fred reported that Charles had clearly been drinking heavily that day, but simply put it all down to it being pension day. Charles and William went first to the post office, where Charles sent a money order, and then they returned to the cottage together.

At 2:30pm that spring afternoon, shortly after Charles returned to the cottage, shots were heard. It was Rebecca's 14 year old daughter Emily Meaden, and son William who gave witness to exactly what happened. Emily said that Charles came back to the house with her brother William. Emily went on to say that Vinall was unable to walk straight and was 'compelled to lean against the wall on entering'. 

When Charles arrived back at the cottage with William, Rebecca was upstairs. When she came back down the stairs she asked Charles, "Has Fred gone on yet?' Charles replied that he had, and then Rebecca went with William to get some coal for the fire in the front room. Charles followed her, and all was quiet for about 5 minutes. Emily heard no conversation, even though the door to the room was open. William also testified that no quarrelling took place between the two of them. William saw Charles take the revolver out of his pocket, and fired at his mother, as she was stooped over to put coal on the fire. Charles, standing about 2 yards from Rebecca fired 4 times, and then put the revolver in his own mouth, and fired just the once. They both fell to the ground, at which point poor little William ran from the room.

When Emily heard the shots she was in the wash house. She ran immediately to her neighbour's house, passing the open front room door on the way. Through the doorway she saw her mother on the floor, lying on her back, and Charles Vinall standing there, with a revolver in his hand. She heard her mother exclaim, 'Oh God, Oh Fred.' and then Charles knelt down saying, 'You b---.' At this point the terrified young girl ran out the front door, to Mrs Bibby's house next door. She did not return to the house.

Tom Bibby, the next door neighbour, who was having a wash in the back yard at the time, rushed off immediately to alert the police. Tom Bibby and a Mr Edwards went through the garden gate and down the path towards the house. The front door was ajar, but the inner door was closed. They dared not go in, for fear of meeting the same fate but after half an hour had passed, they entered the house. Mr Bibby and Mr Edwards found poor Rebecca Meaden lying on her back, near the fireplace, and Charles Vinall, slumped over her, with a pistol near his right hand.

The doctor later testified at the inquest on the 6th April (two days later) that Rebecca had been shot above the right ear, in the centre of her forehead, and above the left ear. This does not tally with the number of shots William recalled being fired at his mother, but it's not surprising that a traumatic event such as this, especially for a young child, should have confused some facts. With the single shot that the doctor testified Charles had inflicted upon himself, that would make 4 shots; the number that Willie had recalled. Curiously though, Charles' gun shot wound, according to the doctors testimony, appeared to exit half an inch above his left eye. William testified that Charles had put the gun in his mouth, before firing the pistol, in which case I would imagine the bullet would exit at the back of the head, not the front. These details did not, apparently perturb the coroner, Mr F A P Sylvester.

After all the evidence had been heard, the coroner stated that there was no doubt that Rebecca Meaden had been wilfully murdered by Charles Vinall, and that Charles had committed this act with malice and intent. As far as the death of Charles Vinall was concerned, the evidence was equally clear; he had shot himself, therefore the verdict relating to his death had to be suicide. There was no evidence that Charles was of an unsound mind, and urged the jury to not 'save his memory from any shame that may rest upon him.' The jury considered the verdict for a very short length of time and then the foreman announced the following verdict;

"That Rebecca Meaden was wilfully murdered by Charles Vinall, and that Vinall committed suicide while of sound mind."

This most awful of crimes caused reverberations, which affected all the survivors. Fred, left a widower by the murder, married a local Trowbridge girl by the name of Meena Minnie Whately, just 6 months after the murder of Rebecca Meaden, on the 17th October 1908. A swift remarrying after the passing of a wife was very common amongst Victorian/Edwardian men, so this was not at all surprising. Together they had 5 children. The children Fred had with Meena Minnie apparently knew nothing of Frederick's first wife, and her murder. Fred worked as a groom, and when World War I was declared he rejoined the army, and served again with the Duke of Edinburgh Wiltshire Regiment. Frederick James Meaden died on the 17th October, 1940, from heart disease. He was 69 years old, and was buried in Trowbridge, Wilstshire.

After the murder of her mother, Emily, who had been raised for most of her life by her Meaden grandparents, returned to their care. In the 1911 Census Emily can be found at the family's Trowbridge address, as an 18 year old domestic servant. Her grandparents, John and Louisa Meaden were the head of the household, and wife, respectively, and others in the household included her uncle Alfred, who was the same age as Emily, her aunt Ada, who was just 14, and a cousin Willie Meaden, aged 9. This Willie Meaden was not her half brother, and co-witness to their mother's murder, but a cousin, and son of another Meaden sibling. Emily married a soldier, George MacBrayne, in Glasgow, Scotland, on the 11th Feb 1918. George MacBrayne had served with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders during WWI. Emily and George had at least 2 children together. George died in 1963, and Emily passed away in 1976, at the age of 82, in Ayrshire, Scotland.

The person I was most concerned about, when learning the story of Rebecca Meaden's murder, was William Arthur Meaden. By Charles' actions William was effectively orphaned. With no one to take care of him, William was taken into the care of Dr Barnardos. Dr Barnardos is a children's charity, based in the UK. Thomas John Barnardo, was a philanthropist with a special interest in helping children from poor and/or deprived backgrounds. He founded his first home for children in 1867, and it grew into a national charity, which still works hard for children and campaigns for children's rights today. Their history is chequered however, and by the late 19th century Barnardos participated in a child migration program run by the British government of the day, called the 'British Home Children' scheme. In this program British children were sent away from orphanages and from living in poverty with their families, to what were then considered British colonies. Children were sent to South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Canada from the late 1900s, to start new lives. It was thought that children from impoverished homes, or orphaned children, would do better in these new countries, than in the workhouses and orphanages, etc. As mentioned some children were taken from their impoverished families, who were under the impression that their children would be returned to them, when their circumstances had improved. However well intentioned the British Home Children scheme was, it was not a success for many children who arrived in a country far from home, without the child protection measures we might expect today, and who were more often than not considered as indentured servants, than adopted children and members of the family.

Thomas John Barnardo (1845 - 1905)

It seems that William Arthur Meaden, arrived in North America at Portland, Maine in 1909. From Maine he travelled to the new Dr Barnardos home, at 50-52 Peter Street, Toronto, Ontario, where he waited to be moved on to what was to be his permanent home. This home only opened in 1909; a replacement for the reception home for Dr Barnardos British Home Children, at Farley Street, Toronto, ON. 

British Home Children arriving in Canada, by ship.

Most children did not stay in the reception home for long. Shortly after landing in Toronto William left for Manitoba, a prairie province of Canada. At this time Manitoba was making its name as a global leader in wheat production. Farming was big business and cheap labour was always wanted by greedy farmers desirous of widening their margins, so as to better line their pockets. The British Home Children scheme created an opportunity for them to do just that, and William was one of their victims. 

This cartoon from the Grain Growers of Canada, 1915, speaks to the sense that the poor farmers of the prairie provinces do all the hard work, while the fat cats in Ontario and Quebec (namely Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal) just sit back on their laurels and gobble it all up.

At the age of 10, William Arthur Meaden, fresh from the trauma of having witnessed his mother's murder and the suicide of her killer, arrived in a foreign land far away from his home country. He was not adopted as such, but was taken in by them as an indentured servant by a farming family, who treated him very poorly. He was not allowed to go to school, which was against the provincial policy of the time. William was forced to work the land until his indenture came to an end, which would have been around the age of 18. In the Canadian Census of 1921 William was 22 years old, and was working as a farm labourer, in Lisgar, Manitoba. 

During the days of the 1930s depression William worked in both Manitoban and Saskatchewan camps as a cook. Its not clear what kind of camps these were, but during the '30s the Saskatchewan government tried to help unemployed people in the cities, and rural farmers, by transporting large parties of workers by rail, out to the farmlands from the cities. There workers would experience long hard work days, and poor food and living conditions. During his time in Saskatechewan William lived in a shack that was no better than a basic garden shed, and cooked, perhaps for workers at these such camps.

The shack; home to William Meaden, November 1930

Eventually in 1940 William joined the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, where he worked as a cook, on the HMCS Chippewa and later the HCMS Naden. During his time in the navy he reached the rank of Able Seaman. William met and married a Saskatchewan woman named Margaret Main, in Victoria, BC and he was discharged from the navy in 1945. 

William Meaden, in naval uniform, 1941

William lived for a time in British Colombia with a long time friend Albert Murriel, but returned to Manitoba where he lived in Winnipeg, until his death in 1981. William and Margaret had 5 children together, and were ultimately grandparents to a total of 10 grandchildren. 

I was so relieved to find that William was able to find, with his family and friends, what sounds like a happy, peaceful life, after all the trauma he had endured as a direct result of Charles Vinall's actions. But I was also so very sad that  one of my ancestors had caused him so much harm; harm and trauma that could have very easily echoed through the lives of further generations of William's family. William Arthur Meaden died at the age of 82, in June 1981, in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

William Arthur Meaden, 1899 - 1981

While researching this story I have made contact with some of the descendants of Frederick Meaden, and William Arthur Meaden. It's been a strange kind of connection, considering how brutally my 2x great granduncle killed their ancestor, and changed the life of another in such a disastrous way. I would have liked to have ended this article with some statistics to show how violence against women has decreased over time. Unfortunately, in February of this year, almost 116 years after Charles Vinall pulled that trigger, the UK declared violence against women a 'national threat'. Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls reported that, 'A woman is killed by a man every three days in the UK, and one in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.' Meanwhile, Renfrew County, Ontario recently declared intimate partner violence an epidemic. Whilst it seems that not much has changed, in regards to the safety of women in the past century, I'm hopeful that my 2x great grandniece will read this story one day, and wonder how such brutality was ever imagined.

This blog piece was written with the help of research by John Rogers, and with information about William Arthur Meaden's life made available to me by Tim Langevin, one of his descendants. Many thanks to both for their assistance, and information. A large part of the information about the crime committed by Charles Vinall was obtained from the article about the inquest, published in the Wiltshire Advertiser, on the 9th April, 1908.

#Edgill

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Artillery_Barracks,_Woolwich

https://www.barnardos.org.uk/who-we-are

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/02/no-time-lose-uk-declares-violence-against-women-national-threat-un-expert

https://www.countyofrenfrew.on.ca/en/news/renfrew-county-declares-intimate-partner-violence-an-epidemic.aspx

https://esask.uregina.ca/entry/farm_labourers.html

https://www.bradfordonavonmuseum.co.uk/old-photos-holt#gallery-8