Murder most foul

Benjamin Russell was a smuggler and thief.  He was, however, a very small cog in a very big business.  He lived in Burwash and to supplement his income - he was probably a general labourer by day - he ran a small bar in his cellar selling the rum and beer that he was able to acquire via the smuggling trade.  His part of the smuggling trade saw him involved in activities which had to be undertaken late at night just as he did on a moonless night in May 1826.  He and his partner in crime, 19 year old Daniel Leney, set off at midnight to a nearby farm where they stole a large bag of grain.  To make life easier they separated the bag into two sacks and taking one each they set off for home.  Leney soon found he was some way ahead of Russell so he returned to find Russell struggling with the weight of the larger sack.  They swapped sacks and carried on but again Leney found himself ahead of Russell.  This time, however when he returned he found Russell's body lying on the ground.  He was dead.

Leney hid the sacks of grain and ran to Russell's house where he woke Russell's wife Hannah.  She in turn ran to her father in laws house and woke him.  It was 1am on Wednesday morning and all three were aware that if Benjamin Russell's body was found where it was everyone would know he had been up to no good and more importantly the farmer would know who had stolen his grain.  So Leney and Russell senior moved the body to a nearby wood and they concocted a tale which had Leney spending the night with the Russells before leaving with Benjamin Russell in the morning.

They hadn't thought it through however and people soon grew suspicious.  Where were you going at that time?  Why were you in the woods?  Why were you not with Russell when he died if you went out together?  Unfortunately peoples suspicions were not that Russell and Leney had been out stealing grain (that was probably common knowledge) but that Hannah, his wife, had done away with him.  After all they had argued a few weeks earlier, Hannah had claimed that he had another woman and she had been heard to say she wished him dead.  There was no doubt in the minds of the local population - it was murder most foul.

Hannah Russell and Daniel Leney were arrested.  Hannah for the murder of her husband and Leney for aiding & abetting her.  Although details of the smuggling came out at their trial it made no difference, the evidence from Russell's post mortem sealed their fate - a large amount of white powder had been found in his stomach which had been identified as arsenic.

Due to a technical issue their hangings were delayed but on the 3^rd August 1826 at midday Daniel Leney was hung.  Hannah would no doubt have been hung soon after but for the intervention of Dr Gideon Mantell, the doctor, geologist & palaeontologist.  He had been present at the trial and had had doubts about the medical evidence given, even sending a note to the defence lawyer suggesting some lines of questioning - advice which had not been used.  Having not been present for the remainder of the trial he had assumed that there was other evidence which had lead to their conviction so when he found it was only the medical evidence and some circumstantial details he came forward and spoke to the High Sheriff.  He could prove it was not arsenic found in Benjamin Russell's stomach which along with other evidence that showed Russell had been having heart problems for several months prior to his death made it clear Russell had died a natural death resulting from a heart condition made worse by the exertion of carrying the sacks of grain.

Hannah was given a royal pardon and released from gaol.  Her compensation was enough money to get her home.  There was not much that could be done for Leney.  

Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling, author of the poem If and the Jungle Books amongst many others, was born in 1865 in Bombay but returned to England as a young child.  The 1881 census finds him aged 15 years at school in Devon but as he didn't prove academic enough for a scholarship to Oxford he took on the job of assistant editor of a local newspaper in Lahore, Punjab (now Pakistan).  He was soon writing stories for the newspaper and when he left in 1889 it was to return to London where he wrote his first novel.  By 1892 he was married to Carrie Balestier, an American (the bride was given away by Henry James) and the couple moved to Vermont where they intended to remain, but anti British feeling (due to political issues) and problems with Carrie's brother (as a result of his drinking problem) ruined their time there so they packed their bags and along with their two children returned to England.

Although they initially moved to Devon they soon found themselves living in Rottingdean in East Sussex but Kiplings fame had grown and they soon found the house was too accessible to gawpers and too full of memories of their eldest daughter who died in 1899.  In 1902 they bought a house in Burwash which "we have loved it ever since our first sight of it"  Batemans, as the house was called, had been built in 1634 for a Wealden ironmaster and at the time Kipling purchased it, it was run down with no bathroom, no running water upstairs and no electricity.

The Kiplings remained at Batemans and they created a beautiful home.  Kipling was very keen on technology and soon had a car beginning with a steam powered car before he acquired a Rolls Royce in 1911.  Within weeks of his arrival at Batemans he had altered the mill so that instead of grinding corn it drove a generator and provided electricity to the house (three hours worth of running the generator created enough electricity to power the lights for four hours an evening).

Kiplings life at Batemans was torn apart by the First World War; they had already lost their eldest daughter, now their only son John died just weeks after arriving in France - he was just 18 years old.  In addition to their grief Kipling had the guilt that he had used his connections to get John a commission when he had already been twice turned down due to his poor eyesight.  John Kiplings body was not identified in Kiplings life time and this may in part be the reason Kipling became involved with the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission).  He advised on inscriptions and is responsible for the phrase "Their Name Liveth For Evermore" and "Known unto God" used on larger war graves and for unknown soldiers graves respectively.

Kipling continued to write but less prolifically and less successfully.  He suffered with stomach ulcers and could eat only very simple and plain food.  He died of a perforated ucler on the 18^th January 1936 whilst in London.  His ashes are buried in Poets Corner in Westminster Abbey.  His wife remained at Batemans until her death in 1939 when the property and its 330 acres were given to the National Trust as a memorial to Kipling.  The house can been seen today much as it was in Kiplings time.