William Wallace (29^th August 1878 to 26^th February 1933)

Here I am at the grave of a man who was accused of murder and due to hang until no more breath remained in his body. However British legal history was made when an appeal was allowed due to the re-examination of evidence. He lived on as an innocent and immensely lucky man. Books have been written and television programmes made about this trial.

In 1931 William Wallace was convicted of murdering his wife Julia in their home at 29, Wolverton Street, Anfield, Liverpool. He was working for as a collections agent with the Prudential Assurance Company in Liverpool. Probably due to boredom than lack of funds he supplemented his income by lecturing part-time in Chemistry at Liverpool Technical College. His hobbies revolved around botany, chemistry and chess, and he also obtained lessons in the violin to enable him to accompany Julia, who was an accomplished pianist, in "musical evenings" at their home.

On Monday 19^th January 1931 William went to a meeting of the Liverpool Central Chess Club. About 25 minutes before he arrived the club received a telephone call asking for William to call at an address at 25 Menlove Gardens East at 7.30pm the following evening to discuss insurance. The message came from "Mr Qualtrough". The following evening William travelled by tramcar to find there was a Menlove Gardens North, South and West but no East. He enquired about the address with a newsagent’s, policeman and person at 25 Menlove Gardens West but had no luck and returned home.

Back at home he couldn’t get into the front door of his home (his neighbours witnessed this.) He entered the back door to find wife Julia had been brutally beaten to death in their sitting room. Two weeks later he was arrested for murder. The police said the telephone box used by "Mr Qualtrough" to make his call to the chess club was situated just 400 yards from William’s home and he had made the call. They claim he had time to murder his wife and then board a tram to go to meet the non-existent “Mr Qualtrough.”

At the trial William was tried for murder despite opposing evidence (a local milk delivery boy who said he’d had spoken to the murder victim minutes before William left to catch a tram was ignored.) The jury found him guilty of murder. This was a sensational trial for the time. William would hang from rope until he died. However it had never been known before but the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the verdict on the grounds that it was "not supported by the weight of the evidence." William was freed and probably got the best night’s sleep he’d had for months.

He returned to his job in insurance but his work colleagues and people around his home considered he’d 'got away with it'. He lost many customers, received hate mail and was the target of physical threats. He was forced to take a clerical job at his employer's head office and forced move home. He died aged 54 from uraemia and pyelonephritis in 1933. No other person was charged with the murder.

Decades later the murdered was named: Richard Gordon Parry. He had who worked with William at the Prudential Insurance Company. He had done some of Wallace's collection work for him and it was found he had kept some of the premiums for himself. He left the company under a dark cloud, his father paying the missing money. On the night of the murder his fiancé provided an alibi though later she swore to William’s solicitor that the alibi had been false. On the night of the murder Parry had visited a local garage and mechanic at noticed that one of his gloves was soaked in blood. The reason for the murder: money. Parry knew William kept a cash box at home. He probably made the telephone to the chess club to get William away from the house to he could steal the cash box. Julie Wallace got in the way and was beaten to death.

This famous case has featured on television: Who Killed Julia Wallace? by Yorkshire TV, a drama The Man from the Pru and Lucy Worsley’s A Very British Murder.

For geeks like me the documentaries are here…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KN4wabD-c8