SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT
On July 8, 1895 Robert Coombes (13 years old) and his brother Nathaniel (12 years old), of Plaistow, East London, made sure to tell a neighbor that their mother (Emily Coombes) had gone to Liverpool to see about an inheritance.
Robert Coombes (right) and Nathaniel Coombes as young boys
Sketch of Emily Coombes
The boys' seafaring father (Robert Sr.) was away from home, and over the next few days the lads attended cricket matches, went to the theatre, and generally enjoyed themselves.
Lord's Cricket Ground, London
After spending most of their money Robert and Nattie recruited a family friend named John Fox, a slow but good-natured soul, to come stay with them until their mother returned. Fox helped the boys pawn two watches and a mandolin, and the threesome used the money for food and recreation. At home, the trio played cricket in the yard and cards in the house and slept in the downstairs parlor.....though there were two bedrooms upstairs.
The Coombes house in Plaistow, East London
When the boys' finances ran low once again, Robert wrote his father for money, and visited and wrote to his father's employers in London - cajoling and fibbing to get cash.
Robert's letter to his father
Clever Robert even sent a well-worded letter to the newspaper, requesting loans and promising interest.
On July 15, Robert and Nattie's Aunt Emily dropped by to see her sister-in-law, and was told she'd gone to Liverpool. Aunt Emily was VERY surprised, since she hadn't heard a word about this trip. Then on July 18 the milkman noticed a horrific stench coming from the Coombes' house, sent word to Aunt Emily, and the jig was up.
Aunt Emily and her friend Mary Jane Burrage barged into the fetid house and found Robert and Nattie's mother dead in her bed, her body crawling with maggots.
Aunt Emily and her friend Mary Jane Burrage find the body of Emily Coombes
Robert immediately confessed to killing his mother. He said he'd stabbed his mother because she was a violent woman who'd beat Nattie for stealing food.
Sketch of Robert stabbing his mother
Robert confesses to killing his mother
Nattie was apparently in the habit of sneaking extra food from the kitchen, which infuriated his mother, who was said to be 'excitable' (possibly mentally ill).
Robert, Nattie and John Fox were arrested for murder. Summerscale describes the questioning of the suspects, and their arraignments and trials, in detail.....with specifics from public records, newspaper reports, and trial transcripts.
Robert (right) and Nattie are arraigned on murder charges
Newspapers sensationalize the crime
John Fox, a simple naif who knew nothing about the crime, was exonerated; Nattie, who may have instigated the murder, was freed to testify against his brother; and Robert was convicted.
Thirteen-year-old Robert was found guilty but insane, and was sent to Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum for an indeterminate period. Robert's crime became a worldwide sensation and everyone had an opinion about why he did it. The London newspapers speculated endlessly, most of them disdaining the fact that Robert 'got off easy.'
- Some people speculated that Robert's love of penny dreadfuls - inexpensive publications with stories about detectives, criminals, and adventurers - inspired the crime.
Example of a penny dreadful
- Some experts postulated that Robert was a throwback to less civilized humans, and that he exhibited "stigmata of physical and therefore mental degeneracy." Such signs were supposedly bulging skulls, sloping foreheads, and shifty eyes, none of which Robert - who was described as a handsome boy - exhibited.
Some newspapers depicted Robert as a degenerate with a misshapen head
- Some people suggested that Robert's education (he was a bright student who finished the 8th grade) had made him more savage, accentuated the degenerative process, and "provided him with weapons, as it were, to sharpen the claws of the littler tiger."
Robert did well in his board school, which went up to the 8th grade
- Some people thought the crime resulted from urbanization. They suggested that Robert was "one of a new breed of urban lunatic, a quick-witted degenerate who had replaced the grinning and harmless imbeciles that sunned themselves in the towns and villages of an older England."
Some people attributed Robert's crime to urbanization
- There was even a suggestion that Robert's deprived environment had played a part in the murder. The idea was that boys in affluent surroundings could play cowboys and Indians, pretend to dig for treasure, etc., and thus exercise their imaginations in a positive way. But in Plaistow, the crowded dingy streets wreaking with illness and pollution might have driven Robert "not just to imagine, but to enact his drama."
East London was rife with illness and pollution
Whatever motivated the crime, Robert went to Broadmoor asylum.
Entrance to Broadmoor Asylum
Being a child, Robert was housed in Block 2, with the more affluent, better educated criminals. The inmates in Block 2 got decent food; daily exercise; and small gardens to grow their own fruits and vegetables. They could wear their own clothes, play croquet, read books and periodicals, write letters, and play card games. Robert learned to play chess and billiards, and some fellow inmates taught him to play the violin, piano, and cornet.
Robert was housed in Block 2 at Broadmoor Asylum
In time Robert played the cornet in the asylum brass band; became a decent batsman and bowler for the asylum cricket team; and was given a job in the asylum tailor shop, sewing uniforms for the guards and clothes for the inmates. As a working patient Robert got an extra meal every day and earned a few shillings to buy things like tea, tobacco, and seeds for his garden.
Summerscale includes extensive information about Broadmoor, including descriptions of the facility, the superintendents, the inmates, the activities, how the institution was run, and so on. All this adds a fascinating picture of the asylum and its criminal residents.
Looking back it's impossible to know whether Robert was really insane, but in 1912, after being institutionalized for nearly two decades, 30-year-old Robert was granted conditional release. Robert was given into the care of the Salvation Army in Essex, where he worked in the tailor shop, attended religious services, and became a productive member of society.
Salvation Army compound in Essex
By early 1914 Robert got permission to move to Australia, where he worked as a clerk until World War I broke out in August 1914. Robert immediately volunteered for the army, which gave him the chance to partake in voyages like those he'd read about in his penny dreadfuls.
In the service Robert played in his battalion's military band and became a stretcher bearer - a soldier who provided first aid to wounded soldiers and bore them away for treatment.
Robert played the cornet in his battalion's military band
Robert became a stretcher bearer in World War 1
Robert's battalion fought at Gallipoli in Turkey, and he and his fellow stretcher bearers carried their loads down steep hills covered with loose stones while they dodged bullets and shells. After handing over their wounded at the beach, the stretcher bearers climbed back up and did it again and again.
Battle of Gallipoli in World War 1
Robert and his stretcher bearer partner worked with great courage as "all around them men cursed and screamed, crazed by thirst or pain or terror." Robert was also a stretcher bearer at the Somme and bandmaster for his regiment during the fighting at Flanders. Thus, Robert was present at several major battles of the war.
Robert was recommended for a Military Medal for his service at Gallipoli, and when his battalion returned to Australia, the soldiers received a warm welcome - with flowers and cigarettes, a joy ride through town, and a buffet with tea.
Robert was recommended for a Military Medal
After the war Robert settled down to a quiet life in rural Australia, where he grew and sold vegetables.
After World War 1, Robert Coombes settled in Australia
Robert also became the guardian of an abused boy named Harry Mulville when Harry's father was arrested for assaulting him. Years after Robert died, Mulville showed his appreciation by purchasing a headstone for Robert's grave. While researching her book, Summercale interviewed nonagenarian Harry Mulville, and was rewarded with many personal anecdotes.
Robert Coombe's headstone in Australia
In the end one can't help but feel that Robert, who could have been hanged for killing his mother, partially redeemed himself by living an honorable life and saving lives in the war.
Robert's story alone would have made a good book, but Summerscale adds interest by including the social, political, and economic ambiance of turn-of-the century Britain; summaries of penny dreadful stories; scientific theories about Robert's condition; details of Robert Sr.'s seafaring life; a brief look at England's justice system; descriptions of World War I battles; anecdotes about Nattie's military and civilian service as a ship' stoker; tales about Robert Coombe and Harry Mulville's life in Australia; and more. It's clear Summerscale did voluminous research for the book, and used it well.
Excellent story. Highly recommended to fans of true crime and historical non-fiction.
Rating: 4 stars
Excellent review.
ReplyDeleteThank you LeAnne. 🙂🍀🌾
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