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To be honest, I think he was lucky both times. Sixteen years he got for stabbing Ernest - that's a pretty heavy sentence for manslaughter; I think that the judge probably wasn't impressed that the jury rejected the verdict of murder. One has to wonder what they thought when his previous record...

Stabbing of Ernest Holdcroft. It was a real surprise to find out in 2008 that the elderly chap I knew had such a... let's say colourful past. He went on to have six daughters (my mother was the oldest) and one son. They lived for many years in Streatham, not far from Ely, in Cambridgeshire.

Maud Mansell Shooting

I know, I've got them. Would you like transcripts?

Thanks, Lyn. Thanks both of you! I've spent quite a bit of time trying to track this stuff down. Here's a photo of one of the yards in Hitchin, where I live, as it was in 1926. It looks similar in layout to the Birmingham courts. Like them, it's all gone now. Simon

Thanks! That's really helpful. It looks like the houses were packed in pretty tightly. My guess would be that there's very little, if anything left of the area. The lass he shot (accidentally, he claimed) was Maud Mansell. A few years after Harry came out of prison, he married my...

My grandfather lived at 36 Court, 3 house, Great Russell Street, in 1891; I don’t understand this address. Is it the third house in the 36th court off Great Russell Street? His name was Harry Holdcroft, and he was responsible for the death of Maud Mansell that year; he got 9 months’ hard labour...