M
iss Celia Bashford was
born in 1800 within
the village or Ardingly,
Sussex. She grew to only
four feet high as she
suffered with a genetic
disorder which made her appearance
very different from everyone else.
Her family moved to Brighton to seek
the fortune of an up and coming
bustling seaside town and when
she grew up, she became a working
girl. As an adult she found herself
meeting a young man by the name
of John Holloway; a once trained
butchers’ boy at the racecourse in
Brighton. Now a young man John
had become a womanising drunk
and petty criminal, but the pair
fell in love and became a couple.
After a short time, Celia became
pregnant, but John refused to marry
her. This forced her to return to“Celia, you’re breaking my
heart ...”
KATIE WALLER INVESTIGATES A
BRUTAL BRIGHTON
BUTCHERY
Ardingly where she applied for parish
relief (financial help) and John was
sent to Prison for this. It took 5 weeks
of prison life in Lewes until finally he
agreed to marry her. The couple now
reunited, returned to Brighton as they
were ordered to leave Ardingly by the
parish (due to such an embarrassing
situation.) They both got jobs in the
workhouse and Celia sadly gave birth
to a stillborn, soon became pregnant
again but unfortunately her baby girl
also died.John was angry and bitter as he felt
smothered by the situation and became
increasingly violent towards her over the
years. She found herself soon relived of
his behaviour as he went to sea working
for the Naval Blockade Service. During
his time away he secretly courted and
married a woman called Ann Kennett
illegally. Around the summer of 1831 both
Celia and Ann were pregnant by him and
on his return to Brighton
John became a painter. He
worked on the Chain Pier
and was ordered to pay
Celia maintenance of 2
shillings per week (around
10 pence.) He was unable
to pay the demand due
to his low paying job so
instead he came up with a
plan to rid him of Celia for
good. In July of that year
John asked Celia to meethim and discuss the start of a new
life together in a new home in the
centre of Brighton. That day she
left her home at 4 Cavendish Place
and they met at the ‘potential’
new home in Donkey Row, number
11 (now named North Steine Row.)
They were reported to have been
in high spirits as they ate baked
batter pudding and drank beer.
Unsuspecting Celia believed John
and as he pretended to kiss her,
he carefully placed a rope around
her neck and slowly strangled her
to death. Ann was present at the
property, hiding. It is believed that
she was the one who finished poor
Celia off as John may have been
unable to go through with it. They
hung the body from a hook in the
cupboard under the stairs and
left it overnight to ensure she was
dead.