Murder Most Foul – July 2018

H

AROLD Greenwood was a man

of two mysteries. One was how

someone so foolish had ever

managed to become a solicitor. The

other made headlines. It posed the

question: did he murder his wife?

He came from Ingleton, Yorkshire,

and in 1896 he married Mabel, the

younger daughter of William Vansittart

Bowater of Bury Hall, Edmonton,

Middlesex. After two years in London

the couple moved to the small town

of Kidwelly in Carmarthenshire, and

Greenwood subsequently established

his own modest practice as a solicitor in

the nearby town of Llanelly.

He had only recently qualified, but

his wife had a private income and this

enabled him to buy Rumsey House, a

substantial mansion in Kidwelly, where

Mabel soon became a popular and

active figure socially. Greenwood, very

much a ladies’ man, was less popular

despite his geniality. He made few

friends, perhaps partly because he was

English in a Welsh community, and

because of his obvious preference for

female company.

The couple had four children, the

eldest of whom was Irene, who came

of age in 1919, the year in which

Harold Greenwood’s life began to fall

apart. Irene lived with her parents,

her teenage brother and sister were

away at boarding schools, and the

youngest child, 10-year-old Kenneth,

was being educated at home. In June

1919 the household also included Mrs.

Greenwood’s sister Miss Edith Bowater,

currently away on an extended holiday,

and three domestic servants.

Forty-seven-year-old Mabel

Greenwood had indifferent health, and

because of this she and her husband no

longer had a physical relationship. She

was prone to unaccountable fainting

spells and it was generally supposed

that she had a weak heart.

For some 16 years she had been

the patient of Dr. T. R. Griffiths, and

since the previous January she had

complained to him of pains around

her heart and in her abdomen. He put

them down to “the change of life’’ and

prescribed some appropriate medicine.

For six months Mabel Greenwood had

suffered a marked deterioration in her

health.

On Thursday, June 12th, 1919, she

attended a meeting of antiquarians in

the town hall, where it was observed

16 Murder Most Foul Poison Death Of The Solicitor’s Wife

Report by

Leonard Gribble

that she did not look at all well. The

next day she saw her dressmaker and

mentioned that she was looking forward

to joining her sister Edith on holiday.

On the Saturday she called on an

old servant, Martha Morris, formerly

Irene’s nanny. Mrs. Morris was another

who noticed that Mabel looked very

ill. On her way home Mabel bought a

bottle of burgundy, which was to be

served at lunch on the Sunday. Then,

When his poorly

wife Mabel fell

violently ill after

eating her Sunday

lunch, Harold

Greenwood didn’t

seem that bothered.

Had he put arsenic

in her wine? And

if he did, what on

earth did he have to

gain by doing so?

POISON DEA

SOLICITOR’S WIFE

A crowd gathers

outside Kidwelly

police station as

solicitor Harold

Greenwood is

escorted to Llanelly

to be charged with

his wife’s murder

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