H
arold Greenwood was physically fit
and virile, and Mabel had been a
sick woman for a long time, so people
drew their own conclusions. Instead
of allowing a decent interval to elapse
before he remarried, he now set the
gossips’ tongues wagging even more
furiously within four months of his
wife’s death when it became known that
he was to replace her.
And that wasn’t all. It also became
known that he had made not just one,
but two proposals of marriage.
The woman who became his bride
was Miss Gladys Jones. She was well
over 30 and he had known her since
her childhood, having been friendly
with her family since 1898 when he
first came to the district. Her father was
the owner of the Llanelly Mercury, and
in September – only four months after
Mabel’s funeral – Harold Greenwood
gave notice to the Llanelly registrar that
he was to wed Gladys Jones. Yet within
a couple of days he was penning a
marriage proposal to May Griffiths, the
doctor’s sister! He wrote:
“My dearest May,
I have been trying hard to get you this
last fortnight, but no luck, always someone
going in or you were out. Now I want you
to think very carefully and to send me
over a reply tonight. There are very many
rumours about, but between you and I
this letter reveals the true position. Well, it
is only right that you should know that
Miss Bowater and Miss Phillips between
them have turned my children against
He had contracted to espouse another
woman only two days before. What had
come over him? He seemed hellbent
on attracting suspicion, for now the
gossips had a field day. Greenwood later
claimed the proposal had been a joke,
but Miss Griffiths took it seriously.
By Christmas the topic of how Mrs.
Greenwood had come to die reached
a feverish climax. Greenwood and
his new bride faced anything but a
happy new year in 1920. The clamour
refused to abate, so a harassed coroner
eventually agreed to hold an inquest.A
ctually, it was in October, 1919 –
a month after Mabel’s successor
had been installed at Rumsey House- that the police first warned Harold
Greenwood of their intention to
exhume Mabel’s body. He appeared to
take the news in his own hearty way,
telling them: “Just the very thing. I am
quite agreeable.’’
But they didn’t get around to
obtaining an exhumation order until
the following April. And another two
months elapsed before a two-day
inquest was held on Mabel Greenwood- on June 15th and 16th, 1920. The
apparent reason for the delay was that
when the body was exhumed no trace
of valvular disease was found. And the
body was seen to be well preserved –
in fact, it was too well preserved. For
the doctors examining the remains
discovered between a quarter and a half
a grain of arsenic.
Miss Phillips and Nurse Jones were
among those who listened attentively to
the coroner, Mr. J. W. Nicholas, when
the inquest finally opened. They heard
Mr. Ludform, representing Harold
Greenwood in the latter’s absence,
comment on the alacrity with which
a suggestion of alleged foul play had
come from the vicar. Mr. Ludform
went on to accuse him of being among
the gossips who had maligned his client.
In the course of the hearing MissWhen the body was
exhumed no trace
of valvular disease
was found. Doctors
discovered between a
quarter and a half a
grain of arsenicAbove, a boy at the Kidwelly grave of Mrs. Greenwood. Below left, the
Reverend Ambrose Jones who had been shocked by Mabel’s death and was
assused of being a gossip. Below right, Greenwood arrives at his wife’s inquestPhillips was referred to by the
absent Greenwood as “a treacherous
busybody.’’ He dubbed her “The
Kidwelly Postman,’’ because of her
readiness to disseminate gossip.
Sergeant Hodge Lewis’s notes were
read over. But by now Nurse Jones had
had months to think over her previous
statements. When she was called to
give evidence, she firmly denied her
statements: “You can look through me,
Sergeant Hodge Lewis, I am telling theyou very bitterly, why I don’t know. It is
only right that you should know this, as
you are the one I love most in this world
and I would be the last one to make you
unhappy. Under the circumstances, are you
prepared to face the music? I am going to
do something quickly as I must get rid of
Miss Bowater at once as I am simply fed
up with her. Let me have something from
you tonight.
Yours as ever,
Harold.’’
Had he taken leave of his senses?