Herbert Rowse Armstrong

 Herbert Rowse Armstrong was the only British solicitor to be hanged for murder. He was born in Devon, England, on 13 May 1889. He qualified as a solicitor in 1895, and he moved to the small town of Hay-on-Wye in 1906. In 1907 he married a woman called Katherine and they had three children. Armstrong served in the British army during the First World War, and he reached the rank of major. After the war, he returned to being a solicitor. 

By all accounts, Armstrong was dominated by his wife, Katherine. For instance, she would not allow him to smoke, except in one room and never outdoors. However, Katherine became mentally ill. In July 1920 Armstrong persuaded her to make a will leaving all her money to him. 

Then in August 1920, she was admitted to an asylum. She was released in January 1921. Unfortunately, she then became physically ill and she died on 22 February 1921. At first her death was ascribed to natural causes, but she had actually been poisoned with arsenic. Armstrong wrote in his diary 'K. died'. Perhaps he grew tired of her controlling ways but he also benefited financially from her death. 

Later that year, a rival solicitor in the town, Oswald Martin, received a box of chocolates. He did not eat any of them himself but a guest did and became violently ill. The chocolates were examined and it was found that arsenic had been injected into them from the bottom. 

On 26 October 1921 Armstrong invited Martin to tea. When Martin arrived selected a buttered scone and handed it to his guest, saying 'excuse my fingers'. Shortly afterwards, Martin became violently ill. His father-in-law was a chemist and he suspected Martin had been poisoned. He sent a sample of Martin's urine to be examined it was found to contain arsenic. It was now obvious that Armstrong was trying to kill his business rival. 

The police began investigating. Armstrong kept inviting Martin to tea. Fortunately, Martin kept thinking of excuses to refuse.

On 31 December 1921, Herbert Armstrong was arrested for attempted murder. The police discovered that Armstrong possessed a considerable amount of arsenic, which he had divided up and placed in 20 paper packets. The body of his wife, Katherine, was exhumed and was found to contain arsenic. On 19 January 1922, Armstrong was charged with her murder. The trial began on 3 April 1922. 

The defence claimed that Katherine committed suicide by swallowing arsenic. But a doctor testified that it would have been impossible for her to rise from her bed, just before she died and obtain the arsenic. She was too ill. A nurse testified that Katherine said, 'I am not going to die am I? Because I have so much to live for, my children and my husband'. It was obviously murder, not suicide. 

Armstrong claimed that he used arsenic to kill weeds but he could not satisfactorily explain why he had sachets of arsenic. He was asked why he put arsenic into paper packets. Why didn't he simply pour arsenic from the original container onto the roots of weeds? Armstrong replied, 'I really do not know. At the time it seemed the most convenient way of doing it'. It seemed more likely that he kept sachets of arsenic to poison people.

Armstrong was found guilty of the murder of his wife, Katherine and he was sentenced to death. Herbert Rowse Armstrong was hanged on 31 May 1922.