A Bright Little Town With A Very Dark Story
A BRIGHT LITTLE TOWN WITH A VERY DARK STORY
Hay on Wye is a historic market town in Breconshire which has become world-famous as a “town of books”. It is a pretty, busy place with small independent shops selling everything from high-end fashion to agricultural equipment and of course the 21 bookshops. There are at least six pubs and a range of good restaurants with Chapters recently added to the Michelin guide. It is a great day out being only an hour and twenty minutes from Wenvoe
We walked into Hay on a cold sunny day in January and learnt the story of the infamous “poisoner of Hay”, a chilling tale which I will tell you here. Herbert Rowse Armstrong was a solicitor and convicted murderer, the only solicitor in the history of the United Kingdom to have been hanged for murder. As a leading solicitor, he had a fine office in the centre of Hay and lived just outside the town in Cusop. He practised law from 1906 until his arrest on 31 December 1921 for the attempted murder of a professional rival by arsenic poisoning. He was later also charged with, and convicted of, the murder of his wife, the crime for which he was executed.
Herbert Amstrong was born in Plymouth and his family later moved to Liverpool. From school, he went to Cambridge where he read law. Once qualified he worked as a solicitor in England before he successfully applied for a vacancy in Hay-on-Wye in 1906. The next year he married an old sweetheart Katharine Friend, who was known as Kitty.
The legal practice thrived and the family moved into a large house where they brought up three children, two girls and a boy. On the outbreak of the First World War Herbert joined the army and served in France in the Royal Engineers, rising to the rank of Major. He was later awarded the Territorial Decoration, a medal for loyal and long service.
In May 1919, not long after Herbert had returned from the war, Kitty’s health deteriorated. She was seen by various doctors and spent some time in a mental asylum. Her symptoms were a bit of a mystery, but she became well enough to return home in January 1921. It was noted that her husband took good care of her and would sit by her bed reading to her. Sadly, exactly a month later on 22nd February
1921 she died. Her death certificate stated that she died of “gastritis, aggravated by heart disease and nephritis.”
Mrs Armstrong had an overbearing personality and was not popular in the village. Her husband on the other hand had a string of affairs while he was away during the war, and on his return, he would attend village dances on his own. If he had anything to do with the death of his wife, he did well to avoid suspicion.
However – Herbert Armstrong had a rival solicitor in Hay and the two lawyers were locked in a dispute over a property deal. A deposit on the sale had been paid to Armstrong but it seems that he had gambled it away. Oswald Martin, his adversary, put pressure on him to come up with the money and Armstrong invited him to come to tea to discuss things. On 26th October 1921, Martin arrived and was given a scone with his tea. When he arrived home, he was violently ill. Martin’s father-in-law was the chemist in Hay and he became suspicious and remembered selling Armstrong some arsenic for use as a weedkiller. The local doctor noted how the symptoms which Martin suffered from were like those of Kitty Armstrong.
It was subsequently discovered that a few weeks before the tea party, a box of chocolates had been anonymously sent to the Martins. Mrs Martin’s sister-in-law had eaten some and become violently ill. Fortunately, some chocolates remained and when examined some were found to have a small hole in the base. Dr Hincks contacted the Home Office and explained his suspicions about what had happened to Martin, and also voiced suspicions about Mrs Armstrong’s death. Samples of the chocolates and Martin’s urine were examined and found to contain arsenic, and the Home Office then passed the case to Scotland Yard. Armstrong was arrested on 31st December 1921 and was found to have a packet of arsenic in his pocket. He was charged with the intended murder of Oswald Martin. The body of Kitty Armstrong was exhumed and found to be riddled with arsenic. So in January 1922, Armstrong was also charged with the “wilful murder of his wife”. He strongly protested his innocence on both charges.
The trial was held in Hereford on 3rd April 1922 and the legal proceedings ended the following month. Armstrong was hanged on 31st May and the hangman said his last words were “Kitty I’m coomin to ye!”. Earlier that morning the prison governor asked him if he had anything to say to which he replied, “I am innocent of the crime for which I have been condemned to die.”
Over the years there has been much debate about the case, especially as arsenic was an ingredient in some medicines at the time. There is a view that this was a miscarriage of justice, and that Armstrong was wrongly convicted. If an innocent man was hanged, we can at least be grateful that in the UK the death penalty was abolished in 1964.