John Mapp

Case information

• Name: John Mapp

Background

Catherine Lewis was the eldest of the five children of farm labourer John Lewis and his second wife. Catherine Lewis spent the afternoon of Sunday 22nd December 1867 at the Longden home of Ann Davies. Before leaving the house to go to Sunday chapel, nine-year-old Catherine asked Mrs Davies to pin a brooch on her shawl. Catherine said the brooch belonged to her step-mother.

At 7.30pm on Sunday 22nd December 1867, Catherine came out of chapel on Longden Road after the service. Also attending the Sunday evening service was 35-year-old John Mapp. In 1859, Mapp had been transported to Australia for assaulting an old woman but was now a farm labourer employed by Mr Whitfield of Longden Wood.

Two other chapel-goers were Jane Richards, a domestic servant at the Whitfield farm, and Mary Hartshorn.

The offence

After saying goodnight at Longden Common crossroads, Mary set off towards her home at Longden Common while Jane, Catherine and Mapp set off along Long Lane to their respective homes. Jane went as far as the Whitfield farm and turned off, leaving the other two to carry on along Long Lane.

On Monday morning, 16-year-old John Aston was set to ploughing a field along Long Lane. Also working in the field that morning was Mapp, who was spreading manure. Around 10am the two men stopped for their lunch. While they were eating, Aston found a bloodstained black straw hat stuffed into a holly bush. When he showed the hat to Mapp, Mapp told the lad to bury it.

In the afternoon Aston put the hat by the entrance of the field. A short time afterwards, Mary Hartshorn happened to be passing and noticed it, thinking that she recognised it. Asking around, Mary found that Catherine had not returned home the previous night, though this was not uncommon as she sometimes stayed overnight with the Davies family. When Mary showed the hat to Mrs Lewis, Mrs Lewis became extremely upset. When Mr Lewis saw the hat, he immediately went out to search for his daughter. It was Mr Lewis who found his daughter's body.

Finding marks of something being dragged, Mr Lewis followed them to an old hovel, where Catherine's body was inside. Her throat had been cut. Apart from her hat, the only thing missing was the glass and brass brooch.

Investigation

Suspicion of John Mapp was heightened when it was found that a patch of blood near the holly bush had been covered over with manure. John Mapp lived nearby Summerhouse Lane with his parents. When the house was searched, the brooch was found in his coat pocket, and Mapp was arrested.

There were also bloodstains on his trousers and coat, which Mapp claimed came from a nosebleed. A bloodstained knife was later found in his home.

Trial

Mapp was tried on 23rd March at Shrewsbury Assizes before Sir Fitzroy Kelly. It took the jury very little time to find Mapp guilty. He was sentenced to death.

Sentencing and execution

Mapp was hanged at Shrewsbury on 9th April 1867.

Timeline

• 1859 — John Mapp was transported to Australia for assaulting an old woman
• Sunday 22nd December 1867 — Catherine Lewis spent the afternoon at the Longden home of Ann Davies and asked Mrs Davies to pin a brooch on her shawl; Catherine attended Sunday chapel; John Mapp also attended the Sunday evening service
• Monday morning (following the Sunday 22nd December 1867) — John Aston found a bloodstained black straw hat stuffed into a holly bush; Mapp told Aston to bury it
• Monday afternoon (following the Sunday 22nd December 1867) — Mary Hartshorn saw the hat, recognised it, and Catherine was not found to have returned home
• 23rd March — John Mapp was tried at Shrewsbury Assizes before Sir Fitzroy Kelly and was found guilty; he was sentenced to death
• 9th April 1867 — John Mapp was hanged at Shrewsbury

Other details

• The brooch Catherine carried was described as belonging to her step-mother.
• Catherine Lewis was nine years old.
• John Mapp was 35 years old.
• John Aston was 16 years old.
• Mapp’s claimed source of the bloodstains on his trousers and coat was a nosebleed.