On 1st April 1872, William Frederick (Fred) Horry met his maker at the end of William Marwood's rope. He was also the first of William Marwood executions and the first at Lincoln Castle using the more human 'long drop' method.
William Frederick Horry was born in the December if 1843 to William Horry, a brewer and his wife Elizabeth Bland. On the 1851 Census, 7 years old William, then known as Fred is living with his parents and two younger siblings in Lincolnshire. In 1861 the now 17 year old William is an assistant brewer with his father.
In 1867 in Staffordshire William married his future wife Jane, the couple then took over the running of The George Hotel in Burslem Staffordshire. But not everything was well in the Horry household. William began to drink and became abusive towards Jane, believing her to be having an affair. So much so that by the September if 1871 the couple had become estranged. Jane had taken their three children and gone to live with William's parents in Boston Lincolnshire. William continued to visit his family but his behaviour became so violent that William's one father banned him from the home.
William was unable to maintain The George Hotel and sold the business before moving to Nottingham. In the January of 1872 William pleaded once more with his wife for her and their children to return to him, being unsuccessful he travelled back to Nottingham and purchased a revolver.
William then returned to Boston, and gained entry into his father's house where he lay in wait for Jane, shooting her dead as she entered the dining room. William then then calmly handed the revolver to his stunned brother Thomas, saying -
“You have no notion, Tom, how I loved that woman, but I could not stand the jealousy.”
William then stayed at the home awaiting his arrest. At his trial on 31st March William pleaded insanity, but the prosecution was successful in it's argument that the crime had been premeditated. William was found guilty of the murder of his wife and sentenced to death. He showed no interest in appealing his conviction and was executed the next day at Lincoln Castle by William Marwood.
William is buried in Lucy Tower in Lincoln Castle were a simple stone baring his initials and death of death mark his final resting place.
Supporters of William erected a granite obelisk in his and Jane's honour at St John the Baptist Churchyard in Burslem, Staffordshire.
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