Miss Elizabeth Pulley

Today I learnt an important lesson about checking what you're allowed to include on blogposts. My original posts about Miss Pulley and Henry Corby contained lots of gruesome details, but they, of course, are not suitable for children. This meant my blog had to sit behind a wall where readers proved their age - a not unreasonable request - and meant, therefore, that it was unviewable by most people. So I'm trying again. A sanitised, polite post or two about the two people at the centre of the murder, without the gruesome bits. Hopefully, the gate will be removed.

When I came across the case of the murder of an elderly Stamford resident a few years back I was immediately enthralled. I had heard of a woman who had apparently died from spontaneous combustion in the town as a teenager, but had not realised that these two women were one and the same. What also surprised me was that nobody had written about the full story before, so that is the intention of this blogpost and the following ones.

You might have come across this blog after reading my book Exploring the Lives of Victorian Prostitutes (if you haven’t, it’s available at Walker’s book shop in Stamford, Waterstones in Peterborough, Peterborough Museum, Amazon and Pen & Sword) and wanted to know more about the horrific murder. Thank you for reading my book, and welcome.

High Street St Martins close to Miss Pulley's house, looking north past the George Hotel and towards St Mary's church

Let me set the scene. It was 1860 and Elizabeth Pulley was 64 years old and living entirely alone in a rather nice house on High Street St Martins, Stamford, probably 55 or 56 High Street due to the gardens. Not too far away lived the Corby family. Henry Corby was a master carpenter, aged around 50 and was married to Elizabeth (nee Goodliffe), aged 60. They had four children - two boys and two girls, although the eldest, Henry, was already married by this point.

On 15^th March Henry Corby killed Miss Pulley in her home, where she lay until she was discovered after a friend raised the alarm, on 19^th March. This is the story of what lead to Miss Pulley’s murder.

St Guthlac's in Market Deeping

Elizabeth was born on 27^th June 1796 in Market Deeping to Thomas and Elizabeth (nee Sanderson) who had married by licence on 1^st October 1795 at St Guthlac’s Church in Market Deeping.[1] Elizabeth had been baptised on 28^th June, suggesting that her prospects at birth were not great. She pulled through, however, and was joined by her sister Mary (born 15^th April, baptised 18^th April) who died aged 15 months (18^th July 1799). Her brother James was buried before he was baptised in 1802 and John Thomas suffered the same fate in 1805. Another John Thomas was born and baptised in July 1808, only to be buried on 11^th November of the same year. Elizabeth was the only child who survived.

Thanks to information from the Deepings Heritage Group, here we know that Thomas was a draper with a shop in Middle Row, Market Deeping. Middle Row was a short row of houses in what is now the Market Place. When the row was knocked down in 1847 Elizabeth was the beneficiary of £145 compensation.[2] Amazingly, we will uncover what she spent her compensation money on in another post.

St Martin's on a cold, miserable day in January

The family moved to Stamford Baron/St Martin’s and Thomas died in 1821 aged 66, being buried in St Martin’s churchyard [3]. The 1841 census show us that both Elizabeths were living on High Street St Martins and had a female servant. The Hibbins family (Edward, Catherine, and Catherine) were also living on their property, possibly as lodgers. Interestingly, there is a joiner living next door, but most of the houses are lived in by independent women with their servants. A ladies’ seminary was a few doors down, which pre-dates Stamford High School for Girls.

Elizabeth Pulley senior was buried on 11^th September 1844 in St Martin’s churchyard aged 80 (possibly baptised in Maxey in 1764 to Thomas and Elizabeth Saunderson). Her will tells us that she was Thomas’ second wife and he had two other daughters: Catherine Lapworth and Ann Scott (later Dean) who were each left £150 to be received two years after her death.[4] Elizabeth was left everything else, which included property and lands which she could live off, as well as all of her money – Elizabeth Pulley was rather wealthy!

Elizabeth’s death was first recorded in the Lincolnshire Chronicle and Stamford Mercury on 23^rd March 1860.[5] The Chronicle stated that she was found on Monday (the 19^th) and was aged 62 (incorrect). The Mercury also incorrectly claimed she was 63 (she was 64), but it had a full description of the inquest on Miss Pulley’s body, which happened on the evening of the day she was discovered. The inquest was held at the nearby Town Hall by John Torkington to attempt to determine the reason for her death.

Stamford Town Hall (and gaol for a while)

During the inquest they determined that she had last been seen alive on Wednesday (14^th) and had probably died on the Thursday morning. Her friend Miss Robertson had raised the alarm on the Sunday after she had failed to appear at church, and Sergeant Harrison and a clerk from Miss Pulley’s attorney’s office entered the house to find her. What met them was the remains of Miss Pulley, who appeared to have been in a fire. As there was no sign of a burglary (there were a lot of valuable items left in the house) or violence (from the body that remained) the coroner decided that the likely cause of death was that Miss Pulley had prepared her fire for lighting first thing in the morning and ‘fell down in a fit’ (had a heart attack or seizure).

As is usually the case, different newspaper accounts recorded different information. The Lincolnshire Chronicle account referred to her as ‘a lady of eccentric habits’ and dwelt on the fact she had lived alone without a servant for the last 18 months and barely left the house, nor let anyone enter it.[7]  It also mentioned a large hole in the floor that had been burnt by the fire, but stated that owing to the floorboards being oak, it had not burnt too far. Their supposed theory was that her dress had caught light from the candle.

However, Miss Pulley’s friends and neighbours did not agree with the inquest conclusion: ‘doubts were expressed in the town as to her having met with her death by accidental circumstances, it being rumoured that neither plate nor coin were found in the house.’ But their concerns were assuaged by the revelation that her house still contained a great deal of valuable items. 

She was buried on Wednesday 21^st March in St Martin's churchyard and her goods were passed to relatives in Putney, which is where her half-sister Catherine (and probably Ann) were living.

By Saturday 24^th March her suspected killer, Henry Corby, was in custody. But who was Henry Corby and why did he kill her? Come back for the next blogpost to find out.

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[1] According to Freereg records. No sign of the burial of his previous wife Elizabeth

[2] https://deepingsheritage.wordpress.com/tag/elizabeth-pulley/

[3] 31^st March. He was born in 1755.

[4] Catherine was baptised 18^th Jan 1782 – married Abraham Lapworth 1814 in Putney (some say 1815). Abraham was a shopkeeper and they lived in Bermondsey Square, London, not far from Tower Bridge.  Anna was baptised 10^th Oct 1783 – she married John James Dean in Putney, who was a grocer. Elizabeth Pulley’s Will is viewable on Ancestry

[5] ‘Deaths’, Lincolnshire Chronicle, 23 March 1860, p.5 and ‘Shocking Death by Burning’, Stamford Mercury, 23 March 1860, p.4.

[6] ‘Shocking Death by Burning’.

[7] ‘Dreadful Death’, Lincolnshire Chronicle, 23 March 1860, p.5.