A University of Sussex PhD thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Capital Domicide: Home and Murder in the Mid-Century Metropolis Alexa Hannah Leah Neale Submitted for the qualification of Doctor of Philosophy University of Sussex November 2015 1 Contents Summary .......................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... 3 List of figures ................................................................................................................... 4 Abbreviations .................................................................................................................. 6 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter one: sources..................................................................................................... 48 Chapter two: class capital ............................................................................................ 89 Chapter three: the home front ................................................................................... 127 Chapter four: ‘race’ .................................................................................................... 165 Chapter five: gender and sexuality ............................................................................ 201 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 253 Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 260 Appendix: images ........................................................................................................ 276 2 Summary This thesis examines experiences in domestic spaces in London 1930 to 1970 on a case- study basis, and through them explores the meanings of home more generally in the period. This study is unique in using case files for murder trials at the Central Criminal Court, also known as the Old Bailey, as a source for this topic, archive documents that include photographs and plans alongside rich descriptions of everyday domestic and urban life and the use of home spaces. This is an area notoriously difficult to study because of the scarcity of sources that combine visual and descriptive information, particularly sources that can be described as ‘actual’ rather than ‘ideal’ or ‘aspirational’. It focuses on the urban and suburban areas of the capital, specifically the area under the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court and Metropolitan Police, the producers of the sources used. Informed by Social and Cultural Historical and Geographical approaches, this thesis concentrates on the ways homes were interpreted by the authors of the documents and their relationship to ideas about home in wider society. It argues that a circular relationship existed in which assumptions by police and judiciary about class, gender, ‘race’ and sexuality influenced the ways people’s homes were ‘read’ and the way evidence was collected from domestic crime scenes. These readings informed perceptions of residents’ capability for respectable domestic life, and of the culpability of victims, the guilt of defendants, and the veracity of witnesses’ evidence. Further, verdicts and sentencing were then reported on and shared in ways that had impact on later crimes, homes, and their interpretation. By analysing the processes that created the archived documents, this thesis challenges the assumptions embedded within them. It finds that social, cultural and economic capital were used by people to negotiate privacy, comfort and domesticity in their homes. In these ways, this thesis both makes an original contribution to studies of home, and describes and justifies a method and approach to crime sources that can be applied to a variety of other topics. 3 Acknowledgements I am grateful to the Geffrye Museum of the Home and the Histories of Home Subject Specialist Network for inspiring the use of crime sources for studying home with their ‘Crime Scenes and Case Files’ postgraduate study day in 2012. Chris Williams at the National Archives was helpful in the early stages of identifying useful collections and sources. I gratefully acknowledge the support of an AHRC Research Preparation Masters which allowed me to develop the interest the study day inspired into a research project for my MA Contemporary History dissertation at the University of Sussex. Without this funding and the subsequent AHRC Doctoral Studentship I would not have been able to afford to pursue postgraduate study or complete this thesis. I have also been the grateful recipient of Disabled Students’ Allowance, financial and pastoral support from the Student Support, Student Counselling, and Student Welfare Services at Sussex University, and have enjoyed the consistent, dedicated and understanding personal and intellectual support of two excellent supervisors there: Professors Claire Langhamer and Ben Rogaly. This thesis is dedicated to the memory of Bryan Edward Neale, 22 March 1936 – 17 June 2015, who took me to places where working-class East Anglian ancestors were born and lived and worked and drank and died and were buried, and told me their stories and his and mine. Here’s to his mother’s youngest son. 4 List of figures Figure 1: CRIM 1/2783: Exhibit 1: 'Plan and part elevation of two rooms on the first floor of a residence at number 28 Appleford Road, North Kensington W 10’ [detail, undated, author unknown]. ............................................................................................ 276 Figure 2: CRIM 1/2783: Exhibit 4: Album of 9 photographs: 'No. 1: Shews the kitchen on 1st floor at 28 Appleford Rd' [undated, photographer unknown]. ........................... 277 Figure 3: CRIM 1/2783: Exhibit 4: 'No. 2: Shews the kitchen on 1st floor at 28 Appleford Rd'. ............................................................................................................... 277 Figure 4: CRIM 1/2783: Exhibit 19: 'Envelope containing letter and 2 samples of wallpaper' [part, undated]. ............................................................................................. 278 Figure 5: CRIM 1/2783: Exhibit 19: [reverse]. ............................................................. 278 Figure 6: CRIM 1/2783: Exhibit 19: [sample 2 of 2].................................................... 278 Figure 7: CRIM 1/610: Exhibit 3: Book of photographs 'Taken on Tuesday 31st May and Wednesday 8th June, 1932 by Alfred Madden, New Scotland Yard' [1 of 5]. ...... 279 Figure 8: CRIM 1/610: Exhibit 3… [2 of 5]. ................................................................ 279 Figure 9: CRIM 1/610: Exhibit 1: 'Plan of Ground and 1st Floors [detail, undated]. ... 280 Figure 10: CRIM 1/610: Exhibit 3: [3 of 5]. ................................................................. 281 Figure 11: CRIM 1/610: Exhibit 3… [4 of 5]. .............................................................. 281 Figure 12: CRIM 1/742: Exhibit 2: '2 photographs' [undated, photographer unknown]. ....................................................................................................................................... 282 Figure 13: CRIM 1/742: [2 of 2]. .................................................................................. 282 Figure 14: CRIM 1/742: 'Plan of First Floor Back Room of No 12 Prebend Street, Camden Town’ by PC Sidney Bostock [Met Police] 'N' Division, [undated]. ............. 283 Figure 15: CRIM 1/1052: Exhibit 1: 'Plan of basement of No 2 Richmond Way (Shepherd's Bush), Hammersmith. London. W. On 25th October 1938.' By PC Richard Atlee, [Met Police] 'F [Division]’. ................................................................................ 284 Figure 16: CRIM 1/743: Exhibit 9: Book of photographs [undated, photographer unknown]. ..................................................................................................................... 285 Figure 17: CRIM 1/743: Exhibit 9… [2 of 5]. .............................................................. 285 Figure 18: CRIM 1/743: Exhibit 9… [3 of 5]. .............................................................. 286 Figure 19: CRIM 1/743: Exhibit 8: Photograph taken 'at Brighton' [undated, photographer unknown]. ............................................................................................... 286 Figure 20: CRIM 1/743: Exhibit 12: Copy of book: Lancing, M., She Wore No Ring (Girls' Friend Library, 1934). ........................................................................................ 287 Figure 21: CRIM 1/743: Exhibit 12: [detail showing top of p. 56]. ............................. 287 Figure 22: CRIM 1/2206: Exhibit 2: Photographs [undated, photographer