HISTORY FEATURE: An illicit wartime affair ending in tragedy

This meant people pouring into industrial areas — like Rotherham — and living in lodgings away from parental or marital supervision.

Many were prompted by patriotism, others were tempted by the greater level of freedom which came with being far from home — often for the first time.

For some, it led to romantic relationships — whether they were married or single.

William Ward (27) was a munitions worker at Messrs Thomas Firth and Sons at Tinsley, a factory which had been converted at the beginning of the war. In spring 1917 he was staying on Attercliffe Road, Sheffield.

Meanwhile Mary Ives (36) was employed at the Cammell Laird munitions building in Sheffield and was lodging in the city, at Jansen Street.

William and Mary knew each other. Before the hostilities, he had lived on Mitchell’s Terrace in Wombwell and she was the wife of the village’s postmaster, John Henry Ives.

In fact, it seems that William had chosen where he would work in the war based on where he would be close to Mary, and they began a relationship.

The pair were found dead in a field at Yew Tree Farm in Brinsworth on the afternoon of May 17, 1917.

Blacksmith Harold Bennett Wright, of Greasbrough Road in Tinsley, spotted the bodies beside a hedge — initially thinking they had been asleep.

When he got closer, he saw that both their throats were slit.

Harold shouted for a nearby farm labourer to watch the bodies while he rushed over to Tinsley to inform the police.

There was a short delay as officers worked out which force would respond and investigate, before the Rotherham authority was notified and Det Sgt William Shaw and PC Beasby arrived at the scene at 5.15pm.

They immediately noted it appeared there had been no sign of a struggle between William and Mary. William was face-down, nearest the hedge, with his left arm resting on Mary’s waist. In his hand was a bloodstained pocketknife.

An open razor lay between the two bodies. Its case was in William’s pocket.

Det Sgt Shaw ordered that the bodies be moved to Canklow ready for the inquest. It appeared to be a clear case of murder and suicide, he reported to the Rotherham Coroner, Mr J Kenyon Parker.

The officer visited William’s Attercliffe Road lodgings, where he found several letters written by Mary in a tin box.

The landlady, Ann Sands, told the detective that William had left her house just after 1pm that day and told her he intended to catch the 1.43pm train back to Wombwell. There was nothing unusual about his demeanour, Ann said.

In the past, he had spoken with her about his relationship with Mary — even showing her a photograph.

At the inquest, held at the Atlas Hotel two days later, Det Sgt Shaw told the coroner and jury his opinion that William had cut Mary’s throat with the razor and then killed himself with the knife.

The coroner asked him: “Have you any doubts about it?”

The detective answered: “Not the slightest.”

A man called Steerman gave evidence, saying he had witnessed the couple walking, arm in arm, along a footpath near where the bodies were found.

Mr Steerman said they appeared “friendly” with each other — but it appeared they might have recently argued. He watched them turn into Shepcote Lane and then lost sight of them.

Mary’s husband John told the jury that he last saw his wife the previous weekend, when she had returned to the family home at Wombwell.

She would usually travel home on a Saturday and then leave for her lodgings the following morning.

It was the Wombwell police who had contacted him to say a body had been found which was believed to be Mary. John initially identified her by the description of a ring she was wearing and a lock of her hair.

He asked at Rotherham police station how Mary had died, and was told it appeared to have been at the hands of a man called William Ward.

John had known of his wife’s infatuation with William.

The coroner asked him: “I am not getting into matters any more than I can help, but has there been trouble between you and your wife about this man?”

John burst into tears and replied: “Yes.”

Mary’s husband also told the inquest that he was aware of William having to serve 12 months in prison for attempting to murder a barmaid a few years earlier.

William’s brother-in-law Walter Bird told the hearing that he had been aware of William and Mary’s romance, with the couple even living together in Doncaster for a short while.

When this arrangement had ended, Mary had gone home to her husband.

Walter also knew of the attempted murder charge, which had been heard at Leeds Assizes, and said it was his razor which had been found between William and Mary.

In summing up, the coroner assured the jury that there was no doubt that the couple had lived as man and wife at Doncaster and had been seeing each other since.

He added: “The opinion of the two witnesses was that the man murdered the woman and afterwards killed himself.

“The most significant part of the evidence was the nature of the wounds and the identity of the razor, which the brother-in-law did not even know was missing.

“Then there was the letters. Another fact was that Ward was convicted at Leeds Assizes to 12 months’ imprisonment on a charge of attempting to murder a barmaid at Wombwell.”

The jury did not take long to decide a verdict in agreement with the two witnesses.

Det Sgt Shaw was praised by the coroner for his careful and considerate inquiries, and diligent investigation.

But the finer details of William’s previous crime were not heard in court.

In October 1914, he appeared at Barnsley’s courthouse charged with the attempted murder of pianist Nellie Ballard (21), at the Junction Inn, Wombwell on September 7.

At the time he was a greengrocer and fish dealer at Wombwell, where he was reported to be a young man of respectable appearance.

Nellie’s employer told the court how she had taken his children out for a walk on that day, and returned home bleeding from her chest.

When William was brought into the court, he was also bleeding from the chest, having stabbed himself.

Nellie spoke of William acting strangely around that time — to the point where her landlord’s children referred to him being “a bit soft in the head”.

Her and William’s romantic relationship had ended the previous week and she had told him they could remain friends.

The pair had been walking along quite happily on the day of the attack, when he asked her if there was any chance of them getting back together.

When she said no, he suddenly shouted: “Then die!” — and stabbed her with a large fish knife.

Nellie managed to run away... after a short distance she turned, and saw William attempting to kill himself.

On November 31, 1914, William was given 12 months for GBH.

Three years later, there were very similar circumstances — only this time the affair ended tragically.

It was presumed that William and Mary were lovers, choosing to die together. But did the earlier case with Nellie change how clear cut this might have been?

Adapted from a chapter in Rotherham’s Dark Streets by Margaret Drinkall (right), available from Amazon (Kindle edition £3.99, paperback £6.99).