Lord North Street

This is an anonymously published postcard printed in Great Britain, it shows the view looking south in Lord North Street, Westminster and it dates from the mid 1960s. The houses in the street date from 1722 when the street was known as just North Street, running north from Smith Square where the church of St. John is located, often known as Queen Anne’s footstool because it looks like an upturned footstool and was built during the reign of Queen Anne. Today the houses are sold for vast amounts of money, they are the homes of Politicians and Captains of Industry. Former Prime Minister Harold Wilson lived here whilst in and out of office, Jonathan Aitken a former Conservative Minister and former guest of her Majesty lives here, all in all a very upmarket street. It was not always like this though, in 1868 many of the houses were occupied by Police families and later in the century they became little more than slums. During the 20th Century things looked up for the street and it became populated by civil servants and politicians, one of which was Brendan Bracken, an advisor to Winston Churchill. In 1936 he persuaded Westminster City Council to change the name of the street to Lord North Street after the Prime Minister who lost the thirteen American colonies because it sounded grander.

In 1868 North Street was the home of Inspector Bradstock and his wife of 26 years, Charlotte. He was an Inspector at King Street Police Station which was at 22, King Street, Westminster. King Street was situated on the north side of Parliament Square, it ran north to what is now King Charles Street, running parallel with Parliament Street. There were several streets running at right angles from King Street towards St. James Park, at one time in that small area now occupied by the Treasury building, there were fifty public houses, Oliver Cromwell lived there with his mother, Judge Jefferys lived in one of the side streets as did Isambard Kingdom Brunel, it was an ancient thoroughfare and was the route from Whitehall Palace to Westminster Abbey long before Parliament street was laid out.

On the 7th May Inspector Bradstock was night duty Inspector. At about 10.30p.m. a man was brought in having been arrested a short distance from the station at The Mitre and Dove public house which was on the corner of King Street and Great George Street. The man had been breaking glasses after drinking a glass of ginger beer; he was given into custody by the manager to PS 5A Huntley. The man’s name was James Joseph Smith aged 32 years, a Tailor from Leyton. When he was brought into the charge room, he appeared quite sober but began shouting, “murder, murder, they are after me”. The prisoner’s behaviour led one witness, Inspector David Baldwin to think that he was suffering from Delirium Tremens, the divisional surgeon was called. Inspector Baldwin later testified at the inquest that the prisoner was asked if he had a knife, the prisoner produced a large pair of scissors, but was not searched further because the charge was not a felony. The Divisional surgeon examined Smith and recommended that he be watched continuously. Smith was placed in a cell with an officer on duty outside the cell. At about 1.15 a.m. the following morning Inspector Bradstock visited the prisoner together with PC 12A Brown, Smith requested a drink of water which was provided by the Inspector. As the cup of water was handed over, Smith made a sudden movement towards Inspector Bradstock shouting “I will kill you”, and began stabbing him with a pair of scissors; Smith inflicted three wounds, two in the neck and one in the right arm, the two wounds in the neck were caused by one blow from the scissors which were open. Smith was restrained by other officers including an Inspector Thurgar who saw Inspector Bradstock’s tunic saturated in blood from the two wounds in his neck. When Smith was subsequently searched another pair of scissors was found, so in all Smith was in possession of three pairs of scissors when arrested. Inspector Thurgar took the wounded man to Westminster Hospital. The Hospital at this time was situated in Broad Sanctuary on the site of what is now The Queen Elizabeth II Conference centre, just a few hundred yards from the Police station, the Hospital was demolished in 1951. The house surgeon examined Inspector Bradstock and found a wound at the angle of his jaw to be one inch deep and just missing the jugular vein and a wound in his neck to be three quarters of an inch deep, the wound in his arm was one inch deep; he was treated and later discharged to his home in North Street, Smith Square.

On the 10th May Inspector Bradstock was visited at his home address by Mr. T. Holmes, the Chief Surgeon of The Metropolitan Police, he reported that the wounds were apparently healing and that he was getting on well. However, on the 14th May the wound in his right arm became infected and on 24th May he was admitted to St. Georges Hospital, Hyde Park Corner. He was attended by Mr. Holmes who was also a surgeon at the Hospital, Inspector Bradstock died on 2nd June. The death certificate records the cause of death as Erysipelas, which is an infection caused by the Streptococci bacteria, today the infection is more commonly called Cellulitis the symptoms of which are fever, chills and swelling at the wound site. The infection can lead to Bacteraemia (Infection of the blood) and Septicaemia (blood poisoning). In most cases the infection can be cleared up quite easily with a course of antibiotics, but in 1868 there was no such treatment.

The inquest was held at St. Georges Hospital by the Westminster Coroner, Mr. St. Clair Bedford on Thursday 4th June, when Smith had been questioned, he stated that a few months before he had fallen and injured his head and that on the day he was arrested he was on a holiday and could not remember what had happened. The story about the fall may have been true as subsequent enquiries confirmed. The jury returned a verdict of ‘Wilful murder’. At this point the Coroner paid tribute to Inspector Bradstock by stating that he had always found him to be a most efficient and respectable officer. The two men had known each other, at least professionally for over twelve years. Inspector Bradstock had been an Inspector at King Street since 1856 when he was involved in the investigation of ‘The Parliament Street Murder’ and had given evidence at the inquest. The funeral took place the next day on Friday 5th June, a procession left his home address in North Street for Brompton Cemetery led by the ‘S’ Division band. Estimates vary but some reports stated that the funeral was attended by 13 Superintendents, 125 Inspectors, 100 Sergeants and 1000 Police Constables.

The next day Smith appeared at Bow Street and was informed by the Magistrate Mr. Flowers that Inspector Bradstock had died and that the current charge of ‘Cutting and Wounding’ would be replaced by a charge of ‘Wilful Murder’. On Wednesday 10th June Smith appeared at The Central Criminal Court before Mr. Justice Blackburn, Smith was not legally represented. The Treasury Solicitor had instructed Messrs. Poland and Beasley to conduct the prosecution case. A jury was empanelled to decide on Smith’s competence to plead. The Chief Surgeon of Newgate Gaol, Mr. John Rowland Gibson was called to give evidence, he stated that Smith had been admitted to the gaol on Saturday 6th June and he had seen him every day since. Smith had told him that he had been followed for months previously by persons who wanted to murder him, and on the day of his arrest he had come to town and was again followed. He had gone into the public house and broken the glasses in order to be arrested and escape them. It appears that when Smith found himself in a cell, he was convinced he was in a worse position as his followers were outside the cell waiting to shoot him. It seems obvious that Smith was suffering from some sort of paranoia and was described in newspaper reports of the trial as ‘ a diminutive and wild looking man‘; at least he convinced Mr. Gibson that he was paranoid, he was the only witness called. In his opinion Smith was not in a fit state of mind to plead, or to defend himself on a charge of murder. Upon the evidence of Mr. Gibson, the jury found Smith to be insane. Mr. Justice Blackburn directed him to be kept in strict custody during Her Majesty’s pleasure. Smith was sent to Newgate Gaol until the 15th October when he was transferred to Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum where he became prisoner No. 602; he remained there for the next 34 years until he died of heart failure aged 66 years on 3rd November 1902. The building of Broadmoor had been enabled by The Criminal Lunatic Asylum Act 1860 and was completed and opened in 1863. During his time at Broadmoor Smith spent much of his time employed in the Tailor’s shop, the treatment at Broadmoor at this time, such as it was comprised of rest, exercise and work. The conditions were much better than the normal prison and slightly better than the workhouse, it would appear that Smith was well on his way to the workhouse when he murdered Inspector Bradstock; Smith was a married man with four children and was receiving 14/- shillings per week from The Guardians of the poor of the Parish of West Ham. Whilst at Broadmoor he had little or no contact with his family, Smith’s quarterly fitness reports continually record his state of mind as confused. In October 1878 the Superintendent of Broadmoor received a letter from a John Thomas who was writing on behalf of Smith’s mother, she was concerned because she had not heard from her son for two years and requested that he be asked to write to her. The staff were unable to induce him to write due to the disordered state of his mind.

Inspector Bradstock left a widow, they had no children. Charlotte died aged 48 years on 1st March 1871, less than three years after her husband‘s demise. The cause of death was recorded as Cirrhosis, usually caused by alcoholism but can also be caused by Hepatitis, either way a poor quality of life was often a complicating factor. I have visited Brompton cemetery but could find no trace of the grave, there are many broken gravestones and some which have lost the inscription due to weathering. He is in plot 52415 section ‘R’.

 

 

Done