Talk:William Palmer (murderer)

Translation in french

I begin it .signed : french user Arapaima --91.171.13.51 (talk) 17:59, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Translation in french completed

Thanks to the author(s) for this typically GB delicious piece of gruesome humour ( & understatement) , which I enjoyed translating . I took the liberty , owing to the horse-race background ,to translate " murderous spree" into "emballement meurtrier" ( un cheval s'emballe = a horse bolts away ...). Are there yet , like in the 60' , young bright short-gowned girls on the paths winding over Rock-End ? Best souvenirs & regards to all GB .signé Arapaima , a french user --91.165.16.89 (talk) 10:22, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

Coroner = police officer ?

I thought better to leave the word "coroner" in my translation , but a contributor wrote " officier de police" in the stead ...I think a coroner is not a police officer , or am I wrong ? Thanks for precisions... signé Arapaima , french user --91.168.136.18 (talk) 17:30, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

A coroner is a "judicial officer", roughly a low-ranking judge, and certainly not a police officer. According to our article, in England and Wales he is required to be a doctor or lawyer of five year's standing, but this may not have been true in the 19th century, especially in rural areas. Our article on coroner has an interwiki link to fr:Médecin légiste. Bovlb (talk) 18:39, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Wife's name

I looked into this. Palmer's wife was the daughter of Col. Brookes and Ann Thornton: they were not married. Their daughter Ann or Annie was referred to as "Thornton" and also as "Brookes": see the references added. 92.233.48.153 (talk) 18:09, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

Reliable source?

Several assertions in the article are sourced to http://www.staffspasttrack.org.uk/exhibit/palmer/default.htm, a personal website with the intention of challenging the received wisdom about Palmer. I doubt that this counts as a reliable source? Kenilworth Terrace (talk) 17:26, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

I propose to remove this source. Cusop Dingle (talk) 17:46, 17 January 2012 (UTC) Done. Cusop Dingle (talk) 20:13, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

Alfred Tharme or Palmer

Is there any reason to change the name from Alfred Tharme to Alfred Palmer? If he was the illegitmate son of Palmer he would have taken the surname of his mother. More, I can't find a reliable source for his existence under either name. Kenilworth Terrace (talk) 17:29, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

13 thoosant!

£13,000 is between £1 and £9 million in today's money - depending on whether you look at inflation or equivalent wages - and he was still skint?

Put £13,000 on a horse and you'd be skint too.--EchetusXe 13:39, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

The evidence at the trial was that he was in debt to the tune of £12,500 to Thomas Pratt, a solicitor, on bills with forged endorsements. Cusop Dingle (talk) 19:30, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

Defrauding his wealthy mother out of thousands of pounds

The introduction uses the phrase "defrauding his wealthy mother out of thousands of pounds". Is there a source for that? The evidence at the trial was that Palmer had forged his mother's endorsement on bills, so that she would be thought by the lenders to have guaranteed them. (If he defaulted, his creditors would have approached his mother and his forgery would have been exposed.) This would not in itself have defrauded her of money, although it was a fraud on the moneylenders. Cusop Dingle (talk) 20:12, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

Good point. This source has him borrowing money but it might be a stretch to call it fraud. --John (talk) 09:10, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Cultural references

This section should include the Alfred Hitchcock 1941 film "Suspicion" starring Joan Fontaine as a wife who believes her husband, played by Cary Grant, plans to murder her. One clue is that the husband has a book in a drawer with the title "The Trial of Richard Palmer." This Palmer is described as starting poisoning with brandy, and that he would have gotten away with it if he had not gone on to use actual poison. In the movie a friend of the couple dies after drinking brandy, and the husband lies to police about his whereabouts at the time of the death. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034248/reviews — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.178.181.4 (talk) 10:47, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

The radio program, "Crime Classics" had an episode titled, "The Hangman and William Palmer, Who Won?" broadcast on Oct. 7, 1953 about William Palmer and his killings (except for the children). I don't know if this is worth adding or not.Jtyroler (talk) 09:20, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

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"His father worked as a sawyer"

How does a person who saws wood for a living manage to leave his wife £70,000? I assume he owned one or more sawmills. This might explain his son so readily going to medical school. Time to examine the sources.--Quisqualis (talk) 02:27, 6 December 2020 (UTC)

I agree with Quisqualis, this doesn't make much sense - £70,000 in 1836 is equivalent to over £10 million, which isn't what you would expect a sawyer to leave in their will. I wonder if the original source for this got it wrong or has been misquoted. (Hayhurst, Alan (2008). Staffordshire MURDERS. Gloucestershire: The History Press. pp. 15–36) Anyone know? OscarFred1952 (talk) 18:51, 23 July 2024 (UTC)