The Midsummer Murder of 1876
One of the county’s most notorious Victorian murders took place in Midsummer Common, Cambridge, on August 24, 1876. Sixteen-year-old Emma Rolfe’s throat had been brutally slashed with a razor. Local tailor Robert Browning, 25, confessed to her murder.
The case of the “Cambridge cut throat” was not the product of young lovers courting in the park, John Bell writes on the Cambridgeshire Crimes website.
“Emma was in the habit of selling her favours to anyone with a spare shilling. Browning… seemed to have been in the habit of spending his evenings drinking and seeking the company of young women of easy virtue, for which pleasures he was to pay a heavy price.”
On the night of the murder, Browning got drunk at a local pub before meeting Miss Rolfe and her flatmate, Annie Pepper, who were both living at a brothel in Crispin Street at the time. [Howell]
After Miss Pepper left, Browning and Miss Rolfe walked to Butts Green in Midsummer Common, where Miss Rolfe was slain.
A post-murder pint
Minutes later Robert Browning walked to the Garrick Inn, a pub on the corner of Jesus Lane and King Street, where he drank a glass of ale, his agitated demeanour arousing suspicion amongst punters. [Bell]
Leaving the pub, he ran into Constable Joseph Wheel, who was investigating reports of screams coming from the common.
Browning immediately confessed his crime, taking PC Wheel to the murder scene and handing over the razor. He was arrested on suspicion of murder and taken to the old police station on St Andrew’s Street.
The inquest
The following day an inquest was held at the Fort St George pub on Midsummer Common.
In those days it wasn't unusual for inquests to be held in pubs as these often tended to be larger than other premises that were open to the public.
The discovery of Emma Rolfe's body in Butt's Green had attracted major interest amongst Cambridge residents.
At the end of the inquest, the Coroner returned a verdict of wilful murder.
The inquest was held at the Fort St George pub.
The trial
Following a trial in Norwich in November 1876, Robert Browning was found guilty of the murder of Emma Rolfe and sentenced to death.
The jury dismissed his claim of insanity but recommended that he be treated leniently because of his youth.
However, the Home Secretary refused to spare Browning the death penalty.
On December 15, 1876, Browning was hanged in the Cambridge Borough Gaol on Parker’s Piece. It was Cambridgeshire’s first privately-held execution. [Howell]
Murder most foul
At the time the case attracted a lot of public attention, with masses turning out for the inquest and Emma Rolfe’s funeral.
The motive for murder was left hazy until the end. Shortly before his execution, Robert Browning confessed that he had killed Miss Rolfe in revenge for the actions of another woman, who had given him gonorrhoea. [Howell]
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