Charles Peace was a notorious 19th century murderer. He was once described as ‘the greatest and most naturally gifted criminal England has produced’.
He was born in Sheffield in 1832, the son of an animal trainer. A childhood accident led to him wearing a false arm with a hook at the end of it. He also became a master of disguise as well as a burglar.
In 1876, while burgling a house near Manchester, he shot and killed a policeman who surprised him. Two brothers were arrested for the murder and sent for trial. Peace attended the trial, with a view to ensuring that his involvement was not suspected, and was relieved when one of the brothers, William Habron, was sentenced to death.
Peace did have a legitimate occupation, that of a picture framer, which he carried out at his home in Sheffield. He became friendly with a civil engineer named Arthur Dyson and his wife Katherine. Despite being married himself, Peace became enamoured of Mrs Dyson, who at first encouraged him in his pursuit of her. However, Katherine Dyson eventually thought that Peace was becoming too insistent and tried to break off the attachment.
The Dysons moved to a different part of Sheffield, but Peace continued to bother her. One night, Mrs Dyson discovered Peace in her back yard armed with a revolver and screamed loudly. Her husband chased Peace down the road but Peace turned and fired at him with fatal consequences.
Peace escaped to London where he rented a villa in Peckham. He adopted a new persona, taking the name John Ward, and turned his attention to inventing scientific instruments. At least, this was what he did during the day – at night he continued his old habit of burgling houses. During one such escapade in Blackheath he shot at and wounded a policeman but that did not stop him from being captured.
His true identity as Charles Peace became known and, having been sentenced to life imprisonment for wounding the policeman, he was then sent to Sheffield to stand trial for killing Arthur Dyson. During the train journey he was able to jump from the train in a bid to escape but was injured as he did so and was soon recaptured.
At his murder trial he was found guilty and sentenced to death. While awaiting execution he confessed to the killing of the policeman at Manchester for which the Habron brothers had been found guilty. Fortunately, William Habron’s sentence had been commuted to life imprisonment and he was duly released and pardoned, receiving £1000 in compensation.
© John Welford
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