Fanny Adams

Fanny Adams was an 8 year old English girl who was murdered by Frederick Baker, a solicitor’s clerk, in Alton, Hampshire. The murder was very brutal and caused a national outcry. It is said that the phrases Sweet Fanny Adams and Sweet F A both refer to this particular case. The random and brutal nature of the crime, along with Fanny's age is what made this crime national news. 

Who was Fanny Adams?

Fanny Adams was born in Alton, Hampshire on 30th April 1859. She lived with her parents and five siblings, with her grandparents living next door. There are reports that indicate that the family  also had a lodger, known as Mrs Gardner. The Adams family resided on Tanhouse Lane, on the northern side of Alton, close to Flood Meadow, a popular playing spot for local children, several hop gardens and the River Wey. 

The town of Alton was not known for having serious crimes and at one time was renowned for its plentiful supply of hops. Hop picking and brewing were the two most popular professions. There were no reports of any other crimes of the same magnitude and there was nothing out of the ordinary about the day Fanny was killed.

Fanny was described by all who knew her as being tall and intelligent with a lively and cheerful disposition and was known to socialise with the other local children, most notably Minnie Warner, her best friend and fellow Tanhouse Lane resident. 

The murder

Fanny was murdered on 24th August 1867, she was just eight years old.

Reports from the time say that it was a gorgeously sunny and hot day, which prompted many of the local parents to allow their children to play outside. Fanny, her sister Lizzie and friend Minnie Warner, were all given permission to play together and made their way to Flood Meadow, which was easily reachable from the the lane on which they all lived and was a popular spot for local children to play. 

On their way, the girls were intercepted by Frederick Baker, the 29 year old clerk of local solicitor, Mr Clement. Baker had only lived in Alton for about a year and not much was known about him, however his employer was well known and respected in the region and Baker himself gave the air of being a respectable gentleman, he was always dressed well and appeared to be doing good work with Mr Clement.
According to statements given by Lizzie and Minnie, Baker gave the girls some money to buy sweets and picked blackberries with them, before watching them go off to play. Alton wasn't a big place and the three had seen Baker at church, as well as at other community events, so were unconcerned with his interest in them. They went on into the meadow to play and after around an hour, decided to make their way back home, coming across Baker again hanging around near the entrance of Flood Meadow. This time, he approached Fanny in particular, asking her to accompany him, she refused and made to leave with her friend and sister, however Baker, picked her up and carried her away. 

After witnessing this, Lizzie and Minnie rushed home and reported what had happened to Minnie's mother. However, as she was busy, she simply brushed it off and told the girls to go back out to play. The fact that an adult was unconcerned, led the children to assume nothing was amiss and they did not show any further concern over Fanny's abduction, continuing to play in the lane. Fanny's absence was unnoticed until around 5pm, when her mother began to ask after her. Lizzie and Minnie repeated their story to her, so Mrs Adams and Mrs Gardner, who may have been the Adams' lodger, instructed the girls to stay behind and went out to find her.
They also came across Baker near Flood Meadow and confronted him. He confirmed that he had seen the girls and had given them some money for sweets but hadn't seen them since then and certainly hadn't carried one of them off anywhere. Mrs Gardner told police that she threatened to report Baker and he told her she could do what she liked. As Fanny wasn't with Baker and he was in the employ of a respected member of the community, neither woman believed that he could have done anything nefarious and returned home, thinking perhaps that Fanny had simply become separated from Lizzie and Minnie and was playing elsewhere. 

When Fanny still had not made it home by 8pm, her mother and a group of neighbours set out to look for her. Their initial search was unsuccesful but a former war veteran, who was working the hop fields would make the gruesome discovery of Fanny's head, which had been stuck on two hop poles in a nearby hop garden. 

Her body had been completely mutliated. Her head, arms and legs had all been separated from her body, with those limbs then cut into smaller pieces. Her ears had also been removed as had the whole contents of her chest and pelvis. Her heart and some other organs were never found, both her eyes were later found in the River Wey.  Fanny's mother was informed of the discovery and collapsed on her way to tell the rest of the family. When her father found out, he retrieved his shotgun and set out looking for the culprit, neighbours had to sit with him throughout the night to stop him from shooting anyone he suspected. 

The following day, hundreds of people were involved in the search to recover Fanny's remains as they had been scattered. It is likely that so many people contaminated the crime scene and inadvertantly destroyed evidence, however, none of them, or the subsequent police searches, found the murder weapons. Eventually, all Fanny's clothes, bar her hat, were recovered. Aside from her hat, her heart and her breast bone, the rest of the remains and clothes were collected and taken for examination. A nearby stone was also collected that had been found to have hair and blood stuck to it. Police suspected that it might have been used in the murder. 

Arrest and investigation

After speaking to Lizzie, Minnie, Mrs Adams and Mrs Gardener, police began to search for Frederick Baker as there were witnesses who claimed to have seen him near the scene and confirmed that he had spoken to the girls. The money he had given Fanny had been recovered as part of the initial search. The police found Baker the same evening. He was at work at the solicitor's office, despite it being past 9pm. Baker protested his innocence, but as the only suspect and with a crowd gathering outside, he was arrested and taken into custody. During a search at the police station, it was found that he was carrying two small knives, though both were clean. It was noted that there were spots of blood on his shirt and his trousers had been soaked, they believed this was to hide any further blood stains. He was questioned and is reported to have been calm throughout the interrogation, offering no explanation for the blood or knives. Later, while searching the solicitor's office, police would discover a diary hidden among legal papers which featured an entry for the day of the murder that read: "Killed a young girl. It was fine and hot."

The hop garden and the surrounding area had further searches, but nothing else connected to the murder or to Baker was found. Throughout his arrest and incarceration, Baker remained calm and unfazed, with police commenting that he had not shown any signs of insanity, evilness or remorse for the crime. In later statements, Baker would claim that he was drunk when he first saw the children, but there was never any evidence to suggest that this was the case. On 19th October, he was transferred to Winchester Prison to await his trial. 

During this time, another witness came forward. A young boy, who lived near Flood Meadow and who knew Fanny, Lizzie and Minnie and had also seen Baker around Alton, came forward. He claimed that he saw Baker coming out of the hop garden on the afternoon that Fanny was killed, covered in blood and that he had gone to the river where he had cleaned himself. He told his mother at the time, but she did not report the incident until two months later. 

An inquest was held which concluded that Baker was the sole perpetrator and a trial date was set. Witnesses called at trial included forensic specalists who confirmed that the blood that had been found on Baker was human and that miniscule amounts had been found on the knives, however, the knives were too small to have been capable of dismemberment. Apart from the rock, which was deemed to have been the murder weapon, no other weapons were found at the scene, on Baker's person or at the Solicitor's Office. The trial revealed that poor mental health was prevelant in Baker's family and that he had previously attempted suicide. His main defence was one of insanity, however, Baker did not speak in his own defence. 

The jury were given the chance to consider a verdict of not responsible by reason of insanity, but returned a guilty verdict after retiring for just fifteen minutes. This verdict meant Baker was to be sentenced to death and he was hanged on Christmas Eve in front of a crowd of 5000 outside Winchester Prison. He was the last person to receive a public hanging at that prison. Prior to his execution, Baker wrote a letter to Fanny's parents expressing his sorrow for what he had done, claiming that it had happened in an "unguarded hour". After his death, a death mask was made and a full wax figure of him was exhibited at the Chamber of Horrors at London's Madame Tussauds. 

Sweet FA

Following the murder, Fanny's name became synonymous with slang for mediocre mutton. This came about after new rations of tinned mutton was introduced for British sea men, with the rumour speading that the mutton was in fact the butchered remains of Fanny Adams. It later became a phrase associated with anything worthless. To this day, the pots the mutton was delivered in, which resembled large cooking pots, are still known as Fannys. Later, the phrase Sweet F A became attributed to Fanny Adams and her name is now mostly known for being a eupemism for an expletive. 

Fanny was laid to rest in Alton cemetery. Her headstone was erected by voluntary subscription and is still visible at the graveyard today.