The Althorp Murder: Does the name Annie Pritchard mean anything to you?

The story of the notorious Althorp murder in 1892 first ignited my imagination as an eleven year old child. My family had just moved into the village of East Haddon, Northamptonshire and it wasn’t long before I heard about the dismembered body found in a sack in a ditch. This was a story embellished by the imagination of children and stories of ghosts and hauntings garnished the truth. The lonely grave sitting on the corner of the cemetery was a focal point for the exaggeration of the tale. The words written on the gravestone fascinating. ‘

Erected by friends and sympathisers

to the memory of Annie Pritchard

aged 31 years whose remains were found

in this parish August 6th 1892

I was a stranger and ye took me in’

Nearly fifty years went by and as an adult, along with the rest of East Haddon's villagers my intrigue about the story never dissipated. The publication of a village book ‘Pigs, pubs and people. Memories of East Haddon (2004) gave a brief history of the story and I realised it was as interesting as I could ever have imagined.

After my mother died, I frequently visited her in the cemetery and while there I would always pay my respects to Annie’s grave sitting in the corner. I always felt someone should write a book about her story and delve deeper into what happened. Then I retired from nursing in 2020, straight into lockdown, and I thought ‘why don’t I give it a go?’ Little did I know my research would create far more questions than answers and even now I am not convinced a miscarriage of justice did not happen.

So what happened?

On 6th August 1892, a railway platelayer, Charles Hadley walked home towards East Haddon from Althorp Station where he had worked a night shift. He noticed a rancid smell about 800 yards from the Althorp gates. He thought it might be a dead animal so decided to investigate. Clambering into the ditch he found some sacking and poked it about before he realised it wasn’t a dead sheep, as he at first thought. He decided he needed to tell the local policeman in East Haddon but being a busy bank holiday weekend, he instead told the policeman’s wife Mary Dench that he’d found a suspicious bundle in Setcher ditch.

The following day Jack Chapman, a farmer from East Haddon and his brother Jim, a carrier, travelled in their horse and cart towards Northampton. They too noticed the worsening smell and because it was their land investigated further, again thinking it was a dead animal. Jack scrambled into the ditch, flooded by a recent storm, and upturning the sack discovered a site that was more gruesome than he could ever have imagined. A dismembered body, decapitated and with it’s arms severed, slithered out of the sack, maggots had eaten away the flesh and only remnants of the internal organs were left. The knees had been abnormallly bent backwards and tied to the pelvis. The head and arms, despite searches within the vicinity, were never found. It was obvious they had come across the most heinous crime.

The village policeman PC. John Dench and Long Buckby’s Doctor William Churchouse soon arrived on the scene followed by Superintendent John Alexander from Northampton Constabulary. The body was solemnly carried to The Red Lion public house in East Haddon where a post mortem was carried out the following day, on the kitchen table. Before I put anyone off going to the lovely pub, rest assured it wasn’t in the current pub, that was an off license in 1892 and became The Red Lion in 1908, after the original pub at Hall Farm was closed.

An inquest held that evening at The Red Lion disclosed the only clues found on the body. It was female, some loose, long brown hairs might have belonged to the victim or the perpetrator, and a femur length of 16 inches suggested she was five foot to five foot five in height. She was probably aged 18-30 years old as suggested by the texture of the remaining skin. Some clothing on the body and in the sack held more clues and a railway label with E.M.RAE L&N.W.R Northampton was tied to one of the inner sacks. The label was the greatest clue they had and was the focal point to start the investigation.

It was soon discovered that the label came from Warren and Sons, a bacon and cheese merchants in Whitechapel, London and was addressed to Edward MacRae, a bacon supplier from Crick, who also had premises in Daventry, a warehouse in Dychurch Lane, Northampton and a market stall in Northampton on Saturdays and Wednesdays. It was the greatest clue they had but it didn’t implicate Edward MacRae in any way. It was apparent the label could have come from anyone, there could be many in circulation and Edward had himself, sold at least two wrappings with the labels on recently. Either way the superintendent would investigate Edward to see if any female acquaintances had disappeared recently.

Then a landlady from The Saracen’s Head public house came forward. Nancy Tite reported her daughter Kate as missing, she identified the clothing as matching her daughters and it seemed they had their victim. Later, they discovered she had eloped to Edgeware Road in London, becoming Kate Jackson, and then sailed from the London docks on 23rd August to New Zealand.

The police, desperate for any clues decided to investigate all consignments from Althorp Station in case the body or murderer had travelled to or from the station. An unremarkable postcard dated 17th March 1892 was found requesting the removal of goods, including a tin box and sewing machine, from Avon Cottage, Ladypool Road, Birmingham to Mrs Anderson 33, St John’s Street Northampton. Innocent enough but the police decided it warranted investigation. They visited the premises in Birmingham, which was the home of the Pritchard family. John and Lizzie Pritchard told the police that their sister Annie’s belongings were picked up on 18th March. They believed they were going to America and that Annie had left home on 20th March to marry an old flame, Guy Anderson. Strangely they hadn’t heard from their sister since they had received a letter, postmarked from Liverpool on 28th March declaring she had married. Coincidentally Edward MacRae’s brother Andrew had lived next door to the Pritchard’s and John Pritchard recognised the handwriting on the postcard as Andrew’s. It was known that Annie and Andrew had been close and Annie was best friends with Andrew’s wife Harriet.

Back at 33, St John’s Street it became apparent that ‘Mrs Anderson’ had given birth on 23rd June and she and the baby hadn’t been seen since July 20th. Then a witness Mrs Bland, a second hand clothes retailer, told the police a man had sold some ladies and babies clothes to her in July and RAE was written on the sacking holding the clothes. He worked on the market she told them, on the meat stall, where the MacRae brothers worked. Another witness Robert Morrell, an antiquarian, told Superintendent Alexander he had bought some items from Andrew MacRae, and in the bible he’d bought, he found a text card with ‘Linda Pritchard’ written on it. Annie’s sister!

The name MacRae, Anderson and Pritchard was coming up far too often. It seemed instead of emigrating to New York with Guy Anderson, Annie Pritchard, six months pregnant had instead run away to Northampton with her married neighbour and lover Andrew MacRae. There they posed as man and wife ‘Mr and Mrs Anderson’ and while there she was confined of a baby boy. It was confirmed by a midwife Sarah Pulley and a friendly neighbour Harriet Burrell that a baby boy was born on 23rd June. Harriet also confirmed she saw Annie on 20th July when she left her lodgings to move near the racecourse ‘for the good of her health.’ Her friend Elizabeth Elliott had escorted Annie and Andrew part of the way when they abruptly left her to go towards the Dychurch Lane warehouse. Annie and the baby were never seen again.

Was Annie Pritchard the victim and was Andrew MacRae calling himself ‘Anderson?’ Was he the murderer? Did he kill her at the bacon warehouse in Dychurch Lane? Did they have nowhere else to go after Andrew discovered he couldn’t afford the double life he was leading? And what happened to the baby and to the victim’s head and arms which have never been found?

Andrew MacRae was charged with Annie’s murder and after a five day trial, an all male jury found him guilty after deliberating for just 90 minutes. He was hanged, despite calls for a reprieve, which was refused, less than three weeks later at Northampton County Gaol. The biggest crowd Northampton had ever seen gathered around the gaol to witness the event and the story caused a sensation not only in Northampton but nationwide.

But was he guilty? The evidence against him was controversial and only circumstantial, there was no doubt he had had an affair with Annie and they had run away together to Northampton after she became pregnant. But was it her body found at East Haddon and did he kill her? The only trace found at the warehouse was a few burnt bones found in the fireplace which could have been 4, 40 or even 40,000 years old. They were finger bones but they could have belonged to a human or even an ape! The hairs found were lighter in colour to Annie’s hair and the clothing identified as Annie’s was commonplace and could have belonged to anyone. Even the thigh length of 16 inches was suggestive of the deceased being taller than Annie Pritchard was known to be. The body was so badly decomposed even the time of death could not be established and the medical experts could not agree on it. Dr Churchouse could not even find a cause of death, she could have been murdered but equally she could have died an accidental death, or by suicide or by natural causes. Did Andrew dismember her to hide the body and therefore hide his illicit affair with her? How did he even dismember a body at the bacon warehouse in Dychurch lane without leaving a trace? His defence team even suggested that Annie was alive and well and had planned all along to leave Andrew once she had given birth to join Guy Anderson, who may have fathered the child, in America. If this was the case, the prosecution asked ‘then why has she not come forward?’

We will never know the full truth of the story but Annie was never seen again and the head, arms and baby have never been found. It is a remarkable story, it caused a sensation in Northampton at the time and put Althorp on the map long before Lady Diana Spencer came along. Researching the story, I found numerous newspaper articles, including the full and complete details of the trial and execution and using my intimate knowledge of East Haddon and Northampton I have pieced together the facts to write a novel bringing Annie and Andrew’s story to life. It is available in hardback, paperback, kindle and kindle unlimited on Amazon. ‘The Remains of Annie Pritchard’ by Kate Philbin