Published in Windlesora 27 ()
© WLHG
Charles Thomas Wooldridge came from a farming family in Garston near Lambourne. Before he joined the army he worked as a railway porter. In at the age of 21, he joined the Royal Horse Guards, the Blues. While the regiment was stationed in Windsor, he met and fell in love with Laura Ellen Glendell. She lived with her family in St Mark&#;s Road and worked at the Post Office in Eton. In October they got married at the Kentish Town Register Office without permission of his commanding officer. This meant that Wooldridge could not bring his wife to live in the married quarters in barracks. Laura rented a house under her maiden name at 21 Alma Terrace, Arthur Road, and Wooldridge visited her there whenever he could get out of barracks.
In April the regiment moved to London. By this time Laura had become disenchanted with Wooldridge; she had found to her cost that he had a short temper. She asked him not to molest her. When Wooldridge heard that Laura had been seen talking to a Corporal Robert Harvey of the 2nd Life Guards, he visited her and they quarrelled. Laura wrote a letter to the commanding officer stating that her husband had threatened t
The grisly Reading executions that attracted an audience of thousands
In the s Reading was no stranger to making a spectacle of a public execution.
For some of the deaths, thousands of people attended HMP Reading, formerly known as Reading Gaol, for the hangings.
The jail was previously in Forbury, however, that closed in and the Reading site opened in
Between and there were 35 executions in Berkshire.
Read on for some of the stories behind the hangings, though it might not be for the faint-hearted - some of the stories behind these murders are incredibly gruesome.
There is more than one child murderer, two jealous partners and a pair of cop killers.
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Charles Thomas Wooldridge
Charles Wooldridge was a year-old soldier serving in the Royal Horse Guards and was stationed at Regent's Park barracks, London. His wife, Ellen, who had recently married was living in the village of Clewar, near Windsor. They met whenever they could but the forced separation put an inevitable strain on their relationship. By March Ellen had started to use her maiden name again and, during one of their meetings, Wooldridge struck his wife. On 27th March Ellen requested her husband to sign a document undertaking not to molest her further. They had arranged to meet later that day outside Regent's Park barracks and, when Ellen failed to turn up, Wooldridge became highly agitated. He told the sentry that he was going to Windsor and that 'I'm going to do some damage.'
His wife's neighbours, alarmed by screams, found Wooldridge standing over his wife's body in the street. Her throat had been cut. When he was arrested he told the officer 'Take me! I have killed my wife.'
At his trial the jury took just two minutes to find him guilty, despite his attempts to get the charge reduced to manslaughter because of his wif
On 30 March , the subject of Wilde's Ballad of Reading Gaol was admitted to the prison.
The day before, Wooldridge had travelled from his Army barracks in London to see his wife, Ellen, in Clewer. They had been married for 15 difficult months, and had been forced to live apart for most of those. Ellen had recently asked him not to visit her again. The letter incensed him. Now, as he crossed the threshold of their terraced home, he cut her throat.
Wooldridge gave himself up immediately to the police. He explained that he and Ellen had quarrelled, that he suspected her of having an affair, and that his anger had driven him to murder.
There was some expectation locally that, despite his guilt, Wooldridge might be spared the gallows. But mercy was not forthcoming, and he was condemned to death at the assizes on 18 June
Some 19 days later he was hanged at the gaol in the hut that served as the photographic studio. This register entry records the mechanics of his death, as well as providing feedback on the conduct of his executioner.
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