Sweet Fanny Adams

[Tiggery]

Ever wondered where the origin of saying came from, well Ill share with you this one.
Fanny Adams was 5 yrs old when she was murdered. Her grave is in a small town called Alton in the south of England. National newspapers had only recently been introduced and this was the first story of its type to really "grip" the nation. Soon whenever people felt hard done by or maligned then they said they had got a raw deal, just like Sweet Fanny Adams.

 

[SetzKitten]

I've never heard this phrase before.


The Murder of 'Sweet' Fanny Adams



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We think that the murder of children is a modern curse but it has been happening over the centuries. This infamous case concerned the murder, at Alton, of 'sweet' Fanny Adams, aged 8 years. This took place at Flood Meadow, on Saturday, 24th August 1867. To add to the horror, the victim had been decapitated and brutally mutilated. Body parts were spread over a wide area. Even by Victorian standards this was a horrific murder.
The murderer, Frederick Baker 29, was arrested within hours with bloodstained clothing, Damning evidence was an entry in his diary, "killed a young girl."

Involved in the arrest were, Superintendent Cheyney and PC George Watkins.

Baker was tried at Winchester Assizes in December that year. The defence introduced evidence of a history of violent mental illnesses in Baker's family but he was found guilty. The jury took 15 minutes to reach a verdict. Baker was publicly hanged on Christmas Eve the same month outside the county prison at Winchester and was watched by 5,000 spectators (mainly women). Swift justice indeed!

This was to be the last public hanging at Winchester although hanging continued into the 1960's.