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1871: The true story of murder of Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane
Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane
What you need to know before your trail
They say there is nothing so strange as fiction and this is both for it’s the true story of a young girl who was murdered in Kidbrooke Lane in London. A policeman stumbles upon a horrific scene on April 26th 1871 when he finds a woman slashed and brutalized on the road. Miraculously she is still alive, but barely and before she passes out, she manages to mutter ‘let me die” before slipping into a coma. She died five days later and at that point no one knew who she was.
When her identity is finally discovered, the whole mystery of this brutal event becomes a mystery of a whole other kind.
Travel Guide
Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane
Shockingly a real case and written in the style of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher –
This was a real murder mystery and one of the first and most violent murders in the Victorian era.
Jane Maria Clouson (1854–1871) was the murder victim and she was a maid in the house of Edmund Walter Pook. At the time of her death, she was pregnant and it was said to be his child. Edmund worked as a printer and was the first suspect in her murder.
Kidbrooke Lane has remained one of the most iconic murder sites in London and still now the ghost of Jane Maria Coulson is said to haunt the lane although it looks nothing like it did at the time. This was the one place that no one would walk in, especially at night.
There is a memorial at Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries where a praying child sits on top of a pillar. The inscription reads “A motherless girl who was murdered in Kidbrooke Lane, Eltham aged 17 in 1871. Her last words were, “Oh, let me die”.
Streetview Maps
A) Kidbrooke Lane
B) Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
Well this was interesting! I love it when authors look into a real life murder and criminal investigation of years gone by. I had not heard of the murder of Kidbrooke Lane and this was one fascinating read. I had expected a novel for some reason though so at first it was a bit strange to read a fictional third party account but as I got into it, I really wanted to know what happened.Not to say that the gore would be to everyone’s taste. The author really gets to the nitty gritty really quickly and doesn’t hold back. But then this was what the case was all about and it was really shocking in places when you remember the time and the level of expertise the police would have had. There was no DNA at the time for example and looking into this with fresh eyes so many years later is a really fascinating account. Was Edmund Pook the real killer? Well I can’t tell you that but the whole investigation viewed with fresh eyes is like a Victorian CSI and from the very moment that battered body is discovered, it never lets up.
Destination: London Departure Time: 1871
A real life book trail to revisit a real life murder case which occurred in Kidbrooke Lane, London
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