The Edwards Mystery: The further adventures of Mrs Leather

After 1879, Miss Edwards appears to have settled down with her family. In 1881, she married Isaiah Leather, a successful veterinary surgeon to become Mrs Leather. However, by the end of the 1890s, she had left him – possibly owing to his increasing alcoholism – to become a stewardess and see the world. In April 1912, she signed on to a new ship: the Titanic…

The Edwards Mystery: The story of Miss Lizzie Pickford

Any hopes that the her family had of maintaining the idea that Miss Edwards left Liverpool against her will were dashed when Lizzie Pickford, the woman with whom she stayed in London, gave an extensive interview. Describing what the two women did together, her tale leaves several unanswered questions. Because Lizzie Pickford was an actress. And in Victorian times, that could mean several things. What did Miss Edwards do in London? What were her intentions? And who exactly was Miss Lizzie Pickford?

The Edwards Mystery: The story is questioned

Miss Edwards had been found safe in London. But that was not the end of the story. As her family attempted to “draw the curtain”, the newspapers began to question the explanation that Miss Edwards had apparently given. Within a few days, press opinion had begun to turn against her family and her. Quite simply, no-one believed them.

The Edwards Mystery: Mr Lloyd investigates

After Miss Edwards had been missing for over six weeks, and after a huge amount of publicity, a private detective called Richard Alfred Lloyd took up the case. He was originally from Wales, a former policeman and a poet. His investigation was remarkably successful. But the Edwards Mystery continued to have far more questions than answers.

The Edwards Mystery: An inexplicable disappearance in broad daylight

Early in the afternoon of Wednesday 3 September 1879, an 18-year-old woman called Miss Edwards set out for the centre of Liverpool from her home in the West Derby area of Liverpool. She took the omnibus – a horse-drawn vehicle taking passengers in the same way that a modern bus does – and disembarked at London Road, a very busy street in the centre of Liverpool about a mile-and-a-half from her home. Her subsequent disappearance sent shockwaves through Liverpool and became a national sensation. In the 46 days she was missing, reports appeared in newspapers across the country speculating where she was, and what might have happened to her. The story became known as the “Edwards Mystery” or “Liverpool Mystery” and took on a life of its own.

The Liversedge Mystery: The final hours of Hannah Haigh

Hannah Haigh was discharged from Wakefield Asylum on 15 June 1882. She was last seen alive on 13 November 1882. Nearly a year later, she was found dead in a disused mill at Clough Lane, Hightown. What happened to her between these times? What happened in the final hours of Hannah Haigh?

The Liversedge Mystery: The story of Hannah Haigh

A day after the inquest into the body of a woman found in the ruined boiler at Clough Mill, a man came forward to claim she was his daughter, Hannah Haigh. The police quickly established it was most likely her and her story was soon featured in many local newspapers. Who was Hannah Haigh?

The Liversedge Mystery: Who was Marion Lake?

When two young men found a woman’s body hidden in an abandoned boiler in Liversedge in 1883, most of the local people thought it was a missing girl called Marion Lake. Her story made newspapers across the country, but the body was not in fact hers. The police and the inquest proved that it could not be. But in that case, who was Marion Lake, why did she disappear, and what happened to her?

The Liversedge Mystery: The Body in the Boiler House

On 30 September 1883, two young men stumbled on the skeleton of a young woman in an abandoned boiler at Clough Lane in Hightown, Liversedge. Who was she, and how had she got there? There would be no easy answers to what the newspapers called the “Liversedge Mystery”.