Dinham Villa, Rainhill, and Frederick Deeming (the Rainhill Demon)

[DaisyChains]

Hey all

I am sure someone will know this on here...

As in the case of Frederick Deeming (the Rainhill Demon)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Bailey_Deeming , he lived in a house called Dinham Villa in Rainhill.

Does anyone know where this is/was?
Or if it still exists?

Ta

[AntiPathos]

I've wondered about this too...

[DaisyChains]

I've wondered about this too...

Anyone have any ideas?

[theninesisters]

It is (or at least used to be) in Lawton Road, Rainhill. My mate lives in the next road so I will give him a shout on Monday and see what he knows.

[MarkA]

Does anyone know where this is/was?
Or if it still exists?Ta

Hi, according to the Wikipedia site, it was demolished.

Frederick Bailey Deeming was convicted of the murder of Emily Mather and hanged in Australia. Dinham Villa in Rainhill was demolished. The Rainhill victims were interred in the graveyard of St. Ann's Church. Sadly, the headstone marking their grave was stolen, thus it is now unmarked.

from...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainhill

[DaisyChains]

It is (or at least used to be) in Lawton Road, Rainhill. My mate lives in the next road so I will give him a shout on Monday and see what he knows.

Brilliant!
Thank you!

[DaisyChains]

Brilliant!
Thank you!

hi jona
did you ever find out anymore abiut this?

[ChrisGeorge]

Hey all

I am sure someone will know this on here...

As in the case of Frederick Deeming (the Rainhill Demon)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Bailey_Deeming , he lived in a house called Dinham Villa in Rainhill.

Does anyone know where this is/was?
Or if it still exists?

Ta

Hi DaisyChains

Dinham Villa was definitely demolished soon after the inquest on the corpses of Deeming's wife and four children discovered under the hearthstone of the house. Deeming, by then in Australia, had also murdered the Rainhill girl he took as his next wife and buried her in his house outside of Melbourne, the crime for which he was hanged.

Deeming married his second wife, Miss Emily Mather, in Rainhill on 22 September 1891 two months after he had murdered his first wife, Marie, and his four children, aged eight and under – one of them an infant. It is thought that he killed them with a native battle ax while they were in bed then slit their throats. He then cemented them under the hearthstone of Dinham Villa. He even had the temerity to hold a wedding banquet in the murder house. On 17 October, he and his new wife sailed for Australia. Two months later, on Christmas Eve, he murdered Emily and cemented her remains under the hearthstone of their Windsor, Melbourne, home, but the rocky ground of Melbourne proved not so conducive to concealing his crimes as the damp, rich earth of Rainhill would prove.

After murdering Emily, Deeming traveled to Perth, Western Australia, under the alias of Baron Swanston. In this guise, one of his many pseudonyms, he proposed to another woman. Emily’s remains were found in Melbourne on 3 March after a smell had been noticed in the house. The killer was arrested on 11 March 1892 and extradited to Victoria to stand trial. News of the finding of the remains in Windsor, Melbourne, buried in cement was telegraphed to England where inquiries into his movements were begun.

Following a tip from a newsman, on 13 March, Superintendent Keighley of Widnes obtained permission to dig up the cement in Dinham Villa. Three days later, on 16 March, the five bodies were unearthed.

With the still unsolved Whitechapel murders in the minds of reporters, and given Deeming’s British connections, the press naturally theorised that he could have been Jack the Ripper:

The arrest of the man Deeming in Australia, and the disclosures of the various murders which are attributed to him have created the most profound sensation throughout the world. Greater interest is attached to the case as it is uncertain yet whether Deeming is not the veritable Jack the Ripper whose atrocities roused the public excitement to the highest pitch in 1888–91. (‘The Liverpool and Australia Murders. Is Deeming “Jack the Ripper”?’ The Daily Gleaner, 19 April 1892.)

Most students of the Ripper case don't think Deeming was the Ripper and it is believed that he was in South Africa at the time of the Whitechapel murders committed in the East End in August-November 1888. Nonetheless, Liverpool-born Ripper author Des McKenna, who died this April after a battle with cancer, favoured Deeming as a suspect, going against the tide of opinion. In a recent article on Deeming in the Whitechapel Journal 1888, Des asked, "Should he be so easily dismissed? He was perhaps the most inhuman ogre ever to stalk the corridor of nightmare."

Chris George

[DaisyChains]

Hi DaisyChains

Dinham Villa was definitely demolished soon after the inquest on the corpses of Deeming's wife and four children discovered under the hearthstone of the house. Deeming, by then in Australia, had also murdered the Rainhill girl he took as his next wife and buried her in his house outside of Melbourne, the crime for which he was hanged.

Deeming married his second wife, Miss Emily Mather, in Rainhill on 22 September 1891 two months after he had murdered his first wife, Marie, and his four children, aged eight and under – one of them an infant. It is thought that he killed them with a native battle ax while they were in bed then slit their throats. He then cemented them under the hearthstone of Dinham Villa. He even had the temerity to hold a wedding banquet in the murder house. On 17 October, he and his new wife sailed for Australia. Two months later, on Christmas Eve, he murdered Emily and cemented her remains under the hearthstone of their Windsor, Melbourne, home, but the rocky ground of Melbourne proved not so conducive to concealing his crimes as the damp, rich earth of Rainhill would prove.

After murdering Emily, Deeming traveled to Perth, Western Australia, under the alias of Baron Swanston. In this guise, one of his many pseudonyms, he proposed to another woman. Emily’s remains were found in Melbourne on 3 March after a smell had been noticed in the house. The killer was arrested on 11 March 1892 and extradited to Victoria to stand trial. News of the finding of the remains in Windsor, Melbourne, buried in cement was telegraphed to England where inquiries into his movements were begun.

Following a tip from a newsman, on 13 March, Superintendent Keighley of Widnes obtained permission to dig up the cement in Dinham Villa. Three days later, on 16 March, the five bodies were unearthed.

With the still unsolved Whitechapel murders in the minds of reporters, and given Deeming’s British connections, the press naturally theorised that he could have been Jack the Ripper:

The arrest of the man Deeming in Australia, and the disclosures of the various murders which are attributed to him have created the most profound sensation throughout the world. Greater interest is attached to the case as it is uncertain yet whether Deeming is not the veritable Jack the Ripper whose atrocities roused the public excitement to the highest pitch in 1888–91. (‘The Liverpool and Australia Murders. Is Deeming “Jack the Ripper”?’ The Daily Gleaner, 19 April 1892.)

Most students of the Ripper case don't think Deeming was the Ripper and it is believed that he was in South Africa at the time of the Whitechapel murders committed in the East End in August-November 1888. Nonetheless, Liverpool-born Ripper author Des McKenna, who died this April after a battle with cancer, favoured Deeming as a suspect, going against the tide of opinion. In a recent article on Deeming in the Whitechapel Journal 1888, Des asked, "Should he be so easily dismissed? He was perhaps the most inhuman ogre ever to stalk the corridor of nightmare."

Chris George

Thanks Chris
All very interesting stuff!
I for one don't think he was the Ripper...

[Barb]

Apparently Fredrick Deeming also came to New Zealand before going to Melbourne. I was brought up in Rainhill, but have lived in N.Z for the past 36 years. It came as a suprise to me when reading in our local Masterton paper a story about Fredrick Deeming with a reference to the Rainhill murders, and how he had spent a short time in Masterton which is situated about 120 km north of Wellington.

Barb N.Z

[Chris48]

I'm ashamed to say tht I have never heard of this man and i know Rainhill quite well. Lawton road was an affluent area (still is). What was his background Chris?

[ChrisGeorge]

I'm ashamed to say tht I have never heard of this man and i know Rainhill quite well. Lawton road was an affluent area (still is). What was his background Chris?

Born in Birkenhead, Chris, 30 July 1853. There's an article about him at

http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/dst-deeming.html

and see this article of mine as well which covers Deeming and his Rainhill crimes:

http://www.casebook.org/dissertation...brighouse.html

Chris

[ghughesarch]

The exact location was on the west side of Lawton Road, about where the 6th and 7th modern day dwellings are (counting from the Warrington Road end). It's marked by name on the 1894 1:10560 OS map.

[DaisyChains]

The exact location was on the west side of Lawton Road, about where the 6th and 7th modern day dwellings are (counting from the Warrington Road end). It's marked by name on the 1894 1:10560 OS map.

Absolutely brilliant thank you!

[ChrisGeorge]

Very interesting. Great to know that about the location of Dinham Villa, GH. By the way, we have an article upcoming in Ripperologist on Deeming and his Melbourne jail cell by Australian Adam Went.

Chris