Emma 'Kitty' Byron - The Woman Edwardian Britain Wanted Freed!
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- Опубликовано: 2 июл 2024
- In Edwardian Britain, Emma "Kitty" Byron was found guilty of stabbing to death her lover Arthur Reginald Baker. However, while she was initially sentenced to death, a public outcry led to this being commuted to life in prison. In all however, she would serve just 6 years of confinement.
But what made her story so compelling?
00:00 - Intro
00:54 - The Life of Emma 'Kitty' Byron
01:32 - Reginald 'Reggie' Baker
04:05 - The Day of the Murder
07:30 - The Trial
09:50 - Verdict and Aftermath
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It seems to me very significant that the men who used to work with the victim and knew him best paid for Kitty's defense.
Reggie really must have been a rotten piece of work for his own ex-wife to write a plea for clemency on behalf of his killer.
You are a gifted storyteller, sir! Thank you for these compelling stories.
He is!!!
I honestly wonder how much of the public sympathy for Kitty was due to her good looks.
A big part!
I was just thinking that. He asked if the sympathy would have been extended to others and I thought, “Kitty was just lucky she was pretty.”
Maybe they knew exactly what Reggie was and they sympathised?
The "Disney effect" has always existed, in human kind.
At least the victim proved one thing; Maybe not be an awful person, so that people don't argue that you deserved to be stabbed in the streets 😅 Those character witnesses are important.
I'm also not surprised Kitty was mentally forked by the time she was released. She cracked under an abusive relationship, then spent 6 years in prison for it. Having expressed the want to die too and never denying her guilt, she was already not in the right frame of mind. People don't get saner in prison. She literally tried to force that young nurse into an abusive relationship, then have them both die. She repeated her life 6 years prior! She should not have been let out early.
I was just going to say this exact same thing. I always thought that I was the only one who attributed good looks to fame and fortune? A easier ride than the not so attractive? I don’t know! 🤔
I have 3 words that might shed a bit of light on Kitty Byron’s tale: Battered Spouse Syndrome. When you grow up without, and then get offered a chance to live a life with, but only if you exchange those needs for unending abuse from a partner... I don’t condone her violence, nor do I think that’s the answer to anyone’s problems.
But I am saying that I understand where she is coming from.
Same
Yeah a compounding factor from trauma visa vi abuse
And a sense of desperation may have overcome her better judgement when her victim had taken from her it could have been her last bit of money to eat on and she was starving hungry and having suffered the injustices and having no one to turn to it it could easily caused her to go into a fit of desperation on animalistic fight or flight mode where that money is gone that was her last bit to eat on and she's thinking no one's going to come to my rescue and she's a woman who was physically diminutive in stature to the man as I would guess not to say she was a woman of some high moral standing but clearly the man was a insensitive and uncaring brute who gave not two shits worth about anybody else's concerned and just did as he pleased.
I seek not to excuse the violence but rather it's hard not to show at least some understanding to the woman situation and to be under pressure from life and feeling despair and the danger of not having money to eat there were no social services I assume back in those days
Sort of like a young unstable mother with child left to fend 4 herself with no help from anyone has caused the smothering of more than one child in the not so distant past
Having a support system when deciding to make babies is no small thing
However repugnant and heinous the actions of such a desperate mother smothering her child it's horrible but I would hardly consider to call that mother evil or or wicked that's called a mental state of upside down clearly hysterical
I feel when such a thing takes place that a woman is left to fend for herself and no community is shown by her village that says a lot more about the public at large and it does about the wickedness of the individual woman I think we have a responsibility not necessarily to be the caretakers of that child but you got to rally around young mothers and and parents I think it's are collective duty as a human race and doesn't mean you have to do a million things to help them but just showing your presence and being around it takes some of the pressure off and clearly not to be taken lightly
By and large to use battered spouse syndrome as a defence in court requires a sudden "snap" of rage by the person, rather than a premeditated purchase of a knife and luring your victim to a secondary location to be declared, though.
Two shorts and a new story in one week, you're spoiling us 😊
Indeed😊
Such an amazing storyteller as always. Thank you all for your efforts.
You sir are quite the orator. I've watched many of your videos and say you delivery is quite impressive.
What a fascinating, well told story! How "model" of a prisoner was she, really? The wild swing in her behavior immediately upon her conditonal release is terrifying. I'm extremely curious about her ultimate fate.
Oh, she could be. My ex could charm the pants off a snake but he was utterly vile. That type will be all sweetness, charm and grace - when it serves them to be.
@@BlazeDuskdreamer sounds like my ex husband.
@@carolinerowles5951 Horrible. I sat there and watched him charm the court psychiatrist that was supposed to be neutral and evaluate all three of us (the two of us and daughter). Homely woman and he batted his eyelashes at her, smiled sweetly and said some nice words praising her for nothing and all semblence of professinalism on her part went out the window and you can't do a thing because if you accuse her of that, you're made out to be the one off the rocker. I really don't buy all the claims that family court is biased in favor of women - at all.
my x-bestfriend was a total narcissist.....😢
Same way
She snapped and yelled at me one 2 many times...
I can't deal anymore.
We had been friends 45 yrs.we are both 65
What I have put with from that awful person. And she said she had tolerated me. That was the last nail.
I couldn't believe it
She's a real piece of work and I've put up with one vile, evil behavior after another.
She'd raise Sam about every little thing Her husband does
Threats him bad. Abusive is more like it and I had to endure all her crap she couldn't talk about 2 others
I put up with this mess cause I love her like my own kin.
But I've learned to love from a distance 😊
@@BlazeDuskdreameroh my goodness I'm so sorry honey
She should lose her piece of paper making her a pro.
😮
I was waiting for my Friday bedtime story. Thank you. 😊
Goodnight from this side of the world.
Just love these stories Please keep them coming
You are so relaxing to listen to and have helped me immensely with my insomnia ❤❤❤
Mmm, I'm not sure that being a cure for insomnia is a compliment!!! 😂😂😂
@@isellehalforty1219 If I said he puts me to sleep because he's boring then yes, that would be an insult! But I had said he's relaxing and helps me get sleepy since my insomnia really gives me a hard time most days.
Paul is such a wonderful storyteller, thank you 😊
That's quite the moustache on Reggie, but it doesn't hold a candle to Paul's magnificent facial hair.
🙏🤣👌❣️
Reggie looks like he got caught in the middle of consuming some small animal. Lol
Beauty counts for a LOT, as we all know. Also it is good to remember the popular literature of the time; Kitty was a perfect fit (seemingly, to those who didn't actually know her) to step into the role of maltreated HEROINE, and who could have looked MORE like the villainous, leering, mustachio'ed "landlord" of fiction and later film, than Reggie?
Reggie had a history of being not a very nice man.
So why did his supposed peers (the stockbroker patriarchy usually stick together) pay for her defence and advocate for her release later?
Beauty had nothing to do with it. His awful reputation and abuse was well documented . I’m sure the court whispered under their breath that she had done society a service.
Hello paul and well i never crew always a pleasure to watch a sensational video from you guys
I look forward to all your new videos! Thank you!!
Well I Never for sure. She certainly sounds complicated for sure. Very interesting actually. Would have been nice to know more about her later in life etc, a shame theres nothing really more.
Thanks Paul, time to sleep now. Love hearing your stories and voice.💜💜💜
She lived with her nephew in Farnborough, Hampshire and died in 1954.
What a deliciously morbid story to digest while I take my dinner. As always you never fail to entertain my morbid side and I appreciate your delivery in a most clear and audible communication. You are a true professional and very captivating. Thank you.
Thank you again for a most interesting story. You have a great voice for narrating!
15:24 Kitty could not be imprisoned or institutionalised, so she was sent to Coventry! 😂
Poor gal... not surprising that she may have gone just a little mad herself.
Thank you once again.
Wonderful story. The thing that I hate is the fact he was so much older & was a serial adulterer and and alcoholic. I do love your stories.
She chose him.
@@BlazeDuskdreamerYeah of course he told her his whole history on first meeting?
Her anger issues later could be related to the VD he gave her, syphilis can affect the brain after about 10 years,
Also, many Houses they called "refuge" were actually quite a harsh environment, with people living under almost military control and working to mantain themselves, without any pay.
That’ll definitely cause some anger issues in a person.
Another amazing storytelling, sir!
I wonder if you could do the Elsie Paroubek case, an old and tragic case but still not a single channel did it justice 😢
I love these stories.
Kitty’s father died only a year before this happened, she was living safely with her parents on Brewer St Westminster in April 1901, he was a horse superintendent, maybe for a brewery. The brother they moved in with was an Architect/Surveyor, so I doubt they went hungry. My best guess is she was seduced by false promises and realised too late she had thrown away her respectability for a scoundrel. Reggie had first married in 1880, he didn’t divorce her until 1897, just before he married Mabel yet he described himself as Bachelor on the Marriage Cert, in a church which did not permit the marriage of divorced people.
It’s wild people will still look at it as her “throwing away her respectability”, and not just following her heart. Nobody seems to question a man or his intent when he chases after a woman or her purse strings, they’re just deemed “passionate” men.
@@Tsumami__ I’m talking about how she might have perceived her own situation in those days, not my own perception.
You are such an engaging storyteller.
Thank you.
I knew I had heard this story, another RUclipsr covered it. Reggie was repulsive you only have to read his divorce papers. Why would she need another trial if on licence, would they not just return her to jail? Or maybe bury her in an asylum. Not sure about the Coventry bit. Kitty became a housekeeper for her nephew in Farnborough, Hampshire in later years, she was there on the 1939 Register and she died in nearby Farnham Surrey aged 75 in 1954, she also went by Margaret Wallace according to her death certificate. The house is hidden away, access by a pathway between terraced houses.
Us homely folks didn't stand a chance then or now apparently, what a shallow world we live in, unfortunately!!!🙏🤔😵💫❣️
Thank you for the interesting story. You should check out the tale of Charles Starkweather, a young serial killer in Nebraska who, along with his 13yr old girlfriend, terrorized the farmland for days before being caught. He also has the distinction of being the last person executed by electric chair in the state.
I actually KNEW the brother of one of Starkweather's victims, Robert Jensen. This brother, Dewey Jensen, who had a Ph.D. in Philosophy and 2 beautiful sons Ethan and Thane, NEVER really got over the horrific death of his beloved older brother, and ended his own life by suicide when he was about 40 years old.. In other words, Starkweather's crimes had long shadows.
he was the last person to be executed until Harold Lamont Otey was executed in the electric chair in 1994, when the death penalty was reinstated.
@@popstalerfilm7782 My mistake. I thought Otey and others since were all lethal injection. Sorry.
@@drafter3412 that's okay.
I just love to hear your voice and the way you can tell a story. You're the last voice I hear before falling asleep at night.
great story ,love these old ones has never hear about them .
Fabulously narrated
Never..ever disappoint!! Thank you so much!!
Thank you for these, love them
Thank you, Paul, for sharing another one I’d never heard of. Hope you have a nice weekend. It’s going to be a sunny ☀️ 94* in Kentucky. If your weather is anything like the USA’s right now…stay hydrated & 😎 cool !
(I get along great with summer but, well, I never liked the winter 🥶 cold.)😀
Sending best wishes to y’all! 💛
Well.. I never! 😮
Thank you for the awesome storytelling Paul!
Another wonderful video about the best period for these stories 🙏🏽 Excellent little documentary 😎
Every story in "Well, I Never" fascinating and detailed. Thank you.
Ahhh Mr Paul my weekend warrior 🪖
Thank you kindly Sir ❤
Really good story ,and you tell these stories so well , makes it more interesting
She sounds like she was bipolar!
A fascinating story, thanks for posting Paul. Not without a few loose ends for us to query over.
The background of the headshots and the clothing (combined with amazing storytelling) as always are impeccable in this video. It's the case for all of your videos, but thank you for making the effort. It really shows across the whole series
Very well done
Thank you ❤
Thank you!
A very interesting story again loved it.
Thankyou Paul 😊
Prisoners released on licence can be taken back to prison just for breaching the terms of the licence - no trial required. One of the standard conditions these days is "be of good behaviour and not behave in a way which undermines the purpose of the licence period" although, of course, things may have been different back then.
Good on the ex-wife for writing a letter asking for clemency
No it wasn't. She was so vindictive and bitter about her ex - got one as vile myself and do understand; I sitll celebrate his deth 28 years ago that i had nothing to do with - that she let emotions rule her judgment and assume that an obvious cold-blooded crime was what? It's not self-defense. It was just out of anger for being dumped. He was a horrible human being but that doesn't make it right. How can you seriously say good on the ex-wife or anyone else for advocating clemency this POS woman did not deserve.
@@nicolad8822 Why are you? We watched an interesting video about a bit of history. Who the hell are you to tell me I can't form an opinion. Yes, contentless t roll, I can. The maker of this video even invited us to comment with said opinions. Why are you trying to stop his viewers from doing so? Who made you the opinion police who gets to decide who gets to state theirs and who doesn't. Wth!? smh
@@BlazeDuskdreamer The ex wife obviously knew the type of man he was and sympathised with Kitty. Maybe she was glad Kitty had killed him because he kept harassing her!
@@janetpendlebury6808 Still doesn't make what she did right.
Ty so much
New story 2me
Exactly my ex. Sober, the Most Charming man in the world!!! My heart is with Kitty.
you must do a lot of research because you cover stories on people lve never heard of and its fascinating to learn of their stories keep up the good work
I love that we are starting to understand why this cases happen, this is a pairing of personality disorder people which often come together, him displaying coercive behavior and control over her, while her showing borderline personality disorder patterns, which explains why after being free of the abusive partner she still developed other kinds of bad behaviors towards others
I only vaguely knew about this case before now and you presented it very well. I think Kitty was leniently treated because Edwardian society could not accept the idea that a woman was capable of murder in such a violent manner without exceptional provocation. If Kitty had poisoned him, I think the outcome would have been less in her favor.
The way that the defense and the public opinion views a person isn't always an accurate portrayal of the actual person, I appreciate that you showed the less appealing side of her personality and that you did so with compassion.
There's no excuse for the way that she was treated, and though his murder shouldn't have been the answer, she may have felt that was her only option...
This sounds like one of those murders that was more or less a public service, and therefore treated differently.
For the murder I think she was a women pushed to far as for the rest of her behavior maybe she was thinking that she got away with it once maybe she should try again. Thank you Paul for another wonderful story
Sad to say but I've seen so many cases like that. Extremely violent men and women that may be nice in prison but when they get out, look out. I just can't control their tempers and end up killing or hurting other people.
You should do a collaboration with Brief Case and Crime Reel if you haven't already.
I LOVE those two channels! I second the vote!
What the Dickens!! Yes she did well with the help she found!!!
How rife VD was at theses time's, it's like she had so much to be mad for, what a life🥺
Glad she found Solis with family in the end..
She never got away with murder?? But alot did😢 thanks for another tale of the passed... What a world it was then, and not so great now?? 🇬🇧💯✌️⚖️
Reggie looks like actor William Gaunt , but his tash is on the wonk 😊 love listening keep up the good work thank you
Brilliant
In Reggie's photo he appears to be sporting not only a false moustache but a false body as well.
However the bowtie which Mr Brodie is sporting is very becoming.
One can describe Baker in the words of the late great Terry Thomas 'The man's a cad, a bounder, an absolute shower."
While I do understand and sympathize with an abused woman, especially in that era, you shouldn’t kill someone. Unless it is self defense. At least she did go to jail for a little while.
Well I never 🎉366k congratulations 🎊.
Of course i cannot know the woman's character, but i believe the 6 years She spent in prison did Her no constructive good. 🙏
Thank you for these older cases, they are so atmospheric and intriguing.
You tell them so very well and the illustrations are brilliant.
This killer should have got life to mean life if people did not want her hanged, this is where the British justice system started to go soft on crime obviously!
Great case and channel.
I have heard this case before on another channel, are you no longer doing strange historical things like before and now are just concentrating on being another crime channel
I would like more sympathy to be shown to all victims who have been treated badly.
There is little doubt that the woman had some disorder or stressed behavior. She (and so many others) grew up very poor, with limited education, limited breaks, and opportunities. This doesn't mean she has the right to kill. I think I'm glad her sentence was reduced under the circumstances, but at the same time, if she could not or would not control herself, it may be that she had a mental disorder that they simply didn't remedy or try to cure in those days. Hard times for sure.
It's my opinion that every relationship Kitty had had and would have had would be violent and nasty. She found bad characters and went on being difficult. Her counsel's attempt to present her as a beautiful and victimized girl was swallowed by the public, although it was a lie.
It does sound like he was a shitheel, though.
@@basbleupeaunoire Exactly. She gravitated towards bad men every time. It's typical.
Where did you get this from? She was living at home with both parents until a year before this happened, I don’t buy she was a slut, none of the newspapers of the time talk about her in those terms, and dirt would have been dug if there was some.
Kitty's looks opened the door.The good-looking are always given favor in the judicial system.Definely a flaw in the court room.
I am not so sure it was her good looks that saved her, she had suffered at the hands of a cruel a brutal man. Let’s not forget that, he was a monster and she probably saw herself as helpless. It’s hard to make a judgment on the situation because it is the old saying unless you walk in someone’s shoes who knows what you would have done.
In saying all of that murder is never a way of getting out of a terrible situation. She was a helpless woman in an age when men still had the upper hand.
Why did Kitty have a knife on her person at the time that she committed the murder? She was in a pubic place in the daytime. Did she usually have cause to carry a weapon?
She planned this. It was premeditated. That isn't even being disputed.
Sigh 😞.
My Granddaughter is 13. I can not imagine sending her away to " work for a milliner" or " become a school teacher" or the many other "jobs" young girls did in the Middle 1800's.
This young woman did kill the man. She was abandoned by the people who should have made sure she did not end up with this horrible horrible man.
They didn’t abandon her.
Thinking about it, Tess of the D'Urbervilles would have been published not much more than a decade before this. Similar tale of a poor girl taken advantage of by a horrible man outside her class. Possibly the saddest ending in all literature. How much did this book reflect current sentiment or encourage sympathy to the 'murderer' I wonder.
She had just had enough of being a human punch bag. She snapped I've been there not as extremely, but I understand her pain.
Once again...a leopard can't change it's spots!!!🙏😢⚖️🤔❣️
You give what you get, some may say.
I honestly think that the death sentence would have been the mercy that Kitty deserved. She clearly had a violent, sly and possessive streak herself, given her post prison behaviour. Yes, he was abusive with Mabel but I don't think Kitty was as innocent as she was portrayed by her lawyer. It's their JOB to make their client appear innocent and he did his job well. Might not have been the whole story but that's not his concern.
You mean it was one of those relationships where both people are toxic, but people only notice the male toxicity? And that by purchasing the knife she most likely knew a situation like that was going to happen?
I highly doubt she would have treated lightly if she had done those things. I think I know Paul’s source for that, the author got other things wrong.
That’s the problem with jury justice; from what I’ve seen in tv shows, witnesses can be cut off by a lawyer before they say anything that doesn’t fit the lawyer’s narrative, and jury members are not dyed in the wool professionals like lawyers and judges, who’ve seen it all before.
@@kellydalstok8900 And since they are han they are are filled with bias
Kitty WAS a wronged woman. In modern day it would be manslaughter and possibly of diminished responsibility. It would not have been murder as she is a victim of domestic violence and cohesive behaviour.
She would have been receiving physiological treatment.
At that time , a woman reputation and vertue were all she had, he took advantage of her and smeared her reputation knowing well she has no one else to turn to
Doesn't excuse murder but in that time who would have taken her side and saved her?
I was fine with her getting the death sentence commuted but getting released so early when she was clearly violent was too far.
Well, I never met anyone like Kitty Byron...
The public only knew and wanted to believe one side of the story. Of course many women get away with crimes because they are a woman , young, pretty and or wealthy and well connected.
I'm sure there were women in prison that did far less and were good people and received harsher sentences than Kitty. That's the real tragedy. Who fought for their release for being harshly and unfairly punished?
Very interesting story. I do think she was successful save herself from death but bad idea to behave badly to the rich lady that took her at her home after.being released
The ‘home’ was an institution.
On a weirdly superficial note, his crime was despicable but every time I see a picture of him, Reggies picture just reminds me of Kenneth Branaghs Poirot with the moustache. (Sry, I hope the spelling/grammar is right😅)
Wouldn't be the only time the government covered things up, would it?
Well I never
❤❤❤
Sad that Kitty and others do not get emotional support and a loving family atmosphere to grow up in. I dont believe the 6 years in prison helped her.
Any man with a moustache like that deserved everything he got.
My mother frequently said, "Never trust a man with a mustache." She never explained her rational for this prejudice. I prefer clean-shaven men, but I doubt I was influenced by her opinion.
So Kitty had Killed a Man but she was driven to it and it Reminds me of the Ruth Ellis case in 1955 saying that I don't believe that Kitty was no innocent and I believe that she should be locked up in a Secure Hospital where she could get the help that she needed
Yes, but at that time they wouldn't be able to help her.
Mental hospitals were awful.
Well, I never 😊
While her crime cannot be forgiven, it seems that she did have a mental disorder. To be kind one minute and violent the next, sounds either like schizophrenia or borderline personality disorder. Of course in those days, mental illness was not as well understood as it is today.