The 1912 Walsoken Murder of Minnie Morris
Background
1912 was an unsettled year in Britain. The suffragette movement had intensified, with women arrested for smashing windows and damaging property in London in their fight for the vote, while almost a million miners went on strike to demand a minimum wage. In April, more than 1,500 people lost their lives when the RMS Titanic sank on her maiden voyage. Britain itself was changing rapidly, with factories booming, railway networks expanding, and electricity illuminating more homes and streets across the country. But away from the growing towns and cities, life in rural communities still moved at a slower pace, shaped by farming and the changing seasons. In the East Anglian village of Walsoken, however, the illusion of countryside idyll would be shattered by murder.
By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it had become an annual tradition for thousands of working-class Londoners to leave the city each summer for a working holiday in the countryside. Families travelled by train to rural areas, where they stayed in simple wooden huts and helped farmers harvest hops and fruit. Everyone could lend a hand, including young children. The days were long and the work was tiring, but for those with little money to spare, it was the closest they could get to a proper holiday, and they enjoyed the sunshine, fresh air, and physical activity. In a good season, the wages could help see a family through the coming winter, paying for extra food and clothing. There was often a strong sense of camaraderie among the seasonal workers, who socialised and sang together. Drunkenness and occasional fights were not uncommon but serious violence was rare.
Walsoken, Norfolk
Hop-pickers traditionally spent the summer in Kent, but many Londoners also travelled to the Fens in the East of England to pick fruit. One of these places was Walsoken, a small fenland village on the border between Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. Surrounded by farms and smallholdings, it adjoins the market town of Wisbech and lies about 12 miles from the historic port of King’s Lynn.
Minnie Morris and Robert Galloway
21-year-old Minnie Morris was among the seasonal workers employed by fruit grower J.S. Bartram at a farm on Burrett Road, a short distance from Old Walsoken Church. Minnie came from Hoxton in East London and had travelled to Norfolk with her aunt, who had promised to look after her as it was her first time there. Minnie was described as attractive and neatly dressed, and was seen wearing a navy-blue skirt, a white silk blouse and high-heeled, patent leather shoes. Back in London, she was seeing a bricklayer, but during her stay in Walsoken, she began spending time with 27-year-old Robert Galloway, a fellow fruit-picker from London. Originally from North Kensington, Galloway had attended St Clement’s Road Boys’ School before working as a railway signal painter and later as a barman. He joined the Navy in 1908 but was discharged the following year for repeatedly disobeying orders. Afterwards, he drifted between jobs and once told a friend that he had attempted suicide.
© Prash Ganendran
Body Discovery and Crime Scene
On the afternoon of Tuesday 16 July 1912, a horse rider named Arthur Halstead noticed a woman lying beside a quiet country lane, with a man walking away from her. Believing that she was asleep, he continued on his way. At around 5 p.m., a labourer named William Frusher came across the same woman, her face covered by a man’s cap. Frusher stopped to check that she was alright, but when he lifted the cap, he noticed reddish-brown froth around her mouth. A handkerchief had been tied tightly around her neck. When he realised that she was cold and wasn’t breathing, he covered her with a sack and ran for help.
Police Constable Frank Taylor arrived at the scene and arranged for the body to be taken to the Bell Inn at Old Walsoken. When the handkerchief was removed from the woman’s neck, a dark ligature mark was clearly visible. The handkerchief had been tied with a reef knot; a type of knot commonly associated with sailors.
Galloway Confesses to Murder
It transpired that even before the body had been discovered, the police had received a strange confession. Earlier that afternoon, Police Sergeant Jacobs had been approached in Wisbech Market Place by a man around 5’7”, with brown hair and brown eyes. The stranger had said to him, ‘Have you heard about the murder on Lynn Road? I have strangled a woman and I thought you were looking for me. I am ready to suffer for what I have done.’
With no murder yet reported, Sergeant Jacobs apparently thought little of the man’s extraordinary claim. But later, the same man walked into Wisbech Police Station and repeated his confession, calmly stating, ‘I’ve had my revenge and I don’t care.’ He then freely gave his name as Robert Galloway. During questioning, he added, ‘I’m glad she’s dead. I was mad when I killed her and felt as if I could have done a dozen more in.’
Inquest into the death of Minnie Morris
The young woman was identified as Minnie Morris, and her parents travelled from London to formally identify their daughter’s body. The inquest was held two days later, on Thursday 18 July, before the Coroner for King’s Lynn, R.A. Wilkins.
Galloway gave an unusual explanation, claiming that Minnie had asked him to kill her. According to his account, Minnie had been left stranded in Walsoken when her aunt returned to London without her, and she had told him she would rather be dead than walk all the way back to London. He alleged that Minnie had then asked him, ‘Have you got the pluck to end my misery?’ Galloway claimed he had agreed to kill her and then hand himself in to the police afterwards.
The inquest jury didn’t believe his story and returned a verdict that Minnie Morris had died from suffocation after being ‘wilfully and feloniously strangled’ by Robert Galloway. He was committed for trial at the next Norwich Assizes.
The Trial of Robert Galloway, Norwich Assizes
When Galloway entered the dock, he was clean-shaven, with his hair brushed back and a white scarf around his neck. When asked how he would plead to the charge of murder, he gave a very different account, replying, ‘I remember nothing at all about it.’ The plea was recorded as Not Guilty.
During the trial, a possible motive began to emerge: jealousy. Minnie had also been friendly with another fruit-picker from London named William Tucker. She sometimes spent her evenings with him, and he had given her extra money for food. Witnesses described an argument at the Black Bear Inn on Sunday 14 July, two days before the murder. Galloway had apparently made advances towards Minnie, which she rejected. During the argument, he was heard to threaten her, saying, ‘If I don’t find you, I’ll find him.’
On the day of Minnie’s death, she was seen drinking with Galloway at the Black Bear before the pair left together, walking in the direction of Lynn Road. Later that afternoon, Galloway returned to the pub alone. By then, several people had noticed him behaving strangely. He had repeatedly written his name on scraps of paper and handed them to people he passed in the street. One of them, Thomas Peake, asked him why he was doing it. Galloway apparently replied, ‘That would be giving the game away. The next time you see me, I’ll be at Norwich Assizes.’
Galloway’s main defence was that he had lost his memory. He denied making any threats against Minnie and insisted he could remember nothing about 16 July. His last memory was of drinking in the pub; the next thing he remembered was waking up in Norwich Prison. When confronted with the confessions he had made to the police, he replied, ‘Well, I cannot refute making them, but I have no recollection of making them.’
Dr Starling, the medical officer at Norwich Prison, testified that Galloway showed no signs of mental illness, and that there was nothing to support a plea of insanity. Witnesses who had seen him throughout the afternoon also testified that he had appeared sober.
Galloway Executed
It took just five minutes for the jury to find Robert Galloway guilty of murder. When asked if he had anything to say before sentence was passed, he remained silent, and observers noticed that he looked unconcerned. He was executed at Norwich Gaol on 5 November 1912 by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by George Brown.
Minnie buried at All Saints Church
Minnie Morris was buried in Walsoken Cemetery (All Saints Church). Around 300 people from the surrounding villages attended her funeral, as well as her boyfriend from London. A collection was held for Minnie’s mother, raising £1, equivalent to around £100 today. At the spot where her body had been found, local residents cut a cross into the grass and placed flowers around it, with hundreds of people visiting the site to pay their respects.
Other Murders in Norfolk
For such a small village, Walsoken has a surprisingly dark history. In 1885, farmer Robert Goodale was found guilty of murdering his wife Bathsheba and disposing of her body in a well. His hanging became one of the most notorious botched executions in British criminal history. I’ve previously covered the case, and I’ll leave a link to that episode in the description. A century earlier, in 1788, a 17-year-old apprentice farrier named Henry Sell was executed for poisoning his master and mistress, William and Elizabeth Clark, with arsenic.
But there was another murder with an even more curious connection to Minnie’s case. Just a day before Minnie was killed, the body of another young woman had been discovered at the opposite end of Norfolk, on South Beach in Great Yarmouth. Her name was Dora Gray, and she had also been strangled, in her case with a bootlace tied twice around her neck. Like the handkerchief used to strangle Minnie, the bootlace had been fastened with a reef knot. Despite this similarity, no connection between the two murders was ever established, and Dora Gray’s killer was never identified.
Final Thoughts
Did Robert Galloway really lose his memory on that summer’s day in 1912? Or was his claim of amnesia just a desperate attempt to cover up a murder driven by jealousy? Whatever the truth behind his account, Minnie Morris had travelled from London looking forward to a summer picking fruit in the countryside. Instead, at 21 years old, her life was cut short by the actions of a killer who seemed to show no remorse at all.
Researched and written by Prash and Melissa Ganendran. Published 7 September 2026.
© 2026 Prash Ganendran. All Rights Reserved.
Video Documentary Version of this Case
Related Cases
Readers interested in other murders taking place in Walsoken may also enjoy my article on Robert Goodale.
Sources
1891,1901,1911 England Census
Robert Galloway, England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
Robert Galloway, Royal Navy Registers of Seamen’s Services, 1848-1939
Cambridgeshire Times, 26 July 1912, 25 Oct 1912
Downham Market Gazette, 20 July 1912
Dundee Evening Telegraph, 17 July 1912
Eastern Evening News, 17 July 1912, 19 October 1912, 28 October 1912, 5 November 1912
The East Suffolk Gazette, 30 July 1912
Lynn Advertiser, 26 July 1912
The Daily Mirror 16 July 1912
The Daily News and Leader, 19 July 1912
The Weekly Standard 26 July 1912
The Weekly Times, 21 July 1912
