'The deceased had always evinced the greatest horror of self-destruction when anything of the kind came before him': The Criminal Suicide of Mr Justice Willes
In the last post, I twice quoted Mr Justice James Shaw Willes as he railed against men who held the notion that they had some entitlement to beat their wives. Here, I will explain a little more about him, and explore the ways in which society responded to his suicide, as well as looking at general attitudes towards those who took, or attempted to take, their own lives. Born in Cork in 1814, Willes attended Trinity College, Dublin, graduating in 1836. In 1840, he was called to the bar at Inner Temple. Most famous for his decision in Phillips v Eyre in 1870, Willes also presided over the trial of Constance Kent in 1865. Standing trial for the murder of her 3-year-old half-brother five years earlier, Kent’s story caused a great deal of public speculation. Kate Summerscale’s excellent book, TheSuspicions of Mr Whicher or the Murder at Road Hill Hous e is definitely worth reading to gain an understanding of the case; Summerscale is easily one of the best writers in the genre of historical ...