The 1900 Beeston Murder: Mary Ann Blewitt Found Dead in Her Chair
News of the Times | Episode 547 | 1900

In the summer of 1900, the quiet village of Beeston near Leeds was shaken to its core. Mary Ann Blewitt, a hardworking mill hand, was discovered dead in her own kitchen chair — her throat cut, her body left untouched for days. Her husband Charles had vanished, leaving only a shaved moustache, bloodstained boots, and whispers of a troubled past.

As the manhunt spread from Leeds to Halifax, the case twisted through two dramatic trials: juries divided, neighbours stunned, and a husband who showed no sign of fear, even as the noose loomed closer. Was Charles Oliver Blewitt a desperate husband seeking work — or a cold-blooded killer hiding in plain sight?

And in our Further Particulars… we travel to Aberdeen, where the Nellfield Cemetery scandal of 1899 proved that even the dead can’t always rest in peace. With coffin lids paraded through court and gravediggers wielding shovels a little too enthusiastically, it was less a tale of solemn mourning than one of questionable job descriptions and very untidy ledgers.

🔔 Join us for this chilling Leeds murder and the curious cemetery caper that followed — only on News of the Times.

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📚 Related cases from the archive: 
1903: Marston Moor Murders |  EP403
https://youtu.be/GmxBwDEUz1M
1896 & 1903: The Infamous Starr Murders |  EP406
https://youtu.be/LqmZzLivZUU
1542 - 1900: Cases from Mdm Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors |  EP412
https://youtu.be/qdEsOvgMeUg

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