In 1826 William Corder, the son of a well-to-do Suffolk farmer became engaged to Maria Marten. The marriage was deferred until the following year but then Maria vanished.
A marriage deferred
Corder was the son of a successful farmer who lived near Polstead in Suffolk. He promised to marry Maria Marten, the daughter of a local mole catcher in 1826 – a time when George 1V was on the throne of England and Canning was Prime Minister. The engagement dragged on until May the following year when Corder arrived at Maria’s house saying that he was in a hurry to complete the marriage and had managed to obtain a special licence.
Hurry and secrecy
So that Maria could leave home unnoticed, Corder insisted that she wear a suit of his own clothes. He explained this odd arrangement to Maria’s mother by inferring that his parents were opposed to the marriage and may try to intervene. He then drove Maria in a gig to a The Red Barn, a building on his father’s land. The plan was that once there, she should change into her dress and travel with Corder to the town of Ipswich where they would be married. Later that day, Corder returned home without Maria.
The missing bride
Days passed with no sign of Maria. Her mother became anxious, despite Corder’s explanation that his young wife was established in a house some distance away so as to conceal the marriage from his family. This situation continued until September that year when, pleading ill-health, Corder said he was planning a trip to Europe. But before leaving he took particular care that the Red Barn was filled with grain following that year’s harvest. Taking with him the considerable sum of £400 he departed, later writing to both Mrs Marten and his own mother to say that he had travelled no further than the Isle of Wight.
Mrs Marten’s dream
During March 1828, Maria’s mother experienced vivid dreams on three successive nights, convincing her that her daughter had been buried in the Red Barn. The corn having been previously removed and the Corders offering no objection, on 19th April Mr Marten took a pick and shovel to the exact spot revealed in his wife’s dream, and began to dig. At a depth of a few feet he found a fragment of shawl which he recognised as belonging to Maria and after more digging found the remains of his daughter. She was identified by her clothing and certain marks on her teeth.
A violent death
The Coroner’s inquest was held without delay and established that poor Maria had been strangled with a handkerchief and had received injuries to her throat. There was evidence that she had received a blow above her eye and that her head had been penetrated by a sharp instrument. The authorities were by now anxious to interview Corder and a London police officer named Lee was detailed to find him.
The respectable schoolmaster
Corder had by this time married another woman and was running a School for Young Ladies in North London. After many enquiries, Lee ran him to ground and having posed as the father of a prospective pupil, gained access to Corder who initially denied any knowledge of Maria Marten. Corder was arrested and returned to Suffolk while a search of his London home revealed a velvet bag that had belonged to Maria and a pair of pistols.
The trial
This was a cause celebre and the trial in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk’s County Town, became a national sensation. Corder initially denied the murder but after being convicted, made a written confession in the condemned cell, admitting to having shot Maria through the eye and then burying her body. He was hanged on Monday 11th August 1828 in front of a crowd estimated at seven thousand.
Still remembered
The Red Barn affair remains in the consciousness of Suffolk people for some reason. A written account of the trial and Corder’s confession was bound in the skin taken from his back following his execution and his death mask is still on display in Bury St Edmunds.
SourcesSuffolk's Long Remembered Murder - Suffolk Sage Winter 1995
Mysteries of Police and Crime - Major Arthur Griffiths (Cassell and Co., MCM11)
