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Evening lectures featuring a new guest speaker each month covering a broad spectrum of topics including the arts, academia, and more...Monday, Jan 15th – 'RUXTON' The First Modern Murder by Tom Wood
Two dismembered bodies discarded in the borderlands of Scotland, hideously mutilated to avoid identification. Forty-three pieces of rotten flesh and bone wrapped in rags and newspaper. A jigsaw puzzle of decomposing human remains.
A glamorous young wife and her dutiful nursemaid missing. A handsome, mild-mannered town doctor insanely jealous of his wife’s friendships with other men.
It is 1935 and the deaths of Isabella Ruxton and Mary Rogerson would result in one of the most complex investigations the world had ever seen. The gruesome murders captured worldwide attention with newspapers keeping the public enthralled with all the gory details.
But behind the headlines was a different, more important story: the ground-breaking work of Scottish forensic scientists who developed new techniques to solve the case and shape the future of criminal investigation.
With access to previously unseen documents, this book re-examines the case and reveals for the first time the incredible inside story of the investigation and its legacy.
This is the first modern murder.‘Ruxton - The First Modern Murder’ was described by Scotland’s Queen of crime writing, Val McDermid as: “A revelatory account .... grips like a thriller”.
Monday, Feb 12th – 'BROTHERS OF STEELL' by Charles Kinder Bradbury and Henry Steuart Fothringham
Few people in present times have heard of the great sculptor Sir John Steell, Queen Victoria’s sculptor in Scotland.
His many statues, such as those for the Scott and Prince Consort Memorials and The Wellington Monument are admired by Edinburgh residents and visitors alike.
Similarly, his brother, Gourlay Steell, is relatively unknown, yet he became Queen Victoria’s Animal Painter for Scotland.
Their father John Steell Senior is even less recognised, although his legacies of architectural carvings and the skills he passed on to his two sons are remarkable.
However, in the present day the Steells are largely unknown to the general public.
– About the Event Speakers –
Jan 15th:
About the Author:
Tom was born and bred in Edinburgh where he spent nearly four decades as a policeman. He left Lothian & Borders Police as Deputy Chief Constable and Director of Operations and was one of Scotland’s most senior and experienced officers.
Much of his last role was as Officer in Overall Command of a national investigation into the murders of five young Scottish women in the 1970s, including the deaths of Edinburgh girls Helen Scott and Christine Eadie, the notorious ‘Worlds End Murders’.
Following his police service Tom worked in Alcohol and Drug Policy and was Independent Chair of two adult and child protection committees. Latterly he carried out a number of independent ‘Serious Case’ and ‘Domestic Homicide’ reviews in the North of England.
Tom’s first venture into writing came in 2007 with the publication of ‘The Worlds End Murders – A Thirty Year Quest for Justice’. A joint venture with friend and seasoned journalist David Johnstone the book chronicled a personal account of the 30 year plus investigation into the deaths of Helen Scott and Christine Eadie. In 2013 the book was substantially augmented and republished as ‘The Worlds End Murders - The Final Verdict’ following the conviction of killer Angus Sinclair, thirty-seven years after his crimes.
The next venture was a solo effort. Just before leaving the police Tom had been given a file of old documents, they related to the infamous Dr Ruxton Murders of 1935. The famous case had been extensively recorded but the old papers revealed new previously unknown details of the twists and turns of the original investigation. More importantly, the personal papers gave a revealing insight into the incredible work of the ordinary policemen and scientists who solved this landmark case.
‘Ruxton - The First Modern Murder’ was described by Scotland’s Queen of crime writing, Val McDermid as: “A revelatory account .... grips like a thriller”.
Feb. 12th:
Club member Andrew Smith became aware of the Steells through his father, a solicitor who had a firm in Rutland Square, who represented a Steell family descendant.
He collaborated with authors Charles Kinder Bradbury and Henry Steuart Fotheringham to bring to life their story and detail their works.
His illustrated talk tells you that story and gives details of the many works they undertook.
You will doubtless be surprised at some of the works this remarkably skilled family undertook.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
29-31 Abercromby Place,Edinburgh,EH3 6QE,GB, United Kingdom
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