Church Street Murders

From Standish Wiki

by Keith Douglas

On Friday 8th July 1921, the bodies of Lily Gambles (25) and Richard Myers (62) were found in a house in Church Street, Standish. Lily had been strangled and Myers had terrible head injuries. Lily’s husband, William Gambles (30), went missing and a police search was mounted for him. At the inquest on the two victims, a verdict of wilful murder against the husband was returned but he was never found. The victims were buried on the same day, in adjacent graves, in St. Wilfrid’s churchyard.

It was a good day for a murderer to escape as it was the same day that the Prince of Wales (later became Edward VIII and then abdicated) passed through Standish, and the Police were otherwise occupied.

These are the stark facts behind a double murder occurring 80 years ago, but like all murder mysteries, there are many imponderables and lots of apocryphal stories. So, I cannot be sure about any of these:

1. A 14 year old boy was going to work at the Victoria Colliery at 6.00am. While he was waiting for his pal at the end of Moody Street, he saw a bloodhound belonging to Fred Chadwick, the butcher, sniffing at the door of the ‘murder house’, but at that time no-one had any idea that a murder had been committed.
2. William Gambles came from Gidlow Houses.
3. Richard Myers (nicknamed Connie) had been beheaded with an axe.
4. Lily Gambles was described as “pure as her name”.
5. William Gambles was the brother-in-law to Mr. Ernie Pendlebury who was Churchwarden at St. Wilfrid’s Church.
6. Old Connie who was murdered was uncle to Dick Farrimond who was Verger and Historian at St. Wilfrid’s and father of Billy the chip shop owner.
7. The murder was discovered by Stan Marsden from the paper shop.
8. At about 11.00pm the same night, Gambles asked for a light from Tom Arstall’s father, whilst going down Prospect Hill, and told him: “I’ve caught them twice before, so this time I’ve made a good job of it”. Gambles was never seen again!
9. Prior to the event, Tommy Fairhurst emigrated to Canada and worked for Canadian Railways. A few years after the murders, he claims to have met the alleged murderer, William Gambles, who was similarly working on the railways. There was definite recognition between the two, but no admission of guilt was offered. When Tommy told of the meeting to his wife she suggested that he should inform the authorities, but he declined. Gambles immediately gave up his job and Mr. Fairhurst never saw him again.
10. A member of the Gambles family now living in Wigan, assures me that although his father never had any friends in Australia, he used to receive airmail from that country.