Joseph Moss
1851-1879

Joseph was born on 27th July 1851 in Smalley, Derbyshire, the third child of Robert and Mary Moss. He was baptised with his older brother Ira and older sister Martha at St John the Baptist’s Church, Smalley, on 9th November 1851.

After leaving school, Joseph worked as a framework knitter, and by the time of the June 1871 census, he was lodging at a farm on ‘Dobhole Lane’, Horsley Woodhouse. However, on 14th November 1871 at Derby, he enlisted with the Foot Guards, and on 5th December he was fully enrolled in the 3rd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards at Warley Barracks in Essex.

Private Joseph Moss spent the Christmas of 1874 in Smalley, and after a furlough of six weeks he left for Dublin on 11th January 1875, rejoining the 3rd Battalion. He became part of the Army Reserve, before joining the Derby Borough Police around 1877.

Murder

In the afternoon of 12th July 1879, PC Joseph Moss and his colleague PC Clamp went to the yard of the Traveller’s Rest on Ashbourne Road, Derby, to assist PC Shirley who had stopped a man and woman who were drunk in charge of a horse and trap. Joseph and PC Clamp took the couple in a cab to the lockup in Derby, while PC Shirley followed with the pony and cart. Arriving at 4:30 p.m., Joseph took the man from the cab into the lockup’s reception room; PC Clamp lead the woman in. While the charges were being read out, the woman, Annie Green, ‘became violent and commenced throwing herself about’ ¹. After being searched by the detective inspector’s wife, the constables tried to take Annie Green to a cell, but she resisted and started to hit PC Clamp. The officers sought to restrain her, and Joseph ‘attempted to get hold of her, and did in fact touch her right hand...Moss went towards the woman again, and [the man] said “Will you, you, ——— ?” addressing Moss.’ ¹ The man ‘who had up to this time been leaning quietly against a partition, placed his hand in one of his pockets, and quick as lightning presented a formidable five-chambered revolver, saying “Stop! I’ll have no more of this.” The reception room of the Derby lock-up is about 8 feet by 10, and the several officers who were present were close to him. He fired the first barrel at Police-constable Moss who was but two feet from him....Moss said “I am shot,” and immediately rushed at the prisoner, but he immediately fell down, again saying “Oh, I am shot.”’ ¹ Other shots were fired which hit PC Price, before the man was overpowered.

Illustrated Police News, 9th August 1879

Joseph was carried into a cab and with PC Price was taken to the Derbyshire Infirmary. On admittance, Joseph was ‘perfectly conscious’ but found to be suffering from severe shock and shortness of breath. A gunshot wound was found ‘on the right side, four inches below, and in the nipple line. There was no trace of bullet externally, and there was no external haemorrhage from the wound’ ¹: the flesh was described as having closed up ‘after the passage of the bullet, which passed in an upward direction to the right lung, where it lodged.’ ¹ The surgeon told Joseph that he was not expected to recover.

After making a deposition, Joseph ‘asked that his mother and father, who live at Smalley, might be sent for. Police-sergt. Tinker drove to Smalley, and brought them to the Infirmary in the prisoner’s horse and trap, but Moss was scarcely able to recognise his parents when they arrived.’ ¹ While Joseph ‘somewhat rallied on Saturday night, he never recovered from the shock’ and was said to have ‘resigned himself to his fate’. He died at 12:45 p.m. on Sunday 13th July, aged 27 - he was 2 weeks away from his 28th birthday. Gerald Mainwaring was charged with wilful murder the same day.

In 2002 a plaque was set the flagstones near the current Derby Fish Market, marking the spot of the reception room of the Derby Lockup where Joseph was shot. It incorrectly records that he was 26 years old.

On Monday 14th July, Gerald Mainwaring was taken to Derby Jail and later brought before the Magistrates, charged with the wilful murder of Joseph Moss. Joseph’s coat was shown which had a hole made by a bullet in the breast. Mainwaring was formally remanded until Wednesday and sent back to the jail.

Inquest

An inquest was held at the Derbyshire Infirmary on 15th July to determine ‘by what means Joseph Moss came by his death’. His mother Mary and one of his sisters were present. Joseph’s deposition was read out:

‘I was in the police office today about half-past four. I assisted to take two prisoners into the station house. One was a man and the other a woman. I was standing close by the man when the other officers were taking the woman into the cells. The man lifted the revolver up and said, “Stand back; I’ll have no more of this.” I heard a report, and I felt a shot in my right side, and fell down. I said “I am shot.” Inspector Spibey, Constables Price, Shirley, and Clamp were present. I remember nothing more until I found myself here. I heard three reports of a shot—two after I was shot. I make this declaration believing that I am about to die.’

The inquest heard that a post-mortem on Monday found that ‘a bullet had passed through the cartilage of the 7th rib on the right side, and had traversed the right lobe of the liver, and, perforating the gall bladder, had finally lodged in the right side of the body of the second lumbar vertebra. I found considerable extravasation of blood into the peritoneal cavity.’ ¹

The coroner told the jury at the inquest that it was his duty to direct them to find a verdict of wilful murder. ‘After a short consultation, the Jury found a verdict of “wilful murder against Gerald Mainwaring.” ¹

Funeral

Joseph’s funeral took place on Friday 18th July. The arrangements were made by the chief constable of the Derby Borough Police, and since Joseph had served in the army, he was buried with military honours.

Seventy members of all ranks from the Borough Police Force assembled at Derby Town Hall at 10 o’clock, ‘and each wore, on the left arm, the band of crape, which is so suitable a badge of military mourning. Shortly before half-past ten o’clock, this fine body of men marched to the Infirmary...shortly afterwards, a detachment of twenty county policemen—most of them, apparently, old soldiers—proceeded to the Infirmary, and the local forces were there met by the Nottingham contingent. Here also were assembled (by invitation) the relatives and friends of the deceased officer, several borough magistrates, members of the Town Council, and of the Watch Committee’. ²

Shortly before 11:00 a.m. Joseph’s coffin was taken to the vestibule of the infirmary where female staff received it: ‘The nurses and domestics were neatly attired in mourning, with white aprons, frills, and caps, and they stood whilst Miss Probyn deposited wreathes of flowers on the coffin. The sorrowing relatives and Col. Delacombe and Supt. M’Ternan also placed wreaths on the union jack, which covered the coffin and told that a soldier as well as a policeman slept beneath. On the national flag was placed the helmet and staff of the deceased officer.’ ³

‘The coffin—which was covered by a “Union Jack” and several floral tributes of respect—stood on a bier in the entrance hall of the Infirmary, from whence, at a quarter-past eleven o’clock, it was carried by six of the deceased’s comrades in the Police Force, who acted as bearers, and headed the procession, which was marshalled in the following order:—

Six Police-constables (Bearers).
1st Derby Militia Band.
Mr. Lloyd. [the undertaker]
The Hearse.
Six Police-constables (Pall-Bearers).
Three Mourning Coaches.
Non-commissioned Officers of the Guards.
The Nottingham Police Band.
Derby Borough Police.
The Chief Constable.
Derby County Police.
Nottingham Police.
The Watch Committee.
Members of the Council.
Borough Magistrates.
The Public.
Private Carriages.’ ².

‘The hearse was the handsomely fitted one with glazed sides, through which the coffin and its appointments were distinctly visible.’ ³ In the mourning coaches were Joseph’s parents Robert and Mary Moss; Joseph’s younger brothers William and John, and his younger sisters Louisa, Elizabeth, and Lillie; his aunts Mary Kenny (née Moss), Fanny Clarke (née Moss), Sarah Roe (née Moss), and Georgania Turner (née Moss); and his cousin Mrs. Brown.

‘The line of route from the infirmary to the cemetery was crowded by a vast concourse of sympathising spectators, and the deceased officer was followed to his last resting-place by not a few of Derby’s citizens.’ ² The bands of the First Derbyshire Militia and Nottingham Borough Police Force played Dead March in Saul. ‘The police detectives in the streets were all dressed in becoming black, and the policemen who did not take part in the procession wore armlets of crape’, ² while shops along the route closed their shutters. It was reported that Joseph’s funeral was ‘witnessed by many thousands of persons’ and that ‘the Market Hall and Market Place were completely deserted.’ ³.

At the cemetery chapel in Chaddesden, the Church of England service was read by the Reverend of St. Luke’s church. ‘The coffin was of polished oak, and the plate on it bore the following simple inscription:—“Joseph Moss. Died July 13th 1879, aged 26.”’ ². ‘Lines of police officers were also formed from the chapel to the grave...Colonel Delacombe having gently place on the pall the last wreath, the coffin was placed over the grave, and at this time the sun which had been struggling through clouds, shone with the full power of summer.’ ³

A mourning card sold during the procession contained the same information as this funeral card, but also included ‘“Watch ye; standfast, in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” I Cor. xvi. 13.’ ³

Trial

The trial of ‘Gerald Mainwaring, gentleman’ was held at Derby Crown Court on 31st July 1879. Aged 23, Mainwaring was the son of the late Reverend Charles Henry Mainwaring of Whitmore Hall, Staffordshire, a respected magistrate. He was indicted ‘for wilfully and of malice aforethought, on the 12th day of July, 1879, did kill and murder one Joseph Moss’. ⁴ It was reported that Mainwaring had been drinking from 10th July: he was staying at the Royal Hotel on Victoria Street, Derby, on 10th July, from where he went to Bradshaw Street to ‘a house of ill-fame, kept by a woman named Sophia Gilbert...[who] introduced him to a young woman named Annie Green, and he remained all night with her’. ⁴ Mainwaring and Annie Green went to the Royal Hotel on the 11th and 12th, returning to the house each day. On the 13th July, ‘shortly after twelve o’clock, they left together again, and went to the Royal Hotel, where they had breakfast, and it appears that they had a considerable quantity of drink. They went to Mrs. Gilbert’s together, and the prisoner had persuaded Annie Green to go away with him from Derby for two or three days.’ ⁴ Seeing that Annie was ‘extremely intoxicated’, Mrs. Gilbert refused to allow her go, and Mainwaring ‘produced the revolver, and threatened to shoot Mrs. Gilbert if she interfered’.⁴

Mainwaring and Annie Green got into a trap and drove away: ‘the woman was laughing and lolling about in the trap, and the young man was flogging the pony and laughing and gesticulating to those who looked at him. In Osmaston-street it became evident that their career would have to be stopped. They, however, continued their course along St. Peter’s-street to the Wardwick, where Police-constable Shirley called them to stop. Heeding him not at all, the pair went along Friar-gate, but Shirley, fearing an accident would happen, jumped into a cab and followed in a long stern chase...At the Traveller’s Rest, on the Ashbourne-road, the pony and trap drove into the yard, and Shirley going through the house encountered the young man in the yard and told him the charge against him’ ¹. It was here that Joseph and PC Clamp came to assist their colleague: they took Mainwaring and Annie Green to the lockup, where Joseph was shot.

Mainwaring had pleaded ‘not guilty’, and ‘none of the facts of the case were disputed by the prisoner’s counsel, who only pleaded for a reduction of the offence from murder to manslaughter.’ ⁵ Murder carried a death sentence.

The jury of 12 men deliberated for three hours, before returning a verdict of guilty, and the judge imposed the death sentence. However, the jury recommended mercy: ‘the jury unanimously signed and forwarded to the Home Secretary a petition expressing their conviction that the prisoner was, at the time he fired the pistol, “in a state of complete intoxication, and had no intention of doing an illegal act, or deliberately inflicting harm on the deceased, Joseph Moss, or any other person.’ ⁶ Mainwaring was set to hang, but the local newspaper discovered that the jury had been split six for manslaughter and six for wilful murder, so they had drawn lots to appoint a chairman who would have the casting vote. Facts got distorted and the public began to believe that a coin was tossed to determine Mainwaring’s fate. Within weeks the matter was debated in the House of Commons, which resulted in the Home Secretary commuting Mainwaring’s sentence to penal servitude for life. However, he served only 15 years in prison for the murder of Joseph Moss, being released on 16th May 1894.

In memorium

Since Joseph died whilst in the execution of his duties, it was suggested in July 1879 that ‘there should be placed over the grave of the late Police-constable Moss a suitable memorial at the public expense’ ⁷. Donations were to be sent to the Town Clerk, and if any remained after paying for a memorial, it was proposed that it be ‘devoted to the payment of funeral expenses of the deceased, which the relatives of the unfortunate man are not in a position to bear’ ⁷.

The original memorial for Joseph read ‘Thy will be done. In respectful rememberance of Joseph Moss, late a member of the Derby Borough Police Force, who was shot whilst in the execution of his duty. July 13th 1879, aged 26 years. Life is uncertain, death is sure. Sin gave the wound, but Christ the cure. This stone is erected by public subscription’

In 2000 there was a revival of interest in Joseph’s murder following articles in a local newspaper. Money was raised to install a plaque to mark the spot where he was shot and to replace the memorial on his grave. The original headstone found its way to the Police Museum at Derby by 2015, and although their collection was given to Derbyshire County Council in 2004, and later transferred to the Buxton Museum, it's current whereabouts are unknown.

Joseph was the first and, as of 2017, the only member of Derby Constabulary to be murdered while at work.

The current memorial for Joseph retains much of the wording from the original headstone.

Joseph Moss was my great-great-granduncle.