Within the earlier instalment of this sequence, we examined the tragic demise of Esmeralda Gullan, the founding father of Esmeralda’s Barn, an evening membership situated in an prosperous a part of London’s West Finish. Nonetheless, Esmeralda was not the one feminine night time membership proprietor or hostess to be discovered lifeless or dying throughout this era. In truth, as we’re about to find, she was simply certainly one of a set of inter-connected girls who had been concerned in night time membership administration and whose deaths had been dominated as unintended or as suicides across the similar time.
A Demise on Baker Avenue
Barbara Knox-Marsh (typically written as Knox-Marshe) was born Winifred Barbara Littler on the 4 February 1928; however by the Nineteen Fifties. she had began utilizing her stage identify for every part. Her mom, Margaret W. Jackson, by no means acquired the pleasure of seeing her daughter develop up as she died only a yr after her delivery, in 1929. Barbara had been described as an “angel” in a Every day Mirror article in 1951. On that event, on the tender age of 23 years-old, Knox-Marsh had reportedly backed a play known as “My Spouse’s Lodger” which was as a result of run at London’s Comedy Theatre. She paid £1000 to turn out to be a backer of the play which was deemed by all of the critics as a farce and a certain loser, however quickly Barbara’s image appeared within the newspaper with the subtitle: “Barbara Knox-Marshe – lady who backed a winner.” Certainly, the stage present might have been a veritable flop when within the theatre, with one of many backers pressured to promote his automobile to lift the funds to maintain the undertaking afloat, however the gamble finally paid off for all of the traders, as Alan Fairclough reported in his Every day Mirror piece: “This week got here the little little bit of heaven. The movie rights of the play that everyone scoffed at have been offered.”
Barbara Knox Marsh was dwelling the “homosexual life” in line with an article from 17 Might 1956, revealed within the Every day Herald. “Dancing in Mayfair… music at midnight… drinks at daybreak. The day was not lengthy sufficient for Barbara Knox Marsh,” learn the reviews. The institution in Mayfair’s Berkeley Avenue, the place Barbara spent nearly all of her time, had initially opened in November 1954 beneath the identify “The Stratton Membership.” By Might 1955, the membership had begun to get a foul popularity after it was discovered to be “promoting intoxicating liquor throughout aside from permitted hours, and for promoting and not using a licence” because the Westminster & Pimlico Information reported on 27 Might 1955. The house owners got a summons to “present trigger why the membership shouldn’t be struck off” with the case being adjourned for six months. By December 1955, the house owners had failed to point out trigger and the membership was formally struck-off and faraway from the official register of companies.
But, the membership didn’t truly shut and, the next April, Chief Inspector Edmund King went to the premises, supposedly to return property, solely to seek out it overtly doing enterprise and being run because the “Blue Angel Membership”. He described individuals dancing and consuming on the bar when he arrived and shortly the membership’s supervisor, Cyril Phillips, together with two different males had been hauled in entrance of a choose and fined £10 for his or her offences. Regardless that there was no point out of Barbara Knox-Marsh in relation to the Blue Angel within the April 1956 Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser article, which reported the courtroom case, she was named because the proprietor of the institution in a number of reviews the next month. Sadly for Barbara Knox-Marsh, these articles reported the information of her demise.
Like Esme Gullan, Barbara Knox-Marsh was discovered dying in her flat on Baker Avenue, solely to be pronounced lifeless later at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. At first, her demise was attributed to an overdose of sleeping capsules, however this preliminary concept shortly modified, and shortly grew to become a really peculiar story of weird and unlikely happenstance. A Every day Mirror piece revealed on Monday 14 Might 1956 reported that the police had found Miss Knox-Marsh’s unconscious physique on the Saturday earlier than the article went to print. That they had been summoned to her residence by what the article calls “a person good friend” of Knox-Marsh. She was discovered sitting in a chair wearing a black night robe and close by was a bottle which contained sleeping tablets which the detectives shortly bagged-up as proof.
The suspicious and premature demise of Barbara appeared like an open and shut case to the investigators in cost. This was primarily as a result of rumours of her obvious earlier suicide try, though her aforementioned aunt, Mrs. Noreen Lewis, who was by then dwelling in Muswell Hill, instructed the coroner at her inquest that: “I don’t suppose she would ever try and take her personal life. She liked life an excessive amount of.” Though she had made that assertion, Mrs Lewis went on to inform the coroner that: “She was a woman inclined to dramatise. I’m certain she did it considering somebody would come on the final minute to avoid wasting her.” The coroner, Mr. W. Bentley Buy, acknowledged clearly: “There isn’t a proof earlier than me to justify a verdict of suicide.” He finally recorded a verdict of unintended demise, however the precise circumstances surrounding Knox-Marsh’s demise had been frankly ridiculous.
Simply earlier than Knox-Marsh died, the Blue Angel had reportedly been beneath negotiations for a change in possession. She had been staying with an accountant named James McBurnie throughout the weeks main as much as her tragic demise. She had been lodging at his flat, though Barbara additionally had her personal flat in Southwold Mansions in Maida Vale. McBurnie instructed the St. Pancras coroner that he had gone to mattress at round 11pm on the night time of her demise and wakened round 5am to find her on the sitting-room ground with a “customary lamp mendacity close to by”, to cite a Leicester Night Mail article from 16 Might 1956. This latter description of how her physique was discovered additionally contradicts the preliminary reviews of how her physique had been found seated in a chair. Dr. F. E. Camps, a pathologist giving proof to the coroner, acknowledged that he had discovered about “10 grains of Seconal” in her physique which he recorded as being a excessive dose, “however not essentially a deadly one on abnormal circumstances.”
A Marylebone Mercury article on 18 Might 1956 additionally famous: “She [Barbara Knox-Marsh] had been pleasant with Esme Noel-Smith [i.e. Esme Gullan], Knightsbridge membership proprietor discovered gassed final yr, and likewise Linda Justice, membership hostess who died from too many sleeping tablets on Might 5.” Every week after the latter Marylebone Mercury article, the identical publication produced a fuller account of how Barbara Knox-Marsh had finally met her tragic finish.
On Friday 25 Might 1956, the paper reported that: “Pathologist Dr. F. E. Camps stated she had had bruises consistent with placing one thing. She had marks on her wrist and neck the place she had turn out to be entangled with the twine of the fallen lamp customary. These had given her respiratory embarrassment which could have contributed to her demise; the primary reason behind which had been an overdose of Seconal. She had taken 10 grains which was a excessive dose, however not essentially a deadly one.”
The coroner requested Mr. Camps: “It isn’t a big dose?” to which the pathologist acknowledged: “No.” He additionally acknowledged that there was nothing to counsel violence in any respect, seemingly ignoring his personal proof of “bruises consistent with placing one thing,” and “marks on her wrists and neck.” As a substitute, Camps posited that Knox-Marsh had come again to the flat, taken sleeping tablets, fallen down, the place the twine for the usual lamp had turn out to be wrapped round her neck. He admitted that the lamp twine had under no circumstances asphyxiated her, and he additionally gave proof stating that the overdose hadn’t been sufficient to kill her. Regardless of that, he concluded that the mix of the 2 had led to Knox-Marsh’s supposedly unintended demise. The coroner acknowledged his conclusion: “She may need slipped from the chair and acquired into an ungainly place. There isn’t a proof to counsel suicide. Life to date had been certainly one of pleasure and pleasure somewhat than despair resulting in suicide.”
One of many males in control of Barbara’s Blue Angel night time membership throughout this era was named Max Setty. He was a particularly intriguing character who got here from an much more intriguing household. He was from an Iraqi household of Sephardic Jews who moved to Britain when Max and his siblings had been very younger. He had one sister named Eva Setty and two brothers; Jack and Stanley, with the latter being of nice curiosity. Stanley Setty had been a automobile supplier and cash lender lower than a decade earlier than the demise of Barbara Knox-Marsh. He was additionally identified for smuggling weapons into Palestine through the use of automobiles purchased on the continental European mainland. In 1949, Stanley Setty was decapitated and had his legs chopped off in a grizzly homicide, with three packages containing his head, his legs, and his torso—along with his arms nonetheless tied behind his again—quickly thrown from a aircraft into the ocean, however that may be a story for an additional event.
Max Setty was additionally as soon as a automobile supplier, working alongside his unlucky brother Stanley in varied garages in London; nevertheless, in 1956 Max was formally working because the catering supervisor at Barbara Knox-Marsh’s Blue Angel. He continued to work as a supervisor on the membership into the Sixties. When Barbara died, Max Setty stated of her: “She was all the time blissful. She needed to remain up all night time, play the gramophone, speak to individuals and drink.”
Why Barbara determined to surrender her curiosity within the Blue Angel simply earlier than her demise is unclear. Regardless of her resolution to divest, she hadn’t fallen out of favour with the London night-spot. A Every day Mirror article from Thursday 17 Might 1956 reported on her final hours, stating: “Final night time on the Blue Angel, the place Barbara went as a member after giving up her curiosity, they recalled that Friday night time she sat in a softly-lit alcove consuming lime and ginger ale.” It actually didn’t appear, from eyewitness accounts of that fateful night, that Barbara was in any approach suicidal. The latter article, entitled: “Blue Angel Lady’s Final Hours” additionally states: “The band was taking part in ‘Recollections Are Made Of This.’ When the music switched to ‘Are You Happy?’ she acquired as much as dance. Afterwards she threw a coin within the fountain pool over which a grey-blue plaster angel stands guard, and left, with a wave and a ‘See you tomorrow’ to her associates.”
Ruth Ellis, Linda Justice, Pamela Gale and Janet Curtis-Bennett
Esme Gullan and Barbara Knox Marsh weren’t the one girls who had tragically misplaced their lives whereas operating elite London night time golf equipment throughout this era. The notorious Ruth Ellis was managing the Little Membership when she shot and killed her lover David Blakely, a criminal offense for which she acquired the demise penalty. A colleague of hers, Linda Justice, had been made a hostess at solely seventeen years outdated, after Ruth Ellis launched her to the London night time membership scene by using her at The Little Membership. Ellis had been managing the membership for its proprietor Morris Conley. By 13 Might 1956, Linda, who additionally glided by the identify Gladys Linda Justice, was the registered proprietor of two firms; Justice Buying and selling Co. and Justice Toffees, firms which she had shaped with the assistance of a tv actor named Alfred “Man Mountain” Dean. These companies had been registered to an handle at 395 Oxford Avenue in London, which was a block of flats the place Ruth Ellis had additionally lived. On the age of twenty 5, Linda Justice’s obvious suicide was reported in The Folks newspaper, with the uncredited report stating that Justice had killed herself with an overdose of sleeping capsules. She was discovered surrounded by empty bottles, totally clothed, in her darkened bed room.
Linda had reportedly been a “mousey-haired elementary schoolgirl” when she had left her Peckham residence to work for Ruth Ellis in an effort to “pep-up life” on the Little Membership in Knightsbridge. But, by the point she died, her childhood hopes and goals had come to an finish in some ways. Justice had taken on Ruth Ellis’ job on the Little Membership after her good friend and mentor had turn out to be the final lady to be hanged in Britain round ten months earlier than. Then, Justice had acquired herself into debt with collectors who had been hounding her for the cash she owed. She was additionally stated to have been trapped into an abusive relationship. In an article dated 6 Might 1956, a good friend of Justice is quoted as saying: “She had been very depressed and consuming closely. She had a violent row with a person she liked. For a time she talked about ‘Doing a Ruth Ellis.’ Then she quietened down and located her consolation in a glass. Maybe that introduced the top.” Linda Justice was identified for being wanting to excite and longing for pleasure herself, not less than when she was on the golf equipment she ran. However in actuality, she was secretive and stored her private handle and telephone quantity out of the official directories.
When Justice was approaching the top of her life, she was notably much less blissful and had developed a heavy consuming downside. Three months earlier than her demise, Justice stopped working and finally discovered a spot to stick with her good friend, Mrs. Kathleen Rhodes, at a flat in Kensington. Close to the top of her life, a man who lived reverse Justice, Mr. Harold Flavell, stated: “She appeared very lonely. When you handed the place at any hour of the day you’d hear gramophone data being performed.”
Regardless that Linda Justice’s demise was most likely a suicide, quite a lot of girls linked to the night time golf equipment of London’s excessive society had been dying in comparatively fast succession. Esmeralda Noel-Smith had died in March 1955, Ruth Ellis had been hanged on 13 July 1955, Linda’s good friend—an ex-show lady, Janet Curtis-Bennett—was discovered lifeless on the residence she shared along with her Q.C. husband 4 days earlier than Justice’s physique was discovered. A few days later, Barbara Knox Marsh was additionally discovered lifeless. There was one thing very peculiar occurring on the upper-class London night time membership scene.
The aforementioned good friend of Linda Justice, Janet Curtis-Bennett, had additionally reportedly died of an overdose of sleeping medication. She was discovered cuddled as much as her pet kitten, Tiddly-winks, and, the earlier August, she had simply turn out to be the second spouse of a well-known homicide trial Q.C. [Queens Council], Derek Curtis-Bennett. Janet had previously been a singer who had passed by the stage identify Christine Lane.
The House Workplace pathologist who examined Curtis-Bennett’s physique was Dr. Donald Teare, whose identify will come up once more shortly. On Monday 14 Might 1956, the Belfast Telegraph reported on the inquest verdict which examined the proof surrounding the premature demise of Janet Curtis-Bennett, stating: “A verdict that she ‘died from barbituric poisoning, self-administered, and that she so killed herself,’ was recorded on the inquest immediately of Mrs. Janet Farquhar Curtis-Bennett.” The coroner, Mr. G. L. B. Thruston, stated: “We now have heard proof which has been conflicting to counsel that she might not have been fully blissful, however I want to make it fairly empathic that other than indicating the way of thinking, it’s not the perform of this courtroom to inquire into issues of that nature.” A number of months later, her husband was additionally discovered lifeless with one other inquest verdict stating that: “Mr. Frederick Henry (Derek) Curtis-Bennett, Q.C., died of alcoholism was recorded on the Hammersmith, London, inquest immediately.” Once more, Mr. G. L. B. Thruston was the coroner and Dr. Donald Teare acted because the pathologist.
The Evening Membership Lure
It is actually odd that Barbara Knox-Marsh, Ruth Ellis, Esmeralda Gullan, Linda Justice and Janet Curtis-Bennett all died throughout this similar, transient interval. Nonetheless, the physique rely in London’s night time membership scene throughout this time was increased nonetheless, as different night time membership women died beneath tragic circumstances. On 18 September 1956, it was reported that one other night time membership hostess had been discovered lifeless in a gas-filled flat. Pamela Gale’s lifeless physique was present in her Pimlico flat in St. George’s Sq. and, on this case, two letters had been discovered by her corpse, certainly one of which was addressed to her father who was described in a Every day Herald article as an “Admiralty messenger.”
Police had been at odds when it got here to fixing the demise of Pamela Gale as she was once more described in information reviews as being a “homosexual, blissful lady” with a good friend of hers being quoted as saying: “Her solely curiosity was to get as a lot out of life as doable. She lived for the pleasure that form of life may give. She was very blissful.” Pamela was described within the aforementioned article as: “Dancing until daybreak as a hostess in West Finish consuming golf equipment,” with one unnamed good friend being quoted as saying: “She was the gayest of us all.”
An inquest heard that Pamela had apparently made certain that her two pet budgies had not died along with her, with the birds being discovered within the kitchen by the person who had reportedly tried to avoid wasting her. Hiroyoshi Matsuda, described as an American citizen, had instructed the inquest that he had identified the 23 year-old night time membership hostess for about two months and had being staying along with her in her flat. Intriguingly, Matsuda means that one other unnamed individual was with them and acknowledged: “Three of us spent Sunday afternoon consuming,” occurring to say: “I assumed the gin was getting maintain of me and went to mattress. It was about 6pm. Spherical about 11pm I wakened and thought I smelled gasoline. The living-room door was locked so I climbed by the window, alongside a drainpipe, and broke into the living-room by the window.” Matsuda went on to inform the inquest: “Miss Gale was laying on the ground.”
The police had been known as and the officer who arrived on the scene, Police Inspector Adams, discovered Gale’s physique subsequent to an nearly empty pint bottle of gin, alongside two notes, certainly one of which was addressed to “My pricey father” whereas the opposite was addressed to “Penny”. An extra article, which was revealed within the Westminster & Pimlico Information on 21 September 1956, described Gale as somebody who suffered from mood-swings and despair. The coroner recorded a verdict that Gale had died from carbon monoxide poisoning and that the 2 notes had proven that Gale had supposed to finish her personal life.
A few days after the inquest into Pamela Gale had dominated her demise to be a suicide, an article in The Folks newspaper, entitled: “The Evening Membership Lure”, painted an evening membership hostess’s job as an image of debauchery and desperation. The piece, written by Charles Manifold, claimed that 4 out of 5 night time golf equipment in London paid their hostesses nothing in any respect and that the ladies had been imagined to earn their livings on ideas from prospects alone. Manifold claims on this supposed expose that: “There are from 10 to twenty of those women, chosen by administration for his or her beauty and their straightforward approach with males,” with the creator occurring to state that they’re: “chosen as a result of in dialog they’ve disclosed that they’ve a light-hearted view on advantage.”
Alongside the article had been footage of three women with an accompanying narrative which acknowledged: “All three of those night-club hostesses met sordid ends. Pamela Gale, Helen Carlin and Esme Noel Smith. Now examine their lives.” However there was no prior suggestion that Esmeralda Gullan (who additionally glided by her married identify Noel-Smith) was dwelling a sordid life, or that she was a easy night time membership hostess, a reality which didn’t appear essential to Mr. Manifold’s agenda.
The beforehand talked about Helen Carlin, who was additionally known as “Purple Helen” Carlin, appears to have been included by Manifold to boost his articles narrative of debauchery. Nonetheless, Helen Carlin was a identified prostitute who had been murdered in 1954 by strangulation along with her personal stockings. It was believed that Carlin was murdered by a serial killer named Peter Manuel who admitted killing Carlin simply earlier than he was hanged for seven different murders to which he’d already confessed his guilt. Helen Carlin will not be famous anyplace as having been an evening membership hostess.
Prelude to a Gangland Takeover
This string of suspicious tragedies had been all to be categorised as unintended deaths or suicides and plenty of required vital proof to be neglected or misinterpreted for such verdicts to be reached. However what was about to occur inside the related night time golf equipment steered that some very sinister individuals had been aggressively taking management of those institutions.
Esme Gullan had apparently died by unintended gassing as a result of blowback placing out the flame of her gasoline hearth, however in actuality there had been a “leak” within the tube which led from the gasoline tank to the fireplace and the flame had nonetheless been lit when her physique was found. She had additionally moved bedrooms with none obvious clarification as to how or why. Barbara Knox-Marsh had fallen after taking a non-lethal overdose and gently strangled herself, though neither of these occasions may have killed her. As famous above, Knox-Marsh had supposedly turn out to be awkwardly wrapped up in a regular lamp twine after falling, but the inquest proof repeatedly acknowledged that her lifeless physique had been discovered seated in a chair. Ruth Ellis, Pamela Gale, Linda Justice, and Janet Curtis-Bennett had all died in tragic circumstances and every of these circumstances had left a slew of unanswered questions. With a litany of suspicious deaths as a backdrop, issues within the London night time membership scene would solely get stranger.
Within the subsequent article on this sequence, we’ll meet a number of the most peculiar characters thus far, two of these being Horace “Hod” Dibben and his teenage ward, Patsy Morgan-Dibben. Whereas Esmeralda Gullan, Barbara Knox-Marsh, Linda Justice, Pamela Gale, Janet Curtis-Bennett and Ruth Ellis had been all dying in fast succession, Patsy and Horace had been taking cost of Esmeralda’s Barn and opening Esme’s outdated night time membership to the London underworld. Horace Dibben, a self-proclaimed Satanist who recurrently organised elite intercourse events for the wealthy and well-known, was about to lose every part, as his ward, Patsy Morgan-Dibben, was reportedly taken by “the satan himself.” Was she simply one other lady misplaced to the lethal night time membership entice?
