Charles Thomas Wooldridge (1864 – 7 July 1896) was a Trooper in the Royal Horse Guards who was executed in

Reading Gaol HM Prison Reading, popularly known as Reading Gaol, is a former prison located in Reading, Berkshire, England. The prison was operated by His Majesty's Prison Service until its closure at the start of 2014. It is a Grade II listed building and ...

for

uxoricide Uxoricide (from Latin ''uxor'' meaning "wife" and -cide, from ''caedere'' meaning "to cut, to kill") is the killing of one's own wife. It can refer to the act itself or the person who carries it out. It can also be used in the context of the ki ...

and who, as 'C.T.W', was the dedicatee of Oscar Wilde's ''

The Ballad of Reading Gaol ''The Ballad of Reading Gaol'' is a poem by Oscar Wilde, written in exile in Berneval-le-Grand, after his release from Reading Gaol () on 19 May 1897. Wilde had been incarcerated in Reading after being convicted of gross indecency with other m ...

''.

Biography

The son of Eleanor (born c.1827) and Charles Wooldridge (born c.1824), Wooldridge was born in

East Garston East Garston is a village and civil parish on the River Lambourn, about north of Hungerford in West Berkshire. The river flows through the village, dividing many houses from the main road, so that each has a bridge over the river to the front d ...

and joined the Royal Horse Guards in 1886.'A Key to "In Memoriam by Oscar Wilde" – notes made by Mary Grave bound into her sister Eleanor Grave's 1899 copy of ''The Ballad of Reading Gaol'' held at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

– researched by Glenn Christodoulou He married Laura Ellen "Nell" Glendell (1873–1896) in 1894 when his regiment was posted to

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

. However, his commanding officer had not given permission for the wedding to take place. Wooldridge's wife was "off the strength" and so was unable to join her husband when his regiment moved from Windsor to

Regent's Park Barracks The Regent's Park Barracks, commonly known as the Albany Street Barracks, is a British Army barracks located on Albany Street, London, near Regent's Park. History The barracks were constructed in 1820-1821 as cavalry barracks for the Life Guard ...

in London, forcing the couple to live apart and putting a strain on the marriage.Charles Thomas Wooldridge on the British Executions website
/ref> At first the couple were devoted to each other, despite the enforced separation. "Nell" Wooldridge was of a lively and flirtatious nature, while Charles Wooldridge was of a jealous and suspicious disposition; consequently, they argued a great deal when they were together. By March 1896, she had started to use her

maiden name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" is also use ...

again. When he visited her, Wooldridge attacked his wife and blackened her eyes and injured her nose. From then on, she avoided Wooldridge, refusing to see him., foreword by

Theodore Dalrymple Anthony Malcolm Daniels (born 11 October 1949), also known by the pen name Theodore Dalrymple (), is a conservative English cultural critic, prison physician and psychiatrist. He worked in a number of Sub-Saharan African countries as well as in ...

Having heard rumours that she was having an affair with either another soldier or an official at the General Post Office where she worked, and having received a document from her to sign stating that he would stay away from her, he arranged to meet Laura Ellen outside Regent's Park Barracks on 29 March 1896 but, when she failed to turn up, he travelled to her lodgings at

Clewer Clewer (also known as Clewer Village) is an ecclesiastical parish and an area of Windsor in the county of Berkshire, England. Clewer makes up three wards of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, namely Clewer North, Clewer South and Cl ...

, near Windsor. A violent argument ensued, which spilled out on to the street outside. He used a

cut-throat razor A straight razor is a razor with a blade that can fold into its handle. They are also called open razors and cut-throat razors. The predecessors of the modern straight razors include bronze razors, with cutting edges and fixed handles, produced b ...

he had taken with him to cut her throatGRO Register of Deaths: JUN qtr 1896 Wooldridge, Laura Ellen aged 23 Windsor 2c 241 before giving himself up to Police Constable Forster, who arrested him and took him to Windsor Police Station. Wooldridge told the police that he would have cut his own throat if he had not dropped the murder weapon. At his subsequent trial, he was defended by H.S. Wood of

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

but the jury took just two minutes to find him guilty despite Wood's attempts to get the charge reduced to manslaughter because of Nell's unfaithfulness. Wood set up a petition for a reprieve and, assisted by a Miss Eleanor Grave, succeeded in gaining a great number of signatures. However, the trial judge, Mr. Justice Hawkins, stated that Wooldridge's taking the cut-throat razor with him to Windsor was evidence of premeditation and so refused to consider a reprieve. In Reading Gaol, Wooldridge told the prison chaplain that he was filled with grief and remorse at having killed his beloved wife. He resisted attempts at a reprieve (including a recommendation for clemency from the jury that convicted him) by petitioning the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national s ...

Sir Matthew White Ridley for the sentence to be allowed to be carried out. On the morning of the execution, Wooldridge attended a service in the prison chapel, showed repentance for his terrible crime, and was resigned to his fate. Because of ''The Ballad of Reading Gaol'', Wooldridge became the most famous person ever to be executed at Reading. The executioner was James Billington, whose use of a drop longer than specified by the

Official Table of Drops The ''Official Table of Drops'', formerly issued by the British Home Office, is a manual which is used to calculate the appropriate length of rope for long drop hangings. Following a series of failed hangings, including those of John Babbacombe ...

stretched Wooldridge's neck by eleven inches. It was reported that he was aged 30 when executed.GRO Register of Deaths: SEP qtr 1896 Wooldridge, Charles Thomas aged 30 Reading 2c 210

''The Ballad of Reading Gaol''

Wilde was imprisoned in

when Wooldridge was

hanged Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...

there on Saturday 7 July 1896. The two never met but Wilde would observe the condemned man during silent exercise periods in the prison yard, known as the 'Fools' Parade'.Stokes, pg 103 The execution of Wooldridge (known as "C.T.W" in the poem) had a profound effect on Wilde, inspiring the line in the ballad "yet each man kills the thing he loves". Wilde was mistaken in his belief that Wooldridge killed his wife in her home; contemporary reports stating that the murder was committed in the street.

References

External links

'1896: Charles Thomas Wooldridge, of The Ballad of Reading Gaol' on the ExecutedToday websiteCharles Wooldridge on True Crime Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wooldridge, Charles Thomas 1864 births 1896 deaths 19th-century British Army personnel 19th-century English criminals 19th-century executions by England and Wales People executed by the United Kingdom by hanging Royal Horse Guards soldiers English people convicted of murder People from West Berkshire District 1896 murders in the United Kingdom Uxoricides Oscar Wilde