This week we have added 117,904 new pages to The Archive. We are very excited to have two brand new titles joining us this week – the Folkestone Express, Sandgate, Shorncliffe & Hythe Advertiser, which spans the years between 1868 and 1919, and the Central Somerset Gazette, which covers the years between 1862 and 1981.
This week also sees updates to four of our existing titles, with further updates to last week’s new title the East Kent Gazette, as well as new pages for the Oxfordshire Telegraph, the Sunday Independent (Dublin) and the Evening Herald (Dublin).
Three of our new and updated titles this week cover the year 1919 (the Folkestone Express, Sandgate, Shorncliffe & Hythe Advertiser, the Central Somerset Gazette and the East Kent Gazette). 100 years ago the country was shocked by a high society murder – dubbed the ‘West End Tragedy’ – where Major Miles Seton, of the Australian Medical Corps, was shot and killed by Lieutenant-Colonel Norman Rutherford, a British army doctor, in the palatial surrounds of a Holland Park address.
Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford, like many other men at the time, had newly returned from France in the January of 1919. By all accounts, he was suffering from depression, and this soon spiraled into a jealous rage, as it seems he believed that his wife, Alice, was having an affair with one Major Miles Seton.
Major Seton was staying with his cousin Sir Malcolm Seton at 13 Clarendon Road, Holland Park, when Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford visited. Sir Malcolm recalled his cousin to be in good spirits, and soon after Rutherford’s arrival he heard ‘four or five pistol shots in rapid succession.’ Sir Malcolm ran downstairs to hear the groans of his dying cousin, and to see a ‘curiously-calm’ Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford standing over the body.
Sir Malcolm remarked to Rutherford, according to the Shipley Times and Express, ‘You have killed Miles,’ to which he replied in a very quiet voice, ‘I only wish I had another bullet for myself.’ It was found by pathologist Dr Bernard Spilsbury that Major Seton had suffered from fourteen bullet wounds.
From the Central Somerset Gazette we can learn more of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford’s marriage to Alice. Describing it as a ‘romance of 18 years ago,’ Rutherford eloped with Alice Roberts, daughter of Sir James Roberts, to Edinburgh. They then moved to South Africa.
But what drove Rutherford to murder? He had apparently found a letter from Seton to his wife upon his return from France. He had been under immense strain whilst at the front, and had been sent home in 1917 due to medical reasons – he had been suffering from insomnia and suicidal thoughts – however, he requested to be sent back soon after. At his trial, his mental state was taken into consideration, and he was found guilty but insane. He was sent to Broadmoor prison, was released in 1928 and later divorced from his wife.
New Titles
Title | Years Covered |
| Folkestone Express, Sandgate, Shorncliffe & Hythe Advertiser | 1868-1884, 1891, 1893-1894, 1901, 1903-1908, 1910-1913, 1915-1919 |
| Central Somerset Gazette | 1862-1870, 1872-1887, 1889-1899, 1901-1911, 1913-1949, 1951-1981 |
Updated Titles
This week we have updated four of our existing titles.
You can learn more about each of the titles we add to every week by clicking on their names. On each paper’s title page, you can read a FREE sample issue, learn more about our current holdings, and our plans for digitisation.
Title | Years Covered |
| Oxfordshire Telegraph | 1858-1859 |
| Sunday Independent (Dublin) | 1998-2006 |
| Evening Herald (Dublin) | 1930 |
| East Kent Gazette | 1919-1925 |
Register now and explore the Archive
You can keep up to date with all the latest additions by visiting the recently added page. You can even look ahead to see what we’re going to add tomorrow.
