A Grave Warning

A Grave Warning

There is a gravestone in Godmanchester churchyard that carries quite an unusual inscription. And the story behind the stone is really quite sad. It tells of Mary Ann Weems and her murder by her husband Thomas.

Thomas Weems and Mary Ann Sawyer married in 1818, when it had been thought that Mary was pregnant — Mary had probably feigned the pregnancy in order to ensnare Thomas, he would’ve had no choice about getting married in those days. It soon transpired, though, that she wasn’t pregnant at all, and Thomas found work away from Godmanchester, eventually finishing up in Edmonton.

It was very soon after starting work in Edmonton that Thomas Weems fell for a young local woman, called Maria Woodward. He proposed to her, but neglected to tell her he was already married.

In May of 1819, Thomas Weems returned to Godmanchester and persuaded Mary to accompany him back to Edmonton to make a fresh start. She’d been reluctant at first, but eventually went along with the plan, so the couple set off early in the morning of May 6th to walk to Edmonton.

Susanna Bird was returning home from Royston to Wendy when she saw Thomas alone; she’d seen the couple earlier in the day. She was suspicious of the reason given by Thomas for him now travelling alone. When she saw someone working in a field close to where she’d seen the couple earlier, she told him of her doubts, and they both went to investigate. A search soon revealed the body.

The alarm was raised, and a warrant delivered to the local constable. He, and an assistant, were soon in hot pursuit. They found Thomas Weems still walking along the road to Edmonton, no doubt thinking he’d got away with murder.

Thomas Weems was executed on 6th August, and his body was given for medical experimentation. It’s unknown where his earthly remains are.

Mary Ann Weems is reported to have been displayed in her coffin at the bar window of the White Hart Public House, which still stands in Cambridge Street, Godmanchester. Her body was then buried in the churchyard of the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Godmanchester. A headstone carrying a ‘warning epitaph’ can be seen above her remains — pictured below, with its grisly inscription.

* * *

As a warning
to the Young of both Sexes
This Stone is erected by public Subscription
over the remains of MARY ANN WEEMS
who at an early age became acquainted
with THOMAS WEEMS formerly of this Parish
this connection terminating in a compulsory
Marriage occasioned him soon to desert her
and wishing to be married to another Woman
he filled up the measure of his iniquity
by resolving to murder his Wife
which he barbarously perpetrated at Wendy
on their journey to London toward which place
he had induced her to go under the mask
of reconciliation May the 7th 1819.
He was taken within a few hours after
the crime was committed, tried and
subsequently executed at Cambridge
on the 7th of August in the same year.

Ere Crime you perpetrate survey this stone
Learn hence the God of Justice sleeps not on his Throne
But marks the Sinner with unerring eye
The Suffering Victim hears and makes the Guilty die

Much of the information here comes from a book called, “Cambridgeshire Crimes” by John Bell.