Murder Victim. She was a victim of one of the most infamous child murder cases in Great Britain. She and her friend Minnie Warner, both aged eight, along with Fanny’s sister Lizzie, aged seven, were out for a walk on August 24, 1867 when, at half past one in the afternoon, they were approached by Frederick Baker, a solicitor’s clerk who had, evidently, been drinking. He gave Minnie one and a half pennies to buy some sweets, and offered Fanny half a penny if she would leave with him. She took the money but declined the offer, whereupon Baker picked her up and carried her to a nearby field. Minnie and Lizzie continued playing until about five o’clock, when they returned home. Fanny’s mother, Harriet Adams, went in search of her daughter and saw Baker, who said that he had given her some money to buy sweets, and Mrs. Adams accepted this. By seven o’clock, however, there was still no sign of the girl, so a search party was organized and Fanny’s lifeless body was eventually found. Baker, who had returned to his office, was arrested, but protested his innocence, even though  blood was found on his clothes and on two knives in his possession. Worst of all, he had written in his diary, “Killed a young girl – it was fine and hot.” At his trial, which took place on December 5, 1867 at Winchester Crown Court, his defense was that these words meant only that he knew that a girl had been murdered. However, the jury took only fifteen minutes to find him guilty, and he was hanged at eight o’clock on the morning of Christmas Eve, in front of a crowd of five thousand at Winchester Prison. Fanny Adams was interred in a grave beneath a headstone which was paid for by public subscription in 1874. (bio by: Iain MacFarlaine)