The Strange Case of Alice Wheeldon (1866 to 1919)

Alice Wheeldon was the victim of trumped up charges by the British Government; accused of plotting to poison the Prime Minister. Included within the alleged conspiracy was her daughters Hettie Wheeldon and Winnie Mason as well as her son-in-law Alfred George Mason. Alice made her living from selling secondhand clothes; both her daughters were school teachers and Alfred was a lecturer in chemistry at Hartley University College in Southampton.

The charge was that, between 26th December 1916 and 29th January 1917, they did: “Amongst themselves unlawfully and wickedly conspire, confederate, and agree together, one the Right Honourable David Lloyd George, and one the Right Honourable Arthur Henderson, willfully of their malice, aforethought to kill and murder, contrary to the Offences Against the Persons Act, 1861 (Section 4) and against the peace of our Lord the King, his Crown and dignity.”

1916 was in some ways a troublesome time on the Home Front for politicians. The wave of enthusiasm for the War Effort had subsided with conscription being introduced to feed the front. A wave of strikes was affecting the munitions factories, there were incidents of action when skilled workers were conscripted and a wave of syndicalism which sought the setting up by workers of direct, workplace centred democratic control. There were increasing numbers of conscientious objectors and the Wheeldon’s were associated with the No-Conscription Fellowship established in 1915.

Their network was infiltrated by an agent known as Alex Gordon but whose real name was William Rickard, employed by the intelligence unit of the Munitions Ministry. Alice Wheeldon gave him refuge believing him to be a genuine conscientious objector (conchie). The family’s post was intercepted and a parcel was discovered containing strychnine and instructions for its use. F.E> Smith the famous Attorney General encouraged prosecution of the family accusing them of being “a gang of desperate persons poisoned by revolutionary doctrines and possessed of complete and unreasonable contempt for their country”. He prosecuted the case in the Old Bailey and despite clear evidence that pointed to the poison being provided in order to kill dogs guarding internment camps was able to convince the jury that the coded letters were indicating a death threat against Lloyd George the British Prime Minister.

The jury convicted them and Alice Wheeldon was sentenced to 10 years penal servitude, Arthur Mason 7 years and Winnie Mason 5 years. Hettie Wheeldon was acquitted. An appeal failed and Alice found herself in Aylesbury prison where she participated in a regime of hunger strikes which eventually forced Lloyd George to order her release in December 1917. She returned to Derby but was effectively ostracised and died of influenza in February 1919.

It was a trial concocted “pour encourager les autres” and was the only case of its kind to occur in the war years