Murder Mystery in Restoration London
No one knows this about me but my ancestor Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey was the victim of the greatest unsolved murder of 17th century London.
I had always known the Godfrey family had a long history in the local area of Kent. I can remember visiting one of the monuments dedicated to Thomas Godfrey close to the altar in All Souls Church Lydd as a child. I hadn’t given any of it much thought until last year I was given copies of family photographs. Some of these copies were examples of early photography, dating back to the mid-nineteenth century. A time when having your photo taken was an alien experience when you had to pose for several minutes and smiling was almost unheard of. Seeing the faces of my second, third, fourth, and fifth great grandfathers and their wives encouraged me to carry out further research into family history.
I discovered a wealth of information concerning the history of the Godfrey family. The family has had roots in Kent with certainty since the burying of William Godfrey in Lydd in 1430. There are also records dating back to land owned by Godfrey le Falconer in the 12th century. Over the centuries many Godfreys had become mayors of the local area and the family has a coat of arms. The mysterious death of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, however, is not only one of the most intriguing mysteries in the history of the Godfrey family but also for the 17th century.
Edmund was the son of Thomas Godfrey’s (1585–1664) second marriage to Sarah Isles. Thomas and his father, also known as Thomas, had built a respected reputation for the family during the latter 16th and early 17th centuries. Edmund’s father Thomas had led a life much to be expected of a man with his social standing and endeavoured to provide the same opportunities to his children from both marriages. As such, Edmund boarded at Westminster School and then attended Oxford, finishing his studies abroad. In 1640 Edmund began training as a lawyer at Grays Inn, however, was unable to complete the course due to ill health. After some well-thought-out time in the countryside, away from the chaos of the civil war, Edmund relocated to London in 1650. By 1659 he had moved to the city of Westminster to start his own business as a wood and coal merchant. Through the next decade, Edmund made a name for himself in the parish of St Martin’s in the Field. He bought land and properties and received a knighthood for his dedication during the plague and the Great Fire, alongside becoming Justice of the Peace at Westminster.
It was on the morning of 12th October 1678 that Edmund would leave his home never to return. His disappearance was noticed almost immediately and the constable of the parish of Marleyborne, John Brown, conducted searches for the magistrate. He was found face down in a ditch at Primrose Hill on the evening of 17th October, reports state that he had been lanced by his own sword and showed signs of strangulation. The post mortem inquest recorded Edmund had been strangled, impaled days later, and left in a ditch. In all accounts concerning Edmund’s death, the weeks leading up to his disappearance are significant. Edmund had been visited by Titus Oates and Israel Tonge who had information regarding the Popish Plot. This was in fact a conspiracy, Oates claimed to have obtained secret plans from Catholic priests to murder King Charles II and convert the nation from Protestant to Roman Catholic, to stir and boost support in favour of anti-Catholicism. In all accounts of Edmund’s death, it is assumed that his brief and reluctant involvement in the Popish Plot is what led to his demise.
What sets Edmund’s murder apart from countless others during the 17th century is the political and religious connotations surrounding it and the frenzy which ensued in the years following. Titus Oates had succeeded in his plot to increase anti-Catholic tension through publicity surrounding Edmund’s murder and by accusing the Catholics of this terrible crime. As a result, many commemorative pieces were produced in the name of Edmund’s death, such as daggers, saluting Protestantism. Historians attempting to explain the murder of Edmund have often pointed to Oates as the culprit or accomplice to the murderer. Oates was eventually tried for perjury, in 1685, for falsifying the Popish Plot. Meanwhile, three working-class men, Robert Green, Henry Berry and Lawrence Hill were named by an associate of Oates as the murderers. These men were subsequently tried and hanged, Primrose Hill was temporarily coined Greenberry Hill after the accused men. It became apparent in the years following the trial that Green, Berry and Hill were in fact innocent and had been tried using fictitious evidence. Leaving Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey’s murder unsolved forevermore.
