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Author Topic: Ernest Holland (Dulwich)  (Read 78 times)

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John Treleven

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Ernest Holland (Dulwich)
« on: Fri 14 May 2021 22:26 »
Ernest Le Grand Holland (Dulwich)

14.02.1867 (New Brompton (Gillingham), Kent) - 01.04.1953 (Folkestone, Kent)

married Kate Eleanor Read in 1887 and they had one daughter

Living in Bermondsey 1871 and 1881, Camberwell 1901, Dulwich 1903, Camberwell 1911

Represented the Civil Service club, based at Chiswick and became Secretary of Middlesex F.A.
He was on the F.A. Amateur Cup committee by 1903 and was a linesman at the next three
F.A. Amateur Cup finals of 1904, 1905 and 1906

Holland refereed Netherlands 1, Belgium 2 in Rotterdam in 1907

He was left £1,000 (£125,000 now) by his aunt Camille Cecile Holland in 1903

She had been murdered in 1899 and her body remained hidden for four years
with her murderer Samuel Herbert Dougal executed at Chelmsford for the murder.

The Moat Farm Murder

ln 1903, Samuel Herbert Dougal, a serial womaniser, stood trial for the murder of Camille Cecile Holland, a quiet, moneyed spinster.
The case captured the public imagination and was extensively covered in the local and national press. The story starts in 1898.

ln 1898, Camille Holland was living in Elgin Crescent, London. She was, by and large, an independent woman. At the age of 56
she was still single and managed her own affairs, taking care of her stocks and shares which were valued at around £6,000 (£750,000)
 
ln the autumn of that year she made the acquaintance of Samuel Dougal. Samuel was 4 years her junior and had enjoyed a
successful career in the army, reaching the position of Chief Clerk in the Royal Engineers. His army career also provided
opportunities to see the world and he spent nine years in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Unfortunately, during his time in Nova Scotia, he lost both his first and second wives in quick succession. His first wife died
in 1885 after a bout of sudden illness. Two months after her death he remarried, only for his second wife to die three months into
their marriage. With what happened later one might now question both of those early deaths.

Samuel left the army in 1887, and from then on had a chequered personal life and career. He formed relationships with a number of
women and held a variety of jobs, none of which lasted for very long. ln 1895, whilst he was working in the office of the Commander
of the Forces in Dublin, he was found guilty of forgery and sentenced to 12 months hard labour. Two months into the sentence, he
tried to kill himself and he spent the remaining ten months of the sentence in an asylum.

ln January 1899, Samuel and Camille moved to Saffron Walden to take possession of their new home, Coldhams Farm near Clavering.
The property had been chosen by Samuel but had been paid for by Camille, who, despite Samuel's protestations, insisted that the
property remain in her name. Since the property required some attention before they could move in, Camille and Samuel lodged with
Mrs. Wisken in Market Row, Saffron Walden. lt is noteworthy that by this time, although Samuel and Camille were not married and
Camille continued to conduct her business affairs in her own name, they presented themselves to the world as "Mr. and Mrs. Dougal".

On 22nd April 1899 they moved into Coldhams Farm, which they renamed Moat Farm. On the 13th May they were joined by their newly
appointed maid, Florence Havies. Florence had barely set foot inside the house when she discovered that she was the subject of Samuel's
attentions. On the 14th May, Samuel made inappropriate advances to her in the kitchen and on the night of the 16th he tried to enter
her room. Florence resisted his advances on both occasions. ln the latter instance, she held her door shut and screamed to alert Camille.
Camille arrived on the scene, sent Samuel off to bed and she and Florence slept in the same room for the rest of that night and on the
following two nights.

On the night of the 19th May, Florence found herself alone in the house with Samuel. Earlier that evening, at 6.30p.m., Samuei and Camille
had gone out in the pony and trap. At 8.30p.m. Samuel returned and when Florence asked after Camille he told her that Camille had gone
to London and would return later that night. For the rest of the evening. Samuel was in and out of the house. He finally returned at 12.45a.m.
and informed Florence that Camille had not returned and that she had better go to bed.

When Florence came down to start her chores at 7a.m. the next morning, she was surprised to find Samuel already up, dressed and eating
breakfast. He told her that he had received a letter from Camille in which she said that she had gone on holiday. This was of little consequence
to Florence who had already arranged for her mother to collect her that morning and take her away from Moat Farm. Her mother arrived
promptly, Florence collected her wages and left.

Samuel was not on his own for long. He employed a new maid, Emma Burgess, and was joined by another "Mrs. Dougal" who was,
in fact, his third wife. Over the next 4 years, Samuel continued to live at the farm and enjoyed a number of liaisons with different
women in the village. He became part of the local community, attended church regularly and giving generously to local causes such
as the enlargement of the churchyard and the interior redecoration of the church.

How was it that Samuel, who had no visible means of support, could afford to be so generous? The answer came in March 1903,
when he was charged with forging and issuing a cheque for £28 15s. (£28.75) payable to J.Heath, dated 28th August 1902,
purporting to be drawn by Camille C. Holland at Clavering.

During the trial, which began in the Spring of 1903, the prosecution produced evidence that showed that Samuel had systematically
moved money from Camille's accounts into his own, sold her stocks and shares and even transferred the title of Moat Farm from
her name to his. ln his earlier forgery trial in 1895, Samuel's punishment had been 12 months hard labour, but this trial carried far
heavier consequences. lt rekindled interest in the whereabouts of Camille Cecile Holland and prompted a police investigation into
her disappearance.

On 19th March 1903, the police took possession of Moat Farm to see if they could find any clues about Camille's disappearance.
The officers involved in the case moved into the farmhouse, preparing their meals and making their beds for themselves.
Detective Sergeant Scott acted as chef.

The police were not the only ones who decamped to Moat Farm during the investigation. Camille's disappearance had captured
the public imagination and reporters from local and national newspapers as well as curious bystanders besieged the farm after the
body was discovered on Monday 27th April 1903. "'Throughout the week, people have flocked to the Moat Farm in crowds, the
majority of the visitors being ladies. Oranges and nuts were sold as at a village fair and the raucous voices of the vendors were
heard on every side. Souvenir postcards of the Moat House and of the grounds, showing many of the holes made by the police
and the awning which conceals the grave, commanded an enormous sale. A number of the sightseers brought cameras with them
in search of effective snapshots and a still larger contingent were relic hunters."

Camille's body was laid out in the conservatory at Moat Farm. Since she had been in the ground for four years, identification
was going to be difficult. However, vital clues on the body helped the process. Her former landlady, Mrs. Wiskin, and her nephew
Ernest Le Grand Holland were able to identify the garments and the jewellery on the body as those of Camille Holland.

Mr. Mold, Camille's shoemaker, also came forward and identified the shoes on the body, which bore his name, as those he had
made for Miss Holland. A few days later, the body was examined by Professor Pepper, an expert from the Home Office, and
Doctors Storrs and Sprague, divisional police surgeons. They discovered that Camille had been shot once in the head, at close
range. Professor Pepper's opinion was that the bullet must have caused immediate insensibility, which would have continued
until death.

On Monday 22nd June 1903, in Shire Hall, Chelmsford, it was indicted that Samuel Herbert Dougal, "on the 19th May 1899,
did feloniously wilfully, and of his malice aforethought, kill and murder Camille Cecile Holland at Clavering". In his opening speech,
Mr. Gill K.C., for the Crown, argued that on the evening of 19th May 1899, Samuel took Camille out for a ride in the pony and trap.
He then proceeded to shoot her in the head and buried her body in a prepared grave in the grounds of the farm. Mrs. Wiskin,
Florence Blackwell and many of the women who had had an association with Samuel or the farm over the past four years were
called to give evidence.

After the cases for both the prosecution and the defence had been heard, the jury retired to make their verdict. After an absence
of 56 minutes, they returned their guilty verdict. The judge donned his black cap and passed sentence, execution by hanging.
"it is my duty to pass upon you the sentence of the law, that you be taken from hence to the place from whence you came,
and from there to a place of execution, and that you there be hanged by the neck until you be dead, and that your body be
afterwards buried within the precinct of the prison in which you shall have been last confined after your conviction. And may
the Lord have mercy on your soul."

Samuel Herbert Dougal was executed at Chelmsford prison at 8a.m on Tuesday 14th July 1903. He was buried in the grounds of
Chelmsford prison and only his initials and a number on the wall nearby marked the grave of one of Essex's most notorious
murderers.

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