The Lady with no hands
 

does anyone remember or have any information on:

Agnes Rhodes Wildman... she lived in the Barnfield area of Accrington:

This is the lady that had her hands cut off by her step-father ( John Whalley) 1923 at the time they lived on Victoria Street Accrington:

Her mother was called Maud:

thank you:

Re: The Lady with no hands
 

How awful. Why did he cut her hands off?:confused:

Re: The Lady with no hands
 

I remember my mum telling me about the incident, terrible thing.
I was told the girl was pushing her arms onto the underneath of a table to stem the bleeding.
That's all I know

Re: The Lady with no hands
 

Her step-father cut of the little girl's hands ( she was five at the time) the man had been falling out with the little girl's mother... he took the Agnes away from school and then in an act of total madness he cut of her hands , then tried to kill himself: the later he failed and got life in prision:

I am doing some research into the case... I am looking for stories and also if anyone's got any old pictures of victoria street Accrington that would show number 12:

Re: The Lady with no hands
 

I remember my dad telling me about this, many years ago. Dad was 15 when it happened. He said the child was found under the table, which agrees with what you said, Mancie.

Re: The Lady with no hands
 

pm sent magpie

Re: The Lady with no hands
 

Maud was a widow when she got hitched to John Whalley, her first husband, joseph wildman, died in scotland on munitions in november 1918. Their daughter Agnes rhodes wildman, was just a few months old at the time of her unfortunate fathers death - too young to miss or remember him, she was less than three years old when her mother tied the knot with her future step-father.

Re: The Lady with no hands
 

i'm not writing the whole story out but basically....



4 years later after rowing with his wife...knowing she intended leaving him, john whalley took agnes out of st marys school in woodnook, battered her teacher, took agnes home and chopped off her hands at the wrists...on arriving at victoria street pc Maudsley described the scene as 'an appalling spectacle' it was no exaggeration, there on the hearthrug, between the table and the fireplace, little agnes rhodes wildman rested on her knees and elbows. there were two pools of blood in front of her. she was fully conscious and tried, unsuccessfully, to get to her feet, it was then that two constables realised that both the childs hands had been completely severed at the wrists, they were lying under the table less than a yard away.

Re: The Lady with no hands
 

All I know Magpie is that she was living in the same residential home as my mum, 'Whinside' in Whalley Road. My mum died in 1995 and Agnes was still there. Unfortunately, Whinside has now reverted to a private residence, and no idea what happened to her.

Sure the ex-owners have further information for you .. just see them now and then and could probably get contact details, but don't like if you know what I mean.

Think the Observer ran an article on her a good few years ago when she was there.

Re: The Lady with no hands
 

in the kitchen they found john whalley unconcious with his shoulders on a gas boiler and his legs on the stepstone. He was bleeding from a gash in his throat and in his mouth was a flexible gas tube attatched to the pipe supplying the gas boiler

it was noted later that the gash in whalleys throat though five inches long was not very deep and somehow avoided the windpipe and any arteries, the sincerity of the suicide attempts is inevitably called into question by such circumstances. It is noticeable generally how all too many ruthless and efficient killers subsequently become inept and blundering when attempting suicide



agnes' mother was at work at the time all this happened

Re: The Lady with no hands
 

I remember my old fella telling me about this...he was about the same age as Agnes and his family lived on nearby Marsden Street at the time. He recalled that when he went dancing in the thirties, he would sometimes have a dance with her and she always wore gloves over her artificial hands.

Re: The Lady with no hands
 

on thursday 8th of november 1923 the magistrates finally heard the charges against john whalley at a special sitting...feloniously wounding sarah ann horbury (the teacher) at 12 victoria street accrington, by means of a coal shovel with intent therby to murder her and feloniously, unlawfully and wilfully causing grievous bodily harm, with intent to maim, to his stepdaughter Agnes Rhodes Wildman, aged 5 years, by severing both her hands with a razor.

widespread, countrywide interest in the case had been generated and nearly £5,000 has been subscribed to aid Agnes in the mayor's fund.

on saturday, 8th of december 1923, at the manchester assizes, john whalley pleaded guilty to both of the charges against him....



mr justice branson chose his words carefully and delivered them with deep feeling and emotion

the story of your offence is the most horrible to which i have ever listened. A cold, calculated, fiendish attempt to be avenged on your wife through this unfotunate little girl. I am afraid that no punishment that i can inflict upon you is adequate, There is a maximum i can give and i will, you will do penal servitude for life.

Re: The Lady with no hands
 

it was not, of course, the final chapter for little Agnes Rhodes Wildman. For the rest of her life she had to 'get by' on a day-to-day basis. She married and lived to a good age, finally residing in the Barnfiled area of the town. Local children knew her as 'the lady with no hands' though its unlikely any of them knew the true story behind her disability. Her sufferings and frustrations over the years can only be imagined but her indomitable courage, first to the for in those dark days of autumn 1923, shines like a beacon down through the years.

Re: The Lady with no hands
 

can i stop typing now please?

Re: The Lady with no hands
 

Cheers sent one back ...

to you to me to you to me :)