The Hackwood Road Axe Murder happened on Monday, July 5, 1802. That night, George Wheeler, a post-boy, and Thomas Pollard, the under ostler at the Crown Inn, went into the Angel Inn in the Market Place where they saw a group of barge-builders who were enthusiastically drinking the proceeds of some money they had just received for building a boat on the canal for a Mr Poore. The group included William Davis and his wife, Elizabeth, who lived in Hackwood Road, and their lodger, a 26-year-old Irishman named John Wallis, who was also a barge-builder. Towards the end of the evening, when the drink was flowing freely, Wallis got into a fight with some of the 16th Dragoons who were in the bar.

When the fight was over, Wheeler and Pollard left the Angel to see if there was still time to get a drink at the Horse and Jockey in Hackwood Road. While they were standing outside hoping to be let in, Wallis and the Davises passed by. Wallis was very drunk and ranting that he wanted to go and murder somebody that night and William and Elizabeth were arguing loudly with each other.

As the pub was shut for the night and as curiosity got the better of them, the two lads decided to carry on up the road the short distance to Davis’s house which was near the turnpike gate. When they reached the house, they heard the furious noise of a quarrel going on inside. They stood by the window to enjoy the free entertainment and heard Davis shouting at his wife that if she liked that man better than him, she should not come into his house anymore.

While they were listening, John Wallis came out of the house and saw the two eavesdroppers. He dashed back into the house, shouting “give me the axe; give me the axe”. As soon as he got the axe, he charged towards them. Pollard managed to duck out of the way, but Wallis gave Wheeler a mighty blow with the axe over the eye which “cut his head open quite to the brain” and knocked him to the ground.

Pollard ran and hid behind a house and saw Wallis strike Wheeler two or three times as he lay on the ground, “so that the unfortunate man’s skull was cut and beat in a most shocking manner”.  When Wallis went back indoors Pollard came back to Wheeler, who could only repeat the words, “Lord have mercy on me”. Pollard lifted him up and managed to drag him the 100 yards back to the Horse and Jockey where he died soon after.

At the inquest held at the Town Hall the following day, Thomas Pollard told the coroner that he heard Elizabeth Davis shout “kill the dog; kill the dog”. As a result, the jury returned a verdict of Willful Murder against Elizabeth Davis as well as John Wallis. They were both sent to Winchester Jail to await their trial at the next county assizes.

They didn’t have to wait long. Their trial took place on July 28 at the Castle in Winchester. The jury found John Wallis guilty of the murder, but acquitted Elizabeth Davis as there was some doubt as to whether the dog she wanted killed was George Wheeler or her husband.

While passing sentence the judge remarked that this was the fifth time he had had to deal with men who came from Ireland who, when their passions were worked up, for the sake of revenge on somebody, made a dreadful oath that they would murder the first person that came their way. He said it was one of the divine precepts that “whosoever shall shed a man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed” and then gave the usual spiel about the need for Wallis to make his peace with God and prepare himself for the awful event. He ordered Wallis to be executed on Monday, August 2 and his body to be delivered to the surgeons for dissection.

The reports of the execution, which is almost certain to have taken place at Gallows Hill on Andover Road, Winchester near the Jolly Farmer pub, said Wallis behaved in a most penitent manner and admitted his guilt, which he said, “was occasioned through the heat of liquor, and his passions worked up by a previous quarrel with some soldiers”. His body was cut down and taken to the Hampshire County Hospital, which was then in Parchment Street, for the surgeons to practice on and demonstrate their techniques to their pupils.