The Tragic Tale Of Polly Button

1832 was a Leap Year towards the end of the reign of King William IV.

Charles Darwin reached South America for the first time.

The Reform Act was passed in British Parliament.

A cholera outbreak killed 3000 people in London.

Author Lewis Carrol was born.

Napoleon Bonaparte died.

Mary Green (also known as Polly Button), from Nuneaton in Warwickshire, was murdered by John Danks & inspired the nursery rhyme in the image.

Mary, who we shall refer to as Polly, was born in 1792 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, a town known for its silk ribbon weaving industry. At the time, ribbons were all the rage in fashion and were also used in home decoration so Nuneaton saw its fortunes prosper and for a while times were good.

Polly most likely worked as a ribbon weaver, some say that she also had very fine button working skills, and so became to be known as Polly Button.

Between around 1815 and the 1830s, industry in the town declined. The import of cheap silk products from abroad became legal, and Nuneaton suffered catastrophically as a result. Local people were plunged into poverty & destitution. In 1829 there was a riot by workers in the town, frustrated to the point of violence by the circumstances they found themselves in.

The government of the day commissioned a report into the disturbing plight of workers in the region, which found that former weavers were suffering hideously - disease, lack of sanitation, poor housing, drunkenness & violence, with many women forced into prostitution. Life was far from idyllic.

It was during this period of unspeakable poverty and violence that Polly gave birth to 5 children, each of them by a different father. Unable to work by this stage, with so many children to care for, Polly would have been dependent on income from the “Overseers for the Poor'' who would have collected a form of maintenance from her children's fathers as per the Poor Law of 1733. Like many other poor citizens of the town, Polly lived in Twitchell Yard - one of several squalid “alleyway courts” to be found in the town that weren't demolished until the 1930s.

Hailing from a nearby village, labourer Danks lived near Polly, and the two had embarked upon a clandestine relationship, despite John being married.

The pair continued their tumultuous relationship for a lengthy period. Inevitably it had come to the attention of Danks’ wife Jane. There was enormous bitterness between Polly and Mrs Danks, which was compounded further by another pregnancy for Polly & John Danks in late 1831.

In those days, pregnancy outside of wedlock was frowned upon, and Danks was the subject of a “Bastardy before Birth” order. This order would require the father of the child to pay 1 shilling and sixpence a week, which the Parish would then pay to the mother as a form of maintenance. Danks was not providing for Jane, and reliant on Polly not reporting him to the Overseers. With another child on the way, Danks was at risk of arrest and transportation. This latest order proved to be the final straw, and what finally led to poor Pollys gruesome murder just a few days later.

Sunday 18th February 1832

Leaving her children at home, Polly went with John Danks, at his request, to a barn on the outskirts of the town that February evening at around half past seven. They often met there, so it is unlikely that Polly would have been worried about going to the barn with Danks.

John Danks went with the intention of pleading with Polly not to report him for non-payment of the bastardy order. An argument ensued however and Danks viciously attacked the heavily pregnant Polly in a murderous rage.

In court records of his confession, he is described as having struck her in the face, then grabbing her long black hair, pulling her head back and attempting to cut her jugular with his knife. He failed on his first attempt, as evidenced by the defensive wounds later found on her hands. Danks blade found its mark on his second attempt. After having nearly severed her head he discarded her body as though she were a rag doll and fled the scene, throwing the murder weapon away as he did so.

With her throat gravely cut and her injuries fatal, Polly - ever the fighter, though heavily pregnant and bleeding out, had managed to crawl a short distance towards home. Despite her valiant attempts to get help, Polly, alone and cold, died from her injuries under the February night sky. It wasn’t until the next morning that her bloody, broken body was found in the road by a local man, Mr Beasley.

John Danks almost immediately became the prime suspect, and confessed his crime to a local clergyman. This led to his subsequent arrest by the Parish Constable.

30th March 1832

John Danks trial took place at Warwick Crown Court. He confessed to the murder and was convicted.

Pollys eldest daughter Elizabeth gave evidence at the trial. She had been talking in the alleyway and saw her mother leave with Danks on the evening of her murder. Little did Elizabeth know at the time that she would never see her mother alive again.

Joseph Haddon arrested Danks. He was the very first parish constable for Nuneaton, and managed to obtain forensic evidence against John Danks in the form of bloodstained clothing found at his home.

A local newspaper published this account:

"Murderer given bread and cheese as he waited for witnesses

The prisoner Danks was brought into the room ironed, and placed before the coroner, for the purpose of having the evidence read over to him. He is a man of about five feet four inches in height, between 40 and 50 years of age, by trade a carpenter, and by no means of a forbidding countenance, nor was there anything in his appearance indicative of a mind capable of committing the crime with which he stood charged. He listened with particular attention to the evidence, and although an illiterate man, displayed much tact in interrogating some of the witnesses. He neither denied nor acknowledged the offence; and throughout the whole, maintained a more than ordinary degree of nerve and self-possession. At his request, two persons were sent for as witnesses to him, and during the absence of the messenger he was asked by Mr Haddin, if he wished any refreshment, to which he replied that he should like a little bread and cheese; with this and a glass of ale he was supplied. He ate with avidity, and on taking up the ale glass, he drank the healths of the persons present.

"The persons whom he sent for being examined, the room was ordered to be cleared, and the Jury, after a short consultation, returned the following verdict - “That the deceased, Mary Green, was wilfully murdered, and that John Danks is the person who murdered her.” The prisoner was now taken to the Guard House, followed by an immense crowd, and in going along was assailed with groans and hisses. There being no evidence against his wife, she was ordered to be set at liberty; previous to which she seemed as if in a state of derangement, sometimes crying, and at other rolling her eyes about with a wild and vacant stare at those around her."

John Danks was hanged at Warwick gaol on Monday 2nd April 1832. A public execution, many people would have travelled to witness the hanging, a large number are known to have travelled from Nuneaton, a considerable distance.

After his hanging, his body was taken to Birmingham Medical School where his brain was dissected as part of a study into the brains of criminals. At the time, there was a widely held belief that a dissected body would prevent the soul from entering either Heaven or Hell.

The Ghosts of Polly & John

If one is to believe in the possibility of ghosts, it is to accept that there is a part of us that sometimes lingers after death. Why might that be? Perhaps because of unfinished business, a wrong that needs righting, or a reluctance to leave an old life behind. I imagine Polly was a larger than life character. She would have given her all for her children, loving them fiercely. Maybe love like that persists beyond death and takes on an energy of its own.

Polly had been in many relationships with men, which resulted in her pregnancies. No doubt she had feelings for these men. Imagine the anger and frustration each time she realised that she was being abandoned to bring up another child on her own. Even after her death, her reputation was called into question during the murder trial. I don't think she would have stood for that somehow.

There have been multiple reports over the years of ghostly sightings by local residents.

The house where Polly lived was apparently haunted. It remained standing until World War II when it was demolished.

On a winters evening, just before the light fades, witnesses have reported that Polly & John can be seen hand in hand, walking across Weddington Fields.

During the month of November, the ghost of John Danks haunts the residents of Church Lane, where Polly & Joe once roamed.

Polly herself, haunts what was once the path to the barn where she met her demise. Perhaps to watch over others at risk of a similar fate.

Additional Information

As late as the 19th century, local maps still showed the barn where the murder took place as “Polly Buttons Barn”

Pollys murder was one of the first for which detailed forensic evidence was produced at trial. The prosecutor later submitted several articles to scientific and medical journals, which led to the case being included in several academic books on the subject of Forensics.

The book “The Undoing of Polly Button” (link below) offers a highly detailed account of the life & muder of Polly. There have also been guided walking tours and talks, as well as an extensive project to trace Polly's descendants.

Around 1000 living descendants of Polly have been traced to date.

The Mysterious Stone

The “Polly Button Stone” formed part of the building in which Polly lived. The stone dated back to medieval times, as it was a common practice to reuse building materials.

The stone pictures two mysterious carved faces, and may have been from a long since ruined priory. After the murder, a myth started to grow that the eery looking effigies were actually Polly and Danks.

References

The Undoing of Polly Button

https://www.pollybutton.com

The book “The Undoing of Polly Button” can be purchased here:

https://www.pollybutton.com/product/the-undoing-of-polly-button/

Part of the proceeds from the book benefit domestic violence charities.

Nuneaton Memories

https://nuneatonmemories.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/the-murder-of-polly-button/

Weddington Castle

http://www.weddingtoncastle.co.uk/polly-button.html

Jonathan Moss, taken from “In & Around Haunted Nuneaton” © 2011

http://www.weddingtoncastle.co.uk/uploads/1/9/5/1/19515001/ill_fated_polly_button.pdf

Coventry Herald, 24 February 1832

http://www.weddingtoncastle.co.uk/uploads/1/9/5/1/19515001/cov_herald_24_feb_1832.pdf

The Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Local Family History Group

http://www.nuneatonhistory.com

My Ancestor Was Murdered By Her Lover - Who Do You Think You Are Magazine

https://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/real-stories/my-ancestor-was-murdered-by-her-lover/

Bastardy & Baby Farming in Victorian England - Dorothy L Haller

“Prior to the 19th century, the Poor Law of 1733 stipulated that the putative father was responsible for the maintenance of his illegitimate child. If he failed to support the child, the mother could have him arrested on a justice's warrant and put in prison until he agreed to do so. Local authorities issued public funds to maintain the mother and her child until the father could do so. Those public funds were to be reimbursed by the putative father, though this rarely happened. In an attempt to stem the rising costs of poor relief, the local authorities attempted to reduce their liability for illegitimate children by forcing the fathers to marry the mothers.”

http://people.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1989-0/haller.htm

https://curiosity.lib.harvard.edu/crime-broadsides/catalog/46-990098002650203941

Date of imprint from date of execution: April 2, 1832 --cf. Capital punishment in the 18th and 19th centuries. (http://uk.geocities.com/[email protected]/index.html, 1 June 2007)

Harvard Law School Library, Harvard University