Richard Soper, a suspect in the death of Mary Leigh 1850

In January 1850 the Overton Parish church was broken into and the vault of the Leigh family was entered.

Three lids were taken off the coffins, one was a Miss Leigh and the body exposed (the vault was 8ft by 5ft)

Richard Soper was imprisoned for 2 days at Kingsclere, concerning very strange reports about the death of Miss Mary Ann Ruth Leigh.

After spending 2 days in prison he was acquitted for want of sufficient evidence.

The public opinion was that she had been poisoned. Miss Leigh died age 26, on the 16th January, 5 days before the vault was opened. She was said to be the intended wife of Richard Soper.

From a Rootsweb.com message where Chris Hill said 'This piece came from a very old local paper I once read: & possibly in the Basingstoke Gazette source

So who could this Richard be?
Presumably he was aged around 24-30, so born around say 1820 to 1826,
There was a Richard born In 1821 in Padworth, Berks, to Richard & Sarah Soper.
A Richard & Sarah, had five children baptised in Kingsclere between 1832-39, just possibly this is the same couple as above, if not, it is quite possible their first son was also called Richard.
Kingsclere is about 7m North of Overton, Padworth about 7m NE of Kingsclere.

But there is no Miss Leigh d.vis in bmd registers; or under any surname in Hants Jan>Mar

If you don't recycle your newspapers & have this 1850 one at the bottom of the pile, or you can assist in this murder inquiry, please drop me a line. (All information treated with the strictest confidence. Witness protection scheme, can be offered)

Return to Hampshire Soper's