🩸 The Woman in the Red Hat: The Unsolved Murder of Margery Wren
The Last Afternoon
On Saturday, 20 September 1930, the small seaside town of Ramsgate, Kent, was going about an ordinary Saturday afternoon.
At No. 2 Church Road, elderly shopkeeper Margery Wren was tending her little confectionery and general shop.
Margery had lived a quiet life. She had previously worked as a servant in London before eventually settling in Ramsgate with her sister, Mary Jane. Together they ran the small shop, known locally as a place where children could buy sweets and small groceries.
That afternoon, there was nothing to suggest that the quiet little shop was about to become the scene of an unsolved murder.
A coal dealer, Reuben Beer, reportedly delivered half a hundredweight of coal to the shop and was paid one shilling and twopence.
At approximately 5:15 p.m., children saw Margery outside, sweeping leaves.
Then another visitor appeared.
A well-dressed woman wearing a red hat was reportedly seen calling at the shop. She left a perambulator outside.
Nobody could have known how important that apparently ordinary visit might later become.
Source: The Isle of Thanet News; later accounts of the case
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| Ramsgate / Church Road |
The Child Who Found Her
Shortly after 6 p.m., a young girl named Ellen Marvell arrived at No. 2 Church Road.
She had been sent to buy blancmange powder.
The shop was normally open, so Ellen was surprised to find the door locked.
She knocked.
Eventually, Margery appeared.
But something was terribly wrong.
The elderly woman was badly injured and bleeding from the head.
Ellen ran home and told her father.
When he went to the shop, he found Margery collapsed. Medical and police assistance was summoned.
At first, Margery reportedly said that she had fallen and injured herself.
But her doctor, Richard Archibald, did not believe the injuries were consistent with an ordinary fall.
There were multiple injuries to her head.
And inside the shop investigators found something disturbing:
a bloodstained pair of fire tongs.
Source: The Isle of Thanet News; contemporary newspaper reporting
What Happened Inside the Shop?
According to later accounts of the investigation, Margery eventually told Dr Archibald that she had been attacked.
The injuries indicated that this was not simply an accident.
Margery had suffered repeated blows to the head, and later medical evidence also indicated that someone had attempted to strangle her.
She was taken to Ramsgate Hospital.
She would survive for approximately five days.
But during those five days, the investigation became increasingly complicated.
The dying woman appeared to know something about what had happened.
Yet her statements were often contradictory.
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| 1930s English Tuck Shop |
The Dying Woman's Confusing Clues
Margery sometimes spoke as though there had been two attackers.
At other times, she reportedly referred to three or even four.
Several names entered the investigation.
One was Albert Williams.
Another was:
"Hamlyn of No. 19."
This appeared to correspond with Arthur Hamlyn, a butcher's assistant living at No. 19 Church Road.
Investigators examined Hamlyn, but his movements were accounted for and he was not charged.
Then came the most intriguing name of all.
Hope.
Margery reportedly said:
"Hope did it!"
She also reportedly referred to "Hope of Dene Road."
Those words would become one of the most mysterious pieces of evidence in the case.
Source: The Isle of Thanet News; later accounts of the police investigation
Scotland Yard Enters the Case
The case soon became serious enough for the local police to seek assistance from Scotland Yard.
Ramsgate Chief Constable S. F. Butler contacted Scotland Yard, and Chief Inspector Walter Hambrook was sent to investigate.
Hambrook arrived on 24 September 1930.
But by then Margery had slipped into a coma and could no longer be questioned by him personally.
The contemporary press confirms that Hambrook was actively investigating the case.
On 29 September 1930, The Scotsman published a report headed:
"Ramsgate Murder — Man Interviewed by Police"
The report described the investigation and a lengthy police interview with a man.
That contemporary report is particularly valuable because it records the investigation while it was still unfolding, rather than relying on stories written decades later.
Source: The Scotsman, 29 September 1930
The Man Called Hope
One of the most interesting figures connected with the later investigation was Charles Ernest Hope, a young man living at No. 88 Church Road.
According to later accounts based on police-file material, Hope had a criminal background and had previously been involved in theft.
He was in Ramsgate around the time of the murder.
Later accounts state that blood was found on some of his clothing and his kit bag. Police reportedly questioned his explanation for the blood and found inconsistencies in parts of his account.
These circumstances make Hope an important figure when examining the surviving evidence.
But there is an essential distinction.
Hope was never charged with Margery Wren's murder.
Therefore, we cannot responsibly say that Charles Ernest Hope was the murderer.
At most, the surviving material shows that he was investigated in connection with the case.
And because some of the details about Hope come from later accounts of the police file rather than an openly available complete original file, those details should be treated with appropriate caution.
Source: Ripperologist; The Isle of Thanet News; later accounts of the police file
The Woman in the Red Hat
Then there was the mysterious visitor.
A woman wearing a red hat had reportedly visited Margery's shop shortly before the attack.
She had apparently left a perambulator outside.
Who was she?
Was she simply another customer?
Had she witnessed something?
Did she leave before the attack?
Or was her visit completely unrelated?
We don't know.
Police appealed for information, but the woman was never conclusively identified.
There is no evidence proving that she participated in the murder.
Her importance comes from the possibility that she may have been one of the last people to visit the shop before Margery was found injured.
Source: The Isle of Thanet News; later accounts of the investigation
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| The Woman in the Red Hat Reconstruction / Illustration |
The 1930 Newspapers Follow the Mystery
The contemporary newspapers give us something particularly valuable: a record of the investigation as it actually happened.
On 3 October 1930, the Sheffield Daily Telegraph reported that police were investigating Margery's financial circumstances and that detectives had taken statements from people in several locations, including London, Ramsgate, Broadstairs, Dover, Deal and Canterbury.
This is important because it demonstrates the investigation extended beyond the immediate crime scene.
Police were following multiple lines of inquiry.
Source: Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 3 October 1930
On 14 October, the Birmingham Daily Gazette carried a report under the headline:
"TUCKSHOP MURDER"
The case was still being followed by newspapers almost a month after Margery's death.
Source: Birmingham Daily Gazette, 14 October 1930
Then came the final stage.
On 25 October 1930, the Dundee Courier reported the resumed inquest under the headline:
"DEAD WOMAN'S SECRET"
The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against a person or persons unknown.
Source: Dundee Courier, 25 October 1930
That contemporary newspaper record is perhaps the simplest summary of the entire mystery:
**Margery Wren had been murdered.
But nobody could identify her killer.**
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| AI-generated reconstruction inspired by contemporary newspaper reports of the Margery Wren murder in 1930. |
The Inquest
The inquest opened on 26 September 1930.
It continued for several weeks, finally concluding on 24 October.
Medical evidence was given by Sir Bernard Spilsbury and Dr Gerard Roche Lynch.
The medical evidence indicated that Margery had suffered a violent attack, including severe blows to the head and an attempt at strangulation.
Witnesses also described Margery's confused statements during her final days.
The investigation had produced numerous leads, but none could establish the identity of the killer.
The jury eventually returned a verdict of:
Wilful murder by a person or persons unknown.
Nobody was charged.
Source: The Isle of Thanet News; Dundee Courier, 25 October 1930
Was Money the Motive?
Another mystery surrounded Margery's finances.
Some accounts said she had claimed to possess valuable property or money.
Other evidence suggested she lived modestly.
This produced speculation that robbery might have been the motive.
Later stories also mentioned a supposedly important black bag containing money or valuables.
But this is where we need to separate evidence from later storytelling.
There is no solid evidence establishing that Margery was murdered because she possessed a hidden fortune.
The financial angle was investigated, but it never produced a proven motive.
Source: Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 3 October 1930; The Isle of Thanet News
FACTS
The strongest evidence allows us to establish that:
- Margery Wren was an elderly shopkeeper at 2 Church Road, Ramsgate.
- She was attacked on 20 September 1930.
- She suffered severe head injuries.
- Medical evidence indicated an attempt at strangulation.
- Bloodstained fire tongs were associated with the attack.
- She died from her injuries on 25 September 1930.
- Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Walter Hambrook became involved.
- Margery made confusing statements before her death, including references to Hope, Albert Williams and "Hamlyn of No. 19."
- A woman wearing a red hat was reportedly seen visiting the shop and was never identified.
- Police investigated people and circumstances across several locations.
- The inquest continued until 24 October 1930.
- The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder by a person or persons unknown.
- Nobody was ever charged with the murder.
Sources: The Scotsman; Sheffield Daily Telegraph; Birmingham Daily Gazette; Dundee Courier; The Isle of Thanet News
RUMORS & THEORIES
Over the years, the case accumulated increasingly dramatic stories.
Some later accounts claimed that the Wren sisters had once worked for a wealthy London household and had secretly cared for an illegitimate child.
Other stories connected them to a wealthy admiral.
Another version attempted to connect the family to the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren.
The most sensational story claimed that Margery herself had once had an illegitimate son who eventually returned and murdered her.
These stories are not established facts.
There is no convincing documentary evidence proving these sensational family stories.
Likewise, there is no proof that the woman in the red hat was involved.
There is no proof that Charles Ernest Hope killed Margery.
And there is no proof that a hidden fortune was the motive.
These possibilities belong to the realm of theory, not established history.
Sources: The Isle of Thanet News; Ripperologist; later newspaper accounts
What the Evidence Cannot Tell Us
This is what makes the Margery Wren case so frustrating.
We don't know exactly who entered the shop.
We don't know what happened during the crucial period between Margery being seen outside and Ellen Marvell discovering her injured.
We don't know who the woman in the red hat was.
We don't know whether Margery's references to "Hope" identified her attacker.
We don't know whether there was one attacker or several.
And we don't know the true motive.
Perhaps Margery knew exactly who attacked her.
Perhaps her injuries and declining condition made her statements too confused to provide a reliable identification.
Or perhaps the answer lies in something investigators in 1930 never discovered.
The Unsolved Ending
By the end of October 1930, the investigation had produced police interviews, witness testimony, medical evidence and weeks of inquest proceedings.
But it had not produced a killer.
The jury's conclusion was devastatingly simple:
Murder by a person or persons unknown.
More than ninety years later, the questions remain.
Who was the woman in the red hat?
Who was Margery referring to when she said "Hope did it!"?
Why were her statements so contradictory?
Was robbery really the motive?
And most importantly—
Who entered that little shop on Church Road and left Margery Wren dying?
We don't know.
And that is the uncomfortable truth of the case.
History sometimes gives us the crime scene, the witnesses, the newspapers, the police investigation and even the dying words of the victim.
Yet somehow, the one thing we want most—
the name of the killer—
can still disappear into the past.
The past has left us clues.
It never left us the answer.
Her Final Words
As Margery Wren’s condition deteriorated, police and officials tried to obtain a statement identifying the person who had attacked her. According to the later account published by Kathy Bailes in The Isle of Thanet News, when a magistrate came to take her dying deposition, Margery refused to make a formal statement.
She reportedly said:
“I do not wish him to suffer. He must bear his sins. I do not wish to make a statement.”
The local vicar also tried to persuade her to reveal the attacker’s identity, but she still refused. After he left, she reportedly remarked:
“I did not tell him anything, see.”
These statements are significant, but they do not give us a certain identification of the killer. Margery had already given contradictory accounts of the attack and named several different people. Whether she knew the identity of her attacker and deliberately protected him, or whether her severe injuries affected her memory and judgment, remains unknown.
Source reference for the statements:
Kathy Bailes, “A Penny Dreadful tale: The 1930 murder of Ramsgate sweet shop owner Margery Wren,” The Isle of Thanet News, 24 December 2017.
Sources
- British Newspaper Archive
- The Scotsman, 29 September 1930
- Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 3 October 1930
- Birmingham Daily Gazette, 14 October 1930
- Dundee Courier, 25 October 1930
- Sunday Express, 28 September 1930
- The Isle of Thanet News — Kathy Bailes
- Ripperologist
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