James Hackman (baptized 13 December 1752, hanged 19 April 1779), briefly Rector of Wiveton in Norfolk, was the murderer who killed Martha Ray, singer and mistress of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.

Early life

Baptized on 13 December 1752 at Gosport, Hampshire, Hackman was the son of William and Mary Hackman. His father had served in the Royal Navy as a lieutenant. Hackman was apprenticed to a mercer, and although according to some accounts he became a member of St John's College, Cambridge, no record of this can be traced at Cambridge.

Career

In 1772, Hackman was purchased a commission as an ensign in the 68th Regiment of Foot, and in 1776 was promoted lieutenant, but by early 1777 he had resigned from the army to become a clergyman. On 24 February 1779, Hackman was ordained a deacon of the Church of England and on 28 February a priest, and on 1 March 1779 was instituted as Rector of Wiveton, a place which he may never have visited.

Martha Ray

In about 1775, while he was a serving army officer, Hackman visited Lord Sandwich's house at Hinchingbrooke and met his host's mistress Martha Ray. She was "a lady of an elegant person, great sweetness of manners, and of a remarkable judgement and execution in vocal and instrumental music" who had lived with Lord Sandwich as his wife since the age of seventeen and had given birth to nine of his children.

Sandwich also had a wife, from whom he was separated, who was considered mad and who lived in an apartment at Windsor Castle. This was the same Lord Sandwich who is said to have called for a piece of beef between two pieces of bread, thus originating the word sandwich. He was a patron of the explorer Captain James Cook, who named the Sandwich Islands after him.

Hackman struck up a friendship with Martha Ray (who was several years older than he was) and was later reported to have become besotted with her. They may have become lovers and discussed marriage, but this is disputed. Although rich, Sandwich was usually in debt and offered Martha Ray no financial security. However, whatever was between Hackman and Martha Ray ended when he was posted to Ireland.

On 7 April 1779, a few weeks after his ordination as a priest of the Church of England, Hackman followed Martha Ray to Covent Garden, where she had gone to watch a performance of Isaac Bickerstaffe's comic opera Love in a Village.

Suspecting that Ray had a new lover, when Hackman saw her in the theatre with William Hanger, Lord Coleraine, he left, fetched two pistols, and waited in a nearby coffee house. As Ray came out of the theatre, Hackman put one pistol to her forehead and shot her dead. With the other he then tried to kill himself but made only a flesh wound. He then beat himself with both discharged pistols until he was arrested and taken, with Martha Ray's body, into a tavern in St James's Street. Two letters were found on Hackman, one addressed to his brother-in-law, Frederick Booth, and a love letter to Martha Ray: both later appeared in evidence at the murder trial.

When Lord Sandwich heard what had happened, he "wept exceedingly".

On 14 April 1779, Martha Ray was entombed inside the parish church of Elstree, Hertfordshire, but her body was later moved into the cemetery. On the instructions of Lord Sandwich, she was buried in the clothes she had been wearing when killed.

Trial

Hackman was quickly committed to the Tothill Fields Bridewell. As "James Hackman, Clerk", he was indicted for "the wilful murther of Martha Ray, spinster" on the inquisition of the coroner.

On 16 April 1779, just nine days after the event, Hackman was tried for murder at the Old Bailey. Despite having previously decided to plead guilty, in the event he pleaded not guilty, explaining that "the justice of my country ought to be satisfied by suffering my offence to be proved".

John McNamara, Esq., gave evidence that on the evening of 7 April, he believed at some time after eleven o'clock, he came out of the playhouse with Martha Ray, and having seen her "in some difficulties at the playhouse", offered his help in handing her to her carriage. She took his arm. As they came out of the passage into the Covent Garden playhouse and were two steps from the carriage, he heard the report of a pistol, while Miss Ray was still holding his right arm with her left hand. She fell instantly. He thought the pistol had been "fired out of wantonness" and that Miss Ray had fainted. He knelt to help her, but found blood on his hands, and got her into the Shakspeare tavern. He did not see Hackman at the time, but after he had been arrested, asked him what had possessed him, and he answered "that it was not a proper place to ask that question, or something to that effect... I asked him his name, and I understood from him that his name was Hackman; I think he pronounced his name with an H. I asked him if he knew anybody. He said, he knew a Mr. Booth, in Craven-street in the Strand, and desired he might be sent for. He desired to see the lady. I did not tell him she was dead; somebody else did. I objected to his seeing her at that time. I had her removed into another room. From the great quantity of blood I had about me I got sick, and was obliged to go home. I know no more about it."

Mary Anderson, a fruit seller, gave evidence that she was standing close by the carriage. She is recorded as saying:

"I was standing at the post. Just as the play broke up I saw two ladies and a gentleman coming out of the playhouse; a gentleman in black followed them. Lady Sandwich's coach was called. When the carriage came up, the gentleman handed the other lady into the carriage; the lady that was shot stood behind. Before the gentleman could come back to hand her into the carriage the gentleman in black came up, laid hold of her by the gown, and pulled out of his pocket two pistols; he shot the right hand pistol at her, and the other at himself. She fell with her hand so [describing it as being on her forehead] and died before she could be got to the first lamp; I believe she died immediately, for her head hung directly. At first I was frightened at the report of the pistol, and ran away. He fired another pistol, and dropped immediately. They fell feet to feet. He beat himself violently over the head with his pistols, and desired somebody would kill him".

Anderson said she had identified Hackman in Tothill Fields Bridewell the next day and she did so again in court, pointing to the prisoner.

Richard Blandy, a constable, gave evidence that he had been coming from Drury-Lane house and that as he came by the piazzas in Covent Garden he heard two pistol shots and then heard somebody say two people were killed. Approaching, he saw the surgeon had Hackman and a pistol in his hand. A Mr Mahon had given Blandy the pistol and asked him to take care of the prisoner and to take him to Mahon's house. The prisoner was bloody, wounded in the head, and very faint. When Blandy came to the corner by the Red Lion, the door was shut, and he was then asked to take the prisoner back to the Shakspeare tavern, where Mr Mahon was. Blandy searched the prisoner's pocket and found two letters, which he gave to Mr Campbell, master of the Shakspeare tavern. He could say nothing else about the letters.

James Mahon, an apothecary, gave evidence that he lived at the corner of Bow Street. Coming through the piazzas in Covent-Garden, he heard two pistols go off. Going back, he saw a gentleman lying on the ground, with a pistol in his left hand, beating himself violently and bleeding copiously. The prisoner was the gentleman. Mahon had taken the pistol away from him and given it to the constable, asking him to take the prisoner to his house for the wound to be dressed. He had seen nothing of the lady until two or three minutes later he saw her lying at the bar, with a mortal wound, and said he could not help her.

Dennis O'Bryan, a surgeon, gave evidence that he had examined Miss Ray's body at the Shakspeare tavern on the night of the murder. He found the wound to be mortal, could find no sign of life, and pronounced the woman dead. The wound was in the 'centra coronalis' (the crown of the head) and the ball had come out under the left ear.

Hackman gave evidence for himself. He admitted that he had killed Ray, but he claimed he had only meant to kill himself. He said:

"I stand here this day the most wretched of human beings, and confess myself criminal in a high degree; yet while I acknowledge with shame and repentance, that my determination against my own life was formal and complete, I protest, with that regard to truth which becomes my situation, that the will to destroy her who was ever dearer to me than life, was never mine till a momentary phrensy overcame me, and induced me to commit the deed I now deplore. The letter, which I meant for my brother-in-law after my decease, will have its due weight as to this point with good men. Before this dreadful act, I trust nothing will be found in the tenor of my life which the common charity of mankind will not excuse. I have no wish to avoid the punishment which the laws of my country appoint for my crime; but being already too unhappy to feel a punishment in death, or a satisfaction in life, I submit myself with penitence and patience to the disposal and judgement of Almighty God, and to the consequences of this enquiry into my conduct and intention".

Hackman's defence counsel submitted to the court that Hackman was insane and that the killing of Martha Ray was unpremeditated, as shown by the letter to her found on him.

William Halliburton was sworn and produced the other letter found in the prisoner's pocket, which he said he had had from Booth. Mahon identified it as a letter taken from the prisoner, which he said Booth had opened and read in his presence. The letter, addressed to "Frederick Booth, Esq. Craven street, in the Strand", was read into the record:

James Hackman

Soldier, Clergyman, Murderer
Born 1752 Died 1779

"there is no act so contrary to reason that men will not commit when under dominion of their passions"

James Hackman was the son of a former naval lieutenant named William Hackman, born most probably towards the end of the year 1752 as he was baptised on the 13th December at the Holy Trinity Church in Gosport, Hampshire. He was originally apprenticed to a mercer, but as this did not suit him, his parents bought him an ensign's commission in the 68th Regiment of Foot in 1772. In 1776 he was promoted to lieutenant but resigned his commission later that year in order to enter the church. Ordained deacon on the 24th February 1779, and priest four days later, he was appointed to the living of Wivetton in Norfolk on the 1st March, although it seems likely that he never set foot in Wiverton.

The reason for this sudden change in career appears to be related to the visit that James had paid in 1775 to the home of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich at Hinchingbrooke as a member of a recruiting party. There he first met Martha Ray, the Earl's long standing mistress, an acquaintance which James made every effort to renew thereafter. Although the exact nature of the relationship between Martha and James is unclear, it is certain that James was infatuated with her and had proposed marriage. Martha certainly appears to have rejected his proposal of marriage, although whether this was because of her own feelings or simply because she felt unable to free herself from the Earl of Sandwich's clutches is a matter of conjecture.

In any event James became the rejected lover and took to following Martha Ray around London. On the 7th April 1779 he followed her to the Covent Garden Theatre where, together with her friend the Italian singer Caterina Galli, she had gone to see a performance of Love in a Village. James was also one of the audience but at some point during the evening he left the theatre and went home, collected two pistols, and returned to wait at the nearby Bedford Coffee House.

At about a quarter past eleven that evening, Martha Ray and Caterina Galli left the theatre and found a large crowd gathered in front of the theatre. An Irish lawyer by the name of John Macnamara offered to escort them to their carriage, and then led them through the crowd. Caterina Galli was the first to enter and Martha had one foot on the carriage step when James Hackman appeared. According to Horace Walpole, it was at that moment that James "came round behind, pulled her by the gown, and on her turning round, clapped the pistol to her forehead and shot her through the head. With another pistol he then attempted to shoot himself, but the ball grazing his brow, he tried to dash out his own brains with the pistol, and is more wounded by those blows than by the ball." James then threw himself to the ground and began "beating himself about the head" with the butts of his pistols whilst crying, "Oo! kill me!...for God's sake kill me!"

John Macnamara carried Martha Ray's body to the Shakespeare Tavern nearby whilst James Hackman was arrested by a passing constable and taken into custody. His subsequent trial at the Old Bailey on the 16th April 1779 naturally drew a large crowd and a fee of one guinea was charged for admission to the public gallery. James Boswell echoed the feelings of many when he described the affair as "one of the most remarkable that has ever occurred in the history of human nature".

Despite the prima facie strength of the case against him, James Hackman pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder, his defence being one of temporary insanity. James claimed that he had only intended to commit suicide. As he explained to the court in a speech (quite possibly written for him by James Boswell);

I stand here this day the most wretched of human beings, and confess myself criminal in a high degree; yet while I acknowledge with shame and repentance, that my determination against my own life was formal and complete, I protest, with that regard to truth which becomes my situation, that the will to destroy her who was ever dearer to me than life, was never mine till a momentary phrensy overcame me, and induced me to commit the deed I now deplore.

The judge, Mr Justice Blackstone was not impressed and in his summimg up ruled that murder did not require "a long form of deliberation" and argued that the letter found in James' pocket addressed to his brother-in-law Frederick showed "a coolness and deliberation which no ways accorded with the ideas of insanity".

The jury took the hint and James Hackman was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. He was hanged at Tyburn on the 19th April 1779 where it is said that he "behaved with great fortitude; no appearances of fear were to be perceived, but very evident signs of contrition and repentance". His body was afterwards taken to Surgeons' Hall for public dissection in accordance with the Murder Act 1752. One Henry Angelo who viewed the dissection later wrote that the experience had put him off pork chops for life.

"Illicit love now reigns triumphant"

The press have always liked a good murder, and the murder of Martha Ray was a particularly juicy murder, with the victim being the mistress of such an illustrious peer as the 4th Earl of Sandwich, a senior figure in the government of George III.

The murder was of course a very public fair, being carried out before the eyes of a crowd of eyewitnesses and within hours the first newspaper accounts appeared and the story remained on the front pages long after James Hackman met his end. The initial press accounts where largely sympathetic to all three of the main actors as the press relished the story itself without wishing to draw any moral lessons. However James Hackman had his supporters the aforementioned James Boswell among them, who viewed him as a victim of aristocratic corruption. James Hackman's lawyer Mannaseh Dawes, published his own account of the case under the title Case and Memoirs of the late Rev. Mr. James Hackman. He blamed Martha Ray for leading his ex-client on, and the Earl of Sandwich for participating in an illicit and immoral affair which only served to corrupt the morals of the public in general and his former client specifically.

Less than a year after James Hackman's execution a journalist by the name of Herbert Croft published Love and Madness: A Story Too True, which claimed to reproduce the letters that had passed between James and Martha Ray. James Hackman was portrayed as a romantic hero and the work became an immediate bestseller. But despite being hugely influential in defining what the public believed to be the truth of the affair, the work was a complete fake and entirely a work of fiction. Although now categorised as a novel, the 'evidence' was used as a stick to beat the Earl of Sandwich by his political opponents; the London Evening Post proclaimed him as the "villest of men".

During the 19th century the story was revived as an exemplar of the debauchery, extravagance and sheer wickedness of the Georgian Age. To the Victorians James was a killer, Martha Ray was a whore and John Montagu was a moral reprobate and the retelling of the tale served the purpose of emphasising the 'moral progress' that had been made since those dark days. At the end of the 19th century Gilbert Burgess published his The Love Letters of Mr. H and Miss R 1775-1779 which was nothing more than an edited version of Herbert Croft's work. Despite being no less fictional than the original, it was cited as a factual source by a number of late twentieth century female authors eager to rescue the life of Martha Ray from the bounds of patriarchy and who constructed a version of the tale to suit their own particular agenda.

Thus the tale of the unfortunate love triangle between James Hackman, Martha Ray and the 4th Earl of Sandwich has continued to fascinate and has been re-interpreted by succeeding generations to suit the needs of the age.

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Martha Ray (1742 – 7 April 1779) was a British singer of the Georgian era. Her father was a corsetmaker and her mother was a servant in a noble household. Good-looking, intelligent, and a talented singer, she came to the attention of many of her father's patrons. She is best known for her affair with John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. She lived with him as his mistress from the age of seventeen, while his wife was suffering from mental illness. She gave birth to five children, one of whom was Basil Montagu. During this time, she conducted a successful singing career, for which she became well-known, as well as completed her education with Lord Sandwich's support.

Sandwich set Ray up in a residence in Westminster, and gave her a generous allowance, allowing her a place to stay during periods in which she did not wish to remain at his home. In public, although Sandwich was married, the two acted as husband and wife. During this period, Ray was introduced to a soldier, James Hackman, by Sandwich. Hackman became a frequent visitor, and is thought to have proposed marriage to Ray on several instances, but she declined each time. Also by this time, Sandwich was deeply in debt. It is believed that while Sandwich was financially generous to Ray, he did not offer her any longterm financial security, which may have been what led Ray into tolerating Hackman's advances.

In 1779, Hackman left the British Army to join the church. At some point, believed to have been around 1778, Ray and Hackman had become involved romantically, but this affair was short-lived, by most reports due to her believing he lacked the financial means and social status to support her. However, Hackman was completely infatuated with Ray, becoming increasingly jealous, and continued to pursue her.

On 7 April 1779, in the company of a female attendant, Ray left her home to attend an engagement. She had been approached by Hackman earlier that evening, but when she declined to tell him where she was going he followed her to the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, where he murdered her. Hackman believed that she had taken another lover, William Hanger, Baron Coleraine, whom Hackman witnessed her meeting at Covent Garden. Whether she and Coleraine were involved in an affair has never been established beyond some doubt. Sandwich was devastated by her death. Hackman attempted to shoot himself to death following his murder of her, but only wounded himself, and was arrested. Two days after her 14 April burial, Hackman was sentenced to hang, and the sentence was carried out on 19 April in front of a large crowd in Tyburn, London.