The case of the 'Parsee' killer

Book review of The Mystery of The Parsee Lawyer: Arthur Conan Doyle, George Edalji And The Case Of The Foreigner In The English Village

The lawyer son of possibly England’s first vicar of Indian origin, a string of mutilated horses and cattle in the village of Great Wyrley, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, are some of the prominent characters in this story that is equal parts the micro-history of one Indian family that embraced Christianity and went to live in England, a mystery that remains unsolved till date, and a sociological study of everyday racism in the late 19th-early 20th century Great Britain. Shrabani Basu, journalist and author, pens a fascinating story that has been lost in the mists of time.

Shapurji Edalji was the son of a moderately wealthy Parsi (or Parsee, as was the common spelling those days) trader in Bombay who was attracted to Christianity and converted when he was studying in college. Despite his father’s disapproval, young Shapurji was convinced that his salvation lay in his new religion and, soon, was noticed in church circles. He was invited to give a talk in England, and later became an assistant to a vicar. Later, he married the daughter of another vicar and became the vicar of the small parish of Great Wyrley, a village with only two occupations — coal mining and agriculture.

A brown vicar with a white wife was an uneasy fit in England of that era. Though he was a good and hard-working priest by all accounts, his parishioners did not know quite what to make of him or his family. When George Edalji, first born son of Shapurji, was still in school, the family started getting anonymous threat letters. The bumbling police officers who investigated the matter never managed to figure out who wrote the letters, though the maid was finally accused. But George himself came under suspicion primarily because of the colour of his skin and his general looks and demeanour.

Many years later, when George was practising as a lawyer, the wave of horse and cattle mutilations rocked the village of Greater Wyrley and the neighbouring villages. A number of anonymous letters also pointed at the involvement of the Edalji family in what had become known as the “Wyrley ripper” killings.

Despite scant evidence, the jury found George guilty and he was sentenced by a justice who had little understanding or knowledge of legal procedures.

When he was released three years later on parole, George wrote a letter to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who had already become acquainted with the case because of the sensation it had created as well as the amount of support George had received from lawyers and eminent personalities who were convinced of his innocence.

The Mystery of The Parsee Lawyer:  Arthur Conan Doyle, George Edalji And The Case Of The Foreigner In The English Village

Author: Shrabani Basu

Publisher:  Bloomsbury

Pages: 266; Price: Rs 699

Conan Doyle  —ACD – was quickly convinced of George’s innocence and set about proving it with great energy, using all his considerable resources and the methods of detection that his creation, Sherlock Holmes, had made famous.

That brought him into direct battle with Captain G A Anson, chief constable of the Straffordshire police, who was equally convinced of George’s guilt. The battle would end with neither party particularly happy. ACD did manage to get George an early pardon because of his vociferous advocacy, his long articles that were carried in every newspaper and his numerous letters to the home secretary.

Other prominent personalities, also convinced that a grave miscarriage of justice had taken place, created enough noise and managed to convince most people that George could not have been responsible for those attacks on horses and cattle. Among other things, since the attacks continued long after George had been locked up, it was obvious to most people that he could not have been behind them.

Unfortunately, despite enormous advocacy by very prominent people, George did not get any compensation for being wrongfully convicted and jailed. This was very different from the compensation white people received when they had been proved innocent after initially being put in jail. He did get to practice law once again thanks to his brother lawyers who fought to restore his privileges.

On the other hand, Captain Anson, who had taken an immense dislike to ACD, worked equally hard to prove the innocence of the family that the famous author had pointed to as being the most likely culprit. Anson would show far greater detective skills in proving ACD wrong than he did in investigating the original case.

Who was behind the attacks remains unsolved to this day, though Shrabani Basu’s research does throw up names who were better candidates than George ever was. It is not known whether the treatment to his son ever shook Shapurji’s faith in either Christianity or his adopted country. George and his sister are buried next to each other. She was among his biggest supporters. His younger brother, Horace, who disliked George and finally cut off relations with the family, plays a role too — not a very good one.

This is a fascinating story about an almost forgotten case that became a sensation for quite some time in Great Britain and Ms Basu’s retelling offers an interesting perspective of the judicial and policing systems at the end of the Victorian era.