In June 1925, the local and national press carried a tragic story, ‘Family Wiped Out’.
Kentish-born couple John William Miskin and Alice Annie Pemberton were married at Willesden Parish Church in 1907, when they were living at 240 Willesden High Road with Alice’s sister Jane and her husband Walter. They moved to other local addresses and by the time of the 1911 census they were at 392a Willesden High Road with their two children, Dorothy Jane aged 10 and William aged 7.
Alice told neighbour Lucy Jackman, who lived in the flat below at 392 Willesden High Road, that she was sometimes lonely and sad when John was absent from home. John was frequently away for long periods of time because he was employed as a steamship officer and by 1921 as a master mariner in the merchant navy.
He was mobilised at the start of WWI and immediately sent to the North Sea. According to official records, ‘his duties, which consisted chiefly of salvage work, were attended by great risk and hardship’. He was, however, in the Royal Naval Reserve, and relatives spoke of John working on a ‘mystery ship’ and some newspapers reported he had served on a motor torpedo boat.
After his discharge in 1918, John returned to his civilian seafaring career, in command of mercantile vessels that were often at sea for months. He was master of a cargo boat, the SS Ceuta, run by A&S Stewart, timber merchants in the City of London. He was the captain of the SS Ceuta when it was diverted to help the SS Metagama, damaged in a collision off Cape Race Newfoundland in 1924. Metagama with around 700 emigrants on board, was in collision with the Italian steamer Clara Canus in dense fog. Fortunately, no lives were lost and despite a large hole in her hull and listing badly, the Metagama was able to make it to St John’s without needing to use lifeboats or any help from the ships that came to the rescue. John returned to England the following April to a warm welcome from his family and friends, who described him as ‘a fine looking, typical sea faring man, generous and open-hearted with a jolly, breezy manner’.
Photo of John Miskin
On Sunday 14 June 1925 the Miskin family visited the very popular British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Park. This showcased goods from all over the Empire and was held in and around the specially designed Empire Stadium. Later renamed Wembley Stadium, it became England’s national football ground. Pathe News has many short films of the exhibits, including one of a royal visit in May.
After the Miskin family returned from Wembley that evening, Lucy Jackman saw John taking a photograph of his daughter Dorothy in the garden. All seemed perfectly normal. But at some point in the small hours of the morning, Lucy heard several bangs. She ventured outside fearing a gas explosion, but as everything was quiet, went back to bed.
The next morning, tradesmen could get no answer to their repeated knocks on the Miskin’s front door. This was unusual, as Alice normally placed daily orders. When the milk was still on the doorstep at 1.30 in the afternoon, the police were called. They forced an entry by crawling from next door, along the lead covered porch over the front door, and into the Miskin’s front sitting room, where they found nothing out of place.
But searching the rest of the flat, the officers were confronted by a dreadful scene. John, Alice and their two children were dead. All had been shot in the head, which explained the bangs Lucy Jackman heard earlier. But there was no sign of a struggle, and the police ruled out murder by an outsider after an examination of the bodies. Everything pointed to John having shot his family before committing suicide. Alice and her two children were lying in their beds, and each had a gunshot wound to the left temple. John was on the landing outside, with a wound to his right temple. Close by was a revolver. Lying in her basket, Floss the family’s pet dog, had also been shot.
The tragedy came as a huge shock to all who knew the family. Various theories were put forward to explain John’s actions, but above all else, relatives and neighbours kept repeating what a devoted and affectionate family the Miskins were. The children who attended a local convent school, were bright and well liked, and young William had just become the proud possessor of a scooter.
At the inquest held on the 17th, the coroner said there appeared to be no motive for the killings. ‘Captain Miskin had come back from the war normal, but I have no doubt he suffered from a brainstorm during which he committed this awful act’. The only explanation the police could offer was that Miskin may have been ill. He had malaria more than once on his voyages. He suffered from the heat and told a friend it had been exceptionally hot at the Exhibition on Sunday. No note by John was found at the flat.
The jury returned a verdict that Miskin had murdered his family and committed suicide while temporarily insane. A few clues hint that he may have had financial worries. The court was told John had been employed by the same firm, from 1919 until 17 April 1925. However, he had not been given a firm promise of a new ship, simply told that if a steamer became available, ‘he would probably get it’. Only a small amount of cash was found at the flat and when John’s will was proved, his effects totalled just £2 10 shillings, (worth about £155 today). The family, John, Alice, Dorothy and William, were buried the day after the inquest, in the churchyard of St Andrew’s, Kingsbury.
Today, this would be seen as a classic case of familicide or family annihilation. But interestingly, Miskin is not listed in the cases shown here in Wikipedia.
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