The Chelsea Murders – London 1870

In my recent research into the history of some of Chelsea’s most prominent garden squares I came across a story of a double murder that sounds like something from an Agatha Christie novel.

The main characters involved were the Reverend Elias Huelin, an 84 year old French protestant minister and assistant chaplain at Brompton cemetary; his housekeeper, Ann Boss and plasterer and carpenter, Walter Miller.

Reverend Huelin was the owner of a number of properties in Chelsea including one in Paultons Square, where he and Ann Boss were living and another in Wellington Square (which is where my research picked up on the story). Walter Miller was employed to do repairs in the house in Wellington Square and where he devised the idea of murdering the vicar and his housekeeper to steal money and goods (including the deeds for the house!)

It is believed that Arthur Miller murdered the elderly vicar and his housekeeper on 16th May 1870 and not only set about stealing from the house, but he actually pretended to be the vicar’s French nephew and donned a disguise and put on a French accent.

It was when he arranged for a man, Henry Piper, to dispose of a large luggage box that the murder was uncovered. Piper went to pick up the box and found blood seeping from inside. Miller (still prentending to be the French nephew) tried to escape, but as the man chased after him, Miller met with a local constable walking n Paultons Square. It soon appeared that poor Ann Boss was strangled and had been placed in the luggage box!

Miller was arrested, but there was still no sign of Reverend Huelin, until it  was discovered a few days later that he had been buried in a drain in Wellington Square.

Miller was tried and found guilty of the murders, although he always professed his innocence and said he was employed by a ‘foreign gentleman’, who was meant to be the real vicar’s nephew, but such a man never appeared. Miller was executed at Newgate gaol on the 1st August 1870. The Lord Chief Justice ordered Henry Piper to receive £50 for his conduct in the affair.

It just goes to show some of the unusual and unique stories that can be uncovered when researching the history of a local area or even a house! The details for the story of The Chelsea Murders’ has been sourced from the archives of The Times newspaper and The Illustrated London News.