Hubert Chevis

Hubert "Hugh" George Chevis (21 September 1902 – 21 June 1931) was a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery of the British Army who was the subject of a notable unsolved murder in June 1931. He died of strychnine poisoning after eating contaminated partridge.

Personal life

The son of Sir William and Lady Amy Florence Chevis, née Dannenberg, Hubert Chevis was born at Rawal Pindi, India. His initial school years were spent in India. He later attended Charterhouse School in Surrey. Chevis graduated from the Royal Military Academy as a 2nd Lieutenant on 29 August 1923. At the time of his death in 1931 Chevis was an instructor at the Aldershot Training Camp in Hampshire, and had been married for approximately six months to Frances (née Howard) a 29-year-old heiress with considerable wealth. Chevis was her second husband, the first having been Major George Jackson, a veterinarian.

Murder

On the afternoon of 20 June 1931 the couple had friends over for cocktails at their Blackdown Camp bungalow. After their friends had left, the Chevises had an early dinner as they wanted to attend the local military tattoo that night. Dinner was prepared by their cook, Ellen Yeomans, and served by their batman, Nicholas Bulger. Gunner Bulger served the Manchurian partridge, onto the sideboard in the dining room, where Mrs Chevis carved it. After Chevis had eaten a mouthful of the bird, he summoned Bulger, saying "Take this bird away. It is the most terrible thing I have tasted." His wife tasted the meat and agreed with him. The partridges were incinerated in the kitchen by Ellen Yeomans. Not long after ingesting the mouthful of partridge, Chevis started experiencing severe cramps and convulsions and a doctor was called. Later that evening, Mrs. Chevis also fell ill. A second doctor was called and the couple was admitted to Frimley Cottage Hospital. Chevis died at 1:00 am the following morning after five doctors had administered artificial respiration over a period of several hours, and he had been given powerful emetics. Two grains of strychnine were found in his stomach. Mrs. Chevis subsequently recovered, as she had only tasted the meat.

Announcement of Chevis's death was made in the press on Monday, 22 June (The Times). On 24 June, Hubert Chevis's father, Sir William Chevis, received a telegram, the day of his son's funeral. It was from a J. Hartigan and had been sent from Dublin. All the telegram said was, "Hooray, hooray, hooray!" On the back of the telegram was "Hibernian", a well known hotel in Dublin. The police were notified, but nobody of that name was found at the hotel. Subsequent police enquiries undertaken by the Dublin Police later found that a Dublin chemist had sold strychnine about four weeks earlier to a man who was similar in appearance to the man who had sent the telegram in the name of J. Hartigan.

The Daily Sketch published a copy of the telegram, only to receive a telegram from J. Hartigan that read, "Dear Sir, Why did you publish a picture of the Hooray telegram?" Chevis's father also received a postcard on 4 August 1931 from Hartigan that said, "It’s a mystery they will never solve."

Investigation

The shipment of Manchurian partridges from which the Chevis's dinner had come was examined by experts, but they found no poisoned birds. Several people were interviewed, including Mrs Chevis and her former husband, G. T. T. Jackson of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. Jackson denied that he had anything to do with the murder, stating that he was "miles away at Northampton" at the time. He added that he considered J. Hartigan, the man who sent the telegram, "a cad and a blackguard". Mrs Chevis was unable to shed any light on her husband's death. Dublin police never found Mr. Hartigan.

Many theories were propounded about the death, but the investigation stalled because of a lack of evidence. After several weeks the coroner announced at the inquest, "There is no evidence on which you can find a definite verdict; therefore I direct you to find an open verdict."

Media

The case was the subject of a documentary on BBC Radio 4 on 3 September 2011, part of the Punt PI series presented by Steve Punt. Lack of evidence prevented the programme from reaching any firm conclusions, but it noted that none of the initial suspects had both the motive and opportunity. It also conjectured that both Chevis and his father, Sir William Chevis, had strong connections to the British Raj, and that 'J Hartigan' is an anagram of 'Raj hating'.

See also

• List of unsolved murders in the United Kingdom