The late f***y ADAMS?

Question

looking into a famous hampshire case of f***y adams she was my realtive?

anyone got any info or is related

Answer 1

The eight-year-old f***y Adams was murdered in Alton, England in August 1867 by Frederick Baker, a 24-year-old solicitor's clerk. Her dismembered body was found in a field near the town.

She was buried in Alton cemetery. The inscription on the headstone indicates the strength of feeling against the murderer:

"Sacred to the memory of f***y Adams aged 8 years and 4 months who was cruelly murdered August 24th, 1867.

Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear Him who is able to kill both body and soul in h**l. Matthew 10:28.

This stone was erected by voluntary subscription."

The case was the source of enormous public concern and newspaper reports concentrated on the youth and innocence of the victim. Everyone living in England at the time would have known the name of 'sweet' f***y Adams. With typical grisly humour, sailors in the British Royal Navy came to use the expression to refer to unpleasant meat rations they were often served - likening them to the dead girl's remains. Barrère and Leland recorded this usage in their A dictionary of slang, jargon and cant, 1889:

"f***y Adams (naval), tinned mutton."

It wasn't until later that 'sweet f***y Adams' came to mean 'nothing'. The term '**** all' has long been with us with that meaning, although how long isn't clear as politeness caused it not to be recorded in print until the 20th century. It surely dates back to at least the early 19th century. The coincidence of f***y Adams' initials caused F.A. or 'f***y Adams' to be used as a euphemism for '**** all'. Walter Downing, an Australian soldier who fought in Europe in the First World War, wrote an glossary of WWI soldier's slang called Digger Dialects in 1919. He is the first to record the link between F.A. (meaning '**** all') and f***y Adams:

"F.A., 'f***y Adams', or 'Sweet f***y Adams' - nothing; vacuity."

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/34100...

This infamous case concerned the murder, at Alton, of  'sweet' f***y Adams, aged 8 years. This took place at Flood Meadow, on Saturday, 24th August 1867. To add to the horror, the victim had been decapitated and brutally mutilated. Body parts were spread over a wide area. Even by Victorian standards this was a horrific murder.

The murderer, Frederick Baker 29, was arrested within hours with bloodstained clothing, Damning evidence was an entry in his diary, "killed a young girl."

Involved in the arrest were, Superintendent Cheyney and PC George Watkins.

Baker was tried at Winchester Assizes in December that year. The defence introduced evidence of a history of violent mental illnesses in Baker's family but he was found guilty. The jury took 15 minutes to reach a verdict. Baker was publicly hanged on Christmas Eve the same month outside the county prison at Winchester and was watched by 5,000 spectators (mainly women). Swift justice indeed!  

This was to be the last public hanging at Winchester although hanging continued into the 1960's.

A more detailed account is here :-

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/curtis-m...

Answer 2

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi...

This has a photo of her and the grave and all the gory details.

May she RIP.