A MOSMAN MYSTERY PART II – ALFRED LOCKYER

MOSMAN MYSTERY PART ONE

Mrs Dorothy Thorne died by strychnine poisoning at her Mosman home on July 5 1932. The  family’s boarder, Alfred Lockyer, found himself under intense scrutiny by detectives.

As speculation continued, he gave a rather ill-advised interview to a reporter from the sensationalist Smith’s Weekly. It was published on July 30 and included the following statement;

I. Alfred George Lockyer, have been asked to give a statement re the mystery surrounding the death of Mrs Thorne. I am absolutely guiltless in the matter. I know absolutely nothing of the way in which Mrs Thorne met her death, weather by accident or otherwise.   My relations with Mrs Thorne were nothing but of a friendly nature…anything Mrs Thorne did to help me was done with the highest motives and with the acquiescence of her husband. I have been taken to the C.I.B office on two occasions for questioning on the matter, The first time the police called at 25 Brierly Street, took me to the C.I.B. office, and kept me there till about 10.15 p.m. They bullied, me, they cajoled me. I made a statement to the police of all I knew of the business. They came for me again at about 8 o’clock last night (Tuesday) and took me to the C.I.B. for further questioning….It was suggested to me that I should commit suicide. but leave a written statement behind me exonerating Reg Thorne. If it were possible to do this, I would do it.   I know things look very black for me – the way the detectives put it – but all I can say is that I am absolutely innocent in the matter and it looks as though the police are making me the scapegoat, as they can see no motive for the murder. – A.G. LOCKYER.

Meanwhile, Reg Thorne struggled to come to terms with the loss of his wife. Every Sunday he and his daughter  Ruth visited Dorothy’s grave in the Northern Suburbs Cemetery,

Just before Christmas two years later he made the decision to  return to England, where he had been born.

Young Ruth’s wealthy maternal  grandfather  William Cropley desperately the now nearly five year old girl to remain in Australia. He promised that if she did so  he would make her his heir. but not surprisingly Reg Thorne could not bear to part with his child.

There was a warm farewell to Reg Thorne from the community of Mosman, where he was very popular.

It was a parting that must have been heartbreaking for the Cropley family. William was not present when the ship left, but  sent his secretary to the wharf with a doll for his granddaughter.  When he died the following year the little girl was not mentioned in his will.

Alfred Lockyer slipped into obscurity in the years that followed, but it appears that the Mosman tragedy weighed heavily upon him In 1941 he was still working as a gardener, and boarding with a family in Alfred Street, North Sydney.  On July 28 1941 he took his own life by taking poison. It was not the first time he had tried to do so. (Information from The Daily Telegraph, 21 Aug, 194)

Six months ago, in a fit of depression, Alfred George Lockyer, 48, of Alfred Street North Sydney, tried to commit suicide by taking poison. He failed because the lid of the poison bottle stuck.  This was revealed in the coroner’s court yesterday at an inquest into Lockyer’s death. (Telegraph, Aug. 21 1941)

One of the witnesses at the inquest was Patricia O’Keeffe, from Kurraba Point. She had been keeping company with Lockyer until a month before he died. She described him as, ‘inclined to be moody and morbid, worried over trifles, and a man with a jealous nature.’ When she told him she no longer wanted to see him he was not at all happy’.  The family Lockyer had been boarding with testified that he had been drinking heavily for three weeks prior to his death.

There was no mention in the press of Lockyer’s connection the Thorne poisoning nine years earlier.

NOTE – After Reg Thorne  returned to England he  lived  in Brighton with his unmarried sister and his daughter Joan. Like Alfred Lockyer, he died at a relatively young age, in 1945. Thorne did not leave a will. This may be because his estate was by then valued at only  £600.

Ruth married in 1951. How sad that neither of parents were there to share the day. I hope she went on to have a very happy life.