Christabel Ham

Christabel Ham died from an illegal operation on 22 December 1900.

She had been a saleswoman at Messrs Whiteley's Limited in Westbourne Grove.

A man that was later convicted of the manslaughter of a woman on who he performed an illegal operation in 1911 was called to give evidence at her inquest after it was claimed that he had seen Christabel Ham shortly before she died, but he denied it. In 1911 he was sentenced to 7 years.

He was claimed to have seen her on 16 December 1900 after which she became ill on 18 December and was taken to King's College Hospital where she died on 22 December.

Before she died she made a statement to the effect that she had attended the residence of a West-end doctor at 1 Jermyn Street, where she had undergone an operation and paid the doctor, who was 'a nice old gentleman', £5, and who had told her to 'keep it a secret'. 

However, the doctor, who was not on the register, denied that Christabel Ham had visited his surgery or that he had performed any operation on her.

The doctor further denied that he had been at 1 Jermyn Street at the time it was alleged she had called upon him, stating that he had left his practice at 10.30am and walked to Earl's Court Gardens where he had met a friend of his with whom he had spent the afternoon with at Richmond.

It was noted that an inspector with the Criminal Investigation Department had attended the inquest on behalf of Scotland Yard.

The 'doctor' admitted that he had not been on the register since May 1900, adding that that was no bar to practice, but the Coroner noted that that was a question of law. It was later revealed that he had been struck off the Medical Register for submitting fictitious bills in 1900 and that since 1895 the attention of the police had been directed towards him in connection with suspicion of performing illegal operations.

An assistant at Messrs Whiteley's stated that she had known Christabel Ham for a number of years and that on 18 December 1900 she found Christabel Ham ill in bed and wrote to a man with whom Christabel Ham had been in acquaintance with informing him. She said that Christabel Ham had complained of pains in her stomach and asked her to write to the man, but didn't tell her about her condition.

She said that she didn't know the doctor from Jermyn Street at all.

When the Coroner summed up, he said that it was a serious and suspicious case and that the 'doctors' account of himself was undeniably unsatisfactory, and that some of the evidence too, was extraordinarily contradictory. He advised the jury that Christabel Ham's statement could not be taken against the 'doctor' from Jermyn Street. 

The jury then found that: