The trial of Frederick Henry Seddon for murder was described by Lord Birkett as ‘…one of the greatest forensic contests in our history, so full of that peculiar human interest that belongs to the Courts of Law’. It took place at the Old Bailey, London’s Central Criminal Court, in March 1912, and pitted two of the most celebrated advocates the bar has ever seen against each other: Sir Rufus Isaacs KC (then the attorney general) for the prosecution and Sir Edward Marshall Hall in defence of Seddon. The trial was heard by Mr Justice Bucknill.
Seddon, a particularly hard-headed, pompous and miserly insurance agent and Freemason, had been introduced through his work to an elderly spinster called Eliza Barrow and had invited her to lodge with him and his family. Seddon lived in a large house in Tollington Park, North London, with his wife and five children.
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