Edwin goes to Newton Abbot and doesn’t come back
We all know that some strange things can happen to Torquay folk if they travel too far up the Newton Road with the intention of drinking the fermented juice of apples.
To take one example, we can look at the case of Edwin Baily Dashper.
On 21 December 1921 Edwin, a 40-year-old single man who lived at 45 Shirburn Road, went missing.
This caused something of a national stir. The Times of January 4 ran the headline: ‘Missing Torquay Man. Last seen with Gipsies’.
Above: On 21 December 1921 Torquay’s Edwin Dashper vanished on a day out in Newton Abbot
The story stated that Edwin “was in Newton Abbot, six miles away, with a man named Strong, who late in the afternoon suggested to Dashper that he should return to Torquay. Dashper refused and avowed his intention of seeing some fun before going back. He was then drinking with Gipsies, paying for the drinks, and exhibiting a number of Treasury notes. From that time nothing has been heard of him.”
Right from the beginning, the inference was that Edwin, who had “come into considerable property on the death of his father,” had been the victim of his drinking companions.
The Daily Mirror of January 5, 1922, ran the headline: ‘New Seaside Mystery’.
“Mr Edwin Bailey Dashper of Torquay, a man of considerable means, has been missing for a fortnight. He had a substantial sum with him when he left home, and friends suspect foul play. Police are scouring the countryside.”
South Devon is, of course, home to Agatha Christie, so we shouldn’t be surprised that both local and national journalists rose to the challenge.
On 6 January 1922, the Torquay Times took these rumours and elevated them to a colourful murder-robbery narrative that had,
“…all the elements of mystery with possible tragedy connected with his disappearance, and would-be detectives can revel in clues if they so choose. Dashper, apparently flush with money, is seen in Newton on the date mentioned, declines to go back to Torquay when asked to do so, prefers to remain behind to ‘see some fun,’ as he phrases it, and does so in the shape of standing treat to gipsies in a public house.
“Foolishly he displays Treasury notes whilst drinking, an action sufficient to arouse the cupidity of his companions. It is therefore not surprising to learn that nothing has been seen of him since he left the public house, neither in Torquay, where he is known, nor in Newton Abbot. Here are all the possibilities of tragedy, and Dame Rumour is already busy in hinting at foul play, etc.”
As the days went on, however, other facts came to the attention of less-excitable observers.
The weather during the week of his disappearance was wet and stormy, with gales “of frequent occurrence, some gusts of wind reaching, it is said, to over 50 miles per hour, uprooting trees and causing other damage”.
Edwin had also been in the habit of disappearing for days on end as he was “addicted to lengthy country tramps.”
On Friday, 13 January, the wandering bachelor was finally found.
The Torquay Times briefly reported, “The body of Edwin Bailey Dashper of Shirburn Road, Torquay, who had been missing since December 21st, and whose disappearance gave rise to many sinister rumours, was discovered yesterday afternoon in the river Teign at Newton Abbot by a clay cutter named Froude while loading clay carts near the quay.”
Above: Edwin was found near Newton Abbot Quay three weeks after he went missing
The police searched the body and found cheques with Edwin Dashper’s signature, which established the identity of the deceased. Edwin’s wallet contained twenty one-pound Treasury notes along with silver coins, while his pockets included a bank passbook bearing his name, a tobacco pouch, and a pipe.
The presence of the money seems to do away with the theory of murder. Moreover, no signs of violence were found that would have suggested foul play. Hopefully this caused some embarrassment to the conspiracy theorists who had been convinced by the gipsy-murder theory.
Edwin’s body was then removed to the mortuary pending the inquest.
We’ll sadly never know what really happened to Edwin.
Yet, for three weeks, much of the country had been convinced that Newton Abbot was home to murdering and thieving travelling folk.
And we don’t know whether “the Gipsies” ever received an apology.
They probably didn’t.