A forgotten injustice

Racism continues to be the bane of humanity. Colonialism fostered the feelings of racial superiority. Personal beliefs and practices of many Englishmen remained racist during the colonial era. In early 20th century, England was not kind to immigrants from colonies. The British government did nothing to defuse racial discrimination as the bias was taken for granted.

The plight of an Indian family in an English village at that time could well be imagined. In The Mystery of The Parsee Lawyer: Arthur Conan Doyle, George Edalji And The Case Of The Foreigner In The English Village, Shrabani Basu documents the racial prejudice against an Indian family while they were living in Britain. They were the victims of racially motivated vandalism for years. Racist graffiti was painted on their house and excreta was thrown in through the letter box. Shapurji Edalji, a Parsi convert to Christianity, was the first Indian to be appointed a vicar in England in 1876. He remained the vicar of Great Wyrley, a mining village near Birmingham, for 42 years. An Indian preaching at a white parish was resented by the locals. The hostility only increased when he married Charlotte, an English woman.

Sustained hate

Among his three children, elder son George was the only boy at school with distinctly Indian features. Introvert with little social contact but studious, George grew into a successful barrister. From childhood he was unfairly accused of writing anonymous, abusive letters keeping the family on tenterhooks for years. Letters became more violent, calling for revenge and George’s death. Letters were also falsely going out under his name to others. The vicar sent the hate-filled letters to local newspapers. Captain George Anson, chief constable of Staffordshire, was disdainful of their complaints. He had no sympathy for the coloured family.

Soon the village witnessed a spate of mutilation of horses. George was arrested for the crime he had never committed and convicted for seven years. He paid the price for institutional prejudice and his ‘niggardly’ appearance. Since then it was a relentless fight by the Edalji family to prove his innocence. The George Edalji case was splashed across newspapers that painted him as the ‘Wyrley Ripper’. But some locals suspected that racial prejudice was the reason behind the arrest and conviction. Soon the campaign for justice gathered momentum with the backing of several legal luminaries. Though George was released after three years, it was conditional.

Having lost faith in the police and the legal system, he turned to Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, to champion his cause for justice. His entry into the campaign attracted global attention. His two-part article on the Edalji case created a sensation. He charged the authorities with racial prejudice, incompetence and deliberate deceit. George became an overnight celebrity. Public furore caused by Conan Doyle’s articles put enormous pressure on the Home Office. The celebrated writer spent considerable time in investigating the case. He visited the crime spot, interviewed local residents, met the police chief Anson and concluded that George was innocent. He also found the police chief prejudiced against George.

Forgotten figures

At every step, Anson tried to stymie Conan Doyle’s probe. Finally, George got a free pardon but no compensation. The unusual friendship between Conan Doyle and George, his investigation and his running feud with Anson are dealt in detail. The celebrity author’s investigation was not as thorough as Sherlock Holmes’. He couldn’t conclusively prove who the killer or the author of anonymous letters was, though he had zeroed in on a habitual offender. The Edalji story had no closure. The mystery of the ‘Wyrley Ripper’ remained unsolved. Though George led a traumatic life and died in semi-poverty, unlamented, he left a lasting legacy. His case led to the setting up of criminal appeal courts in UK in 1907.

London-based journalist and historian Shrabani Basu ferrets out from archives a forgotten case of miscarriage of justice in Edwardian England. The book is timely as racial discrimination still remains a serious issue for the British criminal justice system. Basu took five years to piece together the story from different archives and police files. Meticulous research has created a gripping, poignant narrative akin to a sophisticated detective novel. Pages of newspapers and photographs add to the feel of the case.