George Edalji, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Great Wryley Outrages

Born in Staffordshire on January 22, 1876, George was the eldest child of Charlotte Edalji and Reverend Shapurji Edalji, who is reported to be the first south Asian to be made vicar of an English parish.

His father would go on to become vicar of St Mark's in Great Wyrley, and this where George would run into trouble with the law in 1903.

During that year, a number of animals including horses, sheep and cows were slashed and mutilated, with the crimes dubbed the Great Wyrley Outrages.

George Edalji. (Image: Archant)

In October, George was tried and convicted for the eighth attack, on a pit pony, and sentenced to seven years in prison with hard labour.

But his guilt was quickly put into doubt, with his Indian heritage and race believed to be part of the reason he was accused.

The Edalji family had also been subjected long-running campaign of untraceable abusive letters and anonymous harassment in the late 1800s, with further letters in 1903 alleging George was responsible for the outrages, leading to the police turning their attention to him.

Despite him being put behind bars, the mutilations continued and his case attracted the interest of Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who turned detective, starting a long campaign for his release.

Eight months later, the author had gathered enough evidence, and along with others, including the chief justice in the Bahamas, they pleaded George’s case which led to his 1906 release.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. (Image: PA Images)

He was exonerated by a Home Office committee of enquiry, although no compensation was awarded, but his case was ground-breaking and helped to establish the Court of Criminal Appeal in 1907.

As part of his investigation into the Great Wyrley Outrages, Conan Doyle believed the mutilations were the work of butcher's boy and sailor called Royden Sharp, but ironically, this theory was based on circumstantial evidence, a reliance on which by the police had led to George’s conviction.

As for the threatening letters, these continued for the next 25 years under the name of the ‘Wryley Gang’, but in 1934, it was discovered that they were being sent from outside of the town, and Enoch Knowles of Wednesbury was arrested and convicted.

Following the outrages case, Conan Doyle would turn detective again in 1928, helping to overturn the sentence of Oscar Slater, who spent almost 20 years in prison after being falsely accused of bludgeoning an 82-year-old woman in Glasgow.

George Edalji called Brockett Close home when he moved to Welwyn Garden City. (Image: Google Maps)

As for George, he was accepted back on to the roll of solicitors in good standing and allowed to practice in November 1907, before moving to Welwyn Garden City around 1930, where he lived in Brockett Close with his sister, Maud.

He died in the town in 1953 and was buried in nearby Hatfield Hyde Cemetery.

Even 110 years after his false imprisonment, George’s case is still spoken about, with Solicitor-General Sir Oliver Heald calling his trial a “farce”.