Ethel Proudlock case

The Ethel Proudlock case refers to Ethel Proudlock's 1911 trial for murder which took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The trial became a cause célèbre scandalising British colonial society.

William Somerset Maugham wrote a short story about the case which he subsequently turned into a successful 1927 play The Letter and which in turn received several film and TV adaptions, the most well known is William Wyler's classic film noir The Letter. In addition it was referenced in a 1977 film East of Elephant Rock by Don Boyd.

It was the subject of a 2000 book by Eric Lawlor.[1]

History

Ethel Proudlock née Charter was a Eurasian who married William Proudlock, headmaster of the prestigious Victoria Institution for boys in Kuala Lumpur, at the age of 19 in 1907. On the evening of 23 April 1911 she was alone in her bungalow while her husband dined with a fellow teacher. In the course of that evening she shot dead William Steward, a mine manager. Steward had visited her by rickshaw and had told the rickshaw boy to wait outside. Shortly afterwards the boy heard two shots and saw Steward stumble out of the house across the verandah followed by Proudlock carrying a revolver whose remaining 4 bullets she emptied into him.

Proudlock stood trial for murder in June 1911. There was no jury and her case was heard by a judge and two assessors. The trial lasted ten days and attracted intense local interest. Proudlock claimed that Steward had attempted to rape her and that she was acting in self-defence. However the judge found her guilty of murder on the basis of inconsistencies in her testimony and other circumstantial evidence and sentenced her to death.

The verdict caused a furore in the local community prompting The Malay Mail to issue the following notice [2]

We decline to associate ourselves with the hysterical outbursts which have followed the judicial decision . . . Correspondence has already appeared in our columns touching upon the case, and the opinions of our readers will receive publicity within limits. But for those who have gone to all kinds of adjectival extremes in the attempt to splutter forth their wrath against the judge and assessors, it may be added that their effusions will find the oblivion of the wastepaper basket.

Proudlock appealed the verdict and spent five months in Pudu jail awaiting her appeal. During the course of that time a number of petitions were got up for her, including one from her husband and the boys of the Victoria Institution, prompting the Sultan of Selangor to pardon her. Ethel Proudlock immediately left the colony with her three-year-old daughter for England and eventually America. She died in 1977.

William Proudlock left soon after for England. It's not known whether he ever rejoined Ethel but he did keep in touch. By 1931 he had moved to South Africa and ultimately to Argentina to teach at St. George's College, Quilmes. He died in 1958.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lawlor, Eric (March 2000). Murder on the Verandah: Love and Betrayal in British Malaysia. Flamingo. ISBN 0-00-655065-7.
  2. ↑ Grimond, Kate (20 February 1999). "Bored Sojourners in the East". The Spectator.

External links

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