Mabel Hearfield was shot twice in Grafton Street, with the second bullet fatally wounding her
A general view of Grafton Street, Hull, in March 2022(Image: Google Maps)
A Hull woman has spoken of her shock at the discovery that her great-grandmother was gunned down in a murder-suicide. Madeline Harvey, 70, said her grandfather, who was 18 years old at the time his mother was killed on August 21, 1918, never spoke of it.
The Hull Daily Mail reported that the crime was carried out by Robert Hunter, a subpostmaster at the Hedon Road branch. The victim was Mabel Hearfield, Madeline’s great-grandmother, who was coming down the stairs of her home in 25 Grafton Street when she was shot for the first time.
Describing the tragedy as “unbelievable”, Madeline said she only found out due to her husband, Stephen, researching her family history on the website Ancestry. “He said, ‘Did you know there had been a murder in your family?’ And I said, ‘Pardon?'”
In a strange coincidence, Madeline said she and her mother had been discussing the invention of computers and the internet shortly before her death in 2002. Her mum told her: “That could be interesting that web, because I don’t know who it was, but I am sure there was someone murdered in our family.”
When Mabel’s body was discovered, her finger had been bandaged where it was wounded from the first bullet. It was reported Hunter fired a second bullet that hit Mabel near her armpit, and she died from the wound.
Hunter’s body was found with a bullet wound in his neck and a revolver in his hand. He was described as a friend of Mabel’s husband and the keys to their home were found in his pocket.
It was claimed Hunter had been calling on Mabel while her husband was working at a nearby paint factory. Neighbours reported hearing the gunshots.
Madeline added: “It just makes you wonder. There must be some descendants in the other family, the Hunter family, that may have grown up and known about it.
“Nowadays, everything is out there. I think in those days, there was a shame on the family, that she [Mabel] had obviously been having an affair with this postmaster.
“In those times back then, I think it would have been really frowned upon, anyone having an affair. People didn’t even get divorced.”
Madeline added: “He’d obviously found out about the affair, my great-granddad, and had a word with him. How he had got the keys to the house, I don’t understand that bit.
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“Apparently she had tried to end it with him, end the affair. That was when he’d come round and shot her and then killed himself. You think about the family left behind.”
Madeline used to live not far from Grafton Street and many times had gone past the house where her great-grandmother was killed, without any idea of its tragic significance.
The next step is to find out where Mabel is buried, and Madeline’s husband Stephen is planning to ask Hull City Council so they can pay their respects.