Beyond the ordinary

This was originally penned by my now late mother Kath M Gregson before her death in 2025. This is one of the family relatives and to date this has not been solved.

The Learoyds and Murder

No Victorian melodrama is complete without a grisly murder, and in addition to the one mentioned earlier, when Arthur Cyril Dunderdale stabbed his mother to death, there was a very famous case of ‘The Ilkley Silk Stocking Murder.’

Mary Learoyd was born in 1894 in Halifax, Yorkshire, and was the daughter of Lewis Turner Learoyd and Emma Louise Rogers. In 1901 the family moved to Ilkley, Yorkshire, where her father was a building contractor and quarry owner, and was responsible for much important building work in the town.

Mary’s parents lived in a semi-detached house called ‘Little Gables’ not too far from the Library and Town Hall where Lewis Turner Learoyd made donations of books at the inception of the local library. Both of Mary’s parents were infirm, and an aunt also lived with them.

Lewis Turner Learoyd was a staunch supporter of his local church, ‘All Saints Parish Church,’ Ilkley, and the inscription on his gravestone reads ‘Lewis Turner Learoyd, who died 8th June 1935, Warden of this Church 1921-1926, and Treasurer for many years.’

Mary was murdered in Sedburgh Park on a vacant allotment off Cowpasture Lane, which led up to Ilkley Moor, in August 1929. Her body had been stripped naked, with her clothes strewn about, and she had been sexually assaulted and strangled with one of her own silk stockings.

Witnesses reported seeing a courting couple, and a servant had heard a woman scream, followed by a female voice saying ‘Wait a minute and I’ll kiss you.’

Apparently, Mary had many male acquaintances, all of whom became suspects in the case, but the murder was never solved.

Mary, to all accounts, was a bit of a flighty piece, and was very friendly with Mr Elliott, the verger of Ilkley Parish Church, who was a married man with a wife and children. Even her own brother, Eric Turner Learoyd, was of the opinion that Mary was too free with married men.

Mary seemed to spend a lot of time alone at the church with Elliott, and they even used to send across to ‘Kemps Café’ for tea which they consumed together in the vestry. One Saturday Mary told Elliott that both of her parents would be going out in the evening, and suggested that he might call round, as she would be alone. Elliott arrived at the semi-detached house where Mary lived around 8-30pm, and left about 10-00pm, after eating a light supper of tea and biscuits; and the evening was spent listening to the radio and talking.

Even Mary’s brother, Eric Turner Learoyd came under suspicion, as he received an anonymous telegram some eight weeks after the event, urging him to confess.

There was a total of four hundred and fifty-three witness statements taken, but the jury returned an open verdict, as robbery did not appear to be a motive.

Mary’s parents were too traumatised to attend her funeral, and her brother Eric had the task of representing the family at her burial.

This crime caused a sensation in the quiet Yorkshire town, and for years afterwards it was referred to as ‘The Ilkley Murder.’

© KMGregson & JWGregson 2026