Francis Hughes-Hallett

Who was Francis Hughes-Hallett?

Francis Charles Hughes-Hallett was the Royal Artillery officer and Conservative politician who represented Rochester in the British House of Commons. He investigated one of the cases linked to Jack the Ripper murders, and was damaged politically by a personal scandal.

Hughes-Hallet was the son of Charles Madras Hughes-Hallett and his wife Emma Mary Roberts. He became a Colonel in the Royal Artillery. In 1885 he was elected as MP for Rochester. In 1888 he was involved in the investigation of the murder of Martha Tabram in Whitechapel. However a personal scandal led to his being hounded by the press and shunned by his parliamentary colleagues and he stood down from his seat in 1889.

Hughes-Hallett married Catherine Rosalie Greene, the widow of Sir Charles Jasper Selwyn, in 1871 and they had three children. She died in 1875. In 1882, he married Emilie Page von Schaumberg from Philadelphia, the daughter of James von Schaumberg and Caroline Page. She was a brilliant belle, but the marriage ran into difficulties. In 1887 Hughes-Hallet was caught in liaison with his stepdaughter. There was a lengthy divorce battle and Emilie left husband on 1 August 1890, moving to Dinard in France. In 1893 Hughes-Hallet was seeking financial entitlement under his marriage settlement.