Murder-Suicide on Occupation Lane in 1932

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Nurse shot dead by father opposed to her choice of husband

The Chiswick and Ealing Isolation Hospital was later incorporated into the King Edward Memorial. Picture: Facebook

July 18, 2024

This part of London was rocked by a murder-suicide in 1932 when a father opposed to his daughter’s marriage shot her dead at the Chiswick and Ealing Isolation Hospital before turning the gun on himself.

Matron Ida Gregory was hit in the arm as she tried to protect fellow nurse Sybil Armstrong who had left the family home in the Midlands some months earlier to escape her controlling father.

John Armstrong, a retired tailor, had travelled down from the Midlands to confront his favourite daughter who, he believed, was marrying beneath herself.

The ensuing confrontation ended with Armstrong pulling a service revolver from his pocket and shouting ‘you shall never marry him’ before shooting his daughter.

Matron Gregory wrestled with the gunman who then turned the weapon on himself.

The inquest later revealed that Mr Armstrong was a heavy drinker, who by his wife’s admission, would first ‘weep terribly and then act like a madman’ while under the influence.

She admitted having to temporarily flee the family home several times in fear of her own life and had a hunting rifle pointed at her several times.

Sybil’s fiancé John Bambrick had first met her at the hospital where she treated him for a hand injury.

“The last time I saw Sybil she had just been to buy her wedding dress. We said goodnight full of happiness and now this …”

The Chiswick and Ealing Isolation Hospital was formed in 1921 with the incorporation of the Brentford Isolation hospital becoming an annex. It eventually became the Clayponds branch of the King Edward Memorial Hospital and closed in 1979 with the opening of the new Ealing Hospital. The site was converted into student accommodation and then became the Sterling Place development of flats.

Steve Watkins

 

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