Local History

The story forms part of "Camden Road -  The Musical" which focuses on the history of the Tunbridge Wells street.

The Baltic Sawmills, just off Camden Road was the most important employer over a long period, but the mills gained notoriety in 1888 when Bensley Cyrus Lawrence, the engine man who lived in Mercer Street was murdered. The story began when he was told  by a mysterious visitor that the mill's foreman, Mr Potter, wanted to see him.

Lawrence was shot in the street, and died shortly after being transferred to the nearby General Hospital.

The Medway Coal Company in Camden Road.

The police were unable to solve the crime, despite the sighting of two youths in the area. However, one of the murderers wrote a letter to the Tunbridge Wells Advertiser, and William Gower confessed to a local Salvation Army captain that he and Charles Dobell had committed the crime.

The two young men were tried at Maidstone in December 1888 and condemned to death. There were petitions of mercy, but they were all in vain and both Gower and Dobell were executed in Maidstone Jail.

A look at the murder scene

Jon Oram, the play's artistic director, and local historian Chris Jones went back to the murder scene with BBC South East's Robin Gibson.

The Play

The play reveals a rich haul of little known local history uncovered by the researchers., including this story. Another key character in the piece is Siegfried Sassoon, the war poet, who attended St Barnabus's church with his family.

The play runs from the 8th to the 20th June 2009.

We took a look behind the scenes at the team making all the props and costumes for the production.

Jon Oram says he hopes that the play will bring people together and encouraged them to do things they would never have done before, as well as helping to create a stronger sense of the need to protect and support this vulnerable part of Tunbridge Wells.