The Murder of Rosa Armstrong

The murder of nine-year-old Rosa Armstrong in Sutton-in-Ashfield on 27 June 1924 remains one of the most tragic and unsettling crimes of early 20th-century Britain. A seemingly motiveless killing that shocked the nation, it led to the swift arrest and trial of Arthur Simms, a man whose life had already been shaped by the horrors of war. The circumstances surrounding the crime, the investigation, and the trial paint a harrowing picture of loss, psychological trauma, and the fragility of life in a small, close-knit community.

Rosa Armstrong was born in 1915, the youngest daughter of Frederick and Maria Armstrong. The Armstrongs were a large working-class family, residing at 78 Alfreton Road, Sutton-in-Ashfield. Rosa’s early years were marked by hardship. Her father, Frederick, passed away in late 1918, leaving Maria to raise the children alone. In 1920, Maria married Edward Buttery, and together they tried to provide a stable home for their blended family. Despite their struggles, Rosa was a cheerful child who attended school regularly and was well-liked in her community.

On the morning of 27 June 1924, Rosa followed her usual routine, attending school before returning home for lunch. At around 1:15 pm, she left to go back to school, expected to return home by 4:15 pm. When she did not arrive home on time, her mother became concerned. As night fell, worry turned to panic. Maria made frantic enquiries around the neighbourhood but could find no trace of her daughter. She reached out to her eldest daughter, Ethel Simms, in the hope that Rosa had gone there, but there was no sign of her. The family’s worst fears were realised when a shocking confession was made later that night.

Ethel Armstrong, Rosa’s elder sister, had endured a difficult life. She had married three times, each marriage marked by tragedy. Her first husband, William Parnham, a soldier in the Sherwood Foresters, was killed in action during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Ethel remarried in 1917, only to lose her second husband, Edward Mordon, in September 1918, during the final battles of the Great War. Her third husband, Arthur Simms, had survived the war, but his experiences had left him scarred. Captured by German forces in 1918, Simms was subjected to brutal treatment in a prisoner-of-war camp, suffering beatings and a bayonet wound to his hand. He returned home a changed man, plagued by severe headaches, which he attributed to malaria but may have been linked to his head injuries.

Maria Buttery, Rosa’s mother, was growing increasingly desperate in her search for her daughter. At 8:00 pm, she visited Ethel’s home on Phoenix Street, where she lived with her husband Arthur Simms. Arthur was not home, but Ethel said she had not seen Rosa. She returned at 10:00 pm but Rosa had still not been sighted and Arthur had also still not returned home. When she came back again at 1:00 am, Simms had finally returned home and was in bed. Maria asked him directly, “Arthur, have you seen Rosa?” His response was unusual and unsettling: “No, God strike me down dead if I have seen her.” Pressing him further, she asked, “Do you know anything of her?” Again, he denied any knowledge but then abruptly left the house, jumping over the gate and disappearing into the night.

Forty minutes later, at around 2:00 am, Arthur Simms approached Police Constable Cheeseman in Mansfield Market Place and made a chilling admission. “Policeman, I want to give myself up,” he said. When asked why, he continued, “For murder. It’s my wife’s little sister at Sutton. I did it this afternoon.” Taken to the police station, he provided a detailed confession, explaining how he had killed Rosa and where her body could be found. “It is my wife’s sister, Rosa Armstrong of 78 Alfreton Road, Sutton. You will find her under the hedge in the second field of mowing grass near St. Marks Lane. I strangled her with my hands.” He even wrote out directions, leading officers to the grim discovery.

Following Simms’ statement, police rushed to the location he had described. There, they found Rosa’s lifeless body beneath a hedge. A boot lace was tightly tied around her neck, suggesting she had been strangled. Her left hand was clenched around a bag of sweets, while her right hand grasped strands of grass, indicating she had struggled in her final moments. A graze ran from her nose to her left ear, and spots of blood were visible on her right thigh. Her clothing remained intact, ruling out any sexual motive. The lace from her left boot was missing, leading investigators to believe it had been used as the murder weapon.

Simms was charged with murder and taken to trial at Nottingham Assizes. The prosecution, led by Norman Birkett KC, presented the case with damning clarity. Witnesses, including a miner named John Pitts, testified to seeing Simms near the school around 1:00 pm, while another witness, James Marshall, reported seeing him walking with a little girl on Calladine Lane at 1:30 pm—close to where Rosa’s body was found.

During the trial, Maria Buttery broke down in tears as she identified Rosa’s boot laces. She spoke of Simms’ apparent affection for Rosa, saying he had bought her shoes and stockings at Whitsuntide and often gave her pennies. She never imagined he could harm her child. The defence, led by Maurice Healy, attempted to argue that Simms suffered from mental instability, possibly exacerbated by his experiences as a prisoner of war. However, Dr Watson, the prison medical officer, testified that Simms showed no signs of insanity. While he acknowledged that Simms suffered severe headaches, he firmly stated that he was mentally sound and understood his actions.

Ultimately, the jury found Arthur Simms guilty of murder. He was sentenced to death, a punishment carried out swiftly. The case left the community of Sutton-in-Ashfield shaken, and Rosa’s murder became a symbol of the devastating consequences of both personal and war-induced trauma. Simms’ actions may have been driven by deep psychological wounds inflicted during his captivity, but the senseless loss of a child’s life left no room for sympathy in the eyes of the law. The tragic case of Rosa Armstrong remains a haunting chapter in British criminal history. It serves as a reminder of the unpredictable nature of violence and the lasting scars left by war. While Rosa’s life was cut tragically short, her story endures as an example of justice sought in the face of incomprehensible cruelty.

The Murder of Rosa Armstrong FAQ

[this article originally appeared on 5MinuteMurder.com on 6 June 2025]