Sherington Historical Society
In November 1872 an “outrageous and shocking murder” was committed on the turnpike road leading from Sherington to Olney.
David Sharp, a native of Emberton, had been sacked by his employer, Thomas Fountain, for poor work. Along the road towards Olney, he met a 61 year old road man, James Boon, who was employed scraping the road. It would appear that Sharp walked up behind Boon and, without warning or speaking, gave him a “murderous blow on the back of his head”.
A coroner’s inquest was held in the White Hart. The jury found Sharp guilty of “wilful murder”. He was then tried at the Bucks Lent Assizes in Aylesbury, where he was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to penal servitude for life.
Sherington Historical Society has put together a booklet, Rum Doings in Sherington, with an account of the murder and an exhumation from Sherington Churchyard in 1935, price £2.00 (plus post and packing).