About this episode

The episode discusses the murder of architect Francis Rattenbury by his wife's teenage lover and the subsequent trial that captivated the public.

Episode 423: Francis Mawson Rattenbury designed the BC Parliament Buildings, the Empress Hotel, and the building that now houses the Vancouver Art Gallery, as well as many others. He was the most celebrated architect in the province for thirty years. In 1935, he was beaten to death in his armchair in a rented house in Bournemouth, England, by his wife Alma’s teenage lover, a chauffeur named George Percy Stoner. Both Alma Rattenbury and Stoner confessed. The trial at the Old Bailey gripped the English-speaking world. What happened after the trial was even more shocking than the murder. Sources:Sean O'Connor, The Fatal Passion of Alma Rattenbury (Simon & Schuster, 2019)Anthony A. Barrett & Rhodri Windsor Liscombe, Francis Rattenbury and British Columbia: Architecture and Challenge in the Imperial Age (UBC Press, 1983)Terry Reksten, Rattenbury (Sono Nis Press, 1978; revised 1998)Francis Mawson Rattenbury — Dictionary of Canadian BiographyFrancis Rattenbury — Biographical Dictionary of Architects in CanadaFrancis Rattenbury — WikipediaAlma Rattenbury — WikipediaNewspapers.com | Search: Francis Rattenbury Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Topics covered

• murder
• architecture
• trial
• true crime
• history
• British Columbia

Keywords

• Francis Rattenbury
• Alma Rattenbury
• George Percy Stoner
• murder
• trial
• architecture
• British Columbia
• true crime

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BC Parliament Buildings, Empress Hotel, Vancouver Art Gallery, Old Bailey

Books & works: The Fatal Passion of Alma Rattenbury, Francis Rattenbury and British Columbia: Architecture and Challenge in the Imperial Age, Rattenbury, Francis Rattenbury — Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Francis Rattenbury — Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, Francis Rattenbury — Wikipedia, Alma Rattenbury — Wikipedia

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