Fanny Adams (30 April 1859 – 24 August 1867) was an eight-year-old English girl who was murdered by a solicitor's clerk, Frederick Baker, in Alton, Hampshire, in 1867.

Baker abducted Adams and took her into a hop garden near her home, where he killed and dismembered her; some parts of her body were never found.

Fanny Adams (born 30 April 1859) and her family lived in Tanhouse Lane[1] on the northern side of Alton, a market town in Hampshire.

The family was locally rooted; George Adams and his wife Ann, believed to be Fanny's grandparents, lived next door.

Fanny and the local children had often played in Flood Meadow, owing to its proximity to Tanhouse Lane and the fact that there had been little crime in Alton within living memory.

[5] As the girls were walking towards Flood Meadow and into a hop garden, they met Frederick Baker, a 29-year-old solicitor's clerk.

He was employed by solicitor Mr. Clements, whose office was situated on Alton High Street, opposite the Swan Hotel, a hostelry which Baker frequented.

[citation needed] Baker gave Minnie and Lizzie three halfpence to spend on sweets and Fanny another halfpenny.

Baker then watched the girls run up and down The Hollow (a lane leading to the nearby village of Shalden) as they played and ate the blackberries he had picked for them.

[9] Between 7:00 and 8:00 pm, Fanny had still not returned home, prompting Harriet and a group of neighbours to search for the missing child.

[12][13] When George was told the details he returned home to take his loaded shotgun and set out to look for the culprit, but neighbours stopped him and instead sat with him through the night.

[15] Hearing that Baker had been seen with the children before Fanny's disappearance, Cheyney retraced his steps through the town and located his place of work.

By this time, a large and agitated crowd had gathered outside the solicitor's office, forcing the police to smuggle Baker out the back door for fear that the mob would kill him.

Sometime after the arrest, Cheyney backtracked to Baker's desk in the solicitor's office and discovered a diary among some legal papers.

The boy testified that he saw Baker emerge from the hop garden at about 2:00 pm on the day Fanny was murdered, with his hands and clothes saturated with blood.

Baker then reportedly stooped down to the river and calmly wiped himself with a handkerchief, after which he put a small knife and another unidentified object in his jacket pocket.

All recovered clothing and the two knives taken from Baker at the time of his arrest were sent to Professor A.S. Taylor at Guy's Hospital in London, where they received the most detailed tests possible for the period.

[20] Dr Lewis Leslie from Alton thought Fanny's ultimate cause of death was probably by a blow to the head with a stone.

The forensic staff in London concluded that the small knives found in Baker's possession would not have been capable of severing parts of Fanny's body, so another weapon must have been used.

Baker ate and slept well, unlike in Alton's prison, where he was reportedly disturbed in his sleep and physically shuddered at the sight of meat.

In the case of Fanny Adams' inquest, Deputy County Coroner Robert Harfield was in charge of the proceedings, which were held at the Dukes Head Inn (later re-named the George) in Alton on 27 August 1867.

[23] The first to give evidence was Minnie Warner, who told the jury that Baker had given her money to run down The Hollow with Fanny and into a nearby field while he picked blackberries for them.

[22] The next to testify was Fanny's mother, Harriet, who recalled that she met Baker at the gate to the hop garden and that he was headed towards the road which led to Basingstoke.

[24] The inquest concluded that Baker was responsible for the murder of Fanny Adams, and he was committed to Winchester gaol to await trial.

They also argued insanity: Baker's father had been violent, a cousin had been in asylums, his sister had died of a brain fever and he had attempted suicide after a love affair.

[26] Before his death, Baker wrote to the Adams family expressing his sorrow for what he had done "in an unguarded hour" and seeking their forgiveness.

Following his execution, Baker's death mask was made, and the following year, his full figure was placed as an exhibit in the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussaud's famous waxworks in London.