The Wine Cellar Tragedy. The Deaths of Neville and Adamson (1879)
| Type of thing | newstory |
| Date made or found | {{#set:Date approximate={{{Date approximate}}}}}1879
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This historical account is prepared for the Gawler History Wiki, documenting one of the town’s most somber and mysterious Victorian-era tragedies. From Trove , Mount Alexander Mail Victoria Tuesday 9 September 1879 Abridged from SA Register
The Wine Cellar Tragedy: The Deaths of Neville and Adamson (1879)
On the evening of Tuesday, September 3, 1889, the usually quiet town of Gawler was shaken by a discovery that The Register would later describe as one of the most unfortunate and mysterious occurrences in the colony's history. Two well-known local residents, Ernest Neville and John Adamson, were found to have ended their lives in a meticulously planned double suicide.
Men of Mystery and Talent
Neville and Adamson had lived in Gawler for seven years, yet they remained figures of intrigue. Both were clearly well-educated. Neville, rumoured to be the son of an English infantry captain and educated at Rugby and in France, was a master of the French language and a skilled botanist. Adamson, though more reserved, was a talented musician and reportedly the son of a wealthy English manufacturer. The pair had previously lived in Victoria before working as gardeners at the famed Anlaby Station. Upon moving to Gawler, Adamson opened a fish store, while Neville served the community as the Corporation’s "Inspector of Nuisances." They lived together in a house featuring a meticulously cultivated garden and orangery.
A Spiral of Misfortune
The tragedy appears to have been precipitated by a series of personal and financial setbacks: • Professional Loss: Neville was recently discharged from his position with the Gawler Corporation for "incompetency," a charge he bitterly contested. • Financial Ruin: Successive bad seasons led to mounting debts, culminating in a distress warrant being issued over a mortgage. • Social Friction: In letters left behind, Neville expressed deep-seated resentment toward certain members of the Corporation and the local Methodist body, whom he blamed for his downfall.
A Calculated Farewell
The men approached their end with "businesslike" deliberation. Their preparations began with the euthanization of their beloved bull-terrier; they used chloroform (obtained under the guise of treating neuralgia) to spare the animal any pain. Adamson spent his final days ensuring the dog’s puppies were safely distributed among friends in town. Neville’s final days were marked by a grim, clinical curiosity. In a letter to Dr. Popham, he detailed a series of self-experiments, including the ingestion of an ounce of laudanum and the opening of a vein to observe the effects of blood loss. He expressed a "quaint" yet tragic devotion to Adamson, refusing to let his companion participate in these painful experiments, preferring to test the methods himself first.
The Final Act
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the two men entered their wine cellar. Using ropes that had originally served as ring trapezes, they fashioned soaped nooses. At approximately 3:00 AM, the bailiff staying in the house was awakened by the whining of the men's remaining dog, but he found nothing amiss in the darkness. The bodies were discovered later that morning, suspended from the ceiling.
The Willaston Burial
The mystery of their bond followed them to the grave. While Neville's motives were tied to his perceived persecution and financial failure, no reason could be found for Adamson’s death other than his "intense love" and loyalty to Neville. On Wednesday afternoon, the two men were buried in the Willaston Cemetery. In a reflection of the social stigma surrounding suicide at the time, they were interred in plain shells without names, no minister officiated the service, and both were placed in a single grave—Neville positioned above his friend, John Adamson.
References
Memories of The Wine Cellar Tragedy. The Deaths of Neville and Adamson (1879)
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