Occasionally when scouring the archives, one comes across entries that warrant, demand even, further investigation. The above is one such example. It is from the burial register of Charles the Martyr (Charles Church) Plymouth, and records the burials on 9 July 1812 of John, Susan and Elizabeth Hyne, with the intriguing annotation “Father & two daughters, M”. What did the “M” stand for? Further research revealed a second copy of the original entry; this time, the corresponding annotation left no room for doubt in the mind of the reader - “Father & two daughters, murdered by the father”. A search of the various archives led to an entry in the Plymouth Rate books telling us that the burial in the churchyard cost 6 shillings for John Hyne and 1 shilling for each of his daughters. More importantly their ages were included in the entry – John was 35 years old at the time of his death, Susan and Elizabeth were 3 years and 12 months respectively. Armed with