Palatine Hall and 2 Dalton Square are adjacent buildings; number 2 was once the home of the infamous doctor Buck Ruxton.
Ruxton was once called Bukhtyar Rustomji Ratanji Hakim. He was born in Bombay, India, on the 21st of March 1899 and was a Parsi – according to tradition, therefore, descended from a group of Iranian Zoroastrians who emigrated to Western India more than 1,000 years ago.
Dr Buktyar Rustomi moved to England in 1930, changed his name to Buck Ruxton and began practising as a doctor in from his home.
Life seems to be going well for Ruxton. He had three children with his wife Isabella and mingled with the elite of the society.
However, Buck was intensely jealous and possibly mad. He became sure that Isabella had taken a lover and was having an affair. In a fit of rage, he committed a murder – he strangled Isabella with his bare hands. Unfortunately for Buck, there was a witness, the building’s maid, one Mary Jane Rogerson.
The evil doctor killed Mary Jane to stop her from speaking. Being a trained and calculating surgeon Buck Ruxton cut up the bodies of Isabella and Mary Jane Rogerson using a bath to contain the blood. A bath that would later become evidence in his trial and scattered their body parts over a wide area.
The parts of Mary Jane Rogerson were found buried in a churchyard in Overton, a small village near Morecambe, and Isabella Ruxton were found 100 miles north of Lancaster in a stream near the Scottish town of Moffat.
Buck Ruxton had made some mistakes. In his mad dash from Palatine Hall to Scotland he had nearly hit a cyclist with his car. The cyclist had a name a note of his registration plates. The newspaper he used to wrap some of the parts in was a special edition; sold only in Morecambe and Lancaster and had headlines that featured the Morecambe Carnival.
He was caught and brought to trial. The trial caught the attention of the public; not just for the horrible deaths at Palatine Hall but for the forensic techniques used to expose the doctor; early fingerprinting was used, x-ray technology was used and even forensic entomology.
Buck Ruxton was hanged in Manchester, in Strangeways prison, on the 12th of May 1936.
Palatine Hall, the house on Dalton Square, was abandoned for many years after the murders. It was refitted in 1980 and is now a commercial building.
During the trial, the public adapted the song “Red Sails in the Sunset”
Red stains on the carpet,
Red stains on the knife
Oh Dr Buck Ruxton
You murdered your wife.
Then Mary she saw you
You thought she would tell
So Dr Buck Ruxton
You killed her as well.
Hauntings
No one would live in Palatine Hall or the house after the twin murders. Today no one sleeps in the building.
Some locals and paranormal experts suggest the building is haunted. Likely ghosts include Isabella and Mary Jane Rogerson who both died in Palatine Hall.
Some investigators, on Twitter, have talked about orbs being photographed in the square and of the possibility of EVP from the building.
In Pure Spirit
Have you been to Palatine Hall, number 2 or anywhere in Dalton Square? What was your experience like?
Creative Commons Credit: Humphrey Bolton.
Er… I'm afraid you're slightly mistaken.
Dr. Ruxton did indeed practice from No.2 Dalton Square, but that address isn't Palatine Hall. In your photo, Palatine Hall is on the right, behind the tree, whereas No.2 is to the left, behind the cars.
Palatine Hall is not, and never has been, a doctors' surgery; internally, it's entirely unsuitable for that purpose. In over two centuries, it's been a catholic chapel, temperance hall, music hall and cinema, and is now occupied by council offices (I worked there in the 1990s).
What may be causing confusion is that No.2 is also used by the City Council, and the two buildings may now be linked inside. In 1930, they definitely weren't.
Thanks for the local insight and corrections. Both the people I've spoken to seemed to talk about number 2 and Palatine Hall being one in the same so I suspect they're now joined pr that people lazily refer to Palatine Hall but actually mean number 2, I've seen that happen before. It would be great to find someone who works inside today to confirm this
Dr Buxton didn’t really think his murders through very well, i have just heard the story and it is very intriguing to the fact of where jelousy drives you to the point of murder.
he probably lead a very sad life in which to live and he did in which make his murder easy to find out as such as i am only 15 i am intrigued by history and murders usch as these. but in paranormal terms this man is not to be crossed with .
my family lived on bulk street just around the corner from dr ruxtons and my mother once told me that ruxton had asked her out??? i really don`t know how true this was but glad she didn`t go!!!
Stay away from what is myth-concluded but indeed stay with what hath-substance and you can touch it, then you know it is real.
Regards,
Raymond E.O.Ella.
I've recently discovered that Mary Jane Rogerson is the niece of one of my ancestors, Thomas Close. Thomas was married to Mary Jane Wilson and Mary Jane Rogerson was the daughter of one of the siblings of Mary Jane Wilson. Thomas lived in Lancaster and his death was certified by Buck Ruxton. His death was recorded as heart failure but noted that there was no post mortem….makes you wonder!!
It would appear that we may be related. I'm the second cousin of Mary – My mother was her cousin.
Elaine
Hi there my name is Steve rogerson we lived in morecambe and have family in carnforth Mary Jane was a cousin to us. may we be related. we have traced our tree back to 18** please see my posting below for contact details thanks.
Hi Elaine please see my posting below thanks. if we are related please get in touch
He was a well-loved Doctor.
He was good at his job.
He was NOT a Dr Shipman.
His patients LOVED him.
He was obviously mad with rage at his wife.
Poor Mary Jane had to die too.
RIP Isabella and Mary Jane.
Hi there we may be related we lived in morecambe and have family still in carnforth area please see my listing below. Steve rogerson.
The person that stated number 2 is behind the cars is right.When i was little my brother and i lived close to the ruxton house and we would go round there,My brother would jump over the wall and try to get in, as it was rumoured the bloodstained bath was still in there,so being a typical boy he wanted to see.I always stayed where i was,noway was i going to jump over, i was terrified especially when id hear him screaming that buck's ghost was after him.He alway's told me that he'd got in and the bath was still there. How brother's like to scare thier sister's.i believe the bath was used as a horse trough at preston police station.
my uncle works there
hey im wordering does anybody know what buckruxtons kids were called ?
Just looking out of curiosity and found your post. My father Geoff was the illegimate son of Buck Ruxton. He had five children 4 of who survive. My name is Steve.
are you sure about this or is it speculation? was he Isabella's child as well? because I know the Ruxton's children…
Hi anonymous.
Do you really know what happened to the Ruxton Children as I thought they were sent away and given new identities in 1936.?
I cannot find any information anywhere as to what happened to them.
My Aunty was one of Buck’s patients and thought the world of him.
Marys remains were not actually found in the Churchyard in Overton but were found along with that of Ruxtons wife in Scotland. Her remains were later buried in Overton Church yard.
I am one of Mary Rogersons second cousins.
Elaine
I have visited Overton Church, to lay some flowers, but cannot find Mary's gravesite.
She doesn't have one. Her parents didn't want one because some people would inevitably come and visit it out of a morbid interest.
the building is linked as i am working there for lancashire county council at this present moment.
what work do you do is it restoration? and have you seen anything you may think paranormal other than your work collegues
so am i mate
I worked in the building during the late 80s through to the 2000's. Nobody saw anything during work hours – even winter evenings. But a succession of cleaning staff (who obviously worked later than office based employees) would not clean areas of the first floor and top 2nd floor office, the latter coincidentally where the 2nd murder took place.
dr buck ruxton was a good and caring doctor. a lot of local people are alive thanks to his kindness. as in the 1930s there was no health service. what he did was wrong, and he paid the price for his crime.
thank you for seeing past his crime and looking at his life as well. he is a family member of mine and was not an evil man.
Hi there thanks for information i am a cousin of Mary Jane and would like to other potential family members thanks s.rogerson please get in touch. my email is [email protected]
Thought he only had 3 – Elizabeth, Diane & Billy? Would be interested to know of the others, please.
As kids, my mates and I were dare-devils. We once climbed up to the roof of the Odeon Cinema, and various tall places. But NO WAY on Earth would we go near the Ruxton house!
I have read people’s comments in other places, that they used to go to their Dentists in Ruxton’s house! Or that it was still used by Doctors! Dear me. The house was uninhabited and uninhabitable after the murders, as almost the entire staircase was removed for forensics. It seems to attract fantasists, like the persistent rumours of secret tunnels from the Castle to almost everywhere in Lancaster. Of course all these tunnels have been blocked and no trace remains!
@anonymous He was abusive to his wife (she actually left him for a period of time prior to the murders but went back to him because she wanted to make her children happy) and ultimately brutally murdered her for things he made up in his head.
He then went on to kill poor Mary Jane.
Whilst his wife and Mary were still “missing”, the period before their body parts were discovered, he went to Mary Jane’s parents and told them…his wife took Mary Jane for an illegal abortion because she had fallen pregnant.
To say that about a woman during the 1930’s was enough to render her unemployable!
So he not only horrifically murdered Mary Jane, he went out of his way to completely ruin her reputation.
Two lives taken in a most cruel and sadistic way.
3 children stripped of their mother and countless family members left without their 2 loved ones. Loved ones left unable to burry the full bodies of the two women.
If that isn’t evil, I don’t know what is.
Especially done by someone who took the Hippocratic Oath!