Herman Henry Yeatman Woolf

Herman Henry Yeatman "Hal" Woolf (23 June 1902 23 November 1962) was a British artist who died in police custody under disputed circumstances. His second ex-wife, Greta, campaigned for an official inquiry. The Government held an enquiry chaired by Norman Skelhorn QC, which was held in private. The final report was published in March 1964 and the evidence released to the UK National Archives in 1995. This inquiry led to changes in police procedure notably with regard to charging semi-conscious or unconscious suspects.

This case was also the start of Private Eye becoming an investigative as well as a satirical magazine.

Early life Hal Woolf was the second child born in Hampstead to Michael Yeatman Woolf (20 January 1869 -14 May 1941 ) and his wife Rose Woolf née Nashelski (January 1872 ). His father was a dentist in Wimpole Street, London and his mother was Jewish and born in Christchurch, New Zealand. She was a published author of children's books under the name Rose Yeatman Woolf.

Education After education at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St Johns Wood Hal attended Warwick House school in Westminster and then studied at the City & Guilds Engineering College in London where he gained a BSc in Engineering in 1920. He did not attend Westminster School and London University as stated in Police records and contemporary newspapers. Following this he studied art at Chelsea Polytechnic under Bernard Adams from 1920–1922 and later in Paris at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. which was reviewed in the Yorkshire Post & Leeds Intelligencer: "interesting, alive, and rich in promise", "well up in the second class".

The Times also reviewed the exhibition: "Mr Woolf will paint better when he simplifies his motives"

There was a posthumous exhibition of Woolf's work at the Woodstock Gallery in 1964. The exhibition was reviewed by Arthur Moyse in Freedom, The Anarchist Weekly, on 18 January 1964:

"of a type and style that graces so many conservative mixed shows", "pitched in the key of Pissarro", "Colour dies upon the canvas and every scene is seen through a grey veil", "Yet for all that Woolf was a man who loved his craft", "Hal Woolf deserves to be honoured, not for any cultural values it may offer but as the work of a man who loved the craft he chose to practice"

His 1930s landscapes & townscapes are often of Spanish scenes. In the 1950s he painted scenes closer to where he lived at 21 Delamere Terrace, Paddington.

Author Hal had a short story "Twenty-Four Hours", published in a collection of short stories by different authors in 1934.

Other In his Army record Hal listed a number of other jobs: Scenario writer, Animated cartoonist, and Art director (cinema). and his first wife Mamie followed in 1936. Mamie & Hal were separated by the outbreak of the Battle of Majorca which was from 16 August to 12 September 1936 when the Republican forces attempted an invasion. Mamie returned to England in a destroyer. , but Jesus is not sure for how long; he also says he was a member of the Chelsea Arts Club. camouflage unit referred to Hal: "We drive to Haifa, and meet Barclay Russell and Hal Woolf, who is very much in his element as a camouflage officer and who makes many clandestine trips to Jerusalem". In a newspaper report of Hal's first conviction for possession of marijuana it says he was in East Africa. Hal volunteered for the army in 1939, went abroad in 1941 and returned to the UK in 1946. He was discharged with the rank of Captain. when he was fined £30 .

Connection to the Profumo scandal Hal died in November 1962 and his story broke in August 1963. The Profumo scandal broke at the same time.

Hal knew at least two of the people on the fringes of the Profumo Scandal. In the 1950s he lived at 21 Delamere Terrace, Paddington in a house also lived in by Henry and Ruth Milton. Her daughter Paula Hamilton-Marshall was a close friend of Christine Keeler and went to prison for perjury because she falsely accused Lucky Gordon of attacking Christine whereas it was in fact her brother John.

Hal was close friends with Henry & Ruby Milton and painted both of them, as did Lucian Freud who lived next door. Ruby was the model for Freud's La Voisine

Hal also knew Vasco Lozzolo. – 1 June 1963 ) on 13 July 1927 and they divorced in 1937 following his adultery with Margaret Gibbons (alias of Margaret Gerbeit) who became Hal's second wife. Mamie did not remarry. 6 hours after birth on 7 May 1929 having been born prematurely at 7 ½ months.

Before WW2 Mamie worked as a part-time personal assistant to Ivor Brown, drama critic of The Observer, for fifteen years until 1942 The section of her SOE personnel file which lists the countries she has been to does not include Spain. In the 1945 General Election Mamie was the election agent for Tom Wintringham. After WW2 Mamie returned to antique dealing and lived with her mother in Winchester. Mamie died on 1 June 1963. Her death certificate says she died of: Peritonitis, Carsinomatosis and Carcinoma of the breast.

Second wife - Margaret Meta Luis GERBEIT On 3 October 1939 Hal married Margaret "Greta" Gibbons (19 November 1914 and the 1939 phone book (as Greta) her real name was Margaret or Greta Meta Luise Gerbeit and she was born in Berlin.

Greta’s father was Gustav Gerbeit.

In the early 1930s she left home and started working as a photographer and model with Traut Hajdu.

In 1933 Greta appeared on the title page of Arbeiter Illustrie Zeitung, a Communist newspaper:

"Grete got the roughest deal of all, at least as seen from our middle class perspective. In 1933, just at the time Hitler came to power, her blond proletarian beauty graced the title page of the Communist Arbeiter Illustrie Zeitung (Worker's Illustrated Newspaper). She had to flee at once, and went to Spain, where she found no other way to make a living except with her beautiful body."

Greta left Germany with her friends and went to Ibiza where there was an embryonic artists’ colony based around the hotel-pension "Ca Vostra" run by Lene-Schneider Kainer.

When the Spanish Civil War started in 1936, Greta left Ibiza. In 1938 Hal Woolf wrote to his wife Mamie that stated he was "living with a woman in France and that he intended to take a flat for her in London".

Greta was brought to England by Hal in the mid to late 1930s.

Greta lived with Hal at 25 Fitzroy Square, London. and returned to the UK by 1949.

Greta used a number of aliases. The known ones are Margaret or Greta Gibbons, Margaret or Greta Woolf, Margaret Gibbings and Margaret Cotton.

In the 1950s Greta worked as a theatrical seamstress at the Old Vic and in the 1960s Margaret was an antiques dealer in Shepherds Bush Market and in the 1970s in Pierrepoint Row N1.

Greta's died on 11 September 2011 and her death was registered and a Home Office (HO) inquiry. The allegation by Hal's friends was that the Met police had caused his death but both inquiries found that this was not the case. The Home Office inquiry did criticise some aspects of police behaviour.

Hal was knocked down by a car in Park Lane, London and died of his injuries whilst in police custody.

The Home Office inquiry was published by HMSO in March 1964. The inquiry papers and the police files have been available at the UK National Archives since 1995.

The accident occurred at approx 5:30pm at the south end of Park Lane approximately opposite Achilles Way on the southbound carriageway. The inquiry assumed Hal was crossing from the East side. Park Lane was being remodelled at the time but this section was similar to the way it was in 2022. The inquiry papers include a map of the location with the position of witnesses. Pedestrians continued to be involved in accidents on Park Lane throughout the 1960s as not everyone used the new subways.

At the time of Hal's accident the traffic was very heavy with several lanes of traffic, it was drizzling and dusk or dark though the carriageway was well lit. Hal was knocked down by an E Type Jaguar registration number 773 ELH driven by Mr Ivor McLean. and the inquiry relied on his written records. The inquiry was unwilling to express any view with regard to Dr. Peters actions without him having an opportunity of explaining them. Attempts were made to contact his widow to see if she wished to be legally represented but it was found that she was in transit to Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and it was judged that further action was impracticable.

The police failed to complete the correct paperwork so when Hal's friends reported him missing it was not identified that he was in police custody. The police also searched Hal's flat at 21 Bourne Terrace, Paddington without appropriate permission and charged him whilst he was semi-conscious. On all of these points they were criticised by the inquiry.

On the afternoon of Sunday 11 November 1962, Hal was found in the detention room slumped on the floor and he could not be roused. Dr Peters was called and Hal was taken back to St George's Hospital. On arrival, he was examined and no injuries further to those recorded the previous day were recorded. At around 11pm on Monday 12 November 1962, Hal was taken to the Atkinson Morley Hospital which is a specialist in head injuries.

Two operations were performed on him but he died on 23 November 1962 at 10:10pm. He had been kept under police guard until 22 November when the guard was removed at the request of the hospital matron. Independent expert evidence to the inquiry said that Hal's head injuries incurred in the accident were unsurvivable. From the outset, the police were of the view that Hal was either drunk, under the influence of illegal drugs or both. However, no tests for alcohol or drugs are mentioned in the inquiry report or the released Police files.

Meanwhile, Hal's friends, including Greta, had become concerned at his disappearance and reported him as missing on 15 November but this was to a different London police station to the one where Hal had been taken and the failure to follow procedures on arresting someone meant that the fact Hal was in police custody was not identified. Greta's phone number was in Hal's diary as the person to contact in case of an accident but the police did not do this. The Police said that Hal had said he wanted no one to be contacted. The arresting officer claimed not to have seen this diary. The police did copy out names, addresses and telephone numbers, including Greta's, from it His ashes were removed.

Inquest and inquiries The inquest was held on 28 November 1962 and 5 December 1962 and recorded the cause of death as contusion of the brain following collision with a motorcar. the Met conducted an internal inquiry headed by DS Axon. The Police apologised for mistakes that led to Hal's whereabouts not being recorded correctly. The Met inquiry papers are held at the UK National Archives

The Met inquiry failed to allay suspicions amongst Hal's supporters and after pressure, including questions in the House of Commons., the Home Office carried out its own private inquiry led by Norman Skelhorn QC. The inquiry had no power to compel the attendance of witnesses or take evidence under oath. Mr Skelhorn heard evidence from seventy-eight witnesses and was satisfied that "all the relevant evidence which was available was put before me"

The inquiry papers were released to the UK National Archives in 1995 and included a manuscript transcript of the questioning of witnesses. There is also a gap in the internal references: HO/287/564 contains inquiry papers A1 to A28 and HO/287/565 contains inquiry papers A30 to A69. There are no documents from Special Branch or the security services in the inquiry papers despite Hal's connections including Malcolm Dunbar and Tomas Harris both of whom also died in disputed circumstances

At the inquiry one of Hal's friends, Marianna Sagovsky, said that Hal was "bad at crossing roads"

In his memoirs "Public Prosecutor" published in 1981 Norman Skelhorn wrote:

"I was pleased that the evidence in the Woolf case exonerated the police from any blame for the unfortunate man’s death".

Private Eye The Woolf case was first brought to public attention in Private Eye edition 43 published on Friday 9 August 1963. The story was picked up by the Sunday Mirror of 11 August 1963 and other national and regional papers followed.

This was the first piece of serious investigative journalism published by Private Eye and it came about almost by accident. Claud Cockburn, the left-wing journalist, was invited to guest edit one issue. Greta Woolf had been trying to get the newspapers interested in the Hal Woolf case without much success. She finally visited Cockburn at his home in Ireland and he decided to include it in Private Eye. The article was published under the headline "Come to Lovely London and find HOW TO BECOME DEAD Without Anyone Knowing How".

The article seems to be based almost entirely on the account of Greta as it matches her evidence to both the police inquiry and the Home Office inquiry.

Philip Knightley Philip Knightley kept a file on Hal Woolf in a locked cabinet in his office at the Sunday Times. The catalogue contains no entries relating to Hal Woolf.

Redfern Gallery catalogue, 1929 Source: +Catalogue

Woodstock Gallery catalogue, 1964

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