John Christie (murderer) - Early Life

Early Life

Born in the family home near Halifax, West Yorkshire, Christie was the sixth child in a family of seven children. He had a troubled relationship with his father, carpet designer Ernest John Christie, an austere and uncommunicative man who displayed little emotion towards his children; he would also punish them for trivial offences, such as taking a tomato from a plate. Christie was also dominated by his five sisters, leading his mother, Mary Hannah Halliday, to overprotect him, all experiences that undermined his self-confidence. In later life, Christie's childhood peers described him as "a queer lad" who "kept himself to himself" and "was not very popular". As an adult, Christie spoke of seeing at the age of eight the open coffin of his maternal grandfather and how profound an experience it had been to see the dead body of a man who had previously frightened him.

At the age of 11 Christie won a scholarship to Halifax Secondary School, where his favourite subject was mathematics, particularly algebra. It was later found he had an IQ of 128. Christie sang in the church choir and was a Boy Scout. After leaving school aged 15, he took a job as an assistant film projectionist.

In September 1916 Christie enlisted in the army and in the following April he was called up to join the 52nd Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment. In April 1918 Christie's regiment was despatched to France, where he was seconded to the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment as a signalman. In June, Christie was injured in a mustard gas attack and spent a month in a military hospital in Calais. Later in life, Christie claimed to have been blinded and rendered mute for three and a half years by the attack. Christie's period of muteness was the alleged reason for his inability to talk much louder than a whisper for the rest of his life. Author Ludovic Kennedy points out that no record of his blindness has been traced and that, while Christie may have lost his voice when he was admitted to hospital, he would not have been discharged as fit for duty had he remained a mute. His inability to talk loudly, Kennedy argues, was a psychological reaction to the gassing rather than a lasting toxic effect of the gas. That reaction, and Christie's exaggeration of the effects of the attack, stemmed from an underlying personality disorder that caused him to exaggerate or feign illness as a ploy to get attention and sympathy.

Impotence was a lifelong problem for Christie; his first attempts at sex were failures, branding him throughout adolescence as "Reggie-No-Dick" and "Can't-Do-It-Christie". (Nevertheless, a post-mortem report confirms Christie's genitals were normal physically). His difficulties with sex remained throughout his life, and most of the time he could only perform with prostitutes. On 10 May 1920 Christie married Ethel Simpson Waddington from Sheffield, at Halifax Register Office, but his problems with impotence remained, and he continued to frequent prostitutes. The couple moved to Sheffield, but separated after four years of marriage. Christie moved to London, and Ethel remained in Sheffield with her relatives.