When Ruth Kaye celebrated her 100th birthday on February 6, 1944, she received congratulations from the King and Queen, a magnificent floral arrangement from the mayor of Strathfield and a personal blessing from the Archbishop of Sydney. 

The Bulletin wrote at the time: “Surely on the honour roll of Australian citizens the name of Ruth Emilie Kaye should hold a high place.” 

The Maitland Mercury also paid tribute to her.

Ruth Kaye immigrated to Australia early in 1886 and joined her brother William in Tasmania. 

She trained as a nurse at The Alfred Hospital at Prahan before being appointed as sister-in-charge of the Female Lazaret (infectious diseases) at the Coast Hospital, Little Bay in Sydney. 

She worked for a decade at the Parramatta Industrial School for Girls and between 1911 and 1936, was matron of the Pierce Memorial Nurses Home in Elgin Street, West Maitland.

She retired at the age of 92. 

Ruth Kaye was an enigma, a woman whose apparent life of service was contradicted by a dark and shaded past. 

Her real name was Constance Kent.

Sometime during the night of June 29 and the morning of June 30, 1860, Francis Saville Kent, almost four years old, disappeared from his home, Road Hill House, in the village of Rode in Wiltshire, England. 

His body was found in the vault of an outhouse on the property. 

The child, still dressed in his nightshirt and wrapped in a blanket, had knife wounds to his chest and hands, and his throat was slashed so deeply that the head was almost decapitated. 

The boy’s nursemaid, Elizabeth, was initially arrested, but was released when suspicions moved to the boy’s 16-year-old half-sister, Constance.

She was arrested on July 16, but released without trial owing to public opinion that objected to the accusations of a working-class detective against a young lady of breeding.

Five years later in 1865, Constance was prosecuted for the murder after confessing to an Anglican clergyman although, even then, it was speculated that the confession was false. 

Many supposed that her father, Samuel Saville-Kent, a known adulterer, was having an affair with the toddler’s nursemaid and, in a fit of rage, murdered the child after coitus interruptus.

Constance’s brother, William Saville-Kent, was also suspected but never charged. 

The investigating detective’s view was that if Saville-Kent was not the culprit solely responsible for Francis Saville Kent’s death, he was at the very least, an accomplice to Constance. 

Constance Kent was sentenced to death, but this was commuted to life in prison owing to her youth at the time and her confession. 

She served 20 years in prison and was released in 1885, at the age of 41, changed her name and emigrated – the rest is history. 

Do you really know who lives next door?

– Kevin Short, Maitland & District Historical Society

MORE LOCAL HISTORY: Horseshoe Bend WWI medal