Sweet Fanny Adams

August 24, 1867, 8 year old Fanny Adams was killed by solicitor's clerk, Frederick Baker in Alton, Hampshire. He gave her three companions 3 half pence to spend and offered Fanny a half penny to go with him. She refused so he carried her away into a field of hops. This was about 1:30 in the afternoon.
At 7 pm Fanny was found, horribly butchered, her head and legs were severed, and her eyes removed and thrown in the river. Her torso was empty and her organs scattered. She was re-assembled over the course of several days.

Frederick Baker was arrested with blood on his clothes and two blood stained knives. Fellow clerk, Maurice Biddle, reported that while drinking at The Swan, Baker said he might leave town. When Maurice said he might not find another job, Baker cryptically returned, "I could go as a butcher." His diary entry for August 24th read: Killed a young girl. It was fine and hot.
A stone was found with blood, long hair and flesh clinging to it, later determined to be the murder weapon. The jury found Baker guilty after fifteen minutes of deliberation and he was hanged on Christmas Eve before a crowd of 5000 spectators at the Winchester Gaol.

In 1869, new rations of tinned mutton were introduced to the British Navy. The enlisted men were unimpressed with it and joked that it must be the butchered remains of Fanny Adams, since the area over which her body was strewn included a Royal Navy victualing yard and abattoir. "Sweet Fanny Adams" became slang for mutton, stew, or anything worthless in the sense of "fuck all". Royal Navy slang persisted in referring to tins of steak and kidney pudding as "baby's head". Mess tins and cooking pots also became known as "Fannys".