{"id":22464,"date":"2023-03-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=22464"},"modified":"2023-04-24T16:49:19","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T14:49:19","slug":"lady-killers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/2023\/03\/16\/lady-killers\/","title":{"rendered":"Lady killers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Crime and punishment \/ <\/span>Lady killers <\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

\u201cBefore my children shall be taken, I will kill every one of them\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n\n
The BBC series Lady Killers <\/em>investigates historical murders perpetrated by women. As series consultant Rosalind Crone<\/span> <\/strong>reveals, there was often a lot more to these cases than initially met the eye <\/h5>\n\n
\"\"Accompanies series two of Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley<\/em>, <\/strong>on BBC Sounds <\/h5>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

1<\/span> The knife-wielding tavern owner <\/span><\/h3>\n\n
Mary McKinnon<\/span> <\/strong>was convicted of stabbing one of the customers in her Edinburgh establishment \u2013 and earned a one-way trip to the gallows <\/h5>\n\n

Edinburgh in the 1820s was a city of contrasts. The New Town was the playground of the affluent, lined with beautiful houses and grand assembly and concert rooms, where the wealthy could indulge in intellectual pastimes. The Old Town, however, was crowded and filthy, packed with dingy inns and taverns. As well as selling pints of ale, many also offered sexual services to their customers. The city\u2019s sex industry had been expanding since around 1760, and by the turn of the 19th century, South Bridge had become notorious for street walkers and brothels, and attracted residents from across the city in search of pleasure. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
A sex worker with a customer Such scenes were common in Edinburgh\u2019s Old Town (below) in the 19th century, with some of these interactions ending in violence<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

On 8 February 1823, William Howat, a writer\u2019s clerk, dined and drank through the afternoon with a group of friends at his lodgings in Broughton Street, on the edge of New Town. At 9 o\u2019clock the men decided to head down to South Bridge to continue their fun. They ended up at Mary McKinnon\u2019s tavern. Mary, the licensee, was out visiting a friend. But her employees and lodgers, Elizabeth MacDonald, Mary Curly and Elizabeth Grey, took the men into a private room, served them drinks and joined them. Soon, things turned nasty. <\/p>\n\n

The men claimed that they had drunk their whiskey, paid for it and prepared to leave, but the women had blocked their way, insisting they buy more. There was a scuffle, and some of the women hit them. According to the women, however, it was the men who had turned violent. They allegedly refused to pay for their drinks, smashed furniture, punched Grey and struck MacDonald with a candlestick. Frightened, Curly ran to fetch McKinnon, who hurried back with several of her neighbours and joined the affray. <\/p>\n\n

Howat was stabbed in the ruckus and later succumbed to his wounds, claiming on his hospital deathbed that McKinnon was his assailant. However, when questioned by the authorities, McKinnon insisted that she \u201cdid not have a knife in my hand between leaving the grocer\u2019s shop and being apprehended\u201d. <\/p>\n\n

Despite this, McKinnon was convicted of murder \u2013 a verdict no doubt encouraged by the judge at her trial, who instructed the jury to place more weight on the evidence of the men, and to disregard the testimony of the women who \u2013 as likely sex workers \u2013 were of \u201cvitiated character\u201d. She was hanged on 16 April 1823. Her case highlights the increasingly moral lens through which sex work was viewed in 19th-century Britain, which put women at risk and devalued their lives. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
\n\n

2<\/span> The mother driven to murder <\/span><\/h3>\n\n
Margaret Garner<\/span> <\/strong>fought to free herself and her family from the chains of enslavement in the US \u2013 and paid a heavy price <\/h5>\n\n

In the 1850s, the US was a divided country. Despite the growing strength of the abolitionist movement, slavery persisted in 15 southern states. In 1850, a second Fugitive Slave Act reinforced the power of slaveholders to drag back enslaved people who had fled to one of the free states. Yet despite the dangers, the prospect of freedom still tempted some to attempt an escape. <\/p>\n\n

Among those were the Garner family, who tried to flee in early 1856. They lived in Boone County, Kentucky, by the Ohio river \u2013 the dividing line between the free and slave states. Margaret Garner, 22, and her four children were enslaved by Archibald K Gaines, of Richwood. Margaret\u2019s husband, Robert, and his parents were enslaved by a neighbouring man, James Marshall. <\/p>\n\n

Life was unimaginably cruel and hard for Margaret and her family. Her marriage to Robert was not legally recognised by the state. Because they were enslaved by different men, they were unable to live together, and could see each other only when their enslavers permitted it. Their children automatically became the property of Margaret\u2019s enslaver, and could be sold at any time. Margaret had been forced to raise them as a single parent, balancing motherhood with the demands of the Gaines family, who insisted on virtually round-the-clock service. <\/p>\n\n

Within hours, the house was surrounded by marshals, armed with a warrant to force them to return to their slaveholders <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

On 27 January 1856, the Garner family made their bid for freedom. In the dead of night, when temperatures had dropped below \u201320\u00b0C, Robert and his parents left the Marshall farm, collected Margaret and the children and travelled 16 miles to the banks of the Ohio river. Avoiding the police watchmen, they crept across the frozen water, carrying the children in their arms. In the early hours of the morning the Garner family arrived at a relative\u2019s house in Cincinnati, where they waited for assistance from members of the Underground Railroad.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

But their plan soon unravelled. Within hours, the house was surrounded by marshals, armed with a warrant to force them to return to their slaveholders. Knowing capture was inevitable, Margaret cut the throat of her young daughter Mary, declaring: \u201cBefore my children shall be taken back to Kentucky, I will kill every one of them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

Margaret was apprehended before she could follow through with her threat. The Garners were taken to gaol, where Margaret explained her actions to the clergymen who visited her: \u201cI knew it was better for them to go home to God than back to slavery.\u201d Under the terms of the Fugitive Slave Act, Margaret did not face trial for the murder of her child but was instead returned with the rest of her family to the custody of the slaveholders, and a life of misery. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
This 1867 sketch shows Margaret Garner and her children being cornered by marshals. Having escaped enslavement, she was so desperate to prevent their return to bondage that she threatened to kill her children <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
\n\n

3<\/span> The illegal abortionist <\/span><\/h3>\n\n
Elizabeth Taylor <\/span><\/strong>made a living from helping hundreds of desperate women terminate their unwanted pregnancies. But some of her patients never left her operating table <\/h5>\n\n
\"\"
An advert offering to solve \u201ccomplaints of women\u201d, a euphemism for abortion services <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

On 22 July 1886, a \u201cladies nurse\u201d named Elizabeth Taylor urgently summoned a local doctor to her home in Melbourne, Australia. After swinging open the door, she confided: \u201cI\u2019m in trouble.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

Three days earlier, Elizabeth had performed an abortion on a 21-year-old unmarried actress named Julia Warburton. Such an operation was illegal in Australia at the time, and punishable by long-term imprisonment. <\/p>\n\n

Despite this, many desperate women in Julia\u2019s situation still turned to \u201cpractical mid-wives\u201d like Elizabeth. Early pregnancy could be terminated by taking drugs, often called \u201cFemale Pills\u201d. And if the pills failed to work, surgical abortion performed by a medical professional or a knowledgeable woman in the community was available for a fee. <\/p>\n\n

Yet while such services were widespread, and even discreetly advertised in reputable newspapers, they were not always safe. On 19 July, Julia visited Elizabeth to undergo the illegal operation. Three days later, she was dead. <\/p>\n\n

Elizabeth called a doctor, one known to perform abortions himself, whom she thought would be sympathetic. But although she tried to convince him to issue a death certificate stating that Julia had died from enlargement of the liver, the doctor refused, and Elizabeth was arrested for murder. <\/p>\n\n

This wasn\u2019t the first time that Elizabeth had been in trouble with the law. <\/p>\n\n

Between 1882 and 1885, she had been accused of causing the deaths of three other women who had undergone illegal surgical abortions. On each occasion, a lack of witnesses and evidence meant that Elizabeth had walked free. This time, Elizabeth hired expensive lawyers who argued that Julia had already ended the pregnancy by taking pills, and that Elizabeth, as a midwife, was merely trying to save her life by removing what the body had failed to expel naturally, such as the placenta. Elizabeth was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to two years\u2019 imprisonment. <\/p>\n\n

On her release, Elizabeth restarted her business, and further encounters with the authorities soon followed. She died, while serving her final sentence of imprisonment for manslaughter, in 1909. <\/p>\n\n

Abortion in the 19th century often conjures up images of dirty backstreet procedures by unskilled women keen on making a quick buck. Elizabeth Taylor, however, was both skilled and connected to medical professionals. Although implicated in the deaths of at least eight women, it is likely that Elizabeth performed successful procedures on many, perhaps hundreds, of others. \u201cAlthough I have a bad name,\u201d Elizabeth once said, \u201cI am not nearly as bad as people [make] out.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Police mugshots of Elizabeth Taylor, who was accused of causing the deaths of multiple women as a result of performing illegal abortions <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
\n\n
\"\"
The love triangle involving Freddy Bywaters, Edith Thompson and Percy Thompson (shown left to right) ended in Percy\u2019s murder in 1922. Although Freddy had wielded the knife, Edith was also convicted of the crime <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

4<\/span> The unfaithful wife embroiled in a murder plot <\/span><\/h3>\n\n
Edith Thompson<\/span> <\/strong>embarked on a passionate love affair to escape her marriage. But when her lover butchered her husband, she was accused of guiding his hand <\/h5>\n\n
\"\"
Edith Thompson at 28 years old, nearly two years before she was hanged for murder based on \u201cthe flimsiest evidence\u201d <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

England in the early 1920s felt ripe with possibilities for young women. Job opportunities abounded, thanks to the expansion of education and the after-effects of the First World War. Dress hems were shorter, hair cuts were sleeker, cinemas and dancing clubs proliferated \u2013 yet equality remained a distant prospect. For most women, marriage was still the destination, where many were required to give up their careers. A married woman still needed her husband\u2019s permission to open a bank account in her own name. Social purity campaigns warned against sex outside marriage. <\/p>\n\n

In 1922, following a sensational murder, the \u201cNew Woman\u201d \u2013 embodied by Edith Thompson \u2013 was put on trial. Born in 1893, Edith had made the best of her opportunities. After leaving school she had secured a clerical job at a wholesale milliners in the City of London. She was quickly promoted, taught herself French, and was sent on business trips to Paris. Then, in 1916, she married her long-term boyfriend, Percy \u2013 probably because she felt she had to rather than because she wanted to. In 1920, the couple managed to buy a house in Ilford \u2013 at that time a suburban paradise for the middle classes. Still, the marriage was lacking; they had so little in common. \u201cI told him that I did not love him, but that I would do my share to make him happy and contented,\u201d Edith wrote in a letter. \u201cIt was an easy way out of a lot of things to promise that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

By 1921, Edith was involved in a passionate affair with Freddy Bywaters, a shipping steward eight years her junior. When Freddy was at sea, the lovers continued their relationship through letters in which they wrote about their shared love of literature and theatre. They wanted to make a life together. There was just one obstacle: Percy. \u201cWe had talked about making my husband ill,\u201d Edith later admitted, \u201cand I was to give him something so that if he had another heart attack he would not be able to resist it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

On 3 October 1922, as Edith and Percy walked home from Ilford train station after a night at the theatre, Freddy leapt out from behind some bushes and stabbed Percy to death. Days later, Freddy was charged with murder. So, too, was Edith, after dozens of letters from her addressed to Freddy were found in his possession. The prosecution claimed that these missives contained incitements to kill Percy. Freddy and Edith were both convicted of murder \u2013 Edith, it is now recognised, on the flimsiest evidence \u2013 and were both hanged on 9 January 1923. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

\n\n
\"\"
Two children enjoy cocoa products in this vintage chocolate advertisement. In 1871, a confectionery shop in Brighton was targeted by a woman who added poison to its chocolates <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
\"\"
Christiana Edmunds was deemed insane and sent to Broadmoor Criminal Asylum after causing the death of a four-year-old boy <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

5<\/span> The stalker who resorted to poison <\/span><\/h3>\n\n
Christiana Edmunds<\/span> <\/strong>developed an obsession with her doctor that made her determined to win his affection \u2013 at any cost <\/h5>\n\n

We often think of stalking as a uniquely contemporary phenomenon, and a crime perpetrated almost entirely by men. But the case of Christiana Edmunds provides a rare and instructive example of a 19th-century female stalker. <\/p>\n\n

In 1867, Christiana and her mother, Ann Edmunds, moved to a fashionable address in the centre of Brighton. They were keen for a fresh start: their previous life had been marred by the mental illness and death of both Christiana\u2019s father and brother, as well as the pressures of their declining wealth. The three other remaining siblings, including Christiana\u2019s two sisters, had all married and moved away to start families of their own. Whether by choice or not, Christiana remained unmarried and had assumed the role of companion to her widowed mother. Things started to look up, however, when Christiana met Dr Charles Beard.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

As her doctor and close neighbour, Charles was kind and attentive. Christiana fell in love. She began to write letters to Charles, and made frequent house calls. There was just one problem: Charles was already married, to Emily Beard, and the couple had five young children. One evening in September 1870, while Charles was away, Christiana unexpectedly called on Emily with some chocolate creams from John Maynard\u2019s confectionery shop. Anxious that Emily should try one, Christiana popped a chocolate into her mouth, before making an excuse and leaving. As the chocolate tasted strange, Emily spat it out, but she spent the rest of the night feeling ill. <\/p>\n\n

Christiana embarked on a poisoning spree, contaminating chocolate creams with chemicals <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

When Charles returned, he was convinced that Christiana had tried to poison his wife and ended their friendship. Determined to prove him wrong by framing the confectioner, Christiana embarked upon a poisoning spree. Between March and August 1871, Christiana contaminated batches of chocolate creams from Maynard\u2019s shop with strychnine \u2013 a poisonous alkaloid commonly used in pesticides, odourless but bittertasting \u2013 which were then randomly distributed around Brighton. <\/p>\n\n

Many adults and children fell ill. On 12 June, Sidney Barker, a four-year-old boy on holiday in Brighton with his family, died. To deflect suspicion, or perhaps in search of attention, Christiana, posing as another victim, gave evidence at Sidney\u2019s inquest. In the days after, she wrote to Charles: \u201cMy dear boy, do esteem me now. I am sure you must. What trial it was to go through, that inquest!\u201d <\/p>\n\n

Charles did not renew their friendship. Christiana\u2019s poisoning scheme was eventually discovered, and on 16 January 1872 she was convicted of the murder of Sidney Barker. A post-trial diagnosis of insanity saved her from the gallows, and she spent the rest of her life at Broadmoor Criminal Asylum. <\/p>\n\n

\n\n

Rosalind Crone <\/strong>is professor of history at The Open University, and author of Violent <\/em>Victorians <\/em>(Manchester University Press, 2012) and Illiterate <\/em>Inmates <\/em>(Oxford University Press, 2022) <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
LISTEN<\/h5>\n\n

The second series of Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley, <\/strong>for which Rosalind Crone is the historical consultant, is due to launch on BBC Sounds on 20 March. Series one is also available on the service<\/span><\/p>\n\n

ONLINE<\/h5>\n\n

How awful were Victorian prisons? <\/strong>
Rosalind Crone answers key questions on the history of British prisons. historyextra.com\/british-prisons-qa<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

ALAMY\/TOPFOTO\/MARY EVANS\/NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA\/GETTY IMAGES\/BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crime and punishment \/ Lady killers \u201cBefore my children shall be taken, I will kill every one of them\u201d The BBC series Lady Killers investigates historical murders perpetrated by women. 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