Nineteenth-Century Female Poisoners : Three English Women Who Used Arsenic to Kill

Social and legal representations of female poisoners during the mid-nineteenth century in England, and the social and moral panics about women's access to arsenic. Nineteenth-Century Female Poisoners investigates the Essex poisoning trials of 1846 to 1851 where three women were charged with using arsenic to kill children, their husbands and brothers. Using newspapers, archival sources (including petitions and witness depositions), and records from parliamentary debates, the focus is not on whether the women were guilty or innocent, but rather on what English society during this period made of their trials and what stereotypes and stock-stories were used to describe women who used arsenic to kill. All three women were initially presented as 'bad' women - but as the book illustrates there was no clear consensus on what exactly constituted bad womanhood "Nineteenth-Century Female Poisoners investigates the Essex poisoning trials of 1846 to 1851 where three women were charged with using arsenic to kill children, their husbands and brothers. Using newspapers, archival sources (including petitions and witness depositions), and records from parliamentary debates, the focus is not on whether the women were guilty or innocent, but rather on what English society during this period made of their trials and what stereotypes and stock-stories were used to describe women who used arsenic to kill. All three women were initially presented as 'bad' women- but as the book illustrates there was no clear consensus on what exactly constituted bad womanhood"-- Provided by publisher Front Matter....Pages i-xi Introduction....Pages 1-10 Crime in Nineteenth-Century England: Decline, Causes and Concerns....Pages 11-32 Broadening the Scope: Moving beyond Simple Sources....Pages 33-58 Poisoning Crimes in the United Kingdom, 1839–51....Pages 59-76 The Archetypical Poisoning Woman: The Cases of Sarah Chesham....Pages 77-113 Death Clubs, Secret Poisonings and an Execution: The Case of Mary May....Pages 114-140 Fallen Woman or Bad Witnesses? The Case of Hannah Southgate....Pages 141-159 Conclusion....Pages 160-166 Back Matter....Pages 167-224 "Nineteenth Century Female Poisoners: Three English Women Who Used Arsenic to Kill is an eye-catching title that makes me hope for a salacious but informative read."--Yvonne Jewkes, University of Leicester, UK