Background Isabella “Bell” M’Menemy was born around 1803 in County Tyrone, Ireland. She moved to Paisley, Scotland, in 1821 before settling in Glasgow, where she became acquainted with Thomas Connor and his mother through a friend. Up to this point, Bell had stayed out of trouble and had been employed at a steam loom factory. … Read more
Maria Marten was the 26 year old daughter of mole catcher, Thomas Marten, who lived at Polstead in Suffolk. She was in a relationship with 24 year old William Corder and had become pregnant by him but the child had died at about two weeks old. Maria had a child, Thomas Henry, by a previous relationship with Peter … Read more
Jane Jameson (also given as Jamieson) was hanged at Town Moor, Newcastle, on Saturday, the 7th of March, 1829, for the murder of her mother, an inmate at the Keelmans Hospital, by stabbing her with a red-hot poker on the 2nd of January, 1829, from which she died some two weeks later. The Motive It … Read more
Charlotte Long became the last woman to be executed for a crime other than murder or attempted murder when she was hanged with Thomas Gaskins at Gloucester on 31st August 1833 for arson. Arson was considered a very serious crime due to the destruction of property and the risk to life. It still carries the … Read more
A Victorian Epidemic In the early 1800s and during the reign of Queen Victoria, murder by arsenic poisoning was epidemic in England. White arsenic, or arsenic trioxide (As₂O₃), is a metallic oxide that was widely used in the 19th century. It served multiple purposes: as a pesticide to kill vermin and insects, a herbicide, a … Read more
