The Crime
Twenty-one-year-old Harriet Tarver was convicted of poisoning her husband, twenty-four-year-old Thomas, with arsenic at their home in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, on Friday, the 11th of December, 1835. No clear motive for the murder was ever established.
Thomas had cold rice pudding for breakfast that Friday morning before going to work as usual as an ostler at the Noel Arms in Chipping Campden. His co-worker, George Cooper, noticed that Thomas became sick soon after arriving. He was sweating profusely and complaining of severe stomach pains. Thomas said, “How queer I am taken this few minutes.” Cooper held a candle to his face and noted that he was sweating and clutching his stomach in obvious distress.
The Events Leading to Death
William Holland, who lived near the Tarvers, had seen Thomas on the preceding Wednesday and had made some pills for himself. Thomas took two of these, which had been compounded from scorched laurel leaf, sweet nitre, and flour.
The next day, the Tarvers took tea with the Hollands, and William noted that Thomas seemed to be in good health. On the Friday, Thomas called at Holland’s house asking for warm water, saying, “If he did not alter, he would soon die.”
Harriet made some tea for Thomas. Mr. Holland went to a Mr. Griffith and purchased some salts. Thomas took some and immediately vomited. Local surgeon Mr. John Franklin Irons attended Thomas, who by then was very weak. He died around 2 p.m. that day.
On the Sunday, Mr. Irons went to the Tarvers’ house looking for Harriet. He walked a short while with her, telling her, “It is a very serious job, and people seem as if they would get me in trouble through it.” She replied, “I hope to God they will find nothing in him, and then nobody will get into trouble.”
Thomas Tarver was buried at St. James’s Church on the 16th of December, 1835.
Evidence of Arsenic Purchase
John Nicholls, an apprentice in the grocery shop owned by Mr. Cherry, testified that he had sold Harriet a penny’s worth of arsenic a week or so before Thomas died. This was corroborated by Letitia Butler, who also worked in the shop and knew Harriet.
Sarah Smith, who had a small shop where she made rice puddings, testified that she sold one to Harriet on the 9th or 10th of December.
Family Testimony
Elizabeth Tarver, Thomas’s sister, told the court that her brother and Harriet had been married for about two years and had a one-year-old daughter. She visited them on the Saturday, but Thomas had already died. Harriet told her, “She hoped he would not be opened and nothing would be found in him.”
The Trial and Conviction
Harriet was tried at the Gloucestershire Lent Assizes on the 7th of April, 1836, before Mr. Justice Williams. The court heard from Mr. Irons, who had Thomas’s stomach analysed by Dr. Thompson of Stratford, confirming the presence of arsenic.
The other witnesses gave the evidence outlined above, and Harriet was found guilty after the jury deliberated for an hour. Her defence was a simple denial, stating, “I am perfectly innocent, my Lord.”
The Execution
In the condemned cell, she was penitent and attentive to the chaplain. She was to be hanged in front of the County Gaol at Gloucester by William Calcraft before a large crowd at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, the 9th of April, having made a full confession.
In fact, it was 11:55 a.m. before she ascended the scaffold. She appeared faint and was moving her lips in silent prayer. Just before noon, she was launched into eternity, but due to the noose being incorrectly adjusted, she struggled hard for several minutes.
Aftermath
Harriet became one of the last three murderers executed within 48 to 72 hours of sentencing. The other two were Sophia Edney on the 14th of April, 1836, and John Deadman on the 15th of April.
Although parts of the Murder Act of 1751 had been repealed in 1832—particularly the requirement for dissection of the criminal after execution—by July 1836, two to three weeks typically elapsed between sentence and execution.
Thomas Oliver was the next execution; he was sentenced on the 28th of July, 1836, and hanged on the 12th of August.
Support the Archive
If you have found this article useful and would like to help preserve and maintain this historical archive, please consider supporting the site.