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Six London Murderesses Who Shocked the World
This book features the cases of six London women, each very different in temperament, age and status, who resorted to murder. Their reasons were varied: in the case of the surly maid Kate Webster, sheer temper seems the likely cause; avarice seemed to spur Catherine Wilson to murder an estimated seven times; desperation to pay for the upkeep of her two-year-old son lay behind Sarah Drake’s crime; seductive young cook Eliza Fenning was accused of serving poison with her dumplings; evil mistress Elizabeth Brownrigg whipped her servant to death in a home-built dungeon; and finally, the vicious Catherine Hayes persuaded two lovers – one of whom was her own son – to decapitate her husband in an orgy of violence. This fascinating study explores these cases in depth, and reveals whether these women were tragic, misunderstood or just plain wicked.
30th September, 2024 in True Crime
Before Jack the Ripper, another monster prowled the waterways of Victorian London. The Thames Torso Killer has always lurked in the Ripper’s shadow, despite the fact he murdered and dismembered at least four people over two years. He started to kill in 1887, over a year before th…
21st December, 2015 in True Crime, Women in History
Of the six murderous women featured in Bad Companions, perhaps one feels most sympathy for the servant girl, Eliza Fenning. Not only could she read and write, she was described as young, petite and pretty and she was engaged to be married. She worked as a cook for the Turner fami…
16th December, 2015 in History, Society & Culture, Women in History
In 1891 it was estimated that, country-wide, more than a million – that is, one in three women between the ages of fifteen and twenty – were in domestic service; kitchen maids and maids-of-all work (sometimes referred to as ‘slaveys’) were paid between £6 and £12 a year. ‘Tweenie…
