A Comparison of the Cases of Men and Women who Killed Children in Victorian Britain by Emily Smith

The late 1800s saw a substantial rise in the number of infanticide cases across Victorian Britain in general, but also in the number of cases that reached the courts, leading to what scholars have referred to as a moral panic across society.[i] The dominant historiography on infanticide cases in this period focusses on the cases…

Poverty, Femininity and Infanticide in Nineteenth-Century England by Erin Taylor

In 1844 Sarah Dickinson was found insane following the murder of her children.[i] Her trial transcript reveals lots about Victorian attitudes towards poverty, femininity and gender roles and their relation to infanticide trials. Similarly, the trial highlights that the McNaughton Rules, which were enacted the previous year, were sometimes neglected in sympathy towards impoverished mothers…

Bangs to the Head and Jealousy in the Victorian Courtroom by Alannah Ward

This post explores the trial of Auguste Mariottini, which took place at the Old Bailey in London in 1897. His case suggests that physical trauma, in this case a head injury, was accepted in the courtroom as a cause of madness and jealousy was not. Mariottini was found insane because the witness accounts of the…

A Threatening Letter to the Prime Minister: A Case of Poverty and Temporary Insanity by Hannah Kanharn

William Townsend was tried in May 1893 for sending a letter to Prime Minister William Gladstone in which he ‘threatened to kill and murder him’. His trial transcript provides an insight into the causes of insanity in the nineteenth century, including anxieties relating to poverty, fatherhood, and temporary insanity. A recurring feature in William’s trial…

Class, Femininity and Grief: A Case of Theft and Insanity by Cerys Barker

Charlotte Annie Fitzgerald was tried for the theft of a gold pencil case, necklace, diamond ring, and other property from Henry Collingwood and Elizabeth Mary Gosling in 1873. She was found insane. The trial transcript highlights themes of class, femininity, and grief and their influence on the treatment of insanity; particularly in middle-class married women….

The Law, Jealousy and Medical Men in the Victorian Courtroom by Alicia Place

Throughout this post I will be discussing the trial of George Daws, which took place in 1897. George Daws slit his wife’s throat and suspectedly fractured her skull through a sharp blow with a coal hammer whilst she was asleep. Daws withheld his confession to his stepdaughter who heard the disturbance, however later confessed to…

Fatherhood in the Courtroom by Eve Nicholson

This post focuses on the trial of Joseph Wood, who was found insane in 1866 following the murder of his three-week-old daughter Nelly. Wood’s trial transcript trial highlights themes such as fatherhood, masculinity, social class, and hereditary madness, but the focus here is on fatherhood. During the nineteenth century, fatherhood was one of the stages…

Sympathy in the Victorian Courtroom by Sophie Griffin

In 1845 Eliza Huntsman was found insane following the murder of her five-month-old daughter, Emily Huntsman.[i] This trial reveals much about how childbirth was believed to cause mental strain in mothers and how the McNaughton Rules, the legal criteria for insanity, were sometimes ignored in women’s cases.  Eliza Huntsman’s aunt assured the court that Huntsman…

‘If there is any branch of human disease upon which it is more difficult to form an opinion, without doubt it is with reference to this disease of the mind’: The Trial of Charlotte Annie Fitzgerald and the Kleptomania Defence by Kelly Quinton Jones

In early 1872 Charlotte Annie Fitzgerald stole several items from Mr Collingwood’s store, including a golden pencil case and a diamond ring. She then travelled to India with her husband, Major Fitzgerald, where she sold the stolen items to a Mrs Gosling. Upon her return to England in 1873, Charlotte was indicted for simple larceny.[i]…

Indian Fever, Theft and Insanity: A Middle-Class Kleptomaniac by Myfanwy Thomas

Charlotte Annie Fitzgerald was tried at the Old Bailey on 27 October 1873 for stealing a gold pencil case, a gold necklace and a diamond ring from a jewellers.[i] The trial resulted in Charlotte being found not guilty on the grounds of insanity, following the direction of the key witnesses, including a former friend, doctors and…