Christiana the Killer
Love, jealousy, and poison are an all too familiar tale in Victorian society, but the story of Christiana Edmunds is an exceptional one. Christiana Edmunds was a 33 year old, middle class woman living in Brighton when she became the patient of the local physician Dr. Charles Beard in 1869. During the course of the next few months Christiana and Dr. Beard began to exchange love letters but unfortunately for Christiana Dr. Beard had a wife. As reported in The Derby Mercury, Christiana gifted Dr. Beard’s wife, Emily, some chocolates in September of 1870. Emily tried to eat them but immediately spit them out and then presented symptoms of poisoning. Dr. Beard confronted Christiana about the situation, accusing her of attempted …show more content…
Beard and Christiana. These parcels were sent via rail and the contents were all poisoned. The Penny Illustrated Paper described that Dr. Beard had once again been receiving letters from Christiana just before receiving the parcel at his house. Dr. Beard and some of his cooks fell ill due to the cake but fortunately they recovered. At this point Dr. Beard took his suspicion to the police believing once again Christiana was the culprit behind the tampered …show more content…
Christiana’s mother testified that there was a history of mental illness in the family as Christiana’s lawyers argued a plea of insanity. The trial itself was a spectacle as Christiana even tried to claim she was pregnant to delay the process, as noted by the Reynolds’s Newspaper. Even so, with the evidence against her the Old Bailey announced Christiana Edmunds was found guilty of the ‘wilful murder of Sidney Albert Barker’ and was sentenced to the gallows for her crime. Upon further consideration from physicians Christiana was given a mental analysis and her sentence was reciprocated to life imprisonment at the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. She was moved there in July 1872 and lived there until her death in
Love, jealousy, and poison are an all too familiar tale in Victorian society, but the story of Christiana Edmunds is an exceptional one. Christiana Edmunds was a 33 year old, middle class woman living in Brighton when she became the patient of the local physician Dr. Charles Beard in 1869. During the course of the next few months Christiana and Dr. Beard began to exchange love letters but unfortunately for Christiana Dr. Beard had a wife. As reported in The Derby Mercury, Christiana gifted Dr. Beard’s wife, Emily, some chocolates in September of 1870. Emily tried to eat them but immediately spit them out and then presented symptoms of poisoning. Dr. Beard confronted Christiana about the situation, accusing her of attempted …show more content…
Beard and Christiana. These parcels were sent via rail and the contents were all poisoned. The Penny Illustrated Paper described that Dr. Beard had once again been receiving letters from Christiana just before receiving the parcel at his house. Dr. Beard and some of his cooks fell ill due to the cake but fortunately they recovered. At this point Dr. Beard took his suspicion to the police believing once again Christiana was the culprit behind the tampered …show more content…
Christiana’s mother testified that there was a history of mental illness in the family as Christiana’s lawyers argued a plea of insanity. The trial itself was a spectacle as Christiana even tried to claim she was pregnant to delay the process, as noted by the Reynolds’s Newspaper. Even so, with the evidence against her the Old Bailey announced Christiana Edmunds was found guilty of the ‘wilful murder of Sidney Albert Barker’ and was sentenced to the gallows for her crime. Upon further consideration from physicians Christiana was given a mental analysis and her sentence was reciprocated to life imprisonment at the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. She was moved there in July 1872 and lived there until her death in