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down. When the jury returned to court after considering its verdict the foreman said: "although we think grave suspicion is attached to the prisoner, we do not think there is sufficient evidence to show how or by whom the chloroform was administered." The foreman then confirmed that the verdict was not guilty, which was greeted with "rapturous applause", public opinion having moved in
Adelaide's favour during the course of the trial.
22:
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says that âThe most singular feature in the case was that the prisoner had at one time (after his alleged second marriage) been living with his second wife, the first wife also living in the same house, and being represented by the prisoner as the wife of his cousin.â âHenryâ and
Margaret later had a son Henry William Desbury (1853â?) baptised on 12 Oct 1853 at St Jude, Chelsea as an âinfantâ.
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with her". Early in 1885, they met Dyson as the local
Wesleyan minister and he became a frequent visitor. Edwin made Dyson executor of his will, in which he left his entire estate to Adelaide, on condition that she did not remarry (a common stipulation in those days). Later Edwin redrew the will, four months before he died, removing the bar on Adelaide remarrying.
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parents, a brother and sister were living in
Hackney, Middlesex. On 19 January 1853 at St Leonard, Hackney, she married Adolph Collot De Thouars d'Escury, widower of 85 Holywell Street. He is described as a âPensioned Naval Officer in the French Serviceâ and son of "Adolphe de Thouars d'Escury, Duke of Thouars". Her husband had been married twice before:
96:
chemist's pharmacy as a record of buying medical poisons, but only for large amounts; Dyson bought four small bottles of chloroform instead of one large bottle, and bought them in several shops, claiming that he needed it to remove grease stains. Only after Edwin's death, did Dyson claim to suddenly realize how suspicious his actions were.
150:
The main forensic aid to Mrs. Bartlett is that the liquid chloroform reached the stomach without burning the sides of the throat and the larynx. Edwin did not have such burns on his body. This bolstered the suicide theory, for such rapid drinking suggested that the drinker rushed the poisoned drink
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am the next morning
Adelaide asked their maid to fetch Dr Leach, fearing Edwin was dead, before rousing the landlady. Edwin's stomach was filled with liquid chloroform. It is just possible that the stories of Edwin's alleged suicide might have been believed and his death considered free of foul play,
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After the wedding âHenryâ and
Margaret moved to Cheltenham and âHenry Desbury a man of colour, aged 41, was charged with having, on the 25th of Jan. 1848, feloniously intermarried and taken to wife Maria Margaret Bearcock, his former wife, Helena Caroline Desbury, being then alive.â The court report
184:
Walter Henry Prout d'Escury (1847â?). Emigrated to
Australia where he married Sarah Ann Riley (1862â1888). Sarah left him for Edmund Duhamel, who subsequently killed her. After their separation he appears to have gone to New Zealand where he was imprisoned in 1891 for âlarceny and utteringâ, and in
171:
Adelaide was the daughter of Clara née
Chamberlain (1834â1866) and her husband known as, among other names, Adolphus Collot de Thouars d'Escury (1817â1860). Clara was the daughter of Susannah nĂ©e Aynsley (1805â?) and William Robinson Chamberlain (1799â1860), a Stock Exchange Clerk. In 1851 she, her
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returned a verdict of wilful murder by
Adelaide Bartlett, with George Dyson being an accessory before the fact, and they were both arrested. The coroner tried to have Mrs Bartlett give evidence at the inquest because she was not permitted at that time to give sworn evidence on her own behalf at her
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Edwin and
Adelaide were married in 1875. According to Adelaide, it was intended to be a platonic marriage, but in 1881 she had a stillborn baby by Edwin; Edwin had refused her (female) nurse's advice to call a (male) doctor during a difficult labour because he did not want another man "to interfere
75:
minister, and (if the story Adelaide and Dyson told is true) was encouraged to openly romance Adelaide Bartlett by Edwin's permission. Edwin himself was suffering several unpleasant illnesses (including rotting teeth and possibly tapeworms). Edwin was supposedly something of a faddist, believing in
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The trial opened on 12 April 1886, attracting great press coverage both in the UK and abroad. At the opening of the trial, charges were read out against both George Dyson and Adelaide but the prosecution immediately asked for the charges against Dyson to be dropped and he was formally acquitted.
57:
was found in Mr Bartlett's stomach, despite having not caused any damage to his throat or windpipe, and no evidence of how it got there. Adelaide Bartlett was tried for her husband's murder and was acquitted. By the jury's own statement in court Mrs Bartlett's acquittal was partly secured because
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Second on 25 January 1848 at St Peter, Islington to Margaret Bearcock (1824â1886) the daughter of Margaret nĂ©e Curtis (1799â1844) and John Bearcock, Brass and Iron Founder (1794â?). The marriage certificate gives his name as Henry Desbury (a variant of dâEscury) and his profession as âLieutenant
95:
Towards the end of 1885, Adelaide asked Dyson to get some chloroform that had been prescribed by the doctor treating Edwin, Dr. Alfred Leach. Leach would later admit that he prescribed it reluctantly, but at the insistence of his patient. Under the laws of the day, one had to sign a book at the
220:
Henry Edward de Thouars, born 16 March 1853 in France, baptised 14 Sep 1855 at St Mark, Regents Park. The family name was De Thouars DâEscury, the address was 2 Chaleot Terrace, Regentâs Park and Adolphâs occupation was âTeacher of Languagesâ. Henry later emigrated to Australia and married
354:
According to John A Vickers, researching Methodist History (2002), George Dyson emigrated to America, changed his name to John Bernard Walker and became a naturalized citizen. Initially as a journalist he eventually became the editor of Scientific American and wrote several books.
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First on 2 December 1844 at St Luke, Finsbury to Helena Caroline Hampton (?â1852), the daughter of Hannah nĂ©e Muspratt (1785â1856) and Robert Hampton, Engineer (1777â1833). His profession was given as âProfessor of Languagesâ. Adolphus and Helena had three
132:, who suggested Thomas Bartlett had committed suicide. Clarke's taking on the case was rumoured to be due to Adelaide's mysterious father's intervention. The prosecution was in the hands (as was traditional in England and Wales until 1957) of the
351:, U.S., changed his name, and as a fortune hunter married and murdered a young bride, her sister, for her estate in 1916. Alternatively, Kate Clarke reports that Methodist church records state that Dyson emigrated to Australia.
224:
Adelaide herself, born 1855 in France, baptised 9 September 1856 at St Mary, Haggerston. The family name was de La Trouville De Thouars DâEscury, the address 8 Mayfield Street, Dalston, and Adolphâs occupation âProfessor of
66:
At the heart of the Pimlico Mystery is the odd relationship between a wealthy grocer, Mr. Thomas Edwin Bartlett (1845â1886), his younger French-born wife Adelaide Blanche de la Tremoille (born 1855), and the Reverend
104:
except that his father, who had always detested Adelaide and had earlier accused her of having an affair with Edwin's younger brother, became extremely suspicious and persuaded authorities to look into the death.
403:. He says that one of the scenes of the picture would feature Adelaide and Dyson making violent love while Edwin Bartlett just puffs smoke out of his mouth and stares at a pipe while sitting in a rocking chair.
416:
produced and aired an episode entitled "The Shockingly Peaceful Passing of Thomas Edwin Bartlett, Greengrocer" on 22 June 1953 that dramatized the story of this case for its audience with some changes of the
80:
as a key to health, but his reported eccentricities are partly based on what was learnt from Adelaide and Dyson. Adelaide's father was rumoured to be a wealthy and possibly even
228:
Frederick âFreddyâ DâEscury, born about 1858 in France. In 1861 he was living in Havelock Terrace, Hackney with his mother, then a âTeacher of Frenchâ and her sister.
244:(1939) report that they had an "impression" that Adelaide Bartlett later married George Dyson, but that they had also heard a theory that the two never met again.
99:
On New Year's Eve, 31 December 1885, Edwin Bartlett returned from a visit to the dentist and went to sleep alongside Adelaide in their Pimlico flat. Just before 4
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Clara Amelia, born 23 Jun 1859 in Kentish Town, in 1871 she was living in Hackney with Claraâs brother William Chamberlain and his family. She died in 1873.
1037:
374:, with Jodie Foster was "... loosely based on that of Adelaide Bartlett, who, in 1886, went on trial for the chloroform poisoning of her husband.â
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This enabled the prosecution to call him as a prosecution witness, but also made it possible for the defence to take advantage of his testimony.
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162:"Now that she has been acquitted for murder and cannot be tried again, she should tell us in the interest of science how she did it!"
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The issue of how the poison got into Edwin's stomach without burning him internally in the throat led the famous surgeon, Sir
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that he once intended to make a film about this case, but later on he dropped the idea because Truffaut's film
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After the trial both Adelaide Bartlett and Reverend George Dyson vanished from public notice. The authors of
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Margaret married a second time in 1869 to Col, David John Falconer Newall, late of the Bengal Artillery.
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147:) and the defence called no witnesses, although it did give a six-hour closing statement to the court.
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Adelaide was not able to testify in her own defence (something not possible for defendants until the
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Marie Helen d'Escury (1853â?) who married Louis Marie Verguet and appears to have moved to France.
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The Trial of Adelaide Bartlett for Murder, Held at the Central Criminal Court (1886)
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the prosecution could not prove how Mrs Bartlett could have committed the crime.
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The Pimlico Murder: Strange Case of Adelaide Bartlett (Classic crime series)
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Clara and Adolphus had several children â brothers and sisters of Adelaide:
461:
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113:
732:
R. J. C. Munday (1985). "Reflections on the Criminal Evidence Act 1898".
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broadcast an eight-part drama about the case as part of the TV series
606:. 19 February 1886. p. 11 – via The Times Digital Archive.
588:. 16 February 1886. p. 10 – via The Times Digital Archive.
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is the name given to the circumstances surrounding the 1886 death of
274:
21:
344:
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257:, suggested that Mrs. Bartlett emigrated to the U.S., settled in
46:
644:
619:
Blessed days of anaesthesia: how anaesthetics changed the world
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959:(New York, Charles Scribner's Son, 1958), pp. 191â249.
953:
Victorian Trumpets: Edward Clarke defends Adelaide Bartlett
774:
Baptised as Eleanor Caroline, married as Helena Caroline.
430:
407:
955:, pp. 8â80; the same essay appears in Lustgarten's
487:
Poison and Adelaide Bartlett: the Pimlico poisoning case
660:
Jones, Elwyn (1969). "The Office of Attorney-General".
560:(reprint ed.). Kessinger Publishing. p. 306.
832:
The Pimlico Murder: Strange Case of Adelaide Bartlett
962:Sir John Hall (ed), Notable British Trials Series,
785:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/59979969
987:, (Edinburgh: W. Green & So, Limited, 1926),
706:
616:
555:
1064:
426:in 1952 under the title of "Four Small Bottles".
731:
188:Modestus Felix de Thouars d'Escury (1851â1851).
989:The Luck of Adelaide Bartlett: A Fireside Tale
558:Poison Mysteries in History, Romance and Crime
811:, Moffat, Scotland: Lochar Publishing, 1991,
640:
638:
420:The case was dramatised on the radio series
951:(New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1951),
303:. Unsourced material may be challenged and
783:Illustrated Australian News 15 Sept 1888 |
645:Derek Walker-Smith; Edward Clarke (1939).
635:
530:
399:also dealt withâaccording to his visionâa
879:"The Black Museum â "Four Small Bottles""
510:Adelaide Bartlett and the Pimlico mystery
504:
502:
500:
498:
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457:
455:
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451:
323:Learn how and when to remove this message
1058:John Bernard Walker, Scientific American
1038:What ever happened to Adelaide Bartlett?
621:. Oxford University Press. p. 131.
20:
809:William Roughead's Chronicles of Murder
535:. Robinson Publishing. pp. 35â38.
484:
347:claimed in 1939 that Dyson had come to
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1053:George Dyson alias John Bernard Walker
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524:
522:
493:
448:
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41:, possibly at the hands of his wife,
711:. Taylor & Francis. p. 89.
649:. Taylor & Francis. p. 178.
301:adding citations to reliable sources
268:
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996:Chloroform: The Quest for Oblivion
519:
251:, in his novelization of the story
112:trial, which only changed with the
16:1886 death of Thomas Edwin Bartlett
13:
1078:1886 murders in the United Kingdom
969:Beal, Edward, and Clarke, Edward,
128:Adelaide Bartlett was defended by
14:
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795:Cheltenham Chronicle 4 April 1849
343:'s life reported that a woman in
985:The Rebel Earl and Other Studies
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516:Volume 309 24â31 December 1994.
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964:The Trial of Adelaide Bartlett
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592:
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466:Unsolved Murders and Mysteries
1:
1048:The Pimlico Poisoning Mystery
927:
647:The life of Sir Edward Clarke
242:The Life of Sir Edward Clarke
235:
61:
935:Poison and Adelaide Bartlett
600:"The Pimlico Poisoning Case"
582:"The Pimlico Poisoning Case"
7:
709:Practical Guide to Evidence
10:
1119:
1093:Unsolved murders in London
707:Christopher Allen (2008).
670:Cambridge University Press
617:Stephanie J. Snow (2008).
556:C. J. S. Thompson (2003).
158:, to make his famous quip
145:Criminal Evidence Act 1898
114:Criminal Evidence Act 1898
746:10.1017/s0008197300114448
734:The Cambridge Law Journal
678:10.1017/S0008197300088899
662:The Cambridge Law Journal
43:Adelaide Blanche Bartlett
35:Pimlico Poisoning Mystery
957:The Murder and the Trial
834:(Classic crime series),
805:Richard Whittington-Egan
485:Bridges, Yseult (1962).
441:
358:
337:Richard Whittington-Egan
119:
1103:1880s murders in London
514:British Medical Journal
1020:(1990), revised 2011,
842:(1990), revised 2011,
164:
53:. A fatal quantity of
26:
905:"A Question of Guilt"
489:. Hutchison & Co.
160:
39:Thomas Edwin Bartlett
24:
947:Lustgarten, Ernest,
297:improve this section
1083:January 1886 events
1043:Victorian Poisoners
991:, pp. 215â252.
983:Roughead, William,
909:BBC Programme Index
862:My Letter to George
531:Brian Lane (1991).
468:(ed John Canning),
435:A Question of Guilt
367:My Letter to George
185:1893 for âlarcenyâ.
994:Stratmann, Linda,
949:Defender's Triumph
379:Hitchcock/Truffaut
109:Mr A Braxton Hicks
27:
1026:978-0-9553205-1-4
979:978-1-4373-4233-8
966:(Edinburgh, 1927)
933:Bridges, Yseult,
848:978-0-9553205-1-4
718:978-0-415-45719-4
628:978-0-19-280586-7
508:Michael Farrell,
391:François Truffaut
333:
332:
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167:Adelaide's family
136:at the time, Sir
130:Sir Edward Clarke
107:An inquest under
25:Adelaide Bartlett
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1088:Murder in London
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339:'s study of
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1067:Categories
928:References
819:, p. 205.
389:filmmaker
372:Mesmerized
364:The movie
236:Later life
84:member of
62:Background
55:chloroform
762:146226540
694:145400357
686:0008-1973
672:: 43â53.
313:June 2023
284:does not
177:children:
45:, in the
915:23 April
889:23 April
850:, p. 264
437:in 1980.
345:Maryland
73:Wesleyan
1098:Pimlico
754:4506701
305:removed
290:sources
47:Pimlico
33:or the
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51:London
758:S2CID
750:JSTOR
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