In the streets of Regency London,the young servant, Elizabeth Fenning, faced a sinister charge - attempted murder by poison. Accused of lacing her employer’s dinner with arsenic, the 21-year-old cook quickly found herself trapped in an increasingly lopsided courtroom, where any hope of the justice she had held whilst awaiting trial seemed to recede with every new witness brought to the stand. The case caused widespread public consternation and outrage that lasted months, coming close to sparking riots in the streets, as the debate raged on, that never truly ended.

SOURCES

Clarke, Kate (2020) Trial of Elizabeth Fenning. Mango Books, London, UK.

Watkins, John (1815) The Important Results of an Elaborate Investigation into the Mysterious Case of Elizabeth Fenning. William Hone, London, UK.

The Globe (1815) The Globe. Sat 25 March 1815, p4. London, UK.

The Globe (1815) The Globe. Mon 27 March 1815, p4. London, UK.

The Star (1815) Charge Of Poisoning Family. Tues 28 March 1815, p4. London, UK.

The Globe (1815) Charge OF Poisoning A Whole Family. Fri 31 March 1815, p1. London, UK.

-------

For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com

Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories

The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories

Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9

Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast

Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories

& Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/

Or you can contact us directly via email at [email protected]

or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf

The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye

Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017

Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices