Circe in Crinoline: Domestic Poisonings in Victorian England

Abstract

During the Victorian era, about forty women were tried for poisoning their husbands. Despite the small number, the cases loomed large in the public imagi nation and were given widespread and sensational coverage by the press. Evidence presented at poison trials tells us much regarding Victorian ideas about science, domestic routines, patterns of marital conflict, and attitudes toward women in general. Fears of domestic poisonings caused Parliament to restrict poison sales in 1851 and reinforced negative stereotypes of women as secretive and conniving. Some women, however, may have found the image of the poisoner empowering, and the threat to poison appeared to be a common female defense against abusive husbands.