Christina Croft

Murderesses In Victorian Britain Christina Croft

Which Victorian murderess inspired Thomas Hardy's 'Tess of the D'Urbevilles'? Who lived to regret her 'deathbed' confession? Was Amelia Dyer mad or wicked? Why did the judiciary look compassionately on women who committed infanticide? Among over eighty women whose stories appear in this book, some were tragic; some were evil; some were mad; and several were undoubtedly innocent of the murders for which they were hanged. While politicians argued about the rights and wrongs of capital punishment, some of these women walked stoically to the gallows; some fainted or screamed in terror at the sight of the noose; and others walked free from the courtroom having 'got away with murder.'