Christiana Edmunds and the Edwardian Press
Today (19th September) marks the anniversary of Christiana Edmunds' burial in the grounds of Broadmoor Asylum. Christiana lived to the ripe old age of 79, dying in 1907 of "senile debility" (or old age). At the time of her death, her crimes were a distant memory: it had been 36 years since she had committed her poisoning spree and 35 since she had stood in the dock of London's Old Bailey. Nevertheless, many newspapers reported Christiana's death and used her passing as an opportunity to remember her "curiously cunning" poisoning spree. For the Banbury Advertiser, Christiana was the scorned lover who planned a "diabolical course of action" as a means of winning back Dr Beard. Similarly, the Manchester Courier called Christiana the "notorious poisoner" whose case was one of the most serious of the past century. Interestingly, the Essex County Chronicle chose the headline "Mad for thirty years" and noted that her death se...