True Crime-Paranormal-Conspiracy Theories Stories Part V #Wattys2023

Ogress of Reading: Amelia Dyer

Amelia Elizabeth Dyer ( Hobley; 1836 – 10 June 1896), popularly dubbed the Ogress of Reading, was an English who murdered infants in her care over a thirty-year period during the .

Trained as a and widowed in 1869, she turned to —the practice of unwanted infants in exchange for money—to support herself. She initially cared for the children legitimately, in addition to having two of her own, but whether intentionally or not a number of them died in her care, leading to a conviction for and six months' . She then began directly murdering children she "adopted", strangling at least some of them, and disposing of the bodies to avoid attention. Mentally unstable, she was committed to several throughout her life, despite suspicions of , and survived at least one serious suicide attempt.

Dyer's downfall came when the bagged corpse of an infant was discovered in the , with evidence leading back to her. She was arrested on 4 April 1896. In one of the most sensational trials of the Victorian period, she was found guilty of the murder of infant Doris Marmon and on 10 June 1896. At the time of her death, a handful of murders were attributed to Dyer, but there is little doubt she was responsible for many more similar deaths—up to 400 (or possibly more), making her a candidate for history's .

Dyer's case led to stricter laws for adoption and , and also helped raise the profile of the fledgling (NSPCC), which formed in 1884.

Background[]

Amelia Dyer was born the youngest of five (with three brothers – Thomas, James and William – and a sister, Ann) in the small village of Pyle Marsh, just east of , the daughter of master Samuel Hobley and Sarah Hobley (née Weymouth). Amelia learned to read and write and developed a love of literature and poetry. However, her childhood was marred by the mental illness of her mother, caused by . Amelia witnessed her mother's violent fits and was obliged to care for her until she died in 1848. Researchers later commented on the effect this had on Dyer, and also what it taught her about the symptoms exhibited by those who appear to lose their mind through illness.

Dyer had an elder sister, Sarah Ann, who died in 1841 at age 6, and a younger sister, also named Sarah Ann, who died in 1845 aged a few months. An elder cousin had an daughter at the time who was later accepted as the daughter of the grandparents, William and Martha Hobley, who were Dyer's aunt and uncle. After her mother's death Amelia lived with an aunt in Bristol for a time before serving an apprenticeship with a maker. Her father died in 1859. Her eldest brother, Thomas, inherited the family shoe business. In 1861, at the age of 24, Amelia became permanently from at least one of her brothers, James, and moved into lodgings in Trinity Street, Bristol. There she married George Thomas. George was 59 and they both lied about their ages on the marriage certificate to reduce the age gap. George deducted eleven years from his age and Amelia added six years to hers—many sources later reported this age as fact, causing much confusion.

Nursing[]

After marrying George Thomas, Dyer trained as a . From contact with a , Ellen Dane, she learned of an easier way to earn a living—using her own home to provide lodgings for young women who had conceived illegitimately and then for adoption or allowing them to die of and . (Dane was forced to decamp to the US, shortly after meeting Amelia, to escape the attention of the authorities.) Unmarried mothers during the often struggled to gain an income since the 1834 had removed any financial obligation from the fathers of illegitimate children, whilst bringing up their children in a society where and illegitimacy were stigmatized. This led to the practice of baby farming, in which individuals acted as or agents in return for regular payments or a single, up-front fee from the babies' mothers. Many businesses were set up to take in these young women and care for them until they gave birth. The mothers subsequently left their unwanted babies to be looked after as "nurse children".