True Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Part VII

The Tragic Case of Florence Maybrick

Florence Elizabeth Chandler Maybrick (3 September 1862 – 23 October 1941) was an American woman convicted in the United Kingdom of murdering her husband, cotton merchant James Maybrick.

Early life

Florence Maybrick was born Florence Elizabeth Chandler in Mobile, Alabama. She was the daughter of William George Chandler, a one-time mayor of Mobile and a partner in the banking firm of St. John Powers and Company, and Caroline Chandler Du Barry, née Holbrook. Florence's father had died before her birth. Her mother remarried a third time in 1872 to Baron Adolph von Roques, a cavalry officer in the Eighth Cuirassier Regiment of the German Army.

Marriage

While traveling by ship to the United Kingdom, Florence met James Maybrick, a cotton merchant from Liverpool. Other passengers were either amused or shocked by a 17-year-old girl spending so much time alone in the company of Maybrick, who was 23 years her senior. A year later, on 27 July 1881, the couple was married at St James's Church, Piccadilly, in London. They settled in Battlecrease House, Aigburth, a suburb of Liverpool.

Florence made quite an impression on the social scene in Liverpool, and the Maybricks were usually to be found at the most important balls and functions, the very picture of a happy, successful couple. But Maybrick, a hypochondriac, was a regular user of arsenic and patent medicines containing poisonous chemicals and had a number of mistresses, one of whom bore him five children. Florence, meanwhile, increasingly unhappy in her marriage, entered into several liaisons of her own. One was with a local businessman, Alfred Brierley, which her husband was told about. A violent row ensued after Maybrick heard reports of Florence's relationship with Brierley, during which Maybrick assaulted her and announced his intention of seeking a divorce. The wish for divorce seemed mutual.

James Maybrick was taken ill on 27 April 1889 after self-administering a double dose of strychnine. His doctors treated him for acute dyspepsia, but his condition deteriorated. On 8 May, Florence wrote a compromising letter to Brierley, which was intercepted by Alice Yapp, a nanny who hated Florence. Yapp intercepted all letters sent by Florence and passed them on to Maybrick's brother, Edwin, who was staying at Battlecrease. Edwin, himself by many accounts one of Florence's lovers, shared the contents of the letter with his brother Michael Maybrick, who was effectively the head of the family and who also hated Florence. By Michael's orders, Florence was immediately deposed as mistress of her house and held under house arrest. On 9 May, a nurse reported that Florence had surreptitiously tampered with a Valentine's Meat Juice bottle that was afterwards found to contain a half-grain of arsenic. Florence later testified that her husband had begged her to administer it as a pick-me-up. However, he never drank its contents.

Maybrick died at his home in Aigburth on 11 May 1889. In her memoir, Mrs. Maybrick's Own Story: My Fifteen Lost Years, Florence describes the following, as she knelt down by her late husband's bedside:

Death had wiped out the memory of many things. I was thankful to remember that I had stopped divorce proceedings, and that we had become reconciled for the children's sake.

Murder charge

His brothers, suspicious as to the cause of death, had his body examined. It was found to contain slight traces of arsenic, but not enough to be considered fatal. It is uncertain whether this was taken by Maybrick himself or administered by another person. In April 1889, Florence Maybrick was accused of using flypaper containing arsenic from a local chemist's shop and later soaked in a bowl of water. After an inquest held in a nearby hotel, Florence was charged with his murder and stood trial at St George's Hall, Liverpool, before Mr. Justice Stephen, where she was convicted and sentenced to death. Her trial was reported in newspapers as being a miscarriage of justice, as the prosecution evidence was baffling. After the verdict, crowds shouted in favour of Florence, believing she was being accused of a murder she did not commit.