Poisoning In The Victorian Era

All things considered, the fear of poisoning became more widespread throughout the Victorian era as the conversation and accusation in the press became more prevalent. Poisoning was understood as a cruel way of murder, coupled with female stigmatization, death by means of poison became central in challenging the Victorian way of life. Without proper regulation, these acts would continue, educing further anxiety as Victorian society did not know how to properly address the seemingly growing cases of poisoning.

Due of these reasons as mentioned above, desperate cries for legal attention began to concern itself with poison. By the mid 1840s there was widespread pressure from society for legal “intervention aimed at protecting people from themselves

Commonly used throughout products, manufacturing, and medicine, the Victorians were no stranger to ingestion. But, this did not mean they were always keen or even conscious of the levels of poison. As poisoning trials became more commonplace, worry struck the society as fear gripped the nation that a more and more poisoning cases were just around the corner. As explored, poisoning became statistically more popular during the mid-nineteenth century but the stigmatization of it became even more hotly debated. Heavily stigmatized as excessively callous it was also branded as dangerous as women became the face of poisoning as a means to challenge the status quo. Due to this, legal reform was established in the latter half of the century with the Arsenic Act of 1851 and the Pharmaceutical Act of 1868. Both bills attempted to restrict and regulate the sale of poisons. Nevertheless, poisoning continued, as exemplified by the case of Christiana Edmunds in 1872. Looking at her case, her trial fit the image of an insensitive woman but did not fall in line with a motive spurred from female dissatisfaction in her relationship since she was unmarried, perplexing as to why she would even commit the murders. Even so, her case was sensational. As a result, poisoning both fascinated and startled the Victorian era. Used both to help and to harm, poison was a controversial substance that was subject to intense scrutiny as the fine line between its remedial and damaging properties were often