in case you had any relatives go missing??

[celestine53]

hello,

I am reading a good book at the moment, "The Arsenic Century" by James C Whorton.
a history of how victorian britain was poisoned at home, work and play.
Just reading a chapter of how parents poisoned their childred to get hold of the "burial money" , some women also used it to get rid of their husbands, so just in case you wondered where your ancesters went when they failed to appear on the next census.......

[v.wells]

How positively gruesome! But I suppose it was a fact of life or another means of getting out of a bad situation which could have been poverty, abusive marriage, greed or plain old insanity.

I'm sure I read somewhere that Victorian women dusted arsenic powder on their own skin to improve their complexion and men dusted thier wigs with it.

[celestine53]

Yes, all four and more , this book is an eyeopener and certainly exposes the myth that all the victorians were upstanding and moral, but then faced with the kind of grinding cruel poverty and indifference of the upper classess to your plight you are not going to treat your own right!!. There were not even proper inquests such was the lack of will and money available.
I watched a programme on t.v a few months ago and the presenter said that many women dealt with troublesome husbands and children this way right up to the end of the 20th century, she ended by saying
" Many women took their secrets to the grave with them...." I really would recommend this book.

How positively gruesome! But I suppose it was a fact of life or another means of getting out of a bad situation which could have been poverty, abusive marriage, greed or plain old insanity.

I'm sure I read somewhere that Victorian women dusted arsenic powder on their own skin to improve their complexion and men dusted thier wigs with it.