Deptford Poisoning Cases

The Deptford Poisoning Cases of 1889 dealt with the murder by poisoning of three people by Mrs Amelia Winters (30 January 1827 – 14 July 1889), together with her daughter, Elizabeth Frost (b 1860) and of setting up multiple insurance policies so that they could claim the insurances. They had insured over twenty people, five of whom had died. Mrs Winters died before her trial. Her daughter, Elizabeth Frost (30), was only convicted of forgery for falsifying insurance documents.[1][2]

The cases

The pair were indicted for the murder by poison of Sidney Bolton, aged 11 years, a niece's child that she was caring for, William Sutton, the aged father of another relative, and Elizabeth Frost (53), who died in February 1888, the mother of Thomas Frost, the husband of Elizabeth. The doctor's certificate had given the cause of death as 'gastrodynia, diarrhoea and convulsions.' The case was investigated by the police when the father found out about the insurance policies and became suspicious. Mrs Winters had insured the lives of 22 persons for a total of £240 with the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society alone, and five of these had died since 1886, the society paying out for them. She also had fourteen policies with the Prudential, which had also paid out for the same five deaths. There had been no checks on her relationships with the insured people. On the Liverpool Victoria's insurance form for Sidney Bolton she had just written 'X' against his mother's name. [3]

The inquest
FEMALE POISONERS AT DEPTFORD.

FIVE PERSONS POISONED. A MOTHER AND HER DAUGHTER COMMITTED FOR TRIAL.

At the Breakspear Hotel, Brockley, on 10 July, Mr Wood resumed the adjourned inquests on the bodies of Sydney Bolton, aged 11 years, and Williams Sutton, aged 74 years, whose remains were recently exhumed by order by the Home Secretary. Since the adjournment a third body, that of Elizabeth Frost, aged 47 years, has also been exhumed, and the organs examined, like those of the others, by Dr. Stevenson, analyist to the Home Office. Each of the persons whose death formed the subject of inquiry has been, together with others, insured by Mr Winters, of 153, Church-street, Deptford.

The boy Sydney Bolton lived with Mrs Winters, for some time before his death. His sister also lived there, and was first taken ill but recovered. The boy was next seized with similar symptoms and died, Dr Stevenson finding in the body traces of arsenical poisoning. It was alleged that Mrs Winters declared the insurance policy to have lapsed, but subsequently it transpired that she had received £20 from one office and £10 from another. Sutton appears to have been insured for £8 14s. He went out of the workhouse on 4 December last, and died at Mrs Winter's house four days later.

Mrs Frost, whose body was the third exhumed, was insured for £5. In all, five persons whose lives were insured by Mrs Winters had died, the first on 18 July 1886, and the last (Bolton) on 11 February of this year. The coroner now swore the jury to inquire into the death of Elizabeth Frost, who died on 7 February 1888.

Mr Thomas Bond, F.R.C.S., described the result of the post mortem examination of the bodies of William Sutton and Elizabeth Frost. In Sutton's case the appearances were quite consistent with death from an irritant poison. In the case of Elizabeth Frost the state of preservation in which the intestines were found indicated the presence of some preservative such as arsenic. The intestines were sent to Dr Stevenson. A number of other witnesses were examined.

The jury returned a verdict of 'wilful murder' against Amelia Winters and Elizabeth Frost, her daughter, in each of the three cases, adding that Dr Macnaughton had been reckless in the manner in which he had given the certificates, and that the facilities given by the loose system of some insurance societies is an incentive to wilful murder. The coroner made out his warrant against the two women to appear at the Central Criminal Court.

Mrs Winters' daughter Elizabeth, who is married to one of the sons of the deceased Mrs Frost, was in court with a baby at her breast, and when the coroner's warrant was made out she was immediately arrested and taken into an ante room. Her husband, who witnessed the arrest, one of the charges being for murdering his mother, was completely broken down with grief, and sobbed like a child.[4]

Mrs Winters' death

Mrs Winters died before she could be brought to trial but admitted her guilt on her deathbed to her husband and daughter.[5] No inquest was held for her death, the Doctor said it was the result of 'marasmus — a general wasting away.'[6][7] Mrs Winters was buried in Brockley cemetery on 22 July in unconsecrated ground. The burial was kept secret with police present to deter demonstrations.[8][9]

The Trial of Elizabeth Frost

Elizabeth Frost was tried at the Old Bailey in July and found guilty of forging a document for the payment of money, with intent to defraud.[10][11] She was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude but the charge of murder was withdrawn.[12]

Life insurance

The coroner for Surrey, Athelstan Braxton Hicks, had written a letter to The Times on 14 February 1889 listing eleven proposals for combating the dangers of child life insurance. The Deptford Poisoning Case was influential in tightening up the 1875 Friendly Societies Act.[13]

Other victims

Other possible victims of Mrs Winters were identified. There was Benjamin Winters (54), the brother of Joseph Winters, Mrs Winters' husband. Mrs Winters had insured him for 18 guineas. In 1885 he left Greenwich Workhouse to stay at Mrs Winters house for a holiday and "was taken ill with diarrhaea, sickness, pains in the stomach, and similar symptoms to those described in the previous cases. Dr McNaughten attended the man, who expired in a few days in a fit." Another case was William Winters (5), Mrs Winters' grandson; she had insured him for £5. In the summer of 1886 he was removed from hospital to stay with Mrs Winters and died in a few days. A third case was that of Ann Bolton (65), who was insured by Mrs Winters for £3 10s. In November 1886 she died at Friendly Street, Deptford, after Mrs Winters had been nursing her.[14]

A witness in the case, George Francis Dear (34), a single man, of King-street, Blackheath-hill, who had lodged with Mrs Winters at 153, Church Street, Deptford, later committed suicide by hanging after finding out that Mrs Winters had insured his life with a Liverpool society for 19 guineas.[15][16]

References
  1. "The Deptford Poisoning Cases". Times [London, England]. 10 July 1889. p. The Times Digital Archive – via The Times Digital Archive.
  2. "The Deptford Poisoning Case". Greenwich & Deptford Observer. 7 June 1889. p. 5.
  3. Rose, Lionel (2015). Massacre of the Innocents: Infanticide in Great Britain 1800–1939. Routledge. ISBN 9781317370635.
  4. "FEMALE POISONERS AT DEPTFORD". The Colonist. XXXII (5588). 2 September 1889. p. 4 – via National Library of New Zealand. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. "Deptford Poisoning Cases: Confession of the late Mrs Winters". Illustrated Police News. 27 July 1889. p. 2.
  6. "The Late Mrs Winters". St James's Gazette. 19 July 1889. p. 8.
  7. "The Deptford Poisoning Cases". Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. 21 July 1889. p. 5.
  8. "Deptford Poisoning Case: Burial of Mrs Winters". Croydon Guardian and Surrey County Gazette. 27 July 1889. p. 7.
  9. "Deptford Poisoning Case. Burial of Mrs Winters". The Pontypridd Chronicle and Workman's News. 26 July 1889 – via Welsh Newspapers Online - The National Library of Wales.
  10. "651. ELIZABETH JANE FROST". Old Bailey Proceedings Online. July 1889.
  11. "The Deptford Poisoning". London Evening News and Post. 2 August 1889. p. 4.
  12. "SPIRIT OF THE NEWS". Lloyd's List. 26 October 1889. p. 11.
  13. "Child Life Insurance". Times [London, England]. 19 July 1890. p. 10 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  14. "Deptford Poisoning Cases Further Revelations". South Wales Echo. 26 July 1889. p. 3. hdl:10107/4411522.
  15. "Yesterday's Inquests". Reynolds's Newspaper. 21 July 1889. p. 8.
  16. "The Deptford Poisoning Case". South Wales Echo. 19 July 1889. p. 3 – via Welsh Newspapers Online - The National Library of Wales.
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