The Woman Who Murdered Babies for Money; The Story of Amelia Dyer

by Rattle, Alison; Vale, Allison

• ISBN13: 9780233003160
• ISBN10: 0233003169
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-03-11
• Publisher: Carlton Publishing Group

Summary

As well as relating the story, the authors explore the circumstances that enabled such crimes to be committed. Unregulated "adoption" was a widely acknowledged problem. The Child Protection Act did not yet exist. In Mrs Dyer's case, though, such shameless profiteering did not, ultimately, go unpunished: the police finally located Mrs Dyer, kept her under surveillance and then mounted a "sting" operation, using a young woman to pose as a potential customer. Amelia Dyer was arrested when she opened her front door to find two policemen on her doorstep. Finally confessing, she said, "You'll know all mine by the tape around their necks." She was hanged in 1896 See this lady? You would not want to lock horns with her. You certainly wouldn't give her your baby. But in the late nineteenth century, that's exactly what a lot of women did. Why? Because in an era when having a child out of wedlock was so severely frowned upon, Amelia Dyer took advantage of this. She advertised in the press offering to 'adopt' unwanted babies, charged the poor grief-stricken mums GBP 10 for the privilege, took the wee babes off their hands - and then drowned them in the River Thames. As well as relating the story, the authors explore the circumstances that enabled such crimes to be committed. Unregulated 'adoption' was a widely acknowledged problem. The Child Protection Act did not yet exist.

Author Biography

Both married with children, Allison Vale and Allison Rattle are also the co-authors of, among other books, How to Boil a Flamingo, Mothers' Wit, and How to Push a Perambulator.

Table of Contents

What the River Revealed	p. 9
Suffer Little Children	p. 12
A Casual Informer	p. 16
Kensington Road	p. 18
The Sting	p. 23
Beginnings	p. 28
From Angel to Angel Maker	p. 32
The Brixton Baby Farmer	p. 36
The Lunatic Pauper Palace	p. 45
Totterdown	p. 51
The Totterdown Baby Farm	p. 57
Polly and the Post-mortem	p. 64
Criminal Intent	p. 69
Silent Servitude	p. 73
Polly and the Ballad-Monger	p. 78
Mother Returns	p. 80
The Fishponds House of Confinement	p. 84
The Governess's Baby	p. 89
Mother and the Boarding House	p. 93
Polly and the Piano	p. 95
Mother and the Sharp-Pointed Knife	p. 98
Lunacy	p. 101
"Once more there were funerals"	p. 104
Arthur	p. 106
Liquor and Laudanum	p. 109
"Frenzied Objects"	p. 112
Melancholy Days	p. 116
"They broke my spirit"	p. 120
Money Troubles
The Family Divided	p. 125
Queenie Baker	p. 130
Granny Smith	p. 132
One Step Ahead of the Law	p. 136
A Family Business	p. 139
A Healthy Place in the Country	p. 142
Like Mother Like Daughter	p. 148
A Case at Willesden	p. 153
Granny's Misgivings	p. 157
The Barmaid's Daughter	p. 163
The Undertaker's Wife	p. 175
The Carpet Bag	p. 182
Good Friday	p. 186
Dyer on Remand	p. 190
The Arrest of Arthur Palmer	p. 193
Bodies and Bricks	p. 196
Mrs Dyer Confesses	p. 203
A Murderess Identified	p. 206
An Interview with Palmer	p. 208
Further Developments at Reading	p. 210
Trial by Newspaper	p. 215
A Body in the Reeds	p. 218
Polly and the Actress	p. 220
A Damning Testimony	p. 224
Holloway	p. 231
The Old Bailey	p. 234
Newgate	p. 238
The End	p. 240
The Auction	p. 242
Legal Repercussions	p. 245
A Brown Paper Parcel	p. 247
Acknowledgements	p. 249
Index	p. 251
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