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Norwich dumpling poisonings

On 2 March 1829, a family in Norwich, England of John and Rhonda Burgess, their son, and friends Mary Moss and Ann Piller, were poisoned by arsenic that whitesmith John Stratford had mixed into the flour John Burgess had later used to make dumplings. Stratford had bought the arsenic from a chemist that January and mixed it into a bag of flour, giving it to the local workhouse addressed to Thomas Briggs who was bedridden at the workhouse with cancer in February after Jane Briggs, Thomas's wife, had given birth to Stratford's child in June 1828. Those who had eaten the dumplings fell ill, and John Burgess died the same day.

Background

John Stratford was a hard-working and athletic whitesmith in Norwich with a wife and six children and a shop based on King Street. He had made much of the iron work for the new Norwich City Gaol, including its gallows. For around 7 years, Stratford had been friends with Thomas and Jane Briggs when he became intimate with Jane, and she became pregnant with his child. When she told him of this, he said he hoped "she would not go her time." He gave her "something to take", but she did not take it. She gave birth to Stratford's child in June 1828.^[1]

Later, Thomas Briggs became bedridden with cancer of the face, and was taken to the Norwich Workhouse infirmary. Jane regularly bought flour for his "thick milk" diet that was fed to him through a feeding pot, and had frequently expressed to the Stratfords that she could not always obtain enough flour.^[1]

Preparations

In January 1829, Stratford bought two ounces of arsenic from Richard Cross at a chemist shop, stating that it was to kill rats. Cross believed this was not suspicious as he knew Stratford, though his apprentice William Dawson later recalled Stratford putting each ounce of the arsenic in a paper he marked with the word 'poison'. On 11 February, he appeared at the workhouse with a sack of flour marked "To Thomas Briggs, sick in the workhouse", and left it at the kitchen window. It was put in a cupboard for future use.^[1]

Poisoning

On 2 March, John Burgess, husband of nurse Rhoda,^[1] a man whom Stratford had never met,^[2] used some of the flour to make dumplings. Rhoda Burgess gave two pieces of the cooked dumplings to her son, and ate that was left with Mary Moss and Ann Piller. All who had eaten the dumplings fell violently and suddenly sick. John Burgess was taken to bed while he said "I am a dying man." John Coleman, the city surgeon, found John Burgess in a dying state, suffering extreme stomach pain and vomiting constantly. He died at about 6:15 pm the same day.^[1]

John Burgess' post-mortem examination, by Mr Dalrymple, showed evidence of poisoning through arsenic, and poisons expert William Stark confirmed this. Stark found arsenic mixed into the flour, with the writing on its bag matching Stratford's. Stratford's premises on King Street were searched, and the papers containing arsenic from Cross's chemist were found there, though with only one ounce.^[1]

Trial and execution of Stratford

In August 1829,^[2] Stratford was brought before the Assizes; when called upon for his defence, he said, "My Lord, I am perfectly innocent of what is laid to my charge. Moreover, I never was within the gates of the Workhouse, either before or at the time it has been sworn I was there." Witnesses, including the son of Alderman Herring and Reverend R. F. Elvin, spoke favourably of Stratford's character.^[1] Despite this, the jury returned a guilty verdict after four hours,^[2] and Stratford was sentenced to death at 42 years of age.^[1]

While imprisoned, Stratford dictated a condemned cell confession. In this confession, which was later published as a broadside, he stated that he had not used the arsenic from Cross's chemist, and had instead used a third of an ounce of arsenic that he had received in the course of his work. He said he took the contaminated flour to the workhouse, saying that, "my object was to destroy Briggs, from the fear that exposure of my intimacy with the woman Briggs would break the peace between my wife and me."^[1]

Stratford's execution took place on 17 August 1829 at the new Norwich City Prison; he had previously made the metalwork and fittings for its gallows. A crowd of thousands came to watch, blocking Earlham Road from traffic until after the execution. Premium viewing spaces at the top of St Giles' Church tower were sold for £2 each. William Calcraft carried out the execution on top of the prison lodge; Strafford became the first person to be executed at the new Norwich City Prison, and hanged for an hour. His body was then removed from the gallows and taken to the Guildhall to be placed in public view in the Lower Court for two hours. One Mr Mazzotti cast a death mask of Stratford's head for phrenological examination, and his body was then dissected at Norfolk and Norwich Hospital under supervision of Mr Dalrymple. His skeleton was wired together and subsequently used for the instruction of anatomy for years. Shortly after the execution, Joseph John Gurney, brother of prison reformer Elizabeth Fry, published a chapbook entitled Some Account of John Stratford who was Executed after the Last Assizes for the City of Norwich, under a pseudonym, "One of his Fellow Citizens".^[1]

[1]
Storey, Neil R. (2011). Hanged at Norwich. Stroud: The History Press. pp. 113–6. ISBN 9780752458656.
[2]
Watson, Katherine (2006-08-23). Poisoned Lives: English Poisoners and Their Victims. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 71. ISBN 9781852855031.

Preparations

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