Adeliade Blanche de Escury was born in 1855 in Orleans, France. She was married to Thomas Edwin Bartlett, "He went by Edwin" (1844-1886). Her mother was Clara Chamberlin (1834-1866).
(Her French name: Adelaide De La Tremoille De Thouars-de Escury)
Here is a link to a book on her murder trial, which she was acquitted after trial. The trial opened on 12 April 1886.
Rev. Dyson was acquitted before it even started.
https://mail.murderpedia.org/female.B/images/bartlett_adelaide/trial-adelaide-bartlett.pdf
On New Year's Eve, 31 December 1885, Edwin Bartlett returned from a visit to the dentist and went to sleep alongside Adelaide in their Pimlico flat. Just before 4 am the next morning, Adelaide asked their maid to fetch Dr Leach, fearing Edwin was dead, before rousing the landlady. Edwin's stomach was filled with liquid chloroform. It is just possible that the stories of Edwin's alleged suicide might have been believed and his death considered free of foul play, except that his father, who had always detested Adelaide and had earlier accused her of having an affair with Edwin's younger brother, became extremely suspicious and persuaded authorities to look into the death.
An inquest under Mr. A. Braxton Hicks returned a verdict of willful murder by Adelaide Bartlett, with George Dyson being an accessory before the fact, and they were both arrested. The coroner tried to have Mrs. Bartlett give evidence at the inquest because she was not permitted at that time to give sworn evidence on her own behalf at her trial, which only changed with the Criminal Evidence Act 1898. (Wikipedia)
Thomas was a wealthy grocer they married around 1875, she claimed it was platonic, but she gave birth to a stillborn in 1881, Supposedly Thomas had refused her (female) nurse's advice to call a (male) doctor during a difficult labor because he did not want another man "to interfere with her".
In 1885 Thomas met Rev. Dyson and he became a frequent visitor to his home and Thomas even made him executor of his will, which he left everything to Adelaide, on the condition she never remarried. Which was not uncommon in those days, but he did remove that stipulation four months before he died.
Towards the end of 1885, Adelaide asked Rev. Dyson to get some chloroform that had been prescribed by the doctor treating Thomas, Dr. Alfred Leach. Leach would later admit that he prescribed it reluctantly, but at the insistence of his patient. Under the laws of the day, one had to sign a book at the chemist's pharmacy as a record of buying medical poisons, but only for large amounts; Rev. Dyson bought four small bottles of chloroform instead of one large bottle, and bought them in several shops, claiming that he needed it to remove grease stains. Only after Thomas's death did Rev. Dyson claim to suddenly realize how suspicious his actions were.
Adalaide was having an affair with Rev. George Dyson.
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| Rev. George Dyson (Drawing from newspaper article) |
There was a deadly amount of Chloroform found in Edwin's stomach during the post-mortem examination. I found the following newspaper articles Jan 1886.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/cumberland-and-westmorland-herald-adalai/203429389/
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| Thomas Edwin Bartlet |
The main forensic aid is that the liquid chloroform reached the stomach without burning the sides of the throat and the larynx. Edwin did not have such burns on his body. This bolstered the suicide theory, for such rapid drinking suggested that the drinker rushed the poisoned drink down. When the jury returned to court after considering its verdict, the foreman said: "Although we think grave suspicion is attached to the prisoner, we do not think there is sufficient evidence to show how or by whom the chloroform was administered." The foreman then confirmed that the verdict was not guilty, which was greeted with "rapturous applause", public opinion having moved in Adelaide's favor during the course of the trial. (Wikipedia)
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| Sir Edward Clarke, Adelaide's Lawyer |
The Trial
Here's a YouTube video I found:
They got away with murder, no doubt about it. She bought the chloroform. She had another affair with her husband's brother-in-law. There are so many sources for this story including many newspaper articles. I really enjoyed researching this one and made her a tree on Ancestry and added all my sources there.
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