Charles Bravo
Encyclopedia
Charles Bravo was a British
lawyer who was fatally poison
ed with antimony
in 1876. The case is still sensational, notorious and unresolved. The case is also known as The Charles Bravo Murder and the Murder at the Priory.
It was an unsolved crime committed within an elite Victorian household at The Priory, a landmark house in Balham, London
. The reportage eclipsed even government and international news at the time. Leading doctors attended the bedside, including Royal physician Sir William Gull, and all agreed it was a case of antimony
poisoning. The victim took three days to die but gave no indication of the source of the poison during that time. No-one was ever charged for the crime.
His wealthy wife Florence had previously been married, in 1864, to Alexander Louis Ricardo, son of John Ricardo MP but had been separated from her first husband because of his affairs and violent alcoholism. She in turn had had an extramarital affair with the much older Dr James Manby Gully
, a fashionable society doctor who was also married at the time, and she had fallen out of favour with her family and society. Ricardo died in 1871 and Florence married Charles, a respected up and coming barrister, on 7 December 1875, terminating her affair with Gully.
Police enquiries in the case revealed Charles's behaviour towards Florence as being controlling, mean, violent, and a bully. The marriage was unbalanced where power was concerned. Florence was wealthier than Charles and had opted from the start to hold onto her own money, an option provided by new laws in England at the time (Married Women's Property Act 1870
), and this led immediately to tensions within the marriage.
Their relationship was stormy and the poisoning occurred four months into the marriage. In a BBC docudrama
, Julian Fellowes Investigates: A Most Mysterious Murder
, Julian Fellowes
investigates the suspects; the household, Florence herself, her former lover Dr Gully, the housekeeper Mrs Cox and the likelihood of suicide. It also portrays Charles Bravo as a particularly crushing Victorian husband, totally lacking in feeling to staff, animals and his wife, his unreasonable treatment going beyond even the social expectations of the submissive woman in Victorian society.
A hypothesis is that Charles Bravo was slowly poisoning his wife with small cumulative doses of antimony (she had been chronically ailing since shortly after their marriage). It theorises that he wanted to control her fortune from the start and this was one way he would get his hands on it. When treating himself with laudanum
for toothache before bedtime, it proposes that he inadvertently used the bottle of antimony to medicate himself.
The housekeeper Mrs Cox reportedly told police Charles admitted using the poison on himself when they were alone together, later changing her statement in the dock to deflect suspicion from herself to Florence.
His death was long, lasting from two (Ruddick) to three (Fellowes) days and painful. It was particularly notable that he did not offer any explanation of his condition to attending doctors, suggesting he had some personal implication to hide, not being the type to protect others.
Other investigators have offered different suggestions as to what happened to cause his death, including suicide, murder by the housekeeper, Mrs. Cox, whom he had threatened to sack, murder by his wife, and murder by a disaffected groom whom he had discharged from employment at the Priory.
. The first returned an open verdict
. The second inquest returned a verdict of wilful murder; however, nobody was ever arrested or charged.
The household broke up after the trial ended and the twice widowed Florence moved away, dying of alcohol poisoning two years later.
The novel (and later film) So Evil My Love
by "Joseph Shearing" (pseudonym of Marjorie Bowen) both have elements of the Bravo poisoning in the plot.
The novel Below Suspicion by John Dickson Carr
also has elements of the Bravo case in the first murder.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
lawyer who was fatally poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
ed with antimony
Antimony
Antimony is a toxic chemical element with the symbol Sb and an atomic number of 51. A lustrous grey metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite...
in 1876. The case is still sensational, notorious and unresolved. The case is also known as The Charles Bravo Murder and the Murder at the Priory.
It was an unsolved crime committed within an elite Victorian household at The Priory, a landmark house in Balham, London
Balham, London
Balham is a neighbourhood of south London, England, and is part of the London Borough of Wandsworth and the London Borough of Lambeth.-History:...
. The reportage eclipsed even government and international news at the time. Leading doctors attended the bedside, including Royal physician Sir William Gull, and all agreed it was a case of antimony
Antimony
Antimony is a toxic chemical element with the symbol Sb and an atomic number of 51. A lustrous grey metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite...
poisoning. The victim took three days to die but gave no indication of the source of the poison during that time. No-one was ever charged for the crime.
Background
Charles Delauney Turner was born in 1845, the son of Augustus Charles Turner and Mary Turner, and took the surname Bravo from his stepfather Joseph Bravo. He became a barrister and by the time of his marriage to Florence Ricardo (née Campbell) he had fathered an illegitimate child.His wealthy wife Florence had previously been married, in 1864, to Alexander Louis Ricardo, son of John Ricardo MP but had been separated from her first husband because of his affairs and violent alcoholism. She in turn had had an extramarital affair with the much older Dr James Manby Gully
James Manby Gully
Dr James Manby Gully , was a Victorian medical doctor, well known for practising hydrotherapy, or the "water cure". Along with his partner James Wilson, he founded a very successful "hydropathy" clinic in Malvern, Worcestershire, which had many notable Victorians, including such figures as Charles...
, a fashionable society doctor who was also married at the time, and she had fallen out of favour with her family and society. Ricardo died in 1871 and Florence married Charles, a respected up and coming barrister, on 7 December 1875, terminating her affair with Gully.
Police enquiries in the case revealed Charles's behaviour towards Florence as being controlling, mean, violent, and a bully. The marriage was unbalanced where power was concerned. Florence was wealthier than Charles and had opted from the start to hold onto her own money, an option provided by new laws in England at the time (Married Women's Property Act 1870
Married Women's Property Act 1870
The Married Women's Property Act 1870 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that allowed women to legally be the rightful owners of the money they earned and to inherit property.-Background:...
), and this led immediately to tensions within the marriage.
Their relationship was stormy and the poisoning occurred four months into the marriage. In a BBC docudrama
Docudrama
In film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
, Julian Fellowes Investigates: A Most Mysterious Murder
Julian Fellowes Investigates: A Most Mysterious Murder
Julian Fellowes Investigates: A Most Mysterious Murder is a British five-part docudrama series produced by Touchpaper Television , which premièred on BBC One on 16 October 2004.-Overview:...
, Julian Fellowes
Julian Fellowes
Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, DL , known as Julian Fellowes, is an English actor, novelist, film director and screenwriter, as well as a Conservative peer.-Early life:...
investigates the suspects; the household, Florence herself, her former lover Dr Gully, the housekeeper Mrs Cox and the likelihood of suicide. It also portrays Charles Bravo as a particularly crushing Victorian husband, totally lacking in feeling to staff, animals and his wife, his unreasonable treatment going beyond even the social expectations of the submissive woman in Victorian society.
A hypothesis is that Charles Bravo was slowly poisoning his wife with small cumulative doses of antimony (she had been chronically ailing since shortly after their marriage). It theorises that he wanted to control her fortune from the start and this was one way he would get his hands on it. When treating himself with laudanum
Laudanum
Laudanum , also known as Tincture of Opium, is an alcoholic herbal preparation containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight ....
for toothache before bedtime, it proposes that he inadvertently used the bottle of antimony to medicate himself.
The housekeeper Mrs Cox reportedly told police Charles admitted using the poison on himself when they were alone together, later changing her statement in the dock to deflect suspicion from herself to Florence.
His death was long, lasting from two (Ruddick) to three (Fellowes) days and painful. It was particularly notable that he did not offer any explanation of his condition to attending doctors, suggesting he had some personal implication to hide, not being the type to protect others.
Other investigators have offered different suggestions as to what happened to cause his death, including suicide, murder by the housekeeper, Mrs. Cox, whom he had threatened to sack, murder by his wife, and murder by a disaffected groom whom he had discharged from employment at the Priory.
Aftermath
Two inquests were held and the details were considered to be so scandalous that women and children were banned from the room while Florence Bravo testified: the searching cross-examination launched the career of the lawyer George Henry LewisGeorge Henry Lewis
Sir George Henry Lewis, 1st Baronet was an English lawyer of Jewish extraction.-Solicitor:Lewis was born at 10 Ely Place, Holborn in London and educated at University College, London. In 1850 he was articled to his father, James Graham Lewis , founder of Lewis & Lewis, one of the best-known firms...
. The first returned an open verdict
Open verdict
The Open verdict is an option open to a Coroner's jury at an Inquest in the legal system of England and Wales. The verdict strictly means that the jury confirms that the death is suspicious but is unable to reach any of the other verdicts open to them...
. The second inquest returned a verdict of wilful murder; however, nobody was ever arrested or charged.
The household broke up after the trial ended and the twice widowed Florence moved away, dying of alcohol poisoning two years later.
The novel (and later film) So Evil My Love
So Evil My Love
So Evil My Love is a 1948 British psychological thriller film, directed by Lewis Allen and starring Ray Milland, Ann Todd and Geraldine Fitzgerald. The film is a period drama set in the Victorian era, and shot in film noir style in the late-1940s sub-genre often referred to as "Gaslight noir"...
by "Joseph Shearing" (pseudonym of Marjorie Bowen) both have elements of the Bravo poisoning in the plot.
The novel Below Suspicion by John Dickson Carr
John Dickson Carr
John Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published under the pen names Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn....
also has elements of the Bravo case in the first murder.
External links
- The Case of Charles Bravo film-page
- The History Channel Charles Bravo
- BBC 2005 period docudrama A Most Mysterious Murder: The Case Of Charles Bravo, by Julian FellowesJulian FellowesJulian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, DL , known as Julian Fellowes, is an English actor, novelist, film director and screenwriter, as well as a Conservative peer.-Early life:...
. - Friends of West Norwood Cemetery