Madeleine Smith
Encyclopedia
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
socialite
Socialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
who was the defendant in a sensational murder trial in Scotland in 1857. She was acquitted.
Background
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
; her father James Smith (1808–1863) was a wealthy architect, and her mother, Janet, the daughter of leading neo-classical architect David Hamilton
David Hamilton (architect)
David Hamilton was a Scottish architect based in Glasgow. He has been called the "father of the profession" in Glasgow. Notable works include Hutchesons' Hall, Nelson Monument in Glasgow Green and Lennox Castle. The Royal Exchange in Queen Street is David Hamilton's best known building in Glasgow...
. The family lived at No 7, Blythswood Square, Glasgow, and also had a country property, "Rowaleyn", near Helensburgh
Helensburgh
Helensburgh is a town in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies on the north shore of the Firth of Clyde and the eastern shore of the entrance to the Gareloch....
.
She broke the strict Victorian
Victorian morality
Victorian morality is a distillation of the moral views of people living at the time of Queen Victoria's reign and of the moral climate of the United Kingdom throughout the 19th century in general, which contrasted greatly with the morality of the previous Georgian period...
conventions of the time when, as a young woman in early 1855, she began a secret love affair with Pierre Emile L'Angelier, an apprentice nurseryman who originally came from the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
.
The two met late at night at Smith’s bedroom window and also carried on a voluminous correspondence. During one of their infrequent meetings alone, she lost her virginity to L'Angelier.
Smith’s parents, not knowing that Madeleine was carrying on an affair with L'Angelier (whom she had promised to marry) found a suitable fiancé for her within the Glasgow upper-middle class — William Harper Minnoch.
Smith attempted to break her connection with L'Angelier and, in February 1857, asked him to return the letters she had written to him. Instead, L'Angelier threatened to use those letters to expose her and force her to marry him. She was soon observed in a druggist's office, ordering arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
, and signed in as M.H. Smith.
Early in the morning of 23 March 1857, L'Angelier died from arsenic poisoning. After Smith’s numerous letters were found in his lodging house, she was arrested for murder.
The trial
John Inglis, Lord Glencorse
John Inglis, Lord Glencorse FRSE was a Scottish politician and judge. He was Lord President of the Court of Session ....
.
Although the circumstantial evidence pointed towards her guilt (Smith had made purchases of arsenic in the weeks leading up to Emile’s death, had a clear motive, etc.), the jury in her trial freed her by way of the verdict "not proven
Not proven
Not proven is a verdict available to a court in Scotland.Under Scots law, a criminal trial may end in one of three verdicts: one of conviction and two of acquittal ....
", which said that they did not believe she was innocent of the charge, but the prosecution had failed to make a strong enough case against her.
The notoriety of the crime and trial were scandalous enough that Smith left Scotland.
Later life
On 4 July 1861 she married an artist named George Wardle, William MorrisWilliam Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
's business manager. They had one son (Thomas) and one daughter (Mary). After many years of marriage, they separated and Madeleine moved to New York City and died in 1928 under the name of Lena Wardle Sheehy.
Later theories
Most modern scholars of the case believe that Madeleine committed the crime and the only thing that saved her from the noose was the fact that no eyewitness could prove that Madeleine and Emile had met in the weeks before his death.
After the trial, The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
ran a small article stating that a witness had come forward claiming that a young male and female were seen outside Madeleine's house on the night of Emile's death. However, the trial was already in progress, and the witness could not be questioned during it.
Dramatisations
Smith's story was the basis for several plays and the 1950 film MadeleineMadeleine (film)
Madeleine is a 1950 film directed by David Lean, based on a true story about Madeleine Smith, a young Glasgow woman from a wealthy family who was tried in 1857 for the murder of her lover, Emile L'Angelier...
, directed by David Lean
David Lean
Sir David Lean CBE was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor best remembered for big-screen epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai , Lawrence of Arabia ,...
. Jack House
Jack House
Jack House was a prolific and popular Scottish writer and broadcaster, with a significant attachment to the City of Glasgow.-East end:He was born in Tollcross, then technically outside of the Glasgow city boundaries...
's 1961 book Square Mile of Murder
Square Mile of Murder
The Square Mile of Murder relates to an area of west-central Glasgow, Scotland. The term was first coined by the Scottish journalist and author Jack House, whose 1961 book of the same name was based on the fact that four of Scotland's most infamous murders were committed within one square mile of...
, which contained a section on Smith, formed the basis for a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television version in 1980. A television play based upon the case, "Killer In Close-Up: The Trial Of Madeleine Smith", written by George F. Kerr, was also produced by Sydney television station ABN-2
ABN
ABN or abn is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* IATA airport code for Albina Airport in Albina, Suriname* ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand* ABN AMRO Group* ABN Andhra Jyothi, a Telugu language news channel based in India...
, airing on August 13th 1958.
The case was an inspiration for Wilkie Collins
Wilkie Collins
William Wilkie Collins was an English novelist, playwright, and author of short stories. He was very popular during the Victorian era and wrote 30 novels, more than 60 short stories, 14 plays, and over 100 non-fiction pieces...
' 1875 novel The Law and the Lady
The Law and the Lady
The Law and the Lady was published in 1875, by Wilkie Collins, although still in print, is largely forgotten now. Not quite as sensational in style as The Moonstone and The Woman in White, it is still a detective story.-Plot summary:...
, though the only main similar feature being the problem of the not proven verdict and arsenic poisoning as a device for murder.
Other novels based on the case include The House in Queen Anne's Square (1920) by William Darling Lyell, Letty Lynton (1931) by Marie Belloc Lowndes, Lovers All Untrue (1970) by Norah Lofts
Norah Lofts
Norah Lofts, née Norah Robinson, was a 20th century best-selling British author. She wrote more than fifty books specialising in historical fiction, but she also wrote non-fiction and short stories...
, and Alas, for Her That Met Me! (1976) by Mary Ann Ashe (pseudonym of Christianna Brand
Christianna Brand
Christianna Brand was a British crime writer and children's author.- Background :Christianna Brand was born Mary Christianna Milne in Malaya and grew up in India. She had a number of different occupations, including model, dancer, shop assistant and governess...
).
Sources
- Campbell, Jimmy Powdrell. Rewriting The Madeleine Smith Story. 2007 ISBN 9780752440088
- Diamond, MichaelMichael DiamondMichael Diamond, better known as Mike D , is a founding member of New York hip hop group the Beastie Boys. Mike D raps, sings, and plays drums alongside fellow members Ad-Rock, MCA and Mix Master Mike.-Early life:...
(2003) Victorian Sensation London: Anthem. ISBN 1-84331-150-X. pp. 172–176 - MacGowan, Douglas. The Strange Affair of Madeleine Smith: Victorian Scotland's Trial of the Century. (Mercat Press, 2007). ISBN 1841831131.
- MacGowan, Douglas. Murder in Victorian Scotland: The Trial of Madeleine Smith. (1999) ISBN 0275964310
Further reading
- House, Jack. (1961) Square Mile of Murder. Edinburgh: W. & R. Chambers
- Hartman, M. S. (1979) "Murder for respectability : The case of Madeleine Smith". Victorian Studies, 16:4, 381-400. Publisher: Indiana University Press.
- MacGowan, Douglas. (1999) Murder in Victorian Scotland : The Trial of Madeleine Smith. Westport (CT) and London: Praeger.
- Geary, RickRick GearyRick Geary is an American cartoonist and illustrator.-Biography:Rick Geary was born on February 25, 1946 in Kansas City, Missouri. Geary was initially introduced to comics readers with his contributions to the Heavy Metal and National Lampoon magazines...
(2006) "A Treasury of Victorian Murder: The Case of Madeleine Smith". New York: NBM. - MacGowan, Douglas. "The Strange Affair of Madeleine Smith: Victorian Scotland's Trial of the Century". (Mercat Press, 2007).
- Powdrell Campbell, Jimmy (2007) "Re-writing the Madeleine Smith Story". The History Press
- Gordon, Eleanor & Nair, Gwyneth (2009) Murder and morality in Victorian Britain: The Story of Madeleine Smith. Manchester: Manchester University Press
External links
- A Most Curious Murder - The Madeleine Smith Story
- The Madeleine Smith Story at the Crime LibraryCrime LibraryThe Crime Library is a website documenting major crimes, criminals, and trials, forensics, and criminal profiling from books, police reports, crime television shows, and writers...
- Madeleine Wardle in later life