The story of Florence and James Maybrick

Florence Maybrick nee Chandler was an American, born in Alabama; James Maybrick was a Liverpool cotton-broker 20 years her senior. They married in the summer of 1881 at St James' Church, Piccadilly, London after a whirlwind romance on board a transatlantic liner, the White Star's Baltic I, when Florence was 18. In 1888 they came to live at Battlecrease house, Aigburth, Liverpool.

The White Star 'Baltic I' on which Florence Chandler and James Maybrick met in 1881	Battlecrease House, Aigburth, where the Maybricks lived from 1888

The Maybricks had two children: James Chandler (known as Bobo), born in 1882, and Gladys Evelyn, born 1885. They were taken from Battlecrease House just before their mother's arrest, to live with a Dr. Fuller and his wife. Ironically, after her death Evelyn's home was found to be full of medicines and pills, and James Chandler died by accidentally drinking a glass of cyanide, thinking it was water!

THE MAYBRICK CASE

During their time in Norfolk, Virginia, where James had taken the homesick Florence after the birth of their son in 1882, James began the habit of taking arsenic 'for medicinal purposes' and this continued after their return to Liverpool in 1884. Florence was also in the habit of obtaining arsenic, at the time a common treatment for the complexion, by soaking it from fly-papers which she purchased for the purpose.

James Maybrick died on the 11th May following increasing bouts of stomach problems and sickness. Suspicion immediately fell on Florence because of her employment of arsenic as a cosmetic aid, despite James' own ingestion of the poison. Florence was arrested on 14th May after the post-mortem showed that James had died of acute inflamation of the stomach, caused by an irritant poison.

The inquest was held at Garston Reading Room, during which Florence was held in a cell at the Old Police Station, Lark Lane. The magistrates' hearing took place on the 12th-14th July 1889 in the County Sessions Court opposite St. George's Hall.

The Old Police Station, Lark Lane, where Florence was held in a cell during the inquest.	St George's Hall, where the main trial took place

The main trial began at St. George's Hall on 31st July 1889 and despite very flimsy evidence, Florence was found guilty of murdering her husband by administering arsenic, and sentenced to death. This death sentence was then commuted to life imprisonment by Queen Victoria, on the advice of the Home Secretary, following the public outcry of anger at the verdict.

Florence Maybrick was transferred from Walton Gaol to Woking Prison in August 1889 where she served the first seven years of her sentence, then in the spring of 1896 she was transferred to Aylesbury Prison where she served most of her 15 year sentence. In January 1904, Florence travelled to Truro, Cornwall to spend the last six months of her sentence in the Convent of the Sisters of the Epiphany.

In July 1904, after having served 15 years in prison, Florence was finally freed. She returned with her mother to America where she died at the age of 79, a recluse, in a shack surrounded only by her cats. She never saw her children again.

To find out more about the the Maybricks, including full details of Florence's trial, plus information on James Maybrick's suspected involvement in the 'Jack The Ripper' case, visit: www.jamesmaybrick.org