Christiana Edmunds Diagnosed With Hysteria
Christiana Edmunds was born in Margate, Kent, in southeast England. She was the oldest child of successful Victorian architect William Edmunds and his wife Ann. Christiana enjoyed a comfortable childhood and a private boarding school education.
She had three siblings, Mary, Louisa and Arthur. The family was afflicted with mental health issues. Her middle-aged father reportedly became insane before his 1847 death and one of her sisters committed suicide. Arthur suffered from epilepsy and he ended his 25 years on earth in an asylum.
When Christiana was 20 years old she was diagnosed with hysteria, an umbrella term used by Victorian (male) doctors for overly emotional women, a frail disposition, or females with a tendency to suffer from "nerves".
Dr. Charles Beard's Wife Emily Poisoned With Strychnine
When Arthur died in 1866, Christiana was living with her mother and sister in a generously proportioned property in Brighton, the seaside town made fashionable by King George IV.
A harsh-tongued and bored spinster of the parish, Christiana was under the care of Dr. Charles Beard. He lived opposite the Edmunds with his wife, Emily. Christiana fell obsessively in love with him and sent an avalanche of passionate letters. He asked her to stop.
In 1870, Emily Beard ate a chocolate cream that Christiana offered to her. It was laced with strychnine. Mercifully, Emily survived the poisoning.
Dr. Beard accused Christiana of trying to murder his wife so that she could claim him. Christiana denied it. He didn't contact the Brighton police because he had no proof and he feared a public scandal. Christiana was banned from his family's home.
"Chocolate Cream Killer" Murders Sidney Barker
One day in 1871, Christiana purchased a box of chocolate creams from the local shopkeeper John Maynard. She took them home and laced each chocolate cream with strychnine, which she obtained from her chemist using the excuse that she needed to eradicate some stray cats.
She returned the chocolate creams to Maynard's shop and exchanged them for a smaller box. The unsuspecting John Maynard sold the poisoned chocolate creams to another customer.
The inexplicable poisonings increased as Christiana eagerly repeated her actions. To ensure that she wasn't suspected, she asked neighbourhood children to purchase the strychnine or to return the chocolates to Maynard.
No one connected Maynard's food with the poisonings until a four-year-old named Sidney Barker died in June 1871. Sidney's uncle Charles Miller had purchased chocolates from Maynard; as they ate them, both became violently ill. Charles recovered; Sidney's body fell prey to the strychnine.
The coroner registered a verdict of accidental death because there was no indication of malice attached to Sidney Barker's untimely demise. Maynard was officially exonerated and he destroyed his entire supply of chocolates.
Christiana Edmunds has a way of compressing the lips occasionally, when the left side of the mouth twists up with a sardonic, defiant determination, in which there is something of a weird comeliness.
— Daily News, 1872
Final Poisoning
In the days following the inquest, Christiana wrote three letters to Sidney's father in which she urged him to sue John Maynard. She claimed that the truth about the incident was yet to be revealed.
Christiana continued to poison chocolates. In another escalation, prominent Brighton residents received anonymous gifts and duly suffered the excruciating effects of strychnine. Christiana sent herself some poisoned chocolates so that she wasn't left out as a victim of the poisoning campaign.
Dr. and Mrs. Beard informed their other neighbours that they intended to move to Scotland. A horrified Christiana learned of their plans and within days, two plum cakes were transported by rail from London to Brighton. One was addressed to Christiana, the other to Emily Beard. Emily was out of the house when her servants accepted the poisonous parcel. Luckily, there were no fatalities.
The police established a link between the chocolate creams from Maynard's shop and the plethora of poisonings. Dr. Beard aired his suspicions about Christiana, the chocolate creams and the plum cake to the police.
Christiana Edmunds' Old Bailey Trial
The police compared the handwriting from Christiana's letters to Beard with the address labels on the plum cake parcels. They matched. Christiana had travelled home from London on the same train as the plum cakes.
She was arrested and charged with the murder of Sidney Barker and the attempted murder of Emily Beard. Sidney was the only known murder victim from the poisoning campaign. After a committal hearing at the regional court in Lewes, the murder case was passed to the infamous Old Bailey in London.
Christiana Edmunds' trial began in January 1872. Dr. Beard stated that there was never a romantic or sexual relationship between himself and Christiana.
The defence counsel hoped that a plea of insanity would help their client. Christiana's mother testified that both sides of the family had a history of mental illness. Christiana was found "morally defective" rather than insane. Her death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum in Berkshire.
On appeal, the Home Secretary altered "morally defective" to "not guilty by reason of insanity".
In September 1907, 35 years after she was incarcerated, 78-year-old Christiana Edmunds, the "Chocolate Cream Killer", died in Broadmoor.
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