By Tim Lambert
Charlotte Bryant was convicted of poisoning her husband with arsenic. She was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1903. In 1922, she met a British soldier named Frederick Bryant. The two married, and after leaving the army, Frederick worked as a farm labourer. Charlotte had five children, though they may not have all been Frederick’s. In 1933, a horse trader named Leonard Parsons began lodging with the Bryants. He also began sleeping with Charlotte.
Frederick Bryant accepted the situation. In May 1935, he fell ill. A doctor was called, and he diagnosed gastroenteritis. This time, Frederick recovered. However, he fell ill again in August 1935. Once again, he recovered. Leonard Parsons left their home in November 1935.
On 21 December 1935, Frederick fell ill for the last time. He complained of severe stomach pains.
A doctor was called, and Frederick was taken to a hospital. He died on 22 December 1935. An autopsy showed he died of arsenic poisoning.
The police naturally suspected his wife, Charlotte. A search of her house revealed a burnt can of weed killer in the garden. It contained traces of arsenic. The police discovered that a chemist in the town of Yeovil sold the weed killer. The law required anyone who purchased arsenic weed killer to sign a poison register.
Whoever bought the weed killer had signed it with a cross. (Charlotte Bryant was illiterate). Charlotte was made to stand in an identity parade, but the chemist did not pick her out.
On 10 February 1936, Charlotte Bryant was charged with murder. On 27 May 1936, she went on trial in Dorchester. A witness named Lucy Ostler testified that on 21 December 1935, she saw Charlotte give her husband a drink. Later, he vomited and complained of stomach pains.
Lucy said she found a burned can of weed killer in the ashes in a boiler, and she threw it out.
A chemist testified that he found an abnormally large amount of arsenic in the ashes under the boiler, far more than he would normally expect to find. It was evidence that someone had tried to burn something containing arsenic in the boiler.
Leonard Parsons was also called as a witness, and he testified that he had seen Charlotte with some weed killer.
The court also heard about Charlotte’s relationship with the lodger, which did not help her case. (It was, after all, the 1930s when attitudes were far less liberal than they are today).
On 30 June 1936, Charlotte Bryant was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to death.
However, a different chemist claimed that the expert at the trial had greatly overestimated the amount of arsenic found in the ashes in the boiler. That, of course, would cast doubt on the claim that Charlotte burned a can of weed killer in the boiler. The defence appealed against the guilty verdict, but her appeal was dismissed. She was hanged on 15 July 1936.
While awaiting execution, Charlotte Bryant began learning to read and write with help from the prison guards. She wrote a letter in which she named the person she believed poisoned Frederick. However, the prison authorities redacted the name.
Was Charlotte guilty? We will probably never know.
