John Reginald Christie

 I wrote about John Reginald Christie, the notorious serial killer of 10 Rillington Place 

History of Trade Unions

 I wrote a history of trade unions in Britain 

The White Feather Campaign

 I found a very good video about white feather shaming during the First World War  

End of the Middle Ages Day

 29 May is End of the Middle Ages Day. On 29 May 1453, the Turks captured Constantinople (now named Istanbul). Many people regard that as the end of the Middle Ages. When I was a boy, the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 was regarded as the end of the Middle Ages (Henry VII became king of England and began the Tudor dynasty). However, that was an Anglo-Centric view! A change of dynasty in England made little or no difference to the rest of Europe.

Tourist Guide to Krakow

 I wrote a tourist guide to Krakow, which I visited in 2025.

Louisa Merrifield

 Louisa Merrifield poisoned a woman with phosphorus. She was born in Wigan, Lancashire, on 3 December 1906. She married her third husband, Alfred Merrifield in 1950. In 1951 they moved to Blackpool.

In March 1953, she was employed as a housekeeper to a 79-year-old woman named Sarah Ann Ricketts, who lived in a house she owned in Blackpool. Both Louisa Merrifield and her husband moved in with Mrs Ricketts.

Mrs Ricketts was so taken with her new companions that she made a will in their favour. They would inherit her house. That proved to be a deadly mistake.

Perhaps Merrifield was impatient to inherit the house. Or maybe she was afraid the old woman would change her will. At any rate, she turned to murder.

Sarah Ricketts had the odd habit of eating jam from a jar with a spoon and drinking rum with it. It’s believed that Merrifield added rat poison, which contains phosphorus, to it. Mrs Ricketts died on 14 April 1953, although a doctor visited her shortly before she died and found her to be healthy. 

Louisa Merrifield did not call a doctor until the next day. He was suspicious and he refused to issue a death certificate. Instead, he phoned the police.

An autopsy was conducted and the body was found to contain poison. Several witnesses told the police that they had seen Sarah Ricketts the day before her death and she seemed normal. She certainly did not seem ill. 

The police found that Merrifield had purchased rat poison from a chemist. (At the time, anyone who bought poison was legally obliged to sign a poisons register). The police also found a spoon with traces of poison, although Louisa had carefully disposed of all the jam jars Sarah Ricketts ate from.

Both Alfred and Louisa Merrifield went on trial on 20 July 1953. On 31 July, Louisa was found guilty and she was sentenced to death. Alfred Merrifield was acquitted, and he was released. Louisa Merrifield was not so lucky. She was hanged on 18 September 1953. She was the third-to-last woman to be hanged in Britain. 

Thomas Neill Cream

Thomas Neill Cream was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 27 May 1850, but his family moved to Canada when he was a child. Cream was trained to be a doctor. He was first convicted of murder in 1881. While living in Chicago, he gave strychnine to a man named Daniel Stott, who suffered from epilepsy. Cream managed to convince Stott that he had a cure for the ailment. Stott’s death was, at first, ascribed to natural causes. 
However, Cream did something very strange. He wrote to the coroner accusing a pharmacist of poisoning Stott. 

The body was exhumed and was found to contain strychnine. Cream was arrested and tried for murder. He was convicted but he was treated with surprising leniency. 
He was sentenced to life imprisonment and he was released in 1891. Why did Cream write to the coroner? He could have gotten away with murder. Perhaps Cream wanted to be caught.

At any rate, after being released in 1891, he moved to Lambeth, London and began poisoning sex workers. Presumably, Cream got some sadistic pleasure from poisoning people. 

The first victim was a 19-year-old woman named Ellen Donworth. She collapsed in agony on the street on 13 October and she died on the way to the hospital. Before she died, she said that a ‘tall gentleman’ had given her a bottle with ‘white stuff’ in it. An autopsy showed she had been poisoned with strychnine. 
Again, Cream wrote letters to people about the murder. He wrote to the coroner, using a false name, offering to name the murderer in return for a large sum of money. He also wrote to the owner of the booksellers W.H. Smith, accusing him of the murder of Donworth and offering to keep silent in return for money. Again, he used a false name.

Next, Cream murdered Matilda Clover. On 20 October 1891, she was found writhing in agony in her room and died shortly afterward. She said a man had given her some pills. Cream wrote to a doctor, William Broadbent and accused him of murdering Matilda Clover. 

In April 1892, Cream met a sex worker called Louise Harvey. Cream helpfully offered her some pills, which he said would clear up her complexion. Fortunately, she only pretended to take them. Cream left, presumably believing he had poisoned her. 
Two other women were not so lucky. On 11 April 1892, Cream met two sex workers, Alice Marsh, aged 21 and Emma Shrivell, aged 18. Cream spent the night with them but before he left, he gave them some pills. 

Unfortunately, both girls took the pills and died of strychnine poisoning.
Cream was caught because he could not resist talking about the murders. He met an American tourist and offered to take him on a tour of the places where the murders were committed. 

However, the tourist was a policeman and he was suspicious of Cream. He informed the British police and they placed Cream under surveillance. They found that he often paid for the services of sex workers and they also found out about his criminal record in the USA. 

Cream was arrested on 3 June 1892 and his trial began on 17 October. He was found guilty on 21 October and was sentenced to death. Thomas Neill Cream was hanged on 15 November 1892.