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1857: A woman stands accused of poisoning her lover…a true life tale
A Scottish Murder: Rewriting the Madeleine Smith Story
What you need to know before your trail
Thursday, 9th July 1857: the atmosphere outside the High Court in Edinburgh is charged to fever pitch as the crowd awaits the verdict at the end of the most sensational trial of the century. Hanging in the balance is the life of Madeleine Smith, attractive 22-year-old daughter of a prosperous Glasgow architect. Over the preceding few days, salacious revelations of Madeleine’s secret romance had been making headlines throughout the world. By the end of the trial, in spite of widespread belief in her guilt, sympathy had swung towards Madeleine, and the crowds cheered when news of the ‘Not Proven’ verdict reached the street. Madeleine was free to leave the court, but she was never free from suspicion. Madeleine Smith’s murder trial was made famous by the shocking nature of her letters to the lover she was supposed to have poisoned with arsenic
Travel Guide
Glasgow 1857
Madeleine Hamilton Smith (29 March 1835 – 12 April 1928) was a 19th-century Glasgow socialite who was the accused in a sensational murder trial in Scotland in 1857.
The family lived in Blythswood Square in the centre of Glasgow
Smith broke the strict Victorian rules and expectations of the time when she began a secret love affair with Pierre Emile L’Angelier, an apprentice nurseryman.
Her parents didn’t know about the affair and chose a husband for her. Madeline therefore had to leave Emilie but he threatened to reveal the letters. He died not long after of arsenic poisoning. Madeleine’s letters were found in his rooms and so she was charged with murder.
The alleged crime and trial were scandalous enough for Smith to leave Scotland. She remarried and when that marriage ended, she moved to New York and ,married again. She died in 1928
Booktrail Boarding Pass: A Scottish Murder: Rewriting the Madeleine Smith Story
Destination: Glasgow, Edinburgh Author/Guide: Jimmy Powdrell-Campbell Departure Time: 1857
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