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1849: A doctors wife dies…but how and could the doctor have diagnosed death himself?
The Doctor’s Wife Is Dead
What you need to know before your trail
Ellen Langley, the wife of a prosperous local doctor, died in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary in 1849. Her death became a national scourge and an international outrage – why was she buried in a pauper’s coffin? Why had she been confined to the grim attic of the house she shared with her husband, and then exiled to a rented dwelling-room in an impoverished part of the famine-ravaged town? And why was her husband charged with murder?
This is the trial of Ellen Langley’s death and the trial of her husband, The Doctor’s Wife is Dead tells the story of an unhappy marriage, of a man’s confidence that he could get away with abusing his wife, and of the brave efforts of a number of ordinary citizens to hold him to account.
A book which shine a (doctor’s pen light) on the double standards of Victorian law and morality…
Travel Guide
Co Tipperary – Nenagh
In the chilly pre-dawn air, a group of women gathered on Barrack Street, a commercial through fare running south- east from the town centre…..” This is the street, now called Kenyon St where the crime in the novel unfolds:
“In provincial Ireland, pubic anger flared occasionally in protests against evictions and, more recently, the inadequacy of famine relief. But those demonstrating so violently in Nenagh on this May morning in 1849 had come out to protest against a provocation of an unexpected kid; the suspicious death of a doctor’s wife in her own home”
The 1930s and 1840s were a violent time in Co Tipperaray as we are told in the novel. There were agrarian violence and this was a constant source of news in the London papers. Due to the violence and number of deaths at the time,Tipperary doctors were often called out to coroners inquests when investigations into violent deaths between labourers and tenant farmers were largely caused by destitution or the threat of eviction.
A town of two sides – the gentry hunting one one side, drunken soldiers nearby and then the abject poverty of women forced to endure when married and their lack of rights. The Irish famine and its troubles are evoked with grit and raw vigour but it’s interesting to see the two sides of it.
The city at the time was also labelled “like the black hole of Calcutta’ for the poverty, crowded hospitals and worsening health conditions. Cholera was spreading faster than medical improvements. Medical advancements was, like the nearby train service, getting ahead but slowly reaching the people who needed it most.
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
Well this was interesting! A crime I’d never heard of and a location I’d never been to. Two for the price of one you might say – I found it fascianting to read about the time and period in which the crime took place. How doctors were almost forced to attend wnquireies, how many coffinswere carried out of the doors, how violence of the reforms of the time lead to such bitter disputes and death. As with many of these hisorical crime, I was amazed and saddened to read of the plight of women.
The role of the famine was a gritty historical backdrop and placed the novel together with the social mores and the plight of women but what shocked me was that at the centre of all this, a man decided to starve and poison his wife. An unusual crime at best and one that was usually suspected of women. There was a panic about poisons in Ireland at the time we are told and so many inconsistencies with how the body was examined that 2 and 2 soon become 5
The novel not only examines the central crime but takes a good long hard look at events in Tipperary at the time. Ellen’s backstory was fascinating and the inquest, as it unravels was gripping. I am fascinated with historical crimes and how they were investigated given that they had none of the technology available to us today.
A recommended read for historical crime fans
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Doctor’s Wife Is Dead
Author/Guide: Andrew Tierney Destination: Nenagh Departure Time: 1849
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