Madeleine Smith
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- For the English actress see Madeline Smith
Madeleine Hamilton Smith (1835–c. 1920) was a 19th century Glasgow socialite who was the defendant in a sensational murder trial in Scotland in the summer of 1857.
Although she is widely regarded as a convicted murderess, in fact, the verdict given at her trial was not proven.
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[edit] Background
Madeleine was the first child of an upper-middle class family in Glasgow; her father James Smith (1808–1863) was a wealthy architect, and her mother, Janet, the daughter of leading neo-classical architect David Hamilton. The family lived at No 7, Blythswood Square, Glasgow, and also had a country property, "Rowaleyn", near Helensburgh.[1]
She broke the strict Victorian conventions of the time when, as a young woman in the spring of 1855, she began a secret love affair with Pierre Emile L'Angelier, an apprentice nurseryman who originally came from the Channel Islands.
The two met late at night at Madeleine’s bedroom window and also carried on a voluminous correspondence. During one of their infrequent meetings alone, she lost her virginity to Emile.
Madeleine’s parents, not knowing that Madeleine was carrying on an affair with Emile (whom she had promised to marry) found a suitable fiancé for her within the Glasgow upper-middle class — William Harper Minnoch.
Madeleine attempted to break her connection with Emile and, in February of 1857, asked him to return the letters she had written to him. Instead, Emile threatened to use those letters to expose her and force her to marry him.
Early in the morning of 23 March 1857, Emile died from arsenic poisoning. After Madeleine’s numerous letters were found in his lodging house, she was arrested for murder.
[edit] The trial
Although the circumstantial evidence pointed towards her guilt (Madeleine had made purchases of arsenic in the weeks leading up to Emile’s death, Madeleine had a clear motive, etc.), the jury in her trial freed her by way of the Scottish verdict Not Proven, which essentially said that they did not believe she was innocent of the charge, but the Prosecution had failed to make a strong enough case against her.
The notoriety of the crime and trial were scandalous enough that Madeleine left Scotland, eventually marrying and raising a family in London.
[edit] Later life
On 4 July 1861 she married artist George Wardle, William Morris's business manager.[2]
At the turn of the 20th century, she and her husband separated and the final years of Madeleine are lost to view. A common (but most likely erroneous) theory that she died in New York City in 1928 under another name is strongly contradicted by that woman’s death certificate, which states that she was 29 years younger than Madeleine would have been at the time.[3] Other questionable newspaper stories have Madeleine living and/or dying at various times in places such as New Zealand and New Orleans.[4]
[edit] Later theories
As in the case of Lizzie Borden, scholars and amateur criminologists have spent decades going over the minutiae of the case and trying to decide “did she or didn’t she?”
Most modern scholars of the case believe that Madeleine committed the crime and the only thing that saved her from the noose was the fact that no eyewitness could prove that Madeleine and Emile had met in the weeks before his death.
There are a few, however, who believe that Emile killed himself in an attempt to frame Madeleine as an act of revenge. There is little to no evidence for this, however, and some "proof" brought forward by proponents of this theory is in direct contradiction to the concrete evidence that is available.
After the trial, The Scotsman ran a small article stating that a witness had come forward claiming that a young male and female were seen outside Madeleine's house on the night of Emile's death. However, the trial was already in progress, and the witness could not be questioned during it.
[edit] Dramatisations
Madeleine's story was the basis for several plays and the 1950 film Madeleine[5] directed by David Lean. Jack House's 1961 book Square Mile of Murder formed the basis for a BBC television version in 1980.
[edit] References
- ^ Dictionary of Scottish Architects: James Smith.
- ^ Richard Davenport-Hines, "Smith , Madeleine Hamilton (1835/6–1928)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 11 April 2008.
- ^ MacGowan, Douglas. The Strange Affair of Madeleine Smith: Victorian Scotland's Trial of the Century (Mercat Press, 2007). ISBN 1841831131. MacGowan, Douglas. Murder in Victorian Scotland: The Trial of Madeleine Smith (Greenwood Press, 1999). ISBN 0275964310.
- ^ MacGowan, Douglas. The Strange Affair of Madeleine Smith: Victorian Scotland's Trial of the Century (Mercat Press, 2007). ISBN 1841831131. MacGowan, Douglas. Murder in Victorian Scotland: The Trial of Madeleine Smith (Greenwood Press, 1999). ISBN 0275964310.
- ^ IMDB.
[edit] Sources
- Campbell, Jimmy Powdrell. Rewriting The Madeleine Smith Story. 2007 ISBN 9780752440088
- MacGowan, Douglas. The Strange Affair of Madeleine Smith: Victorian Scotland's Trial of the Century. (Mercat Press, 2007). ISBN 1841831131.
- MacGowan, Douglas. Murder in Victorian Scotland: The Trial of Madeleine Smith. (1999) ISBN 0275964310
[edit] Further reading
- House, Jack. (1961) Square Mile of Murder. Edinburgh: W. & R. Chambers
- Powdrell Campbell, Jimmy (2007)"Re-writing the Madeleine Smith Story". The History Press
