The Priory Poisoning

On the evening of 18 April 1876, Charles Bravo, a thirty-year-old barrister, dined at The Priory in Balham with his wife Florence and her companion, Jane Cox. Some hours later he was heard crying out in violent pain. He lingered for fifty-five hours before dying on the morning of 21 April.

A post-mortem found a lethal quantity of tartar emetic, a preparation of antimony, in his body. No trace was found in any food, drink, or medicine examined afterward. No bottle or container was located. Bravo himself, lucid for much of his illness, denied having poisoned himself.

Two coroner's inquests followed. The first returned an open verdict. Public pressure forced a second, which sat for twenty-three days and heard more than eighty witnesses. It concluded that Bravo had been the victim of wilful murder — but named no one responsible.