Hortense, Maria Manning, and Dickens' Women in Black

 

The Progress of Crime, or, The Authentic Memoirs of Maria Manning by Robert Huish (1777-1850)

The figure of the Woman in Black is one of the most famous recognisable figures in the Dark Victorian landscape . Forty years ago the novel of this name, written by Susan Hill appeared in print. There was a 1989 television play with a script by Nigel Kneale, a  very successful stage play, then of course the film version starring Daniel Radcliffe in 2012. The latter with its famous 18 minute sequence without music or dialogue, featuring the young solicitor facing various sounds as he wanders around a  haunted house.

One quite neglected Dickens short story is 'The Black Veil' from 1836. A young doctor await his first patient in the early 1800's.  A lady in a black shawl and black veil appears who seems to be in a fever. She tells about him about a man who is about to die, and will pass into her care tomorrow. The young doctor seeks her out in the following morning as requested. At her home, he finds a young man who has died, The doctor at first suspects murder, then realises that he was hanged by the authorities first thing that very morning. And was the son of the woman who had visited him.

A far more sinister woman in black appears in 'Bleak House'-Lady Dedlock's French maid Hortense. In chapter 23 Esther, the main narrator, likens Hortense to 'some woman from the streets of Paris in the reign of terror'* .'Bleak House' specialist Susan Shatto maintains that Dickens was originally going to call said character 'Maria' but crossed this out in one draft manuscript SHATTO.

It is not clear why Dickens chose the name 'Hortense' . The only Hortense that was likely to have been known to at least some of his readers  was Napoleon's step daughter, Hortense de Beauharnais, Josephine's daughter from her first husband, who was executed during the Terror during the French Revolution. Hortense would also likely to be mispronounced by Dickens British and American readers. 

 The character 'Maria', soon to be renamed Hortense, is generally thought to be based on a notorious murderer Maria Manning, who was hanged alongside her husband Frederick outside Horseferry Gaol in 1849, for the murder of her friend and one time suitor Patrick O'Connor. It was possible that Maria was still intimate with Patrick, with Frederick's knowledge. Maria was born Marie de Roux near Lausanne in Switzerland into a French speaking family. It is not quite clear how Maria ended up in England, but she was known to have been a lady's maid to Lady Palk by 1843, and then  maid to Lady Blantyre in 1846 , daughter of the Duchess of Sutherland STRATMANN. Maria and Frederick married on 27th May 1847, and Maria seemed to give up being in service a few months later. 

Patrick was invited to dinner at the Mannings' home in Bermondsey on 9th August 1849, and was shot in the head by Maria, and then savagely bashed quite a number of times by Frederick  using a crowbar. His body was stripped, thrown into a hole under the kitchen flagstones, and covered in quicklime. The flagstones were replaced, Maria went to Patrick's lodgings and stole money, share certificates and valuables. When the couple fell under suspicion they went off in separate directions. Maria was caught in Edinburgh, Frederick a few days later in Jersey. By then Patrick's body was found in the house that they had abandoned. Maria's striking dress sense and foreign accent attracted attention, especially when she tried to sell some of Patrick's share certificates. Frederick acted like a loud mouthed oaf in local public houses and got himself noticed. This was the time when literacy and mass circulation newspapers were on the rise and police forces could exchange information via telegraph so not a particular surprise that they were both apprehended once the public started looking out for them.  

A problem for the Prosecution was that men were generally counted as being the prime mover in criminal activity, and women as acting under their instruction. Maria faced a seemingly  lesser charge of " (being)  present, aiding and assisting " Frederick to commit murder. However, it was made clear in court that if both Maria and Frederick were  present when Patrick was killed, they were then equally guilty STRATMANN . Of course far men than women commit murder and  the few women murderers who killed adult men were more likely to use poison, rather than a pistol ALPERT. Hortense  in fact  shoots the lawyer Tulkinghorn in 'Bleak House', though thorough detective work is needed to connect her to the crime.  

It is not clear why The Mannings didn't just poison Patrick at dinner and falsely attribute his death to cholera which was prevalent in the area.Arsenic was easy to obtain, normally used to destroy vermin. However,the danger was that if the death was deemed to be suspicious, and an autopsy ordered, then arsenic could be detected ALPERT. Also, if the amount of arsenic was misjudged, then Patrick may have survived, albeit after an agonising few hours. 

 The couple's motive was sheer greed. Their only defence was to try to blame each other, there no doubt that Patrick was murdered and there were  no other suspects, and it soon became apparent that they had embarked on a joint enterprise to kill. They were both sentenced to be hanged. 

Maria's stylish clothes were remarked on by newspapers covering the story. She had left four chests behind at London Bridge Left Luggage department, to be collected later, including a large section of clothes.Possibly Lady Blantyre gave clothes to Maria ALPERT. Her outfit for the hanging consisted of black stain dress and black veil.

The eve of the execution -12th/13th November 1849 was an all night party for the London crowd. Perhaps as many as 30,00 attended. Charles Dickens was a spectator, having reached the scene at midnight, and was repulsed by the antics of the assembled multitude: 

The horrors of the gibbet and that of the crime which brought the wretched murderers to it, faded in my mind before atrocious bearing, looks and language , of the assembled spectators 

He went on to describe their every variety of offensive behaviour. fighting, faintings, whistlings, imitations of Punch, brutal jokes , and wrote a letter to 'The Times' to this effect on 13th November 1849 HARTLEY

It seems that the police were not able to remove the barriers swiftly enough to let out the departing spectators. One poor chap had managed to get his leg caught in an iron grating. The sudden press and sway of the crowd caused his leg to fracture.A young man fell over and got trampled badly enough to require hospital treatment, and a woman got crushed to death BOROWITZ  . Dickens also reported how bawdy songs were made up and sung by the crowd. 'The Observer' published a (false) claim that members of the public were allowed to view the Mannings bodies, and even take away snippets of Maria's hair BOROWITZ. 

A waxwork of Maria Manning appeared in Madame Tussaud's for a number of years. A fictionalised account of her life was published almost immediately. She even obtained an entry in the Dictionary of National Biography. A largely fictionalised  and illustrated account of Maria's life 'The Progress of Crime or The Authentic Memoirs of Maria Manning' by Robert Huish was published by the end of 1849. Parts were sold in penny numbers and the book became popular BOROWITZ..

And even stranger in 1876, rumours were circulating that the ghost of Maria Manning- all dressed in black- 

had appeared in south London thought not at the Mannings' former home. A crowd of some 400 people gathered as a result. Generally sighting of ghosts wearing black increased since the Mannings execution CLARKE .

Sources 

'London 1849: A Victorian Murder Story' (Pearson Education Ltd Harlow, 2004) M Alpert

'The Woman Who Murdered Black Satin; The Bermondsey Horror', (Ohio State University: Columbus 1981) A. Borowitz  

''The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens' edited by Jenny Hartley (Oxford University Press 2012)

'The Companion to Bleak House' Susan Shatto ( Routledge, 1988)

'Trial of the Mannings' Notable British Trials Series number 90 ,(Mango Books, London 2021)  Edited

 ( with an introduction) by Linda Stratmann, 

'A Natural History of Ghosts-500 Years of Hunting for Proof' , Roger Clarke, (Penguin Books, 2012). 

  * Bleak House on line  Chapter 23 

Another active history blog by Michael Bully

 A Burnt Ship  17th century War & Literature 

I would like to welcome readers to this blog. Any mistakes or schoolboy howlers are mine to own,  and are not the responsibility of any of the sources that I have cited. 

Michael Bully 

Brighton

17th February 2023 

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