Halloween Blogging 2008: "Residents" of Madame Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors, 1886

Never underestimate the fervent Victorian passion for all things criminal, sensational, sexual (yep), murderous, and, in general, bloody.  Exhibit A: the ever-popular Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussaud's.  What follows is a hyperlinked listing of the ladies and gentlemen modeled for waxwork posterity in the Chamber of Horrors, taken from the Tussaud's guidebook for 1886.  Some of these folks are still (in)famous (e.g., William Palmer, the Mannings, Burke and Hare); some of them have faded out of the pop consciousness.  Most of the waxworks themselves have vanished, but I've linked to the few of which photos are available.   "See also" links may take you to all sorts of criminous locales, ranging from the Old Bailey to collections of street ballads.   

• James Carey of the Phoenix Park Murders. 
• The burglar and murderer Charles Peace.  Peace appears twice, once in disguise and once as himself. (See also 1 2 3)
• William Marwood the executioner.  (Link goes to the Tussaud's waxwork.)  Of the folks on this list, Marwood executed Mapleton, Peace, and Webster.  (See also 1 2 3 4) 
• PC Edward Robinson, who arrested Peace.  
• Henri Pranzini, murderer of Marie Regnault and others, now perhaps best known for the interest that St. Therese of Lisieux took in him. 
• Catherine (Kate) Webster, murderer of Julia Thomas.  (See also 1 2)
• Benson.  I haven't managed to I.D. this gentleman, although Punch noted his addition to the Chamber in 1877. ETA: ID, thanks to Wordweaverlynn.  This is Harry Benson, who with William Kurr managed to run a gambling scam--thanks to the help of some detectives.  (See also 1) 
• Percy Lefroy Mapleton, murdered Isaac Gold on a railway train.  (See also 1)
• Mary Ann Cotton, who has the dubious honor of being Britain's most "successful" (or, at least, most thorough) female serial killer.  (See also 1)
• Walter Miller, murderer of the Rev. Huelin and his housekeeper, Mrs. Boss.  (See also 1)
• Jean-Baptiste Troppmann, mass murderer who killed the entire Kinck family. (See also 1 [French])
• James Greenacre, murderer (with Sarah Gale) of Hannah Brown.  (See also 1 2) 
• Luigi Buranelli, murderer; his execution was controversial because of his insanity.
• Charlotte Winsor, notorious "baby farmer." (See also 1 2)
• Emanuel Barthelemy, murderer of George Moore and Charles Collard.
• William Godfrey Youngman, Walworth Place murderer.  (See also 1 2 3)
• Henry Wainwright, murdered and dismembered his lover, Harriet Lane; not to be confused with Wainwright the poisoner.  (See also 1 2)
• Marguerite Dixblanc, servant who murdered her employer, Mme. Riel.  (See also 1 2)
• Louis James Paine.  Manslaughter; no further information available.
• John Jones (or Owen), murderer of the Marshall family.
• Count de Lorge.  Supposedly a prisoner in the Bastille.  
• John Lee, perpetually unexecuted murderer of Emma Keyse.  
• Henry Perry, robber.  No further information available. 
• Patrick and Louis Staunton, who murdered Louis' wife Harriet Staunton--the "Penge Mystery."  (See also 1 2)
• William Burke and William Hare, the infamous resurrectionists.  (See also 1 2 3 4 5 6 [many others at this site] 7 8 9 10 11)       
• Franz Felix Stumm, forger.  No full-text information available. ETA: Link added, thanks to Arnold.
• Richard Coates, child-murderer. 
• James Bloomfield Rush, murderer of Isaac Jermy and his son.  (See also 1 2)
• William Herbert, murderer of his sister-in-law, Jane Messenger.  
• Mrs. [Catherine] Flannagan/Flanagan and Mrs. [Mary] Higgins, poisoners/sisters-in-crime.  (See also 1 2)
• Catherine Wilson, poisoner and serial killer.   (See also 1)
• William Sheward, who murdered and dismembered his wife.  (See also 1 2) 
• William Fish, barber and child-murderer.  (See also 1 2 3)
• Dr. Edmond-Désiré Couty de la Pommerais, poisoner of his mistress, Mme. de Pauw.  (See also 1)
• Dennis Collins, tried to stone William IV.
• Giuseppe Marco Fieschi, attempted assassin of Louis Philippe. 
• James Lee, murderer of Inspector Thomas Simmons.  
• James Mullins, ex-policeman and murderer of Mary Emsley.
• Israel Lipski, acid murderer.  
• Charles J. Guiteau, assassin of President Garfield.  (See also 1)
• Thomas William Currell, murderer of Lydia Green. (See also 1)
• Franz Muller, responsible for the very first murder on an English railway train. (See also 1 2 3 4)
• Felice Orsini, attempted assassin of Napoleon III.  (See also 1)
• Giovanni Pianori, another attempted assassin of Napoleon III.
• Pierri, conspired with Orsini.
• William Palmer, the Rugeley Poisoner.  (Link goes to Tussaud's waxwork.)  (See also 1 2 3 4 5)
• Martin Dumollard and his wife, vampiric serial killers.  (See also 1 [warning: this is the preserved skin from Dumollard's face])
• Thomas Henry Orrock, murdered policeman George Cole.   
• Frederick Hinson, murdered his lover Maria Death. 
• William Wheatley, burglar (in cahoots with James Wright, below).  No detailed information available.  ETA: Link added, thanks to Arnold.
• Miles Wetherill (or Weatherill), the Todmorden Murderer.  (See also 1)
• James Wright, burglar.  No detailed information available.  ETA: See Wheatley link.
• George Pavey, murdered a ten-year-old girl, Ada Shepherd.  
• Maria and Frederick George Manning, husband-and-wife team who murdered Maria's lover.  (See also 1 2 3 4) 
• Daniel Good, murdered and dismembered Jane Jones.  (See also 1 [Welsh] 2)
• Elizabeth Gibbons, murdered her husband, James Gibbons.
• Edward Oxford, first man (of seven) to attempt to assassinate Queen Victoria.  
• John Martin, Anthony Benjamin Rudge, and James Baker, who burgled Netherby Hall and murdered a policeman.  (Martin is also connected with James Lee, above.)  (See also 1)
• John Thurtell, murdered William Weare.  (Link includes Tussaud's waxwork.)  (See also 1 2 3)
• Jean Paul Marat, leader of the French Revolution, murdered by Charlotte Corday.  (Link goes to Tussaud's waxwork.)  (See also 1)
• Heads of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Jacques-Rene Hebert, Fouquier Tinville, and Jean-Baptiste Carrier.  Mme. Tussaud modeled the heads immediately after these gentlefolks were guillotined.  (Link goes to Tussaud's waxworks.)  (See also 1 and the flickr set that follows)
  

Comments

[EK]

Awesome post! I like that Mr. Hinson's girlfriend was named 'Death.' Inauspicious a little?

[Wordweaverlynn]

What a great post -- thank you.

Harry Benson was a con man who operated under the protection of the top detectives at Scotland Yard. The scandal resulted in the establishment of the CID.

[haruspex]

A remarkable list and a remarkable effort of linkage. Thank you. Do you know if the proportion of criminals to figures famous for other reasons is much different in Tussaud's today? This seems like a heck of a lot of murderers.

[Miriam]

Wordweaverlynn: Thanks!

Haruspex: It's been about a dozen years since I've been in the Chamber, but as I recall, the emphasis was much more "historical"--Victorian and Edwardian murderers like Dr. Crippen, the French Revolution folks, Guy Fawkes, gory representations of execution methods, etc.

[Arnold]

Franz Felix Stumm was a London baker who was convicted of forgery in 1882, having forged cheques in the name of another London baker, Urban Napoleon Stanger. The interest of the case lay in the fact that Stanger had mysteriously disappeared, never to be seen again, and Stumm was strongly suspected (though never convicted) of having murdered him (possibly aided and abetted by Mrs Stanger, who was later convicted of perjury in connection with the forgeries). The case was popularly known as the 'St Luke's Mystery Case'.

[Arnold]

Sorry, forgot to add the link to the Stumm case (from the indispensable Old Bailey Online).

[Arnold]

William Wheatley and James Wright were two burglars who had the misfortune to get caught by a policeman just after they had broken into a house in Islington. In the ensuing fracas Wright drew his revolver and shot the policeman in the thigh. They were charged with 'feloniously wounding with intent to murder' and convicted in 1884. Wright got life, Wheatley got twenty years.