Facts
or fiction?
Gossips claim that Palmer had several illegitimate children by various lady
friends and that he poisoned four or five of them. One lady-friend was named
as Jane Mumford who is thought to have had a child by Palmer that died after
he had paid them a visit.
In
the book Illustrated Life, Career and Trial of William Palmer of Rugeley
published in 1856, there is a claim that:-
| We
heard an old man at Haywood count upon his fingers as many as fourteen
girls whom Palmer had got in the family-way. He had, by a foolish freak,
been concerned in the death of Abley. An illegitimate child, which a
woman in Haywood had by him, died suddenly; and he is suspected of foul
play. |
In
George Fletcher's The Life & Career of Dr. William Palmer of Rugeley
published in 1925 I also found the following:-
| His
avarice and lustful passions, with love of gambling and the Turf, soon
overwhelmed him financially and socially. An illigitimate child of one
of his maid-servants, born eighteen months after he had brought his bride
home died suspiciously after a visit to his surgery for him to see how
it was progressing. |
Eighteen
months after "he had brought his bride home", would be in the
spring of 1849. I cannot find any other reference to there being a pregnant
maid-servant around that time in any of the books published in 1856. I
wonder if this story is a mistake having been mixed up with the story of
Eliza Tharme, his maid-servant who gave birth to his son in June 1855?
I
have also seen on two web sites the accusation that Palmer ran an illegal
abortion business. However I cannot find any reference to this in any
of the books printed in 1856 the year he was hanged.
|
Introduction
