Maria Manning was born in Switzerland in 1821, her maiden name being de Roux. She emigrated to Britain and worked in London as a lady's maid to the wealthy Lady Blantyre, who was the daughter of the Duchess of Sutherland. Here she developed a taste for a luxurious life style, amid the elegance of her employer's homes and general finery. She dreaded the idea of poverty, a very real state for many at this time in history and resolved that she would never live like that.

Lady's maids, if they worked for a good employer could enjoy a life style way beyond that of ordinary girls of the time. My own grandmother was one in the early twentieth century and travelled much of Europe at a time when most ordinary people had seldom been further than the next town. So it was that in 1846, Maria went across the Channel on the boat to Boulogne with her employer and met Patrick O'Connor, a 50-year-old Irishman, who worked as a customhouse (customs) officer in London's docks. Mr. O'Connor was a man of independent means and his wealth immediately attracted Maria.

Maria was much taken with Mr. O'Connor but she was also involved with Frederick George Manning who worked as a guard on the Great Western Railway (not a very well paid job). Both men proposed to Maria - her problem was deciding which one would make the better husband and which had the more money.

Frederick was the same age as her and was the weaker character. O'Connor was much older and also a heavy drinker. Frederick promised Maria that he was soon to come into money via an inheritance whereas O'Connor seemed already to be well off and had told Maria that he had a large amount of money invested in foreign railway stocks. In the event Frederick "won the day" and the couple married in St James' Church, Piccadilly, in May 1847.

They were able to afford a fairly stylish home in Miniver Place, in London's Bermondsey area. However Maria had realised by now that Frederick was not going to get the promised inheritance. She still kept in contact with O'Connor and was probably having an affair with him, with the apparent acquiescence of Frederick. O'Connor even joined them for dinner at Miniver House from time to time.

She purchased some quicklime and a shovel and on the 8th of August 1849 invited Mr. O'Connor to dinner. He duly arrived but had brought a friend with him which scuppered Maria's plan. So she invited him again for the following evening, telling him to come alone so that they could be more intimate with one another.

When he arrived on the next evening Maria suggested that he may wish to wash his hands before dinner and as he stood at the sink to do so she shot him in the head with a pistol. The bullet wound did not however kill him and Frederick finished poor Mr. O'Connor off, battering his head in with a ripping chisel (crow bar). The two of them then buried the body in a pre-dug grave below the kitchen flagstones, covering it with plenty of quicklime (which was thought to speed decay of the flesh and ironically was what they too were to be buried in).

The following day Maria went to O'Connor's lodgings and managed to con her way into his rooms where she systematically went through his belongings, taking everything of value including his share certificates. She paid a further visit the following day to see if there was anything she had missed.

Two days later the Mannings got a nasty fright when two of O'Connor's colleagues came to their house looking for him as he had told them he was eating there on evening of the 9th. Maria admitted that he had eaten with them on the 8th but denied having seen him since. They went away leaving Maria and Frederick thoroughly unnerved, the couple suspected that the men were in fact detectives so they decided to leave London immediately. Maria sent Frederick to try and sell their furniture and as soon as he had gone packed everything of value that she could carry and ordered a cab to take her to King's Cross railway station where she caught a train to Edinburgh. Frederick decided to leave the country and went by train and ship to Jersey.

O'Connor's colleagues had by this time reported him missing to the police and expressed their suspicions about the Manning's. The police decided to visit Miniver Place and carrying out a thorough search of the premises noticed that the mortar between two of the flagstones in the kitchen was still damp. The flagstones were lifted, revealing the battered and bloody body of Mr. O'Connor.

A man hunt was now commenced to find the Mannings. The cabman who had taken Maria to the station came forward and described how he had taken her to one station where she deposited two trunks, before taking her on to King's Cross. Superintendent Haynes, of Scotland Yard, who was in charge of the investigation was able to find out that Maria had bought a ticket for Edinburgh and telegraphed the information to his Scottish counterparts. They had in fact already arrested her for trying to sell some of O'Connor's railway stock to a firm of Edinburgh stock brokers who knew that some railway stock had been stolen in London and were suspicious of Maria's French accent and that they were about to be the victims of fraud. She was duly brought back to London and charged with O'Connor's murder, being remanded in custody to Horsemonger Lane Gaol.

Frederick was arrested a week later in Jersey where he had been spotted by a man who had known him in London and who had read about the murder in the papers.

On his return to London the man went to the police and a Scotland Yard detective, Sergeant Langley was sent out to make the arrest as he happened to know Manning. Manning was traced to a rented room in St Laurence and was found asleep in his bed on August the 21st.

Once in custody he told police that it was Maria who had shot O'Connor. He also told the police "I never liked him (O'Connor) so I battered his head with a ripping chisel" He was brought back to London, charged with the murder and also remanded to Horsemonger Lane Gaol.

Maria lost the composure she had shown during the trial and screamed at the jury "You have treated me like a wild beast of the forest." She continued to rave at the judge as he tried to pass sentence of death upon her. They were taken back to Newgate and then across London to Horsemonger Lane Gaol to await their executions. She apparently asked the warders escorting her how they had liked her performance in court.

By this time executions normally took place three clear Sundays after sentence had been passed and the Mannings were to spend just over two weeks in the condemned cells. Maria was guarded round the clock as had become the custom after Mary Ann Milner had hanged herself at Lincoln Castle two years earlier. However it is reported that Maria too, attempted suicide. She was considered a suicide risk by the authorities and was guarded by three warderesses who slept in the cell with her, much to her disgust. She was able to lull them into a false sense of security and had let her finger nails grow long. While they were asleep she tried to strangle herself and puncture her windpipe with her own hands and it took the combined efforts of all three of the women to stop her. Maria had written a letter, from her cell, to Queen Victoria, whom she had met as a servant to Lady Blantyre, asking for a reprieve which was, of course, denied her. It is said the Queen did study Maria's letter and took an interest in the case but concluded that her guilt was proven. It is also said that Maria wrote to Frederick while awaiting execution, exhorting him to take the sole blame for O'Connor's death. This he refused to do. He did however make a confession saying that Maria had shot O'Connor and that he had finished him off with the ripping chisel. This was probably about the truth of the matter.

The gallows was erected on the flat roof above the main gate as normal. It was described as "a huge, gaunt and ominous looking structure." See picture from an old Broadside.

William Calcraft officiated and Maria became the twentieth woman that he would put to death.

Their execution was fully reported in the Times newspaper as follows:

"At a quarter past eight Manning and his wife entered the (prison) chapel. The Sacrament was administered to them when the governor appeared and said that time pressed. Calcraft also came forward and the wretched pair were conducted to different parts of the chapel to be pinioned. The operation was performed on the male prisoner first and he submitted to it with perfect resignation. In the pinioning of Mrs. Manning a longer time was occupied. When the cords were applied to bind her arms her great natural strength forsook her for a moment, and she was nearly fainting, but a little brandy brought her round again, and she was pinioned without any resistance. She drew from her pocket a black silk handkerchief and requested that she might be blindfolded with it, a request that was acceded to. Having had a black lace veil fastened over her head, so as to completely conceal her features from the public gaze, she was conducted to the extremity of the chapel, where the fatal procession was at once formed and in a slow and solemn manner moved forwards towards the drop, the prison bell tolling."

"The procession passed along a succession of narrow passages, fenced in with ponderous gates, side rails and chevaux de frise of iron. In its course a singular coincidence happened. The Mannings walked over their own graves, as they had made their victim do over his. Mrs. Manning walked to her doom with a firm, unfaltering step. Being blindfolded she was led along by Mr. Harris, the surgeon. She wore a handsome black satin gown."

"At last nine o'clock struck and shortly after the dreadful procession emerged from a small door in the inner side of a square piece of brickwork which rests on the east end of the prison roof. To reach this height a long and steep flight of stairs had to be climbed, and it only wonderful that Manning, in his weak and tottering state, was able to ascend so far. As he ascended to the steps leading to the drop his limbs tottered under him and he was scarcely able to move. When his wife approached the scaffold he turned round with his face towards the people, while Calcraft proceeded to draw over his head the white nightcap and adjust the fatal rope. The executioner then drew the nightcap over the female prisoner's head and all the necessary preparations now being completed the scaffold was cleared of all it occupants except the two wretched beings doomed to die. In an instant Calcraft withdrew the bolt, the drop fell, and the sentence of the law was fulfilled. Frederick died almost without a struggle while Maria writhed for some seconds. Their bodies were left to hang for the customary hour before they were taken down and in the evening buried in the precincts of gaol."

"Scarcely a hat or cap was raised when the drop fell and the bodies of the murderers had hardly ceased to oscillate with the momentum of their fall before the spectators were hurrying from the spot." So a good time was had by (nearly) all then!!

Calcraft would have pinioned Maria's legs on the drop to prevent her dress billowing up although this was not mentioned. It was not unusual for prisoners to pass quickly into unconsciousness with short drop hanging although this could never be guaranteed. It is doubtful whether any attempt was made to determine the actual time of death - probably some 5 - 15 minutes after the drop fell.

It is claimed that Maria and Frederick made up on the gallows and that she kissed him before they were executed as a sign of forgiveness for not taking all the blame. Whether this is true or not is unclear.

Charles Dickens, the famous author, attended the execution and wrote a letter to the Times expressing his revulsion at the proceedings.

"I was a witness of the execution at Horsemonger Lane this morning" "I believe that the a sight so inconceivably awful as the wickedness and levity of the crowd collected at that execution this morning." "When the two miserable creatures who attracted all this ghastly sight about them were turned quivering into the air there was no more emotion, no more pity, no more thought that two immortal souls had gone to judgement, than if the name of Christ had never been heard in this world."

Dickens was one of a number of influential people who campaigned against public hangings and they finally abolished in 1868.

One feels that Charles Dicken's indignation was far more due to the attitude of the crowd towards the hanging than by any concern for the Mannings and their sufferings. People at that time thoroughly enjoyed a "good hanging" and when the prisoners were a husband and wife from reasonable circumstances it was an added bonus. Some of the wealthier spectators had paid a lot of money to get good vantage points over looking the scaffold, and fashionable ladies were using opera glasses to get a better view. It is probable that many in the crowd were disappointed by the fact that both of them died easily.

This was certainly the case at the execution of the famous Dr. William Palmer, hanged at Stafford in 1856, who died without a struggle, to the disgust of the crowd. Victorian England was full of hypocrisy and publicly expressed disgust at this sort of prurience while privately enjoying it immensely. Public hangings had several obvious advantages in this sense - they were a perfectly legal form of sadistic and voyeuristic entertainment and after all the victims were murderers so one could justify going to watch their punishment as it was a good moral lesson! It is unlikely that many in the crowd felt any sympathy for the Mannings, in their final moments but rather just a morbid fascination with the "show". Even the "stars of the show" often entered into the spirit of the event somewhat, by wearing their best clothes. What Frederick wore was not recorded but it was probably his best suit. Maria chose, and was allowed to wear, the fashionable black satin dress and veil, to ensure she presented a good appearance at the end. Black satin, as a dress material, apparently went out of fashion and stayed so for nearly 30 years as a result.

Maria also made it into Madame Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors and it is probable that Calcraft sold them the dress she had worn for her hanging. Tussaud's would most likely have sent an artist to court to draw her face to be sure of getting a good likeness.

Marie Manning (1821–1849) was a Swiss domestic servant who was hanged outside Horsemonger Lane Gaol, England, on 13 November 1849, after she and her husband were convicted of the murder of her lover, Patrick O'Connor, in the case that received a name of "Bermondsey Horror". It was the first time a husband and wife had been executed together in England since 1700.

The novelist Charles Dickens attended the execution, and in a letter written to The Times on the same day wrote "I believe that a sight so inconceivably awful as the wickedness and levity of the immense crowd collected at that execution this morning could be imagined by no man, and could be presented in no heathen land under the sun." He later based one of his characters—Mademoiselle Hortense, Lady Dedlock's maid in Bleak House—on Manning's life.

Background

Manning was born Marie de Roux in Lausanne, Switzerland, and entered domestic service in England. At first maid to Lady Palk of Haldon House, Devon, she entered the service of Lady Blantyre at Stafford House in 1846, and on 27 May 1847 married, at St James's Church, Piccadilly, Frederick George Manning, a publican. His background was a chequered one. He had worked on the railways, but was discharged on suspicion of being involved in several robberies.

Marie had previously made the acquaintance of Patrick O'Connor, a gauger in the London Docks, and this friendship was continued after her marriage. O'Connor, besides being a figure on the docks, was also a money lender, and one who charged extraordinary interest. As a result he was extremely wealthy, and was smart enough to invest his money wisely

Murder

On 9 August 1849, O'Connor dined with the Mannings at their house, 3 Miniver Place, Bermondsey. Husband and wife, according to a preconcerted plan, thereupon murdered their guest and buried his body under the flagstones in the kitchen. On the same day Mrs. Manning visited O'Connor's lodgings, Greenwood Street, Mile End Road, and repeated the visit next day, stealing the dead man's railway scrip and money. However, it is apparent that the guilty couple were mutually planning a double cross on each other. Marie, being the smarter of the two, actually fled with most of the loot from the murder. Frederick took the smaller portion and fled as well.

Trial and execution

The police discovered O'Connor's remains on 17 August, and soon after apprehended his murderers. Marie was tracked down to Edinburgh, where she was caught due to her trying to exchange some of O'Connor's property (a listing had been published). Frederick was caught on Jersey. They were tried at the Old Bailey on 25 and 26 October 1849. The trial was not one of the most fascinating in terms of legal problems, except that it was argued that the jury had to include people of French or Swiss ancestry in fairness to Marie. During the trial, Frederick said that he "never liked him [O'Connor] very much".

They were found guilty, Marie yelling imprecations at the British as a perfidious race. They were reconciled shortly before they were executed at Horsemonger Lane Gaol on 13 November 1849. Mrs. Manning wore a black satin dress on the scaffold, resulting in the unpopularity of that material for many years.

Reaction

Charles Dickens wrote a letter to The Times on the wickedness and levity of the mob during the execution.

Wilkie Collins in his novel The Woman In White (1860) has one of his heroines comment (referring to the fat villain, Count Fosco) that "Mr. and Mrs. Murderess Manning" were both pretty fat too. In fact, Marie would have been considered overweight today, but in the 1840s she was considered quite attractive with her chubby features, which at the time were considered to imply that the person had the means to be somewhat "plump". The novel is set in 1850, a year after the "Bermondsey Horror".