True Life Tuesday: Amelia Dyer

 

This is such a sad story. It really opens your eyes to the desperation unwed mothers faced in the 1800s.

Amelia Elizabeth Hobley was born in 1836 near Bristol, England. She was the youngest of five children born to Samuel Hobley, a shoemaker, and Sarah Weymouth Hobley. He mother suffered from mental illness due to her having typhus. Amelia was her mother's caretaker until she died in 1848. After her mother died she lived with an aunt before becoming an apprentice to a corset maker. Her father passed away in 1859 and she became estranged from her living siblings by 1861. That year she married George Thomas who was 59 years old. They both lied about their ages on their marriage certificate to make their age gap seem less significant. Amelia trained as a nurse and eventually met a midwife named Ellen Dane. She taught Amelia about the practice of baby farming. This is when someone takes in a illegitimate child for a fee. Usually these children were adopted out but many times they were starved or killed. Eventually she left nursing when her daughter, Ellen was born. However, George died in 1869 and she needed to support herself. In 1862 she married a brewer's laborer, William Dyer, and they had two children - Mary Ann called Polly and William Samuel. However, she eventually left her husband.

As time went on Amelia decided to save money and kill the children in her care immediately rather than starving them to death. In 1879 a doctor turned her into police after becoming concerned about the number of dead children he was attending to in her home. She was sentenced to 6 months of hard labor. After this she appeared to suffer from mental illness but many people feel that she was feigning. Her spells would always occur when it would appear that the authorities would catch up to her. She also began abusing alcohol and opium products which could have led to her mental state. Amelia would move frequently and used many aliases to shake the police. In 1893 she was discharged from an asylum for the last time.

Eventually Amelia would make a mistake that would lead to her being caught. She decided to dispose of the bodies herself rather than calling in a doctor to avoid suspicion. On March 30, 1896 the body of Helena Fay was found in the River Thames. In April she took in an infant named Doris Morman. She ended up killing her by wrapping dress makers tape around her neck and tying a knot. On April 1st she took in a 13 month old named Harry Simmons. She killed him using the same tape she used to kill Doris Morman. On April 2nd she threw the bodies into the river. Eventually the police were able to find a name, one of her aliases, and address on the tape found on Helena Fay. Police raided her home on April 3rd and found plenty of evidence along with the stench of decay however no bodies were found. She was arrested on April 4th and charged with murder. Police believed that she killed over 400 babies and children. She plead insanity but the found her guilty after only 4-1/2 minutes of deliberation. She was executed by hanging on June 10, 1896 at Newgate Prison. When asked if she had any last words she said "I have nothing to say."