Dispensing Death and Destruction for Only a Few Pence

The nineteenth century saw the growth of commercially available solutions for dealing with the problem of domestic infestation by mice and rats. Promising a reliable means of destroying the ‘furry detestables’, such products as Battle’s Vermin Killer, Hunter’s Infallible Vermin Destroyer and Barber’s Magic Vermin Killer were sold cheaply over the counter, as well as being sent through the post.

The trade in such dangerous products made serious money for manufacturers, wholesalers, and shopkeepers. Unfortunately, it also contributed to what was frequently described by anxious coroners and excited journalists as a suicide epidemic, often involving desperate young women in domestic service. In addition, the deadly packets of poison also provided a convenient means for the disposal of a brutal husband, an inconvenient wife, or an insured child.

Focusing on Battle’s Vermin Killer, produced in Lincoln around 1850, Malcolm Moyes details a catalogue of human misfortune and disaster, evoked most powerfully in the story of thirteen-year-old Elizabeth Vamplew, indicted for the shocking murder of an infant in her care with strychnine-based vermin killer, in 1862.

Malcolm Moyes is the author of several distinguished books on nineteenth century Lincolnshire crime and punishment.