Baby Farming, Victorian Crimes & Wives for Sale: Strange Victorian History

Speaker 1: Hey, they're Strange History lovers. Welcome back to another episode of the Strange History Podcast, where we dig into the bizarre, the macabre, and the downright odd corners of history. I'm your host, Amy, and today, well, we're going to take a long, dark, and slightly creepy stroll through Victorian England, a time where society's love for innovation met a deep, sometimes disturbing sense of personal gain. Think of it as the Victorian eras version of keeping up with the Joneses, but with more babies, asylums, wife auctions, and a touch of questionable family values.

Speaker 1: We're going to be talking about baby farming. Yes, you heard me right, baby farming, a rather unfortunate business venture, and a few other little tidbits that are let's just say strange. Oh and as a special treat today, we'll also dive into some chilling true crime stories, including the case of Maria Derux and Frederick George Manning, one of the most shocking Victorian murder cases. But first, let's set the stage for a truly strange world, shall we.

Speaker 2: The shady business of baby farming.

Speaker 1: So you've just had a baby, maybe you're struggling with your finances, or perhaps you found yourself, let's say, in an unfortunate situation, what do you do? Well? In the Victorian era, you could always call up a baby farmer. Now, baby farming wasn't as cute as it sounds. This wasn't like sending your little one off to a charming farm to live out a happy, free range life. Oh no, my friends. Baby farming was a sinister practice where women sometimes men, would take in babies from unwed mothers, often in exchange for a little cash, and look after them.

Speaker 1: But here's where it gets dark. A lot of those babies ended up dead under mysterious circumstances. Sounds like a gruesome Victorian version of a petting zoo, doesn't it. One of the most notorious baby farmers was Amelia Dyer, a woman whose business was well, horribly profitable. She would take in babies for a fee, promise to raise them, and then well, let's just say, the babies didn't always get the love and care you might hope for. Some were suffocated, some were simply abandoned. Amelia Dyer allegedly took in hundreds of babies over her career.

Speaker 1: But as we all know, the more you do something the more likely it is that you're going to get caught. And when she was caught, it was a sensation. She was dubbed the Ogress of reading. A charming nickname, don't you think. And while that's one of the most extreme examples, baby farming was unfortunately a widespread practice. So you know, next time you're in the middle of some big life decision, like whether or not to get a pet or start a new hobby, just remember the Victorians were all about fire finding a market for anything, even babies.

Speaker 2: I'm committed. The lurid story of Victorian asylums.

Speaker 1: Speaking of dark corners of society, let's talk about Victorian lunatic asylums. AH asylums the place where you could find people committed for anything from legitimate mental illness to the fact that they weren't very good at knitting, or in some cases, for just being in the way of someone's inheritance for example. Did you know that during the Victorian era it wasn't too hard for someone to get committed to an asylum if you were a wife and your husband wasn't so fond of you anymore. All he needed was a letter to a physician and poof you were sent off to an asylum.

Speaker 1: Yes, there were definitely people with actual mental health issues locked away in these institutions, but there were also the poor, unfortunate souls who were sent to asylums as a form of social control, like the wife who just wouldn't shut up about the mud. Take, for instance, the case of Lydia Joyce, a woman whose husband wanted to inherit her fortune. One evening, he made a quick call to the doctor, claiming she was hysterical. A quick examination later, Lydia found herself in an asylum and he well, he found himself much richer.

Speaker 1: It's a real get rid of the wife and you get her assets kind of plot. The Victorians were real experts in the fine art of murder by paperwork.

Speaker 2: Wife auctions Victorian marital misadventures.

Speaker 1: All right, let's dive into another strange and I mean strange practice, husband's auctioning off their wives. Now you might be thinking, what kind of sick auction is this? And you'd be right to ask that. In the Victorian era, men were not only free to divorce their wives, a luxury that the wives didn't exactly have, but in certain instances they also had the option of selling them. Yes, it sounds like something out of a very dark comedy, but it was a thing. One of the most famous cases was that of John Green in eighteen sixty four, Green, a farmer from Nottinghamshire, became so fed up with his wife that he decided to auction her off like cattle at a public sale.

Speaker 1: According to the reports, he went so far as to advertise in local papers to be sold a wife age thirty, good for washing, cooking and making the home presentable, no guarantees about personality. He auctioned her off to the highest bidder for the sum of five pounds, which was just a little more than a week's wages for many men at the time. This wasn't entirely out of the ordinary. If a wife was truly unruly according to the husband's standards, it was not completely unheard of for her to be sold or traded away, sometimes in exchange for a debt or as part of some bizarre marital arrangement.

Speaker 1: The most infamous auction, though, was probably that of Elizabeth Taylor. Not that Elizabeth Taylor, mind you, the Victorian one. In eighteen seventy two, her husband, after growing tired of her nagging decided to auction her off in front of a crowd, selling her to the highest bidder, who was a local businessman. Interestingly, she didn't seem to mind too much. She ended up enjoying the new life she found with her new owner, who, by the way, was rumored to have offered her much more comfort than her previous husband.

Speaker 1: As awful as it sounds, wife auctions were bizarrely seen as a legal form of divorce for some couples in the Victorian era. Thankfully, the practice fell out of favor as the concept of marriage and women's rights started to evolve. But hey, if you think your relationship is on the rocks, at least you don't have to go through the hassle of auctioning yourself off. It's almost like the Victorian version of eBay, but for wives.

Speaker 2: Maria Deru and Frederick George Manning a Victorian tragedy.

Speaker 1: Speaking of chilling true crime, let's turn to a shocking Victorian murder case that still sends shivers down your spine. It's the story of Maria Derux and Frederick George Manning, a tragic tale that involves love, betrayal, and a murder so brutal it became a sensation in the London press. In eighteen forty nine, Maria Derux, a young woman who had previously been in a relationship with a man named Frederick George Manning, was found dead in her apartment under horrific circumstances. She had been brutally murdered by none other than Frederick himself, along with his wife, Susan Manning.

Speaker 1: But the plot thickens. It wasn't just a crime of passion. This murder was part of a conspiracy. Maria had been a wealthy woman, and Frederick and his wife had, it seems, planned to kill her in order to get their hands on her money. But here's the kicker. Not only did Frederick and Susan Manning murder Maria, they buried her body under their floorboards. Yes, you heard that right. They went full Victorian horror story with this one. What makes the story even darker is how the crime was discovered.

Speaker 1: Frederick and Susan Manning's attempt to cover up the murder fell apart when rumors spread and they were eventually arrested. The press had a field day with the gruesome details, and it became one of the most sensational trials of the time. At their trial, Frederick George Manning was found guilty and sentenced to hang, while his wife Susan was also convicted. It was a shocking example of Victorian crime and how a tale of betrayal and greed could lead to such tragic ends.

Speaker 2: The Tickborne claimant a case of mistaken identity? Or was it?

Speaker 1: Now? We all know the Victorians loved a good case of mistaken identity, but the story of Sir Roger Titchborne takes the cake, and probably a few tea biscuits too. In the eighteen fifties, Sir Roger Tickburn, an English baronet, went missing at sea. His family mourned, and life went on until in eighteen sixty six a man named Arthur Orton showed up claiming to be Sir Roger himself. Orton, a butcher from Australia, said he had been shipwrecked and had amnesia. Naturally, he didn't remember the small detail of being a butcher, and the family didn't seem to notice that their long lost baronet now looked like he'd been eating a little too much butcher's meat.

Speaker 1: But Orton's claim gained traction. He was remarkably good at convincing people, and for a while he lived the high life as the Tichborn heir until the truth came out. It turned out that he wasn't Roger Titchborne at all. Who would have thought. The trial was a sensation, a mix of slapstick comedy and courtroom drama. The public debated whether or not this man was a fraud. Spoiler alert, he was in fact a fraud. Arthur Orton was eventually convicted of perjury, and the real Tickborne's identity was never conclusively confirmed.

Speaker 1: In the end, it's probably safe to say never trust a butcher claiming to be a baronet. Just a little Victorian wisdom for you.

Speaker 2: Victorian punishments for crimes more than just a trip to the stocks.

Speaker 1: Now, no discussion of Victorian oddities would be complete without taking a look at some of the truly creative ways that criminals were punished Back then. The Victorians had some wild ideas when it came to justice. There was the traditional, of course, the stocks, public hangings and all that, but there were also new and innovative ways to punish wrongdoers. For example, if you were caught stealing, you might be forced to wear a Scolds bridle. This was basically a metal mask that covered your face, complete with a spy that would sit in your mouth to prevent you from speaking.

Speaker 1: It was like the world's most terrifying dental device. Got a lot to say, Too bad was the sentiment, and if you were particularly unlucky, you could be sent to the infamous Newgate Prison, where the rich and poor mingled, only the poor came out much worse off. There was also transportation, which sounds like an option you'd pick on a flight, but no transportation in the Victorian era was actually sending criminals to places like Australia where they could spend years building roads or being subjected to the lovely heat of the Australian outback.

Speaker 1: Victorian punishments, much like their fashions, were full of flare, a little over the top, and definitely not something you'd want to experience. Well, there you have it, folks, another stroll through the strange, dark and sometimes absurd world of the Victorians. Baby farmers, mistaken identities, wife auctions, and true crime tales of betrayal and horror. Truly, the Victorian era was a time when things were complicated. I hope you enjoyed today's strange journey, and as always, if you ever find yourself in need of a business idea, I suggest sticking with something a little less sinister than baby farming.

Speaker 1: Maybe knitting. I hear it's a good hobby. Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review. Tell your friends, family, and coworker so they too can learn a lot of weird history that may or may not help them out in trivia games or as awkward conversation starters at parties. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time, where we'll dig into another bizarre tale from history. Until then, stay strange. I'm committed the lurid story of Victorian asylums. Speaking of dark corners of society, let's talk about Victorian lunatic asylums.

Speaker 1: A asylums the place where you could find people committed for anything from legitimate mental illness to the fact that they weren't very good at knitting, or in some cases, for just being in the way of someone's inheritance. For example, did you know that during the Victorian era it wasn't too hard for someone to get committed to an asylum if you were a wife and your husband wasn't so fond of you anymore. All he needed was a letter to a physician, and poof, you were sent off to an asylum. Yes, there were definitely people with actual mental health issues locked away in these institutions, but there were also the poor, unfortunate souls who were sent to asylums as a form of social control, like the wife who just wouldn't shut up about the money.

Speaker 1: Take, for instance, the case of Lydia Joyce, a woman whose husband wanted to inherit her fortune. One evening, he made a quick call to the doctor, claiming she was hysterical bick examination. Later, Lydia found herself in an asylum and he, well, he found himself much richer. It's a real get rid of the wife and you get her assets kind of plot. The Victorians were real experts in the fine art of murder by paperwork. Wife auctions Victorian marital misadventures. All right, let's dive into another strange and I mean strange practice, husband's auctioning off their wives.

Speaker 1: Now you might be thinking, what kind of sick auction is this? And you'd be right to ask that. In the Victorian era, men were not only free to divorce, their wives, a luxury that the wives didn't exactly have, but in certain instances they also had the option of selling them. Yes, it sounds like something out of a very dark comedy, but it was a thing. One of the most famous cases was that of John Green in eighteen sixty four, Green, a farmer from Nottinghamshire, became so fed up with his wife that he decided to auction her off like cattle at a public sale.

Speaker 1: According to the reports, he went so far as to advertise in local papers to be sold a wife aged thirty, good for washing, cooking and making the home presentable, no guarantees about personality. He auctioned her off to the highest bidder for the sum of five pounds, which was just a little more than a week's wages for many men at the time. This wasn't entirely out of the ordinary. If a wife was truly unruly according to the husband's standards, it was not completely unheard of for her to be sold or traded away, sometimes in exchange for a debt or as part of some bizarre marital arrangement.

Speaker 1: The most infamous auction, though, was probably that of Elizabeth Taylor. Not that Elizabeth Taylor mind you, the Victorian one. In eighteen seventy two, her husband, after growing tired of her nagging, decided to auction her off in front of a crowd, selling her to the highest bidder, who was a local businessman. Interestingly, she didn't seem to mind too much. She ended up enjoying the new life she found with her new owner, who, by the way, was rumored to have offered her much more comfort than her previous husband.

Speaker 1: It's the story of Maria Derux and Frederick George Manning, a tragic tale that involves love, betrayal and a murder so brutal it became a sensation in the London press. In eighteen forty nine, Maria Derux, a young woman who had previously been in a relationship with a man named Frederick George Manning, was found dead in her apartment under horrific circumstances. She had been brutally murdered by none other than Frederick himself, along with his wife, Susan Manning. But the plot thickens. It wasn't just a crime of passion.

Speaker 1: This murder was part of a conspiracy. Maria had been a wealthy woman, and Frederick and his wife had, it seems, planned to kill her in order to get their hands on her money. But here's the kicker. Not only did Frederick and Susan Manning murder Maria, they buried her body under their floorboards. Yes, you heard that right. They went full Victorian horror story with this one. What makes the story even dark is how the crime was discovered. Frederick and Susan Manning's attempt to cover up the murder fell apart when rumors spread, and they were eventually arrested The press had a field day with the gruesome details, and it became one of the most sensational trials of the time.

Speaker 1: At their trial, Frederick George Manning was found guilty and sentenced to hang, while his wife Susan was also convicted. It was a shocking example of Victorian crime and how a tale of betrayal and greed could lead to such tragic ends. The Titchborne claimant a case of mistaken identity or was it?

Speaker 2: Now?

Speaker 1: We all know the Victorians loved a good case of mistaken identity, but the story of Sir Roger Titchborne takes the cake, and probably a few tea biscuits too. In the eighteen fifties, Sir Roger Titchborne, an English baronet, went missing at sea. His family mourned, and life went on until in eighteen sixty six a man named Arthur Orton showed up claiming to be Sir Roger himself. Orton, a butcher from Australia, said he had been shipwrecked and had amnesia. Naturally, he didn't remember the small detail of being a butcher, and the family didn't seem to notice that their long lost baronet now looked like he'd been eating a little too much butcher's meat, but Orton's claim gained traction.

Speaker 1: He was remarkably good at convincing people, and for a while he lived the high life as the tickborn heir until the truth came out. It turned out that he wasn't Roger Titchborne at all. Who would have thought? The trial was a sensation, a mix of slapstick comedy and courtroom drama as the public debated whether or not this man was a fraud. Spoiler alert, he was in fact a fraud. Arthur Orton was eventually convicted of perjury, and the real Titchborne's identity was never conclusively confirmed. In the end, it's probably safe to say never trust a butcher claiming to be a baronet.

Speaker 1: Just a little Victorian wisdom for you. Victorian punishments for crimes more than just a trip to the stocks. Now, no discussion of Victorian oddities would be complete without taking a look at some of the truly creative ways that criminals were punished Back then. The Victorians had some wild ideas when it came to justice. There was the traditional, of course, the stocks, public hangings and all that, but there were also new and innovative ways to punish wrongdoers. For example, if you were caught stealing, you might be forced to wear a skold's bridle.

Speaker 1: This was basically a metal mask that covered your face, complete with a spike that would sit in your mouth to prevent you from speaking. It was like the world's most terrifying dental device. Got a lot to say, Too bad was the sentiment, and if you were particularly unlucky, you could be sent to the infamous news Gate prison, where the rich and poor mingled, only the poor came out much worse off. There was also transportation, which sounds like an option you'd pick on a flight, but no transportation in the Victorian era was actually sending criminals to places like Australia, where they could spend years building roads or being subjected to the lovely heat of the Australian outback.

Speaker 1: Victorian punishments, much like their fashions, were full of flare, a little over the top, and definitely not something you'd want to experience. Well, there you have it, folks, another stroll through the strange, dark and sometimes absurd world of the Victorians. Baby farmers, mistaken identities, wife auctions, and true crime tales. Of betrayal and horror. Truly, the Victorian era was a time when things were complicated. I hope you enjoyed today's strange journey, and as always, if you ever find yourself in need of a business idea, I suggest sticking with something a little less sinister than baby farming.

Speaker 1: Maybe knitting. I hear it's a good hobby. Don't forget to subscribe, like leave a review. Tell your friends, family, and coworkers so they too can learn a lot of weird history that may or may not help them out in trivia games or as awkward conversation starters at parties. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time, where we'll dig into another bizarre tale from history. Until then, stay strange.

The Story