Charlotte Bryant

Charlotte Bryant (née McHugh; 14 February 1903 – 15 July 1936) was an Irish-born woman who was convicted of the poisoning murder of her husband in 1936. Bryant denied all involvement but was convicted under circumstantial evidence in what has been described as "one of the most unusual murder cases of the era." Her trial was held in Dorchester at the Shire Hall, where she was convicted within an hour by an all-male jury. She was the last woman sentenced to death in Dorset and became the last woman executed at HM Prison Exeter. Known as "Lottie", she had three younger sisters, in a Roman Catholic family. It was here that she met her husband in 1922. While serving he had been injured in Mesopotamia. They soon left Ireland and moved to England together. She invited him for Christmas dinner as he was alone. Due to the growing gossip about his wife's behaviour, Frederick's employer dismissed him from his job. This resulted in the Bryants losing their cottage and the family was forced to move elsewhere. He found a new job as a farmhand in Coombe, a hamlet near Sherborne, working for Aubrey Priddle.

While the police carried out their investigations into the death of Frederick, the family was relocated temporarily to the Public Assistance Institution in the town of Sturminster Newton, a former workhouse.

Trial Shire Hall in Dorchester where the trial for the murder of Frederick Bryant was held. Criminal proceedings began at Shire Hall on 27 May 1936 and lasted four days. For the prosecution, Terence O'Connor, KC was unable to definitively prove that Charlotte had been the one who purchased the poison. Lucy, who was living with the Bryants, testified against Charlotte. The case against Charlotte relied largely on her verbal testimony which retold the story of the drink of Oxo and the burned tin, and claims that she admitted to hating her husband.

Parsons was also asked to give evidence for the prosecution, and he admitted his intimate relationship with the defendant. Casswell's questioning caused him to raise the possibility that Frederick may have consumed low traces of arsenic accidentally, though it would have been unlikely to be lethal.

Imprisonment A week after her sentencing, Casswell was approached by William Arthur Bone, an award-winning chemist, who questioned the forensic evidence which was used to convict Charlotte. As his client had been sentenced under circumstantial evidence, they met and Bone clarified that the typical composition of coal contains 140 parts of arsenic per million. This was slightly less than the 149 parts per million that were detected in the sample used as evidence. The appeal took place on 29 June 1936, but this new evidence was rejected, and her death sentence was upheld.

Charlotte began to learn to read and write with the help of the female warders at the prison. Her solicitors attempted to have her case taken to the House of Lords and an application was sent to the Attorney General which was rejected.

Execution

Charlotte was executed on Wednesday 15 July 1936. The executioner Thomas Pierrepoint was responsible for the hanging, which had an audience of 1,000 people who stood outside in torrential rain. She was fined by the police and stated she would start a fund for the orphans of individuals who have been killed or executed. The criminal historian Dr Nell Darby challenged Charlotte's portrayal as a sexual deviant and believes she was a victim of classism due to her working class background; "although Charlotte’s affair was brought up in court, it was not done so to depict her as a slut, or as an evil woman, but mentioned as part of a prosecution case to suggest that because Charlotte was in a relationship with Parsons, in love with him, and wanted to marry him, she was motivated to kill her husband.” The letters that Charlotte wrote while imprisoned are archived by the National Justice Museum. In 2022, the story of Charlotte's life was in an exhibition at Shire Hall where her trial had taken place. In 2018, the case was featured in the first episode of the BBC series Murder, Mystery and My Family.