Doctor Poison: The Extraordinary Career of Dr George Henry Lamson, Victorian Poisoner Par Excellence

By Jan Bondeson

One of the most notorious Victorian murders was committed by Dr George Henry Lamson, who stood trial in 1882 for poisoning his crippled brother-in-law Percy Malcolm John; he was found guilty, sentenced to death, and executed. This book is the first full-length account of the Lamson case since the relevant ‘Notable British Trials’ volume appeared back in 1912.

Using contemporary newspapers, the police and Home Office files at the National Archives, and various other archival sources, it describes Lamson’s adolescence in a distinguished New York family, his successful medical studies in Paris and Edinburgh, and his valiant wartime service as a military surgeon in Serbia and Romania. Things then went rapidly downhill: he failed to establish himself as a general practitioner in Bournemouth, and descended into a maelstrom of drug addiction and moral irresponsibility, ending up a cruel, calculating murderer for the sake of profit.

New light will be shed on Lamson’s motive for the murder, and on his choice of poison; arguments will be presented that the murder of Percy Malcolm John was not the first attempt on the life of this hapless youth by the murderous doctor; nor was he the first victim of this cunning and subtle Victorian poisoner par excellence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Release date: Sep 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781800466579

Jan Bondeson

JAN BONDESON is a senior lecturer and consultant rheumatologist at the University of Wales College of Medicine. His many critically acclaimed books include Cabinet of Medical Curiosities, The Great Pretenders and the best-selling Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our Most Primal Fear. A respected true crime historian he has written twenty books, among them The London Monster and Rivals of the Ripper (both The History Press).

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Jan Bondeson is a retired senior lecturer and consultant physician at Cardiff University, and a distinguished true crime author; his previous critically acclaimed books include The London Monster, Murder Houses of London, Rivals of the Ripper and Victorian Murders.

Copyright © 2021 Jan Bondeson

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

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CONTENTS

PREFACE

In April 2001, my mother came from Sweden to visit me, and since I had recently moved from a flat in London to a large house in South Wales, I was able to present her with a good deal of entertainment. Since she had a strong fondness for historical monuments, we drove to see the castles of Caerphilly, Chepstow, Raglan, Kidwelly and Carreg Cennen. One day, we went for an expedition to Hay-on-Wye, the world-famous Town of Books, travelling on the old mountain road from Llanwihangel Crucorney via Capel-y-ffin, stopping at ancient Llanthony Abbey on the way. This old road was not much used, and coming through a bend in my TVR sports car, I was dismayed to see a large yellow dog sleeping peacefully on the tarmac just in front of us! When I braked hard and sounded the horn, the Welsh cur took a leap to safety, barking angrily at being disturbed in his slumber.

After admiring the glorious mountain views and descending on the other side of the summit, we arrived safely in Hay-on-Wye. Being a vigorous book collector, I lost no time before searching some of the bookshops, and just before luncheon, I found a copy of Hargrave Lee Adam’s Trial of George Henry Lamson. Although the book was in an unattractive library binding, ex Berkshire County Libraries HQ Reserve Stock, I purchased it since it cost just £2.95, and since it was one of my ambitions in life to accumulate a complete set of the Notable British Trials, all 83 volumes of them. During luncheon, I read some of Mr Adam’s introduction, finding it most hilarious that the murderous doctor had greeted his victim with the ludicrous words Why, how fat you are looking, Percy, old boy! before going on to entice the hapless lad to his death by exclaiming Here, Percy, you are a swell pill-taker; take this, and show Mr Bedbrook how easily it may be swallowed!

For many years to come, Hargrave Lee Adam’s Trial of George Henry Lamson stood among my other Notable British Trials, unconsulted after the initial reading back in 2001. I eventually managed to complete my collection of these agreeable books, but by that time I no longer had a mother, since she had died at an advanced age in 2009. In 2014, I decided to complete a project that had been ongoing since 2010, namely to compile two books based on a collection of old images from the Illustrated Police News and other Victorian periodicals, held by an old man in Cardiff whom I had befriended: one book (Strange Victoriana; Amberley Publishing 2016) about Forteana and strange events, the other (Victorian Murders; Amberley Publishing 2017) about Victorian murder stories. One of the cases covered in the second book was that of the celebrated medical miscreant Dr George Henry Lamson, and while making some researches, I was astounded to see how much new material came to light with regard to Lamson’s previous life, his motive, and the completion of his heinous deeds. When I discussed this book with my old friend, the late Richard Whittington-Egan, he asked whether I had been able to unearth important new evidence in any of the cases included. My response was that although I had been able to shed some much-needed new light on the unsolved murders of Mrs Ann Reville in Slough and Mrs Sarah Dinah Noel in Ramsgate, the case of Dr Lamson stood out with regard to the amount of novel information being accumulated. He then said that a short book on the Lamson case would not come amiss, and the very same evening, I added it to my list of potential book projects.¹ After three years of research and writing, it has passed from the nebulous world of purported book projects to the solid wooden shelf of published books waiting to be sold; I wish it many readers.

I.

THE FAMILY AND EARLY CAREER OF GEORGE HENRY LAMSON

William Lamson, the earliest ancestor of the Lamson family in the United States, emigrated from England to America in 1634, and became a freeman and farmer in Ipswich, Massachusetts. He was a man of some standing in the local community, and was elected supervisor of the swine and cattle let out on the common; he had authority to seize stray animals and impound them until their owner had paid a fine. He was also elected inspector of fences and permitted to fell 300 trees to make some improvements to the enclosures. He was part of the local militia, trained to protect the settlement and fight hostile Indian tribes. William Lamson married Sarah Ayers, fathering four sons and four daughters. He died in 1658 or 1659. His eldest son John Lamson, born in 1642, also became a prosperous farmer in Ipswich. He married Martha Perkins and fathered many children, seven of whom reached adulthood. In his will, he partitioned a considerable estate among his four sons and three surviving daughters. Since he could not read or write, he made his mark on the will in lieu of a proper signature.

William Lamson, the eldest son of John Lamson, was born in 1675. He took over the Lamson farm in Ipswich, his homestead being next to that of his brother, Ensign Samuel Lamson. A prosperous farmer, he allowed his sons Benjamin, Thomas and Jonathan to build houses of their own on his land. His eldest son William, born in 1708, had left Ipswich as a young man, to become a tailor in Exeter, New Hampshire. He married Joanna Tuttle and had three sons and two daughters. The second son Gideon Lamson, born in 1748, also lived in Exeter, being something of a jack of all trades, working as a tailor, a merchant, and a trader. He was well thought of locally, and was made a Selectman of Exeter in 1786, and a Coroner of Rockingham County in 1790. He had two sons, both of whom he survived: George, born in 1794 and John, born in 1798 and dead in 1824. George Lamson had a more distinguished career than any of his forebears. A graduate of Bowdoin College, he afterwards studied law, with considerable success. In 1817, George married Lucretia Bourne Orne, who may well have come from a wealthy family; in 1823, they moved to New York City, where he set up practice as a lawyer.

1. The Lamson pedigree.

George and Lucretia Lamson had five children: the daughter Lucretia who died young, the daughter Caroline Orne, born in 1823, the son William Orne, born in 1824, the son Edward Orne, born in 1827, and the son George Henry, whose year of birth is not recorded. It must have been quite a blow to this large family when George Lamson died unexpectedly in 1826, at the age of just 32. His widow Lucretia looked after the four surviving children as well as she could, and remained in New York City, being recorded to be living at No. 31 Fourth Street in 1841. The daughter Caroline Orne married a man named McGregor and had four children of her own. The son Edward Orne married but did not have issue. The son George Henry lived in China for a while and knew Napoleon III of France; he died in New York City in 1857, unmarried and without issue.¹

*

The son William Orne Lamson, grandson of Gideon Lamson and a member of the seventh generation of Lamsons in the United States, shared his father’s talent for an academic education. He studied at New York University, where he was a member of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity. He graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in 1849 and as a Master of Arts in 1852. In March 1851, he was ordained to the deaconate, and in December 1852 to the priesthood, by Bishop Chase. In August 1851, he became Rector of St John’s Church in Stockport, New York, and in April 1852, Rector of the Church of the Ascension, South Brooklyn.

In 1850, William Orne Lamson married Julia Wood Schuyler, the daughter of the wealthy New York ‘railroad king’ and financier Robert Schuyler, and granddaughter of US Representative Philip Jeremiah Schuyler. It was clearly a very favourable marriage for the Rev. Mr Lamson, whose family would not be troubled by any financial worries for many years to come. They soon had two sons: George Henry, born on September 8 1852, and Robert Schuyler, born in 1854. The Rev. Mr Lamson took his work seriously, and he appears to have been a good clergyman, who had genuine religious feelings and a prominent sense of philanthropy, and who stayed away from telling untruths, embezzling money and molesting children. He was on the lookout for more stimulating work than what was offered by his suburban flock in New York, and had success in early 1858, when he was selected by Bishop Williams of Connecticut to take charge of the American Episcopal Church in Paris. On June 26 1858, the Rev. Mr Lamson left New York City on the steamship Arago, bound for Southampton and Le Havre, bringing with him his wife and his two young sons. On August 16 1858, the Morning Chronicle could report that The Rev. Wm. O. Lamson, of New York, has arrived in Paris, for the purpose of establishing the service of the American Episcopal Church in the French capital, and will officiate to-morrow in the Chapelle Taitbout.²

2. The Rev. William Orne Lamson.

The Rev. Mr Lamson settled down in Paris with his family. The state of the American Episcopal Church in the French capital was not a particularly healthy one, as it would turn out: the congregation had access to the American Chapel in the Rue de Berri, but it had to be shared with other Christian persuasions catering to American expatriates. There was a good deal of idle hands and intriguing minds among the American men of religion in Paris, and not all of them appreciated the Rev. Mr Lamson coming to reinforce the Episcopal Church. After Mr Lamson had insisted that a full Sunday Episcopal service should be held at the American Chapel, his enemies referred to him as a missionary of disturbance and in other terms of disrespect. It was rumoured that the Episcopal bishops in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York had sent Lamson on a mission to break up the union at the American Chapel, and strengthen the American Episcopalists in Paris by constructing a church of their own. But although his enemies wrote some poison-pen letters to the religious magazines back in America, and plotted to have the Rev. Mr Lamson sent back to New York, Lamson’s position was secure, since the Episcopalists gathered behind him. They appreciated his efforts to strengthen the position of their congregation, and get them a church of their own. Furthermore, he had the support of the powerful American Episcopal bishops who had sent him off on his mission to Paris.³

The Rev. Mr Lamson moved into an apartment at No. 19 Rue Castellane with his family. His two sons George Henry and Robert Schuyler both went to a French school, where they became perfectly bilingual. George Henry in particular showed early promise as a scholar, and the Rev. Mr Lamson had hopes that he would enjoy a successful academic career. Mrs Julia Lamson also took a vigorous part in church life, becoming the organist of the Episcopal congregation. Since the Rev. Mr Lamson found it unsatisfactory that his flock had to worship at various shared churches and chapels, he made exertions to have a new American Church constructed. But although there was no shortage of wealthy Americans in Paris, the cultural capital of Europe during the second Empire, and although quite a few French noblemen had married American heiresses, money was lacking for such an expensive project. The Rev. Mr Lamson went back to the United States in 1861, 1862 and 1863, to negotiate with the Episcopal bishops and drum up financial support from wealthy people back home, and in the end he had success. Land was purchased in the Rue Bayard, not far from the Champs Elysées, where a small church was constructed at considerable expense, the cornerstone being laid on September 12 1863. The Rev. Mr Lamson worked ceaselessly to raise more funds, and offered a number of wealthy Americans to sponsor the stained-glass windows he wanted to install. The Princesse Murat, born Caroline Georgina Frazer in South Carolina, donated a fine copy of Titian’s painting of the Entombment of Christ, to be displayed in the church. In October 1864, the Bishop of Ohio came to Paris to consecrate the new American Church in the Rue Bayard.⁴

The successful construction of the American Church was a considerable achievement for the Rev. Mr Lamson, who was admired by his flock for his praiseworthy enterprise, administrative talent and philanthropic zeal. In April 1865, the Rev. Mr Lamson held a grand service in his new church, on account of the death of President Lincoln. Since the church was full to capacity, a crowd of people had to stand outside. In a brief and eloquent address, Mr Lamson alluded feelingly to the tragic fate of the President, who was snatched away from them at the very moment when the promised land of peace was opening to his view.⁵

*

George Henry Lamson graduated from his French school in the late 1860s, and went on to become a medical student, making excellent progress at the great Paris teaching hospitals. By 1866, there had been a late-coming addition to the Lamson family: the young daughter Julia Schuyler Lamson. The Rev. Mr Lamson took a larger house in the Rue Christophe to accommodate his growing family. He was highly respected by the Episcopalists in Paris, and showed praiseworthy ecumenical tendencies, often holding meetings and conferences with clergy from other Christian persuasions.

In July 1870, France declared war on Prussia. The Rev. Mr Lamson sent his wife and two younger children to England, where they moved into lodgings at Ventnor in the Isle of Wight. Himself, he remained in Paris to look after his new church, and the 18-year-old George Henry also stayed behind. A group of philanthropic Americans clubbed together to form the American Ambulance, for the purpose of helping the French wounded. Dr John Swinburne, a skilful American surgeon practicing in London, became Chief Surgeon, and Dr William E. Johnston, a fashionable American doctor practicing in Paris, became Physician. The Rev. Mr Lamson became Chaplain to the American Ambulance, and George Henry, who had studied medicine for several years in spite of his youth, became dresser to Dr Swinburne.

3. The American Church in the Rue Bayard, Paris, during the time it served as the Scottish Church, a postcard stamped and posted in 1910.

There was initial optimism among the French that the war would be brought to a swift and successful conclusion, but it soon became apparent that the Prussians meant business. The French generals were either overconfident or overly pessimistic, and often at loggerheads with one another; the troops were numerous but hampered by insufficient training, poor organization and indifferent morale. The Prussians were ably led by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke, names that have passed into military history; the soldiers, wearing their field-grey uniforms and formidable spiked helmets, were known for their discipline and bravery. Austro-Hungary did not dare to enter the war on the French side, whereas the southern German states willingly joined forces with the Prussians. The French suffered crushing early defeats at Spicheren and Woerth. The ailing Napoleon III, who suffered badly from kidney stones, had joined the army of Marshal MacMahon, but they had to capitulate at Sedan and the Emperor became a prisoner of war. The foolhardy Marshal Bazaine, whose army had taken refuge in the fortress of Metz, also had to surrender. The Second Empire was no more, Empress Eugenie had to escape to England with the Prince Imperial, and Paris was in immediate danger from the relentless Prussian advance. Already in late September 1870, the French capital was entirely encircled by the Prussian armies.

Most members of the Diplomatic Corps left Paris as soon as they could, as did clergymen of all religious persuasions. When the Times wrote that at the commencement of the siege, the Protestant ministers of all denominations had left Paris, the Bishop of Ohio wrote back to announce that at least one of them had not: the Rev. Mr Lamson, rector of the American Episcopal Church, found it his duty to remain in the stricken French capital; he held services in his church that could be attended by all English-speaking Christians.⁶ In December 1870, the Prussians began bombarding Paris. A shell traversed two stories in the house of the Rev. Mr Lamson in the Rue Christophe, but it did not burst, and the lives of the Rev. Gentleman and his son George Henry were saved as a consequence. In a letter, the Rev. Mr Lamson described how the bomb had entered his bedroom through the window, crushing his bed into splinters and shattering the bedside furniture, before passing through the floor and bouncing down the stairs without exploding. Had his head been on the pillow, it would have been knocked straight off, but the Hand of God had saved the Rev. Gentleman.⁷

4. Napoleon III, the Empress Eugenie and Marshal MacMahon, from old cabinet cards in the author’s collection.

On January 23 1871, the eloquent William Orne Lamson wrote to his friend Dr Francis Vinton, of the Trinity Church in New York: It will be a matter of some curiosity to you at least to receive a sign of life from this environed city. I am tempted to ask at once, How goes the world without? What kingdoms and empires have fallen and risen during the last four months? Prussia has grown, so the pigeons say, from a German State into an Empire, by rolling herself like a snow-ball over this stricken country, out of which she has been freezing, starving, crushing the life … I have never worked harder than during this voluntary imprisonment. As head of the ambulance, I have been at every battle-field around Paris. My poor have tried my resources and energy to the utmost. The sick have been visited, the dying consoled, the dead buried, the penitent baptized … George is with me, and has been working as surgeon-assistant in the ambulance.⁸

*

Competently led by Dr Swinburne, who had experience from the American Civil War, the American Ambulance developed a reputation for