The recent overturn of the Roe V. Wade legislation in the US Supreme Court has brought the subject of abortion to the fore, writes Neil Crossfield…
In 1973, the Roe V. Wade case gave American women a constitutional right to abortion. In England, the 1967 Abortion Act had become law, legalising abortion under certain conditions. Before 1803, the Church had tacitly tolerated abortions, providing that they occurred before the ‘quickening’. This usually occurred at around 16-20 weeks, when the baby could be felt moving.
However, in 1803 the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Ellenborough, proposed the Malicious Shooting or Stabbing Act, which also contained clauses making abortion a criminal offence. Those found guilty could be fined, whipped, imprisoned, pilloried or even transported for 14 years. The maximum penalty was the death sentence, which was not repealed until 1837.
While illegal in the eyes of the law, some women still made the choice to have an abortion. There were many reasons for this, women who had already given birth to many children may have felt another mouth to feed would put financial pressure on her family. Sometimes the health of the mother could be at risk, necessitating a termination. Strict social conventions meant childbirth outside of wedlock could mean the stigmatization of both mother and child.
It is impossible to know just how many women had abortions in this period, as its illegality meant that official records were not kept. Yet many historians now believe that most areas would have had an ‘abortionist’ who would have carried out these procedures. In her book, City of Sin, Catherine Arnold says that some of these could be struck off doctors, others might be half trained nurses with a rudimentary understanding of obstetrics, and some would be ‘wise women’ who would administer herbs and tinctures with the aim to induce miscarriage. Many were just local women who had great experience in pregnancy and childbirth. They were fully aware of the trouble an unwanted pregnancy could cause a woman and would do anything they could to help.
With no legal route open to them, women had little option but to subject themselves to the dangers of a ‘backstreet abortion’. This was very much something which was carried on in secret, behind closed doors, but we often get glimpses of the murky world of the abortionist in newspapers and court reports, invariably when something had gone horribly wrong.
One highly publicised case occurred in 1848. This was the sad tale of one Eliza Wilson, who had an affair with a married man, had got pregnant and died following a botched ‘backstreet’ abortion in Walworth.
As well as extensive coverage of the case in national and local newspapers, several broadside ballads had been produced. As mentioned in previous articles, this form of street literature was cheaply produced for the masses. For some sections of the community, this would be their primary means of getting the news. Some enterprising printers also produced what were known as chapbooks. The subject of these books was varied and could include political events, almanacs, children’s stories, tales of heroism and crime. Like the broadside, these were printed cheaply. Large sheets of paper would be folded and sold in book form, some just a few pages long. Around 1848, C. Paul, a printer based at 18 Great St.Andrew Street Bloomsbury, produced one such chapbook, titled the ‘Full account of the extraordinary death of Eliza Wilson by Mrs Linfield, Midwife at Walworth, caused by abortion’.
Though many backstreet abortions resulted in death, what makes this case interesting is that her statement allows us to view the process through the words of the victim, for in true melodramatic Victorian fashion, the story involves a deathbed confession by the dying Eliza Wilson.
On 20th September 1848, while Eliza lay gravely ill at her father’s house in Woodcote Place, Norwood, she was visited by Samuel Elyard, J.P. for Surrey and Police Inspector Robert Emerson. When they asked her if she thought she would recover, she had answered that she thought she would die. At this point they took a statement from the dying woman.
Born around 1816, she had been baptised Elizabeth but is called Eliza in all subsequent documents. Newspapers report her as coming from a ‘respectable’ family and that she worked as a dressmaker.
In her final testimony, Eliza reveals that she’d had what she called ‘a criminal connection’ with a married man named Richard Orpin and that she had fallen pregnant. Eliza was single and had said ‘I never had connection with any other man’.
At a later trial, Police Constable Joseph Armstrong, from Norwood police station attested that he had known both Orpin and Eliza for around four years and had seen the two together at all hours claiming that he had even seen Orpin kiss her. There is also some indication that Orpin’s wife, Jane, knew Eliza, who had visited the Orpin’s family home.
When Eliza told Orpin that she was having his baby, he had said, ‘Stop till Monday, and we will go together to East Lane, Walworth, to a woman’. It is difficult to explain this as anything other than a suggestion that Eliza should terminate the pregnancy. How Orpin instantly knew where to go for an abortion is not known, but it would imply that he had some prior knowledge of services offered by Mrs Spencer Linfield of Walworth.
On Monday 4th September 1848, Orpin went with her to East Lane, looking for Linfield. As they were unable to locate her, Eliza returned alone the following day and met Mary Ann Dryden, an associate of Linfield. She gave Eliza a concoction of herbs for which she paid the sum of 4 shillings. These included ‘five-leaved grass, ground ivy and pilacotia’. During the investigation, many different herbs were found at the properties of both Dryden and Linfield. These included, savin, deadly nightshade and others which were commonly used to bring on miscarriage.
These proved ineffective, so on Wednesday 6th September, Dryden took Eliza to see Linfield, who resided at 24 Prior Place, East Lane. Eliza recalled being taken to an upstairs room of a herb shop where Linfield used instruments to perform operations on her. She did this on three separate occasions over the next few days. On one occasion she slept at Mary Dryden’s house afterwards. Linfield’s son, William, was present and appeared to be aware of what was taking place at the premises. For this illegal service, Eliza had to pay Linfield the sum of £2 10 shillings. She had also given a few shillings to Dryden. Orpin had promised to give Eliza the money, but it transpired that he never did.
Eliza returned home to Norwood, but by the 12th of September she had become seriously ill. In severe pain, caused by infection, she had sent her brother back to Walworth to ask for Linfield’s assistance. Rather than hurrying to see Eliza, she had given her brother a small packet containing Epsom Salts, telling her to take these. This was useless and Eliza’s condition continued to deteriorate until she died at around 3:30am on Friday 22nd July. The cause of death was attributed to inflammation of the uterus, most likely caused by the medical instruments Linfield had used. Carrying out procedures like this can be dangerous to this day, but in Victorian England, the chances of infection and complications were far greater. Infection control was non existent and surgeons who carried out a later post-mortem stated that the implements used were not suitable for the operation.
After Eliza’s death, Spencer and William Linfield, Mary Ann Dryden and Richard Orpin were arrested. They were first brought in front of magistrates at Lambeth Police Court, before appearing at the Old Bailey on 23rd October 1848. William was released but the others were indicted for the wilful murder of Eliza Wilson, by procuring her miscarriage with the use of a catheter.
The trial gave further details of the goings-on at Prior Place. Witnesses reported that, over the years, they had seen many pregnant women arrive but had not once seen any leave with a baby nor even heard a child cry. Some of these women arrived in cabs but left two weeks later, childless, with some picked up by ‘gentlemen’.
The windows of the house had been designed in such a way as to deaden sound. Neighbours complained of foul smells coming from drains, found to be caused by the ‘decomposition of some putrid matter’. This implied that Linfield may have been disposing of aborted foetuses by irregular means, with one neighbour inferring that Linfield kept a pig in her back yard for this purpose.
Police officers checked logbooks and discovered that since 1847, at least 7 bodies of newly born children had been found in the streets surrounding Linfield’s house. A local grave digger had told police that he had frequently buried stillborn children brought to him by Dryden. Their death certificates had been signed by Linfield.
Anonymous claims had been made to police Superintendent Robinson that Linfield had been involved in the deaths of two other women, one a servant from St. Georges, Southwark and another who had died due to drugs administered by Linfield. While no doubt, many women who performed abortions within their own communities did so in a genuine desire to improve the lot of their fellow women, Spencer Linfield appeared to have made a career out of these women’s misfortunes and was running a highly organised, profitable but illegal business from her home in Walworth.
Linfield had been born around 1791. A certificate produced at the trial suggested that she may have had some degree of medical training. It read, ‘This is to certify that Mrs. Spencer Lind-field has diligently attended a course of my lectures on midwifery, and the diseases of women and children; and practised the same under my inspection. 24th May1821. Henry Gore Clough, M. D., Accoucheur and Physician (to several institutions), Professor and Lecturer on the Science of Midwifery, Berners-street’.
Trade directories of 1835 and 1840 record her as a dentist trading from 24 East Street, Walworth, but an 1845 directory, recorded her as a midwife. (Note: Documents relating to this case use both East Lane and East Street). Though it is historically problematic to accuse someone from the past of wrongdoing, without having the whole story, circumstantial evidence points to the fact that Linfield’s and Dryden’s activities in Walworth had a very sinister and dark side.
At the Old Bailey trial, Orpin had admitted going out with Eliza but argued that anything she had taken she had done herself.
Linfield and Dryden had said they had only given Eliza simple medicines to help her. A surgeon conceded that any internal damage caused by Linfield could have been accidental. As it was difficult to conclusively prove that Eliza had been unlawfully killed, the jury found all three not guilty.
However, before they were released, the judge admonished the two women, saying ‘that it was clear that they had been in the habit of giving medical advice under very critical and suspicious circumstances’, also giving a stern warning that, if they were appear before him again, they would feel the full force of the law.
Poor Eliza was buried on 26th September at St. Luke’s, West Norwood.
Hear Eliza’s tragic tale told in music at the Urban Elephant free festival
If you would like to learn more about this and hear the Sad Death of Eliza Wilson broadside ballad being sung, then come to St Peter’s, Walworth, on Friday 29 July at 7.30pm.
Four fantastic local musicians will be performing at the ‘Walworth’s History Through Song’ concert. This free event will feature songs and music either written about or performed in Walworth over the centuries.
Tickets available on Eventbrite bit.ly/3ItLag4.
This event forms part of the wider Urban Elephant free festival which is running from 29-31 July in various locations around Walworth, showcasing the best in contemporary urban street art, theatre, and culture.
The festival includes circus, magic, dancing, street art, theatre, puppetry and more.
For more information, please go to wwww.urbanelephant.org,uk