Florence Elizabeth Maybrick

Florence Elizabeth Chandler Maybrick (3 September 1862 – 23 October 1941) was an American woman convicted in the United Kingdom of murdering her husband, cotton merchant James Maybrick.

Early life

Florence Maybrick was born Florence Elizabeth Chandler in Mobile, Alabama. She was the daughter of William George Chandler, a one-time mayor of Mobile and a partner in the banking firm of St. John Powers and Company, and Caroline Chandler Du Barry, née Holbrook. Florence's father had died before her birth. Her mother married in 1872 her third husband Baron Adolph von Roques, a cavalry officer in the Eighth Cuirassier Regiment of the German Army.

Marriage

While travelling by ship to the United Kingdom, Florence met James Maybrick, a cotton merchant from Liverpool. Other passengers were shocked by a 17-year-old girl spending so much time alone in the company of Maybrick, who was 23 years her senior. A year later, on 27 July 1881, the couple were married at St James's Church, Piccadilly, in London. They settled in Battlecrease House, Aigburth, a suburb of Liverpool.

Florence made quite an impression on the social scene in Liverpool, and the Maybricks were usually to be found at the most important balls and functions, the very picture of a happy, successful couple. But Maybrick, a hypochondriac, was a regular user of arsenic and patent medicines containing poisonous chemicals and had a number of mistresses, one of whom bore him five children. Florence meanwhile entered into several liaisons of her own. One was with a local businessman, Alfred Brierley, which her husband was told about. A violent row ensued after Maybrick heard reports of Florence's relationship with Brierley, during which Maybrick assaulted her and announced his intention of seeking a divorce. The wish for divorce seemed mutual.