The Love That Led to Family Murder: The Arsenic Death of Richard Gallop | True Crime 1844

n 1844, the quiet town of Crewe was shaken by a crime that startled even seasoned Victorian magistrates. When Richard Gallop fell suddenly and violently ill, suspicion soon turned to the person closest to him: his young daughter, Mary.

What began as a family dispute over a forbidden romance spiralled into one of the era’s most unsettling arsenic cases. Drawing entirely from surviving inquest testimony, courtroom reporting, and contemporary medical evidence, this episode traces the final days of Richard Gallop, the repeated poison purchases, and the investigation that revealed a carefully executed plan inside an ordinary household.

We also close with a remarkable Further Particulars tale from Northumberland — involving two burglars, a fearless servant girl, an elderly woman armed with a scythe, and the sort of Victorian resourcefulness that belongs in a novel rather than a police report.

If you enjoy exploring historical true crime through original sources, you can find more weekly episodes, extended archive access, and advert-free listening on our Patreon:

👉 https://www.patreon.com/newsofthetimes