Amelia Dyer

Good evening all, hope you are all well. My blog this evening will be part 1 of a 2 parter as there is so much information I wouldn't want to miss any out, I will be telling the grim tale of the most prolific female serial killer in the world Amelia Dyer.

WARNING THIS CONTENT IS OF A SENSITIVE TOPIC AND SOME READERS MAY FIND IT UPSETTING.

AMELIA DYER

So as with all of my blogs we will start at the beginning. Dyer was born Amelia Elizabeth Hobley in 1836 in Pyle marsh, Bristol UK, she was the youngest of 5 children 3 brothers and 1 sister, her father Samuel Hobley was a shoemaker and made a decent living from the family business, her mother Sarah Hobley cared for the children and kept house. As a child Amelia had a love of literature and poetry so always had her head in a book. The Victorian era was hard for a lot of people even those who had enough money for food and clothes on their backs but as with any family rich or poor of the time health issues took their toll.

Dyers elder sister died aged 6 and then a 6th child a younger sister of Dyers also died at only a few months old, not long after this Dyers mother began having violent seizures which were due to the typhus she had caught as a young girl. Amelia as the only woman in the family was obliged to care for her mother after her mental health deteriorated. Caring for her mother until she died had given Dyer an insight into mental illness and what symptoms presented when someone lost their mind or as we call it now had a breakdown.

Dyer moved to the outskirts of Bristol to live with her aunt for a short time before serving as an apprentice to a corset maker, she ended her apprenticeship in 1859 and moved back into the centre of Bristol after her father died, he had left the family business to her eldest brother and not long after this she had a falling out with all of her brothers. Aged 23 Dyer met and married a man called George Thomas, he was much older at 59 and they had lied on their wedding certificate to hide the age gap which would have been frowned upon in those days, Amelia settled down and started training as a nurse which is where she met a midwife called Ellen Dane, Dane would inspire Dyer in a way nobody could have imagined. Dane informed Dyer there was an easier way to make money as a nurse and told her about baby farming where a nurse or nanny would house young women who were illegitimately pregnant and for a fee they would look after the baby until they could find a family to adopt or foster them (as some young mothers always came back for their babies) Now the practice of baby farming was big business in Victorian times, unwed mothers would get no financial support and it wasn't required by law that the fathers had to pay towards the upkeep of these babies and sadly it was the babies who paid the price, a lot of these children were sold into workhouses or left to starve, as once the baby farmers had their money looking after the child took away from their profits, depending on the wealth of the unwed mother the fee was anywhere from £5 to £80.

Dyer found this an easy way to make money, as a respectable married woman and trained nurse young women trusted her to care for their babies until a forever home was found. Dyer gave up nursing when her daughter Ellen was born but continued to take in vulnerable young women who needed her help and trusted her and Dyer did in fact find homes for some of these babies but this didn't last long. In 1869 her husband George died and she needed more money so she started to take in more babies for a one off fee and adequate clothing for the child, Dyer maintained her image of a respectable married woman who loved children and just wanted to help but by now Dyer was leaving the children she took in to starve.

In 1872 Dyer married again, William Dyer a brewers labourer who she had 2 more children with, Polly Dyer and William Dyer, she kept Williams name even though she left him after only a few years of marriage.

The house Dyer moved to after leaving her husband William

Amelia Dyer was once again alone with 3 children to care for, she continued with what she knew best and the poor unwed mothers carried on leaving their babies in her care, Dyer now had a system of leaving every child she took in to starve to death but she soon got frustrated waiting for them to die, they cost her money and she was fed up, this is when Dyer took the next step and began killing the babies herself shortly after thy were handed over to her, this allowed her to pocket all of the money and make extra cash pawning the clothes left for the babies. For a long time Dyer eluded the police and it wasn't until 1879 when a doctor raised concerns about the amount of death certificates dyer was requesting from him, this was investigated and instead of being convicted of murder Dyer was arrested and charged with neglect, the penalty 6 months hard labour! Dyer claimed this experience almost destroyed her mentally and a lot of local people were very angry with such a light sentence, Dyer moved away with her children after her sentance and had 2 spells in mental hospitals claiming mental instability but it seemed her time in these hospitals coincided with times when Dyer needed to disappear after raising suspicion with local people. after moving again and again Dyer took on the illegitimate baby of a governess, months later when the governess returned to check on her baby after hearing no news from dyer her suspicions were raised when dyer handed over her baby, the mother stripped the baby looking for her birth mark but it was not there, the mother alerted authorities who began to look into Dyers affairs, this lead to Dyer claiming to have a mental breakdown. Dyer tried to kill herself shortly after her apparent breakdown by drinking 2 bottles of laudanam but after years of opiate abuse Dyer survived, some claim she would have known that amount wouldn't have killed her. Dyer moved again and again started baby farming but this time she had learnt from her mistakes and no longer involved a doctor after killing the infants in her care, she began to discard of the bodies herself, Dyer also began taking aliases when obtaining the babies for adoption. In January 1896 a young unwed woman Evelina Marmon gave birth to a little girl she named Doris, Dyer replied to an advert left in the local paper by the mother and although shocked by Dyers advanced age Marmon handed over her baby, a fee of £10 and a box of clothes for her little girl, Dyer had convinced the young woman that Doris would be loved and well taken care off.

I'm going to leave the story there as it marks the beginning of the end for the disgusting Amelia Dyer.

I hope you enjoyed the first part of this grim tale, please come back tomorrow for part 2 and do check out my instagram account Forgottenkillersonig, also please follow my blog so you never miss out on an episode. Goodbye for now don't forget part 2 of Amelia Dyers tale on Forgotten killers and keep safe.