Madeleine Smith

Madeleine Hamilton Smith (29 March 1835 – 28 April 1928) was a 19th-century Glasgow socialite who was the accused in a sensational murder trial in Scotland in 1857.

Smith was the first child (of five total) of an upper-middle-class family in Glasgow; her father James Smith (1808–1863) was a wealthy architect, and her mother, Elizabeth, the daughter of leading neo-classical architect David Hamilton. The family lived at No 7, Blythswood Square, Glasgow, and also had a country property, "Rowaleyn", near Helensburgh.

Smith broke the strict Victorian conventions of the time when, as a young woman in early 1855, she began a secret love affair with Pierre Emile L'Angelier, an apprentice nurseryman who originally came from the Channel Islands.

The two met late at night at Smith's bedroom window and also engaged in voluminous correspondence. During one of their infrequent meetings alone, she lost her virginity to L'Angelier.

Smith's parents, unaware of the affair with L'Angelier (whom Smith had promised to marry) found a suitable fiancé for her within the Glasgow upper-middle class – William Harper Minnoch.

Smith attempted to break her connection with L'Angelier and, in February 1857, asked him to return the letters she had written to him. Instead, L'Angelier threatened to use the letters to expose her and force her to marry him. She was soon observed in a druggist's office, ordering arsenic, and signed in as M.H. Smith.

Early in the morning of 23 March 1857, L'Angelier died from arsenic poisoning. He is buried in the Ramshorn Cemetery on Ingram Street in Glasgow.

After his death, Madeleine Smith's numerous letters were found in his lodging house, and she was arrested and charged with his murder.

At trial, Smith was defended by advocate John Inglis, Lord Glencorse. Toxilogical evidence, confirming that the victim had died of arsenic poisoning, was given by Andrew Douglas Maclagan.

Although the circumstantial evidence pointed towards her guilt (Smith had made purchases of arsenic in the weeks leading up to L'Angelier's death, and had a clear motive) the jury returned a verdict of "not proven", i.e. the jury was unconvinced that Smith was innocent, but the prosecution had produced insufficient evidence to the contrary.

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