Onion Pie Murder

The Onion Pie Murder occurred on 7 January 1852 in Chiddingly. The crime was committed by Sarah Ann French who murdered her husband William French by administering a deadly dose of arsenic to his meal, an onion pie.

Sarah Ann French

Sarah Ann French, widow to William French and father to James French, was found guilty of wilfully murdering her husband on 19 March 1852.^[1] French was hung for her crime in Lewes at the HM Prison Lewes in front of approximately 4,003 people,^[1] on 10 April 1852.^[2] Her execution became a huge event as people even caught trains from around the country to spectate the execution.^[3] French was also the last woman ever to be publicly hanged at this location.^[4] The reasoning that Lewes decided to end public hangings was because they were led to believe that Sarah Ann French was motivated to murder her husband with the use of poison as three years prior to the murder she spectated the hanging of Mary Ann Gearing, who also murdered her husband with the use of poison.^[5] They came to question that public sentences have no beneficial impact on society and that they should be carried out only in front of customary officers privately inside the prison, so as not to risk influencing others to commit the same crimes and ultimately meet the same end.^[3]

Murder

She murdered her husband by lacing his meal with 3d worth of arsenic in Horsebridge.^[4] The arsenic was bought by her husband prior so as to kill mice in their house, and he gave to Sarah Ann French to put away in a safe place where their child or anyone else could not find it.The meal in question was served to William French on Christmas Eve in 1851, an onion pie to which French told his co-worker William Funnell the morning of that day that this meal was a rarity in his household and in fact his favourite meal, and not even days after William French started to show symptoms of illness and rupture.^[6] Sarah's motive for murdering her husband was so that she could marry a man named James Hickman, as she on many occasion (even before her husband died) said that she had strong feelings for him.^[7] It was originally believed that he had poisoned William French, however it became apparent after he had testified against her that her feelings towards him were not reciprocated.^[1]

Trial

On first inspection of William French's body and after an inquest held at the Gun Inn they came to a verdict that French had died from natural causes rather than from arsenic poisoning.^[8] However, further facts and evidence that came to light against Sarah Ann French and her suspected involvement in her husband's death led to an inquest and then inevitably a trial so as to further investigate. ^[9] William French's body was passed onto another coroner named Alfrid Swayn Taylor to see if he coould find any sign of foul-play. He found a number of small patches of yellow colour which were then found to be that of orpiment. From these findings and the testimonies from the witnesses Sarah Ann French was found guilty for the willful murder of her husband William French on 2 February 1852.^[10]

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