Poisons

[MKG]

I've got an interesting one - yes, this is going to be related to family research. I seem to be drawing a blank in my efforts, so does anyone happen to know where I could get my hands on a list of poisons (deadly ones, that is) which would have been openly available in England in about 1925-28?

Any guidance welcome 

Mike

[Viktoria]

I have a vague stirring in my mind that there was a "Poisons Act" which meant that certain substances were not allowed to be sold" over the counter" in Chemist`s etc, Google it and you may find some info. Usually RootsChatters are very informative on these matters. Best of luck. Viktoria.

[MKG]

Thanks Viktoria - your prompt has led me to the Pharmacy and Poisons Act 1933, which in turn refers out to the Poisons List. Now for the search to find a 1928 version of that!

Mike

[Steve G]

 What are you up to, Mike? Sounds intriguing 

Meanwhile, I suspect it would've been that '33 act that restricted some of the 'better' stuff. Only, I'm reasonably sure that ~ around the period ye have ear marked ~ people were still able and willing to buy anything from strychnine downwards as, or as part of commercially prepared, rat baits and similar things.

Remember also that the restriction of such stuff doesn't make it go away over night. I have an old tin here in which phosphorus based rat bait was sold. Still got a tiny square of bread in it. I'm not eating that bread! 

[LizzieW]

I'm sure we used to have poisons at home in the 1940s and 1950s.  They were in green ridged bottles, so that blind people would know the ridged bottle contained poison.  Not sure why they were green, maybe something to do with keeping the poison in the dark.

Lizzie

[Steve G]

 Great, aren't they, Lizzie? Cobalt blue was the other colour most often used.

 I've seen them also with a skull and cross bones, even a dead rat embossed on them.

 The tins I have are of a stuff sold under the trade name of " Rodine ". I have their Red Squill and their Phosphorus tins here. I know they also did an Arsenic based one and most probably Strychnine too.

 Brings it all a bit into focus, when ye consider one of these tins (or the cardboard box they came in) is labelled, " Boots " ! 

[Viktoria]

If people wanted poison they could always boil fly papers---those sticky long strips of impregnated paper that unrolled from a carton tube. I think it was strychnine but not sure.                              Oxalic acid was used to get those brown iron mould stains out of laundry--not sold now much  too dangerous!You can get it from rhubarb  leaves though.They are poisonous.
Cyanide is in kernels of  many fruit stones like peaches, almonds, plums and even apple pips.
Arsenic was used to colour wallpaper especially green colours and gilt decoration. It deteriorated after a time and airborne particles  were floating about all over the place. There`s a theory that that`s what killed Napoleon. The damp air on the island affected the colours on the wallpaper and the rest is history!
Laburnum seeds, holly berries ,foxglovesand even very fresh conkers too.
Do let us know why you wanted the info, I`m all agog with noseyness!Viktoria.

[c-side]

They must have been easily obtainable or Agatha Christie would have been a bit short on ideas   

[MKG]

OK - I'll come clean(ish). I've discovered the very early death of a young woman, and am told that she killed herself by drinking poison. Her husband (by whom she fell pregnant when she was barely 16 and not yet married) apparently had an eye for the ladies because at exactly the same time as the birth of their middle child, his girlfriend also gave birth to a child. The lady died at 22, husband promptly married girlfriend, and they carried on to have several more children (one of them my stepfather). Everyone concerned is now dead.

Now, as I'm sure you can imagine, that has my nose twitching all over the place. Drinking poison usually results in a spectacularly awful death unless the poison is very carefully chosen - but this girl was certainly no chemist. There were many other suicide methods open to her, most of them much less painful. However, assuming this was a genuine suicide, it would mean that she would have had to recognise whatever she took as a fatal poison and it would have had to be openly available. Hence my initial question.

I don't have to tell you what the alternative to suicide is, do I? This has all the makings of a case fit for Poirot. But before I go charging off looking for the report on the inquest, I just wanted to get a few basics inside my head.

Oh, the joys of genealogy!

EDIT: Just in case anyone develops a natural curiosity, I would rather deal with any personal details via PM - there are other children of the second marriage who are still alive and, on the off chance that they're reading this, I wouldn't wish to upset any of them.

Mike