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  • Portraits of William Burke (1792-1829) and Helen McDougal (b. c. 1795), on trial in Edinburgh in 1828 for the West Port murders. Coloured etching, c. 1829.
  • Portraits of William Burke (1792-1829) and Helen McDougal (b. c. 1795), on trial in Edinburgh in 1828 for the West Port murders. Coloured etching, c. 1829.
  • Adelaide Bartlett, accused of murdering her husband. Wood engraving, ca. 1886.
  • Three heads showing phrenological traits associated with insanity: a mentally defective person, a mad woman, and the murderer P.F. Lacenaire. Lithograph by C. Picard, 1842, after J.P. Thenot.
  • An episode in 'The country curate' by G.R. Gleig: John Bushell the smith murders Noah, a Jewish pedlar; Bushell's wife Martha rushes into the room. Engraving by H. Rolls after F. Pickering, 1834.
  • China: a woman sentenced to execution by strangulation for murdering her husband. Photograph, 19--.
  • An episode in the play Olimpie by Voltaire: Olympia throws herself on the fire out of her love for Cassander, the murderer of her father Alexander the Great. Etching by Walker after H. Gravelot.
  • Aconitum carmichaelii Debeaux. Ranunculaceae. Chinese aconite, Chinese wolfsbane, Carmichael's monkshood. Herbaceous perennial. Distribution C. to W. China to N. America. Named for Dr J.R. Carmichael (d. 1877), English physician, plant collector and Protestant missionary from 1862-1877 in Guangdong and Shandong, China initially in Canton. He aided Francis Forbes to collect plants for Kew. Aconitum plants are so poisonous that Theophrastus states that death was the punishment for possessing them. Aconitine is the poison and was used - from Aconitum ferox - in the 'curry murder' in London in 2009. It causes respiratory paralysis, bradycardia (slowing of the pulse), cardiac arrhythmias, tingling, sweating, gastric cramps, diarrhoea and death, both by ingestion and by absorption through the mucous membranes and the skin. Despite this it is widely used in Chinese herbal medicine. It is a restricted herbal medicine which can only be dispensed by a herbal practitioner for external use following a one-to-one consultation, or by prescription from a registered doctor or dentist (UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Rizpah protecting the bodies of her murdered sons Armoni and Mephibosheth. Watercolour after J.M.W. Turner.
  • The wrath of God is aroused against murderers, sodomites, oppressors and swindlers. Engraving attributed to T. Galle, 1601.
  • Ricinus communis L. Euphorbiaceae Castor oil plant. Palma Christi. Distribution: Mediterranean, E Africa, India. The seeds themselves are pretty, brown, bean-like usually with gold filigree markings on them, and the interior of the seed is the source of castor oil. The outer coat of the seed is the source of the poison ricin, famous (infamous) for the umbrella murder of Georgi Markov on Waterloo Bridge in 1978. The KGB are alleged to have killed Georgi Markov, a dissident Bulgarian journalist, with a pellet containing 0.28mgm of ricin fired into his leg using a specially adapted air gun in an umbrella. While his symptoms were those of ricin poisoning, no ricin was ever found in the pellet that was extracted from his leg. Two seeds, chewed and ingested are said to be fatal, but most people vomit and get rid of the toxin. Ducks are resistant to ricin, and need to ingest more than 80 to be fatal! In Peru the leaves are used as a tea for stomach ache, although they contain small amounts of ricin. It is called Palma Christi in early herbals because of the five pointed leaves, which schematically represent a hand. It is a monotypic genus in the spurge family. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Ricinus communis L. Euphorbiaceae Castor oil plant. Palma Christi. Distribution: Mediterranean, E Africa, India. The seeds themselves are pretty, brown, bean-like usually with gold filigree markings on them, and the interior of the seed is the source of castor oil. The outer coat of the seed is the source of the poison ricin, famous (infamous) for the umbrella murder of Georgi Markov on Waterloo Bridge in 1978. The KGB are alleged to have killed Georgi Markov, a dissident Bulgarian journalist, with a pellet containing 0.28mgm of ricin fired into his leg using a specially adapted air gun in an umbrella. While his symptoms were those of ricin poisoning, no ricin was ever found in the pellet that was extracted from his leg. Two seeds, chewed and ingested are said to be fatal, but most people vomit and get rid of the toxin. Ducks are resistant to ricin, and need to ingest more than 80 to be fatal! In Peru the leaves are used as a tea for stomach ache, although they contain small amounts of ricin. It is called Palma Christi in early herbals because of the five pointed leaves, which schematically represent a hand. It is a monotypic genus in the spurge family. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Ricinus communis L. Euphorbiaceae Castor oil plant. Palma Christi. Distribution: Mediterranean, E Africa, India. The seeds themselves are pretty, brown, bean-like usually with gold filigree markings on them, and the interior of the seed is the source of castor oil. The outer coat of the seed is the source of the poison ricin, famous (infamous) for the umbrella murder of Georgi Markov on Waterloo Bridge in 1978. The KGB are alleged to have killed Georgi Markov, a dissident Bulgarian journalist, with a pellet containing 0.28mgm of ricin fired into his leg using a specially adapted air gun in an umbrella. While his symptoms were those of ricin poisoning, no ricin was ever found in the pellet that was extracted from his leg. Two seeds, chewed and ingested are said to be fatal, but most people vomit and get rid of the toxin. Ducks are resistant to ricin, and need to ingest more than 80 to be fatal! In Peru the leaves are used as a tea for stomach ache, although they contain small amounts of ricin. It is called Palma Christi in early herbals because of the five pointed leaves, which schematically represent a hand. It is a monotypic genus in the spurge family. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Ricinus communis L. Euphorbiaceae Castor oil plant. Palma Christi. Distribution: Mediterranean, E Africa, India. The seeds themselves are pretty, brown, bean-like usually with gold filigree markings on them, and the interior of the seed is the source of castor oil. The outer coat of the seed is the source of the poison ricin, famous (infamous) for the umbrella murder of Georgi Markov on Waterloo Bridge in 1978. The KGB are alleged to have killed Georgi Markov, a dissident Bulgarian journalist, with a pellet containing 0.28mgm of ricin fired into his leg using a specially adapted air gun in an umbrella. While his symptoms were those of ricin poisoning, no ricin was ever found in the pellet that was extracted from his leg. Two seeds, chewed and ingested are said to be fatal, but most people vomit and get rid of the toxin. Ducks are resistant to ricin, and need to ingest more than 80 to be fatal! In Peru the leaves are used as a tea for stomach ache, although they contain small amounts of ricin. It is called Palma Christi in early herbals because of the five pointed leaves, which schematically represent a hand. It is a monotypic genus in the spurge family. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • The beheading of the accomplices of the murderers of two British officers in Japan, 1864. Wood engraving after C. Wirgman, 1865.
  • The hanging of the murderers of Edward Palmer, William Gill and Harold Charrington at Zagazig, Egypt, in 1883. Wood engraving by Harrison.
  • India: a tree in the grounds of a palace under which three hundred Europeans were murdered. Photograph by F. Beato, c. 1858.
  • A night scene with Tom Nero apprehended in a church-yard before the murdered body of a pregnant maidservant. Engraving by William Hogarth, 1751.
  • An apothecary gives a dangerous medicine to a man harbouring murderous thoughts about his mother-in-law. Colour photomechanical reproduction of a lithograph, c. 1900.
  • Edward V and the Duke of York are about to be murdered in their beds by two assassins. Line engraving by A. Birrell after S. Collings, ca. 1790.
  • India: the site on the Ganges (showing the temple Satichaura Ghat ?) where British citizens were murdered during the Indian Rebellion. Photograph by Felice Beato, ca. 1858.
  • Lucknow, India: the Secundra Bagh showing damage done during the Indian Rebellion; skeletons of murdered Indian rebels lie on the ground. Photograph by Felice Beato, ca. 1858.
  • Lucknow, India: the Secundra Bagh interior showing damage done during the Indian Rebellion; skeletons of murdered Indian rebels lie on the ground. Photograph by Felice Beato, ca. 1858.
  • Giuditta Pasta in the role of Medea: she embraces her children (left) and then throws her arms up in anticipation of murdering them (right). Lithograph by John Hayter, 1827.
  • The widow of a murdered French envoy in Rome pleading for her life: a man tells her "We are Romans, we do not kill women". Etching after J.D. Schubert.
  • A boy carrying a cage of performing mice, and holding out his hat; designated as Carlos Ferrier, "the Italian boy" murdered by bodysnatchers. Engraving by J. Thompson after J. Hayes.
  • Count Cenci, drugged in his bedroom, is being murdered by Olimpio Calvetti and Marzio da Fiorani; Beatrice is watching the scene while her stepmother is guarding the door. Etching, ca. 1850.
  • The spider and fly : the advertiser takes this opportunity of informing his friends and a discerning public, that he continues the trade of making drunkards, paupers, thieves, beggars, adulterers, and murderers, on the most reasonable terms, and without notice.
  • Saint Tremeur, a 6th century Breton saint, who was murdered, whilst still a youth, in the monastery of Rhugs (Morbihan) by his father. He has been invoked, even in England, since the 7th century. Invoked for head pains. Represented carrying his head.
  • The head of John Thurtell after his hanging. Pen drawing by J. Wentzell, 1824.