The death mask of William Palmer, the poisoner. Lithograph after M. Krantz, c. 1860.

Date:
[c. 1860]
Reference:
28209i
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Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

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Credit

The death mask of William Palmer, the poisoner. Lithograph after M. Krantz, c. 1860. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.

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About this work

Description

William Palmer of Rugeley (1824-1856) was a serial poisoner who killed his friends, relatives and wife to escape debt and extort insurance. Phrenology was seen as (among other things) a way of explaining criminal behaviour

Publication/Creation

Leipzig : F.A. Brockhaus' geogr. -artist. Anstalt, [c. 1860]

Physical description

1 print : lithograph

Contributors

Lettering

William Palmer. Moritz Krantz gez. Bears number: Taf. XXI

References note

For the case of Palmer, see: Giles St Aubyn, 'Infamous Victorians: Palmer and Lamson, two notorious poisoners' (London: Constable, 1971), which contains a helpful bibliography of contemporary and modern accounts of the case

Notes

Stapled onto the verso is a sheet entitled 'Der Giftmorder William Palmer' with text recounting how the mould of the head came to be in the author's possession, followed by a description of the physical characteristics of the head

Reference

Wellcome Collection 28209i

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