Suicide

Gin-Crazed Girl Commits Suicide by George Cruikshank 1848

Credit:A destitute girl throws herself from a bridge, her life ruined by alcoholism. Etching by G. Cruikshank, 1848. Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

…the record of a woman’s life-wanderings from cradle to the Embankment must be at once pathetic and terrible

Robert Blatchford, Dismal England 1899

These are stories of women who took their own lives, or attempted to do so. It also incudes those whose lives were impacted by the suicides of others. Some readers may find the details in these accounts distressing. You can access the stories by clicking on the women's names below.

Eliza Florence Ashton, later Eliza Ellis 1862-1917 from Hull, Yorkshire – Lawbreaking, Suicide, Refuges for Fallen Women (Essex). 6 minute read.

Ellen Aitken Bayley 1892-1980 from Dalston, Middlesex – No Descendants, Suicide, Women at Work, Cheshire County Training College. 4 minute read.

Margaret Best c.1860-? from Southampton, Hampshire - Alcoholism, Lawbreaking, Poverty, Suicide, Farmfield Reformatory for Inebriate Women. 6 minute read.

Elsie Burrows 1890-1835 from Frodsham, Cheshire - No Descendants, Suicide, Women at Work, Cheshire County Training College. 12 minute read.

Isabella Fry, later Isabella Braund 1868-1908 from Darlington, Co. Durham - Mental Health, Suicide. 7 minute read.

Florrie Hancock, later Florrie Cannon 1890- from Over, Cheshire – Suicide, Women at Work, Cheshire County Training College. 4 minute read.

Lily Hymers 1880-1903, from Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland- No Descendants, Sickness, Suicide, Fleming Memorial Hospital. 4 minute read.

Ann Palmer c.1780-1824 from Dagenham, Essex - Infanticide, Lawbreaking, Mental Health, Suicide. Warning, this story involves child murder. 5 minute read.

Florence Dent Priestman 1885-1972 and Margaret Priestman 1885-1930 from Hull, Yorkshire – Activism, No Descendants, Suicide, Women at Work. 8 minute read.

Murial Annie Riley, aka Murial Annie Stead, later Muriel Annie Aydon 1890-1963 from Monks Coppenhall, Cheshire – Illegitimacy, Suicide, Women at Work, Cheshire County Training College. 15 minute read.

Jane Elizabeth Stalker (known as Elizabeth), later Jane Elizabeth Seyner or Senior 1851-1878 from Leeds, Yorkshire - Lawbreaking, Poverty, Suicide, Leeds Industrial School. 4 minute read.

Maria Vuller 1861-1934 from Aldershot, Hampshire – Mental Health, No Descendants, Suicide, Refuges for Fallen Women (Basingstoke). 6 minute read.

Olive Wood 1859-? from Stafford, Staffordshire – Suicide, Refuges for Fallen Women (Staffordshire). 5 minute read.

Georgina Wyche 1875-1901 from Highbury, London - Mental Health, No Descendants, Suicide, Women at Work. 5 minute read.