Dubbed crime of the century

Edwardian society was to witness what was dubbed the crime of the Century

Music Hall Actress Belle Elmore

London wasn't short of murders or horror stories so what made this murder in particular the crime of the century?  The vibrant American music hall performer Cora Crippen disappeared in 1910 and Dr Crippen her American husband was tried and found guilty of murder before being executed at Pentonville prison the same year. 

Why was the title of crime of the century so eagerly embraced? Did people not believe a more grisly crime could ever take place? Or was it perhaps that this crime in particular ticked all the boxes; something for everyone?

I believe a concoction of four key elements raised interest in the Dr Crippen Cellar murder case to levels not previously experienced in Edwardian society. Read more...

The contributory key elements are:

SocietyTaboos: sex sells

Glamour: aworld of diamonds and furs

Criminologicalfirsts: making history in the present

Reporting ofNews: usage of photography

Cora Crippen

Edwardian Glamour

When in the States, Cora had the ambition to be an opera singer. However, after they came to London, she had realigned her sights on becoming a Music Hall performer, a less reputable profession. She used the stage name ‘Belle Elmore’. Her stage career never really took off and (she is) sadly now infamously immortalised as the wife and victim of Dr Crippen.

Popular song of the day:

“Dr. Crippen killed Belle Elmore

Ran away with Miss le Neve

Right across the ocean blue

Followed by Inspector Dew

Ship's ahoy, naughty boy!”

The Music Hall was a staple of English entertainment during the Edwardian era. Cora socialised with a number of famous variety players of the time, including Lil Hawthorne of "The Hawthorne Sisters" and Lil's husband/manager John Nash.

Belle Elmore did not find the success she had hoped for in the Music Hall. In the last couple of years she had focussed her attention on the Music Hall Ladies' Guild as its Honorary Treasurer. This provided her with a seemingly impressive title and enabled her to increase her presence at social events. Being seen to be important is one skill many celebrities live off.

Crippen home, 39 Hilldrop Crescent, Camden

The case of Dr Crippen also included cross-Atlantic travel as the fugitives Crippen and Le Neve had boarded the SS Montrose in Antwerp, bound for Montreal, Canada. The Edwardian era was an Age of Steam and Electricity. The result of which was an increase in wealth and a group of people; the nouveau riche‘.  Travelling for leisure became a class-wide pastime. 

One could rub elbows with royalty and aristocratic luminaries and thumb your nose at those who snubbed you back at home. Others found that it strengthened the bond between upper class societies, mirroring the familial ties between the royal families of Britain and Europe. The meeting of and socializing with others of a like mind and background solidified the significance of the well-born and well-placed.

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Dr Crippen - The Crime of the Century

Edwardian society was to witness what was dubbed the crime of the Century

London wasn't short of murders or horror stories so what made this murder in particular the crime of the century?  

Dr Crippen in Madame Tussauds, London

The vibrant American music hall performer Cora Crippen disappeared in 1910 and Dr Crippen her American husband was tried and found guilty of murder before being executed at Pentonville prison the same year. 

The new century was only ten years old. Why was the title of crime of the century so eagerly embraced? Did people not believe a more grisly crime could ever take place? Or was it perhaps that this crime in particular ticked all the boxes; something for everyone?

I believe a concoction of four key elements raised interest in the Dr Crippen Cellar murder case to levels not previously experienced in Edwardian society. 

The contributory key elements are:

SocietyTaboos: sex sells

Glamour: aworld of diamonds and furs

Criminologicalfirsts: making history in the present

Reporting ofNews: usage of photography

Society Taboos: Sex Sells

Cora Turner met Dr Crippen when 17 years old whilst living under the protection of another man.  She married the 30 year old doctor, a widower and father, the same year. In a Statement Crippen made to Chief Inspector Dew on 8th July 1910 he said he had found Cora to be very attractive. Perhaps it was more than her looks Crippen was attracted to; she was young, impressionable and in need of protection.

Was Crippen already a predator? Taking a young woman in need under his wing for her to do his bidding when a husband, the man of the house? Being perceived as so physically weak, did Crippen need to feel powerful and in control of someone who needed him? He certainly wasn't looking for a mother for his young son, as he left his son in the charge of his parents in San Jose, California when the couple moved to London, England.

The young Cora had confessed to him of her plans to run away from the man under whose protection she was living. Instead Crippen married Cora in Jersey City 1893. Why, when having already ventured into thoughts of leaving one man, did she choose to leave and marry another? Crippen was described as “somewhat straggly…. Somewhat slovenly appearance…Very plausible and quiet spoken, remarkably cool and collected demeanour”Hardly a man which a young woman of artistic talent and sensibilities would gravitate to. Did she think that perhaps she could control this quiet individual?

Marriage for a young woman already tarnished by the knowledge of a man not her husband would allow Cora to disappear from her past and gain respectability.

An Extramarital Affair

By 1907 Dr Crippen, now 48 years old, had employed a secretary to work with him at his firm’s New Oxford Street office. It wasn't long till they were having an affair. The secretary was Ethel Le Neve who being 27 years old was 10 years younger than Crippen’s wife Cora and 21 years younger than Crippen himself. The fantasy of having a younger woman continues today, “You’re only as young as the woman you feel”. 

Crippen and Le Neve would often meet in seedy hotels in Argyle Square, King’s Cross. Their affair increased in intensity. In 1909 Le Neve suffered a miscarriage and confided in her landlady Mrs Jackson. This must have been a wakeup call to Le Neve; she was 26, unmarried and had suffered a miscarriage as a result of having an affair with a married man. Life wasn't supposed to turn out like this. What could be done?

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