Marie Manning (murderer)

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Marie Manning [née de Roux] was born at Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1821, and entered domestic service in England. At first maid to Lady Palk of Haldon House, Devonshire, she entered the service of Lady Blantyre at Stafford House in 1846, and on 27 May 1847 married, at St. James's Church, Piccadilly, Frederick George Manning, a publican. She had previously made the acquaintance of Patrick O'Connor, a gauger in the London Docks, and this friendship was continued after her marriage.

On 9 August 1849, O'Connor dined with the Mannings at their house, 3 Miniver Place, Bermondsey. Husband and wife, according to a preconcerted plan, thereupon murdered their guest and buried his body under the flagstones in the kitchen. On the same day Mrs. Manning visited O'Connor's lodgings, Greenwood Street, Mile End Road, and repeated the visit next day, stealing the dead man's railway scrip and money.

The police discovered O'Connor's remains on 17 August, and soon after apprehended his murderers. They were tried at the Old Bailey on 25 and 26 Oct., found guilty, and executed at Horsemonger Lane Gaol on 13 November. Mrs. Manning wore a black satin dress on the scaffold, a fact which caused that material to become unpopular for many years.

Charles Dickens wrote a letter to The Times on the wickedness and levity of the mob during the execution. Mademoiselle Hortense, Lady Dedlock's waiting-woman in ‘Bleak House,’ was suggested to Dickens by Mrs. Manning's career.