Uploaded May 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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#truecrimestories #crime #doctor
Charles Dickens described William Palmer as “the greatest villain that ever stood in the Old Bailey dock.” Other writers and journalists of the day awarded Palmer other monikers such as “the Rugeley Poisoner” and the almost-complimentary epithet “the Prince of Poisoners.” And then, when William Palmer was due to hang, over 35,000 people crowded the streets of Stafford to witness the grisly event, with some even camping overnight to find good spots as if they were attending a festival or waiting for the new pair of Jordans to drop.

So what did Palmer do to earn such a fearsome reputation? The crime that earned him a trip to the gallows was the murder of his friend John Cook with strychnine. However, looking back at his history, it was hard not to notice that so many other people in Palmer’s life died in suspicious circumstances, often with him profiting from their deaths.


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Further Reading:
- Stephen Bates - The Poisoner
- Charles Dickens - Old Lamps for New Ones
- nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/visibleproofs/galleries/cases/taylor_image_2.html
- blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2020/03/25/william-palmer-the-rugeley-poisoner
- bbc.co.uk/stoke/content/articles/2006/04/11/local_heroes_doctor_william_palmer_feature.shtml
- staffordshire-live.co.uk/news/history/tale-rugeley-poisoner-described-dickens-6908677