Was Jane Austen poisoned?

annis · Post by **annis** » Mon November 14th, 2011, 6:04 pm

Crime writer Lindsay Ashford has been studying records relating to Jane Austen's illness and claims that her early death may have been caused by arsenic poisoning. A sensational interpretation would be murder, but arsenic-based medication, commonly used at the time, seems a more likely culprit.

Article here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/no ... -poisoning

SGM · Post by **SGM** » Mon November 14th, 2011, 6:53 pm

[quote=""annis""]Crime writer Lindsay Ashford has been studying records relating to Jane Austen's illness and claims that her early death may have been caused by arsenic poisoning. A sensational interpretation would be murder, but arsenic-based medication, commonly used at the time, seems a more likely culprit.

Article here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/no ... -poisoning[/quote]

Wallpaper used to contain it, but probably in late Victorian times and if a room was damp, the wallpaper oozed arsenic. But that would probably not be true in Jane Austen's time.

lauragill · Post by **lauragill** » Mon November 14th, 2011, 7:29 pm

[quote=""annis""]Crime writer Lindsay Ashford has been studying records relating to Jane Austen's illness and claims that her early death may have been caused by arsenic poisoning. A sensational interpretation would be murder, but arsenic-based medication, commonly used at the time, seems a more likely culprit.

Article here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/no ... -poisoning[/quote]

Who would want to kill Jane Austen?

annis · Post by **annis** » Tue November 15th, 2011, 12:10 am

The "M' word is clearly just an attention-grabber on Ashford's part - she is trying to promote her book, after all - but more credibly, she goes on to say to the Guardian:

"Fowler's Solution [was used] as a treatment for everything from rheumatism – something Austen complained of in her letters – to syphilis.

After all my research I think it's highly likely she [Austen] was given a medicine containing arsenic. When you look at her list of symptoms and compare them to the list of arsenic symptoms, there is an amazing correlation"

Divia · Post by **Divia** » Tue November 15th, 2011, 1:51 am

[quote=""SGM""]Wallpaper used to contain it, but probably in late Victorian times and if a room was damp, the wallpaper oozed arsenic. But that would probably not be true in Jane Austen's time.[/quote]

Oh, I did not know. Interesting.

The author of the article is obviously a genius.

Nice way to grab attention for your book. *yawn*

LoveHistory · Post by **LoveHistory** » Tue November 15th, 2011, 5:09 pm

There's a bit more in there. The author of the book also mentioned some murder motives within Austen's family. I got the impression that the book is about the possible murder. Should be an interesting read.

I can believe she died of arsenic poisoning, but I doubt it was intentional.