Issue 46: The Death of Charles Bravo

225 Bedford Hill, Belham London, known as The Priory is a grade II listed building, a double fronted Gothic Revival style building that was converted into flats in 1981-1982. It is also the place of an unsolved poisoning.

On the 18th April 1876, The Priory was the home of a prominent lawyer. That night Charles Bravo sat down for dinner as he had many night previous, on the menu today was lamb and potatoes followed by a poached egg and spinach was washed down with 3 to 4 glasses of burgundy. Accompanying him for dinner was his wife, Florence and her companion and housekeeper Jane Cox.

The couple had only been married for 4 months and it had not been the traditional honeymoon period. This was Florence’s second marriage, having come into a fortune after her first husband, Alexander Louis Ricardo, who was the son of a local MP. However, she had separated from him because of his affairs and alcoholism. Charles was a quite ambitious lawyer in the public eyes. Privately though he was trying to gain control over his wife.

Though her first husband was known for having affairs, Florence was not above that either. Leading up to her marriage to Charles, Florence was in a relationship with Dr James Manby Gully, a married man 37 years her senior.

Leading up to his early death, the fights between Charles and his wife had increased. He also went behind his wife’s back to his father to try and help him persuade Jane Cox to abandon her duties and head back to her home in Jamaica. Jane refused to because she understood that Florence was emotionally dependant on her. Also on numerous occasions that Charles was not happy with the staff and tried to fire them, he was reminded by his wife that they were in fact employed by her and thus, can only be dismissed by her.

Upon completion of their meals the three of them retired to bed for the evening. Charles slept alone while Florence was accompanied by Jane Cox. It was around 9.30pm that Charles came rushing out of his room asking for hot water.

Jane Cox was awoken and sent another maid to go get the hot water and mustard for Charles. She began to run his chest and not long after he vomited before he fainted. It was then that the doctor was called for and Florence was awoken and informed of the situation. Not being satisfied upon seeing her husband’s condition she sent for a second doctor who was closer than the one who was already on their way. The two doctors were Dr George Harrison from Streatham and Dr Joseph Moor from Balham.

Once both doctors had arrived they both questioned Florence and Jane Cox to see what their theories about what was happening. Florence said that he had a heart attack following a horse ride he had been on early that day that did not go as planned, Jane suggested he might have drunk chloroform. Dr George Harrison had began to suspect it was some kind of poisoning, perhaps arsenic. He checked whether there was any in the house, which there wasn’t.

After this three more doctors were called for, one of them was a cousin to Charles Bravo. Once all in attendance at the bedside of Charles, they all conferred with each other and agreed that Charles was suffering from some type of poisoning. It soon became clear that Charles was dying, a solicitor was sent for so Charles could do a will. He left everything for his wife.

Charles refused Florence when she asked whether a vicar should be sent for. Instead the family gathered around his bed and began reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Charles continued to suffer for 2 days finally passing away to the poison at 5.30am on 21st April.

There were 2 inquests held into the death of Charles Bravo. The first was held between April - May 1876 and at the conclusion of this inquest the cause of death was ruled as misadventure. The second closely followed from July - September 1876. The second inquest was more thorough and lasted 5 weeks. At the conclusion of the second inquest his death was ruled as: Wilful murder by a person or persons unknown.

Questions still remain regarding the death. No poison container was ever found, also the poison that killed Charles, Antimony, was never kept in the house. However, we know that there are only a definite number of possibilities that could have happened.

The first possibility is that Florence Bravo was the poisoner. The clear motive for this was based on the fact that she was 4 months into a controlling marriage. What may lead people to believe this may be a possibility is that she was in a unique position of being in charge. There was only circumstantial evidence and no direct proof that she was involved. Florence was criticised in the press but was never arrested by the police.

Her affair with Dr Gully became a subject of fascination during the inquest. The idea was floated around that he could have murdered Charles due to jealously. But if this was the case, he would have needed help - so it was also discounted.

Mrs Josephine Cox could have been another possibility at being the unknown poisoner. Her motive may have been her fear that she was at risk of loosing her position. As her position of employment was as the housekeeper it is assumed that she would have had knowledge of household medicines. She was also never charged.

A theory of suicide was also considered. There was belief early on that Charles could have taken the poison himself. This seems likely though. Primarily because at just 30 years-old Charles was very future-focused. Also this possibility was discarded because there was no suicide note or signs of intent.

A final theory is that it was the servants or an external party. Though this was considered, no strong suspects emerged.

Having gone through trial by media, Florence’s life was destroyed the shame caused by the death of her husband. Mrs Cox, followed quickly by the other servants left. Florence was asked by family to come with them to Australia, but she refused even though her landlord had let her know that steps were being taken to evict her from The Priory. Bonham and Son’s was a local auctioneer that Florence arranged for all the furnishings to be sold by the end of September 1876.

Florence left London on 3 April 1877 for the last time after she changed her name to Florence Turner. She moved to Southsea, Hampshire where she brought a property and hired a housekeeper, two maids and a coachman. She quickly became reclusive and drank herself to death, passing away on on 17 September 1878 at the age of 33.