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The Christmas Dinner's a Killer at Boakley Farm

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Anybody who’s stepped up to the challenge of cooking Christmas lunch for family and friends has felt that same pang of anxiety: Am I going to give everyone food poisoning?

If the year is 1879 and you’re twenty-year-old Mary Lloyd of Boakley Farm near Malmesbury, the answer is an emphatic yes: yes, you are about to create a new ghost of Christmas Present by accidentally snuffing your own stepmother with a very bad batch of horseradish indeed.

Fortunately, Mary’s other siblings had better places to be on the 25th of December 1879, reducing the potential death toll by leaving just Mary, her father Robert, and her stepmother Maria to tuck into a hearty Christmas lunch of roast beef.

Around midday, stepmother Maria made a fatal blunder by asking Mary to fetch some horseradish. Mary obliged, unwittingly digging up not only horseradish but also aconite, otherwise known as monkshood, wolfsbane, or the chuckle-worthy devil’s helmet. This didn’t shape up at all well for the Lloyd family, because monkshood is very poisonous indeed.

“I think I’ll skip the After Eight mints, thanks…”
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The Lloyds sat down to eat at 12:30pm and by 1:15pm, Maria Lloyd had decided to have a lie down because she was feeling giddy — reassuring everyone that she’d be fine in a minute. She wasn’t. Shortly afterwards the vomiting began, and then she lost consciousness. Robert Lloyd gave himself a strong dose of mustard — not to tick off another classic beef accompaniment, but to induce vomiting.

“Is there a doctor in the (farm)house?”
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A doctor was sent for — but unfortunately, he was probably having Christmas lunch as well. By the time Dr. Richard Kinneir arrived at 6:00pm, Maria Lloyd had expired. At the inquest he noted, “I examined the body. There were no marks on it, but I noticed a peculiar pallid appearance of the face and body, and there was no stiffness or rigidity of the muscles, indicating special action of monkshood or aconite, which it appears she had eaten for dinner, in mistake for horseradish. The husband and daughter-in-law [sic] had eaten of the same, and both suffered from poisonous effects, which were counteracted by my medical treatment, and it is my opinion that deceased accidentally died from eating monkshood or aconite.”

The incident at Boakley Farm made the national news, appearing in The Daily News and The Daily Telegraph.

Articles
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A FAMILY POISONED AT MALMESBURY.

Western Daily Press ·
On Christmas Day a painful occurrence took place at Boakley Farm, Brokenborough, about one mile from Malmesbury, the residence of Mr Robert Lloyd, a farmer, and his wife and family. It appears that Mr and Mrs Lloyd and two grown-up daughters sat down to dinner about half-past 12; the son and two of the daughters having gone out to dinner. The parties partook of the customary roast beef, plentifully garnished with what was supposed to be horse raddish, of which Mrs Lloyd partook freely, and the father and one daughter ate a little, the other daughter not partaking of any. In about twenty minutes after dinner Mr, Mrs, and Miss Lloyd were taken very ill, strong symptoms of poisoning being evident. Mrs Lloyd went upstairs to lay down. Mr Lloyd at once took a strong dose of mustard, which acted as an emetic, causing him to vomit freely. He took some to his wife, but it did not have the desired effect. The other daughter hastily ran for assistance, and Dr. Kinneir was summoned from Malmesbury, but not being at home, Dr. Pitt at once went to the sufferers’ assistance. He found Mrs Lloyd dead, and Mr and Miss Lloyd greatly suffering from the effects of eating some poisonous root, the symptoms in the survivors being a weak intermittent pulse, with numbness and tingling all over the body. Mr Lloyd, having taken the mustard, was not so seriously affected as his daughter, to whom Dr. Pitt at once administered a powerful emetic, which acted speedily. Hot water was applied to the feet, and strong brandy and water administered to the patients, who were in a very precarious state. It appeared from the inquiries of the medical men that a plentiful supply of horse radish grew in the garden, and that Miss Lloyd dug from the bed what she supposed was horse radish, but which the medical men believe to be (from the appearance of the root in their possession) monkshood or aconitas naprullus, a most deadly poison. The root to the ordinary observer has every appearance of horse radish, excepting the stalk, which is of a different kind. We find from the report of Dr. Kinneir yesterday (Friday) that Mr and Miss Lloyd are progressing favourably, and hopes are now entertained of their recovery. Much sympathy is felt in the town and neighbourhood for the sufferers.

A WHOLE FAMILY POISONED AT MALMESBURY.

Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard ·
Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd and their elder daughter, residing at Boakley Farm, Brokenborough, were all poisoned from eating poisonous roots with their dinner on Christmas day. The roots belong to the species of ranunculus known as Monkshood or Aconitum Napellus, which was dug up in mistake for horse radish. Mrs. Lloyd shortly succumbed. The prominent symptoms in the survivors being very weak intermittent pulse, with numbness and tingling all over the body. Mr. Lloyd, frantic, swallowed a strong emetic of mustard, a treatment the daughter refused to adopt. Dr. Pitt, in the absence of Dr. Kinneir, was first in attendance on the survivors, and administered emetics and hot water to feet, and strong brandy and water, which acted speedily, and brought up several pieces of the undigested roots. Latest accounts state that the survivors are still in a precarious condition.

THE "FATAL CHRISTMAS DINNER." INQUEST.

Western Daily Press ·
Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd and their elder daughter, residing at Boakley Farm, Brokenborough, were all poisoned from eating poisonous roots with their dinner on Christmas day. The roots belong to the species of ranunculus known as Monkshood or Aconitum Napellus, which was dug up in mistake for horse radish. Mrs. Lloyd shortly succumbed. The prominent symptoms in the survivors being very weak intermittent pulse, with numbness and tingling all over the body. Mr. Lloyd, frantic, swallowed a strong emetic of mustard, a treatment the daughter refused to adopt. Dr. Pitt, in the absence of Dr. Kinneir, was first in attendance on the survivors, and administered emetics and hot water to feet, and strong brandy and water, which acted speedily, and brought up several pieces of the undigested roots. Latest accounts state that the survivors are still in a precarious condition.

POISONED BY MONKSHOOD.

Gloucester Journal ·
On Christmas day the family of Mr. Lloyd, farmer, Boakley Farm, near Malmesbury, were poisoned through eating roots with their Christmas dinner. Mr. Lloyd, his wife, and elder daughter partook of monkshood, which had been dug up in mistake for horseradish. They were seized with alarming symptoms, the prominent features of which were very weak intermittent pulsation, numbness, and tingling all over the body. Mrs. Lloyd, shortly after having partaken of the poisonous root, succumbed, and notwithstanding that medical aid was summoned and emetics administered, Mr. and Miss Lloyd remained in a precarious state. Apropos of the poisoning, a correspondent points out a method by which persons with no botanical knowledge may distinguish between the deadly monkshood and the useful horse-radish. The root of the former plant is what is called fusiform—that is, it is thickest in the middle and tapers towards both ends; similarly shaped roots may be seen in the radish and beet. The root of the horse-radish, no matter what its thickness may be, is always cylindrical—that is, of the same thickness throughout.

THE FATAL CHRISTMAS DINNER NEAR MALMESBURY.

Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard ·
An inquiry was opened on Saturday last, at Boakley Farm, Brokenborough, about one mile from Malmesbury, before Mr. Coroner Whitmarsh, and a respectable jury, of whom Mr. Henry Jefferies, of Westport, was foreman, touching the lamented death of Mrs. Maria Lloyd, wife of Mr. Robert Lloyd, of the above farm, who died on Christmas Day from the effects of eating aconite in mistake for horseradish, as already reported.