England Project - 2023 Halloween Challenge

Profile manager: I. Speed [send private message]

This week marks the 165th anniversary of the Bradford Sweets Poisoning -- a tragedy that devastated the community of the West Yorkshire town of Bradford and prompted new laws on the sale of poisons and food safety.

The tragedy unfolded on 31 October 1858, when the Bradford police received reports that two boys, aged 9 and 14, had died suddenly after eating sweets bought at a local market stall the night before.

Investigations began with the stall-keeper at Greenmarket in central Bradford, then the wholesale confectioner who made the peppermint lozenges, and a druggist who supplied one of the ingredients.

This led to the startling discovery that each sweet contained enough arsenic to kill two people. In a fatal mistake, the poison had been added as an ingredient, instead of a cheap sugar substitute called “daff”.

Throughout the day, reports of more poisonings flooded into the police office at Bradford. Within days, 21 local residents had died and more than 200 others fell ill from eating the deadly sweets.

The police laid manslaughter charges against Charles Hodgson, druggist, William Goddard, his assistant, and Joseph Neal, confectioner. Ordered to stand trial at the York Assizes, Charles Hodgson was acquitted and the charges against the other men were withdrawn.

You can read more background, including extracts from newspaper articles about the poisoning, here: Bradford Sweets Poisoning Disaster.

This year's Halloween Challenge focuses on creating and improving WikiTree profiles for victims and others involved in the tragedy. To join us, simply follow the instructions below.

How to join

1. Choose a team and person to work on

• Pick a team -- either:
  ○ Victims, or
  ○ Investigation & Trial
• Add your name under the person you plan to work on. To add your name, click the "edit" tab of this page and insert your name in the following format: [[WikiTree-ID|Your Name]]
• Up to 3 people can work on each person. So put your name down before you miss out!
• You can work on as many people as you like.

2. Create, source and connect immediate family members to their WikiTree profile

• Check if the person has a WikiTree profile. If not, create one!
• Source the profile with reliable sources. This page is a good place to start when looking for clues: Bradford Sweets Poisoning Disaster.
• Create the person's immediate family members -- e.g. parents, siblings, plus any spouse and children. Connecting them to WikiTree's global tree is a bonus, but not required for this challenge.
• Don't feel you need to do everything yourself. It's all about teamwork!

3. When you finish the person's profile

• Once you've sourced, written at least a basic biography, and added their known immediate family members, update this page to show it's done.
• Do this by clicking the "edit" tab of this page and adding the following at the end of the person's status: ~~~~ ✓
  Click "save changes" and it will automatically add your name, the date and time.

4. Winning team

• The winner will be the team that finishes all their allocated people first.
• All participants will receive a participant's sticker to add to their own profile!
  

5. Questions and updates

• We will be using the #project-challenges channel on Discord for questions, updates and to encourage each other.

Teams

Victims

1. Elijah Wright (1849-1858)

Notes: Died. Aged 9

WikiTree Team: Roy; Karen Anderson; Carol K

Status: Profile complete. and connected. All four grandparents done. Walmsley-632 13:48, 31 October 2023 (UTC) ✓ Continuing to add aunts and uncles - 10 paternal and 9 maternal. May connect to other victims.

2. Elizabeth Mary Midgley (abt.1851-1858)

Notes: Died. Aged 7. Granddaughter of Sarah Midgley, of Margerison Street, Bradford.

WikiTree Team: David Pickard

Status: Birth added - census for grandmother found, added, 1 possible sibling and suspected mother found as existing profiles Pickard-1581 20:02, 27 October 2023 (UTC) ✓

3. Grace (Fawcett) Hardisty

Notes: Aged 63

WikiTree Team: Kaitlyn; Carol K

Status: Profile created, parents, husband and children added, will connect 1 November~~~~ ✓

4. Ann (Lupton) Shutt (1820-1858)

Notes: Aged 38

WikiTree Team: Joan

Status: Joan Connected, and all profiles made. Williams-47589 16:02, 27 October 2023 (UTC) ✓

5. Orlando Burran (brother of John Henry Burran)

Notes: Died. Aged 5 years

WikiTree Team: CarolK

Status: profile created, will connect on 28 October Winton-239 19:57, 27 October 2023 (UTC) ✓

6. Jonathan Lupton Constantine

Notes: Died. Aged 69

WikiTree Team: Elizabeth

Status: Profile created and connected already. Family members already present. Winton-239 16:05, 28 October 2023 (UTC) ✓

7. Adela Lee (abt.1856-1858)

Notes: Aged 2

WikiTree Team: David Pickard

Status: Profile created, Parent profile created John Broadley Lee (abt.1821-abt.1884), mother profile to be created and siblings Pickard-1581 13:58, 28 October 2023 (UTC) ✓

8. John Henry Burran, brother of Orlando above

Notes: Died. Aged 2

WikiTree Team: CarolK

Status: profile created, parents added, will connect 28 October Winton-239 19:57, 27 October 2023 (UTC) ✓

9. Ann Murgatroyd

Notes: Aged 20

WikiTree Team: Katie B

Status: Katie B, Wells-30098 12:01, 27 October 2023 (UTC) ✓

10.Zilpha Child (nee Binns)

Notes: Aged 50

WikiTree Team: John Machell; Christol James; CarolK

Status: Zilpha (Binns) Child & James Child

Husband and Eight children's profiles created and reasonably sourced. Zilpha (Binns) Child connected to Global Tree Machell-121 10:51, 29 October 2023 (UTC). Father created and hypotheses for mother a siblings in research notes. As nearly complete as possible. James-15049 21:13, 29 October 2023 (UTC) ✓

11. Briggs Ramsden

Notes: Died. Aged 24

WikiTree Team: Dave Barbara Brown

Status: Welburn-134 10:11, 27 October 2023 (UTC) ✓

Investigation & Trial

1.William Hardaker

Notes: Stall keeper in Greenmarket in central Bradford. He bought the sweets from Mr Neal. He was one of the first people to taste them and soon fell ill.

WikiTree Team: Fran

Status: Profile created. Can't find his parents. Can't find his spouse. Can't find anything.

2. John Broadley Edmondson

Notes: Mr. Hardaker's assistant. He sold the poisoned sweets at the market stall.

WikiTree Team: Fran

Status: Done, also will connect 28 Oct. McHugh-842 15:03, 27 October 2023 (UTC) ✓

3. Joseph Neal (abt.1828-abt.1900)

Notes: Confectioner, of Stone Street, Manor Row, Bradford. He sold the sweets to Mr. Hardaker.

WikiTree Team: Pat (Alcock) Reynolds

Status: Profile created Neal-9272 Biography now complete. Wife now complete. Wife's siblings still to finish, and Joseph's parents and siblings still to finish.

4. James Appleton (1831-1869)

Notes: Employed by Mr. Neal. He made the sweets and suffered the effects of poisoning.

WikiTree Team: Helen F

Status: Done- profile created, added family and now connected too. Parker-41651 16:07, 28 October 2023 (UTC) ✓

5. James Archer (abt. 1841 - abt. 1888)

Notes: Employed by Mr. Neal and lodged at his house in Stone Street, Bradford. He went to the pharmacy of Mr Hodgson in Shipley to collect the ingredient "daff" and was instead given 12 pounds (5.4 kg) of arsenic trioxide.

WikiTree Team: David Moss

Status: profile done, connected 30 Oct 2023 ~~~~ ✓

6. Charles Garforth Hodgson (1822-1913)

Notes: Druggist, of Shipley.

WikiTree Team: Hilary

Status: Done Buckle-52 16:40, 28 October 2023 (UTC) ✓

7. William Goddard (1840-)

Notes: Druggist's assistant. He sold the arsenic, believing it to be "daff".

WikiTree Team: Hilary

Status: Done Buckle-52 17:01, 30 October 2023 (UTC) ✓

8. William Leveratt

Notes: Chief constable at Bradford

WikiTree Team: Ian S

Status: Profile created & sourced. Created all immediate family members: parents (x2), siblings (x4), spouses (x2) and children (x5). Speed-878 03:51, 28 October 2023 (UTC) ✓

9. William Burniston

Notes: Detective in the Bradford police

WikiTree Team: Malcolm Sargent, Chris O'Connell

Status: Profile created and sourced. Created parents and spouse. Found death date. Work in progress and not connected yet! Sargent-5737 07:02, 29 October 2023 (UTC), Chris O'Connell 00:12, 31 October 2023 (UTC)✓

10. Christian Henry Taylor (abt.1817-1891)

Notes: Surgeon. He examined some of the victims.

WikiTree Team: Marjorie

Status: Profile created Taylor-105024 Immediate family added parents, wife, children, step daughter, brother, sister ✓

11. Felix Marsh (Rimington) Rimmington (bef.1818-1897)

Notes: Analytical chemist. He analysed a sample of the sweets and found they contained a large quantity of arsenic.

WikiTree Team: Maddy, Chris

Status: Profile created. added wife and immediate family not connected ~~~~ ✓

Sources

• Wikipedia contributors, "1858 Bradford sweets poisoning," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, accessed 27 Sept 2023.
• "Wholesale Poisoning at Bradford", The Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions, vol. 18 (1859), p. 340-2. Google Books.

See also:

• Bradford Sweets Poisoning Disaster