Amelia Dyer

Amelia Elizabeth Dyer, known as the Ogress of Reading, was a British serial killer who murdered infants entrusted to her care over a span of nearly three decades. Born Amelia Hobley in a village near Bristol, she was the fifth of six children. Her mother suffered from mental illness caused by typhus, and Amelia was responsible for her care until her mother’s death. After losing both parents and two sisters in childhood, she lived with an aunt and later trained as a corsetmaker.

Background

Following a permanent estrangement from one brother, she moved into lodgings in Bristol. There she married George Thomas, a man much older than her, with both lying about their ages on the marriage certificate. She trained as a nurse but left the profession after giving birth to a daughter.

Murders

Widowed in 1869, she needed income and turned to baby farming—taking in unwanted infants for a fee. She initially cared for some children legitimately, alongside raising two of her own, but many died through neglect. In 1879, a doctor’s suspicions led to her arrest; she received six months’ hard labour rather than a murder conviction. After release, she attempted nursing again but was repeatedly admitted to mental asylums, often at convenient times, and she knew how to simulate symptoms to ensure a comfortable stay.

She abused alcohol and opium-based substances, and once survived a serious suicide attempt by drinking laudanum, to which she had developed tolerance. Later, she began directly killing children soon after receiving them, strangling at least some, and disposing of bodies to avoid detection. She frequently moved and used aliases to evade suspicion.

Her downfall came when a baby’s corpse was found in the River Thames, traced back to her. Arrested in April 1896, she was tried in a sensational Victorian trial, convicted of murdering infant Doris Marmon, and hanged on 10 June 1896. Though only a few murders were officially attributed to her, she is believed to have killed hundreds, making her one of history’s most prolific serial killers. Her case spurred stricter adoption laws and boosted the profile of the NSPCC.