This week I found a book on Charles Bravo’s death entitled, Death at the Priory: Love, Sex and Murder in Victorian England by James Ruddick; which I've ordered and will read once it arrives.
I also continued my research into The Priory household and relationships between the people involved. The housekeeper, Mrs. Cox, was high on the suspect list with Florence as before the murder took place Mr. Bravo had threatened to sack her, for reasons I am still yet to find out. I have also found another suspect to be a Groomsman whom Mr. Bravo dismissed, leaving the Groomsman ‘disgruntled’ as I’ve seen him described. I have not yet managed to find the Groomsman’s name.
I’ve learnt that the relationship between Charles and Florence was a strained one, even with only having been married for four months. It's alleged that Charles was controlling and abusive towards his wife. One of the possible reasons for this could be because she was wealthier than him and had decided to save her own money because of the ‘Married Women’s Property Act 1870’ which allowed her to have legal control of money or property she earned or inherited.
It was also suspected that Bravo had committed suicide by putting the poison in one of his drinks or meals, but was ruled out once investigations were underway due to the possible motivations of suspects because they all seemed to harbour ill feelings towards Charles Bravo. However, due to the the amount of suspects, none of them were arrested.
To collect the information I need, the internet is my main source because I'm unable to get hold of actual newspapers from the time, but some of the original articles can be found online. In one article, it said that Dr. Gully was no where near the murder scene at the time of Charles death, but was he there three days prior to his death? I need to find this out!
I have been fortunate enough to find photographs of Charles Bravo, his wife, housekeeper and of Dr. Gully so that I am able to visually describe their appearances within the creative piece.
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