Born in Gedney, Lincolnshire in 1833, Priscilla Whiley married Richard Biggadyke in 1855 and they had three children, the last a baby in 1868, born in the village of Stickney.
From prison records and contemporary newspaper reports, it would seem that all was not well in their marriage by September of that year.
It was reported that Richard thought his last child might not be his, and that Priscilla was laying with Thomas Proctor whilst he was at work. There is no outright denial by either Priscilla or Thomas Proctor about this.cord
Priscilla had bought some "white Mercury" earlier in the month, today known as Arsenic, with which to kill rats. This was the largest piece of evidence against her.
She claimed it was Proctor who added the poison to Richards tea, and that he later added more poison to Richards medicine from the Doctor. However, although arrested and questioned, Proctor was aquitted.
Priscilla was imprisoned at Lincoln jail, inside the Castle. Her baby came with her but was weaned and taken to the Workhouse, where she died two years later.
Priscilla was found guilty and sentenced to hang from the gallows on 28th December 1868. She was hung by Thomas Askern but reports claimed he did not do his work well. It would appear that the noose was reversed and Priscilla hung for some time before dying, strangling rather than having her neck broken.
Her body was interred in The Lucy Tower at Lincoln Castle, the burial place of those condemed to death.
Thomas Proctor died in 1882. He made a deathbed confession to the murder, which was reported in the Daily Telegraph, and Priscilla received a posthumus pardon. Her grave still lies in the Lucy Tower at Lincoln Castle, forgotten by most, but not by all.
