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Speaker 1: Pushkin. Evelyn Hamilton is dining at Maison Lions. Electric lights

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Speaker 1: bathe the vast modern restaurant in a gentle glow. She

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Speaker 1: is unaccompanied and it's late. Reserved and introverted, even spends

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Speaker 1: most of her nights alone. She prefers it this way,

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Speaker 1: for others can interpret her quiet nature as surly and rude.

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Speaker 1: This has caused her no end of problems, particularly when

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Speaker 1: her male employers have taken against her manner. After a

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Speaker 1: busy evening which included a tetchy exchange with a hotel

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Speaker 1: worker over a room, Evelyn is perhaps just now especially

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Speaker 1: appreciated of this window of solitude. Her gold wrist watch

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Speaker 1: shows that it's almost midnight, so she readies herself to leave.

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Speaker 1: She has a train to catch first thing in the

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Speaker 1: morning to start a new job in the distant city

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Speaker 1: of Grimsby, but she will never make that train. For

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Speaker 1: donning her coat and setting out into the black February night,

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Speaker 1: Evelyn Hamilton will not even make it back safe to

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Speaker 1: her night's lodgings. This is the seldom told story of

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Speaker 1: women in World War Two who were killed not by

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Speaker 1: the enemy, but by husbands, lovers, and strangers wearing the

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Speaker 1: uniform of their own side.

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Speaker 2: It's also the tale of a particular string of murder

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Speaker 2: victims that history has swept from view. I'm Halle Rubinholt

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Speaker 2: and I'm Alice Findes, and you're listening to bad women

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Speaker 2: the Black Outripper.

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Speaker 1: It's nineteen oh one and Britain is burying its Queen.

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Speaker 1: Victoria has sat on the throne for sixty three years,

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Speaker 1: reigning over four hundred million subjects and an empire that

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Speaker 1: covered a quarter of the globe. As an empress at

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Speaker 1: the head of a vast, conquering army, she is instructed

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Speaker 1: that her funeral be a full military affair, and so

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Speaker 1: her coffin is conveyed by gun carriage, accompanied by her

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Speaker 1: admirals and generals in their great plumed hats. Thousands of

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Speaker 1: ordinary people line the processional route, hoping to catch a

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Speaker 1: final glimpse of the only sovereign most of them have

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Speaker 1: ever known. Victoria, whose reign exalted the moral perfection of

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Speaker 1: the traditional family, is interred next to her beloved and

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Speaker 1: long dead husband, Prince Albert. She wore the austere black

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Speaker 1: of widow's weeds for forty long years, but she is

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Speaker 1: buried and a white gown and her wedding veil. The

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Speaker 1: Victorian era is over, and an empire on which the

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Speaker 1: sun never set is about to begin its slow decline.

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Speaker 1: That spring against a backdrop of national mourning. Evelyn mark

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Speaker 1: at Hamilton was born in England's northern coal mining country.

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Speaker 1: A wave of social reform has been sweeping Britain. Recent

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Speaker 1: improvements had been made in the areas of social housing,

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Speaker 1: education provision, and welfare for workers, but there was still

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Speaker 1: much to be done, particularly to help women. Not far

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Speaker 1: from Evelyn's birthplace, a branch of the Women's Liberal Association

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Speaker 1: invited their local political representative, their member of Parliament to speak.

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Speaker 1: He first lamented the queen's death and then thanked the

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Speaker 1: women in attendance.

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Speaker 3: For instilling liberal principles into their families at home.

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Speaker 1: He also commended the association for its work inviting women

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Speaker 1: to such meetings.

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Speaker 3: So that they might take an active part in what

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Speaker 3: is going on in the politics of the country.

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Speaker 1: Of course, that active part was somewhat limited. In nineteen

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Speaker 1: oh one, none of the women in attendance could actually vote,

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Speaker 1: let alone be elected themselves, but movements to gain suffrage

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Speaker 1: were well underway. Selina Cooper, a textiles worker from the North,

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Speaker 1: had just presented a petition to Parliament signed by thirty

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Speaker 1: thousand women demanding the vote. Evelyn Hamilton was born into

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Speaker 1: a rapidly changing world, and her story epitomizes the struggle

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Speaker 1: many women faced to fight for reforms that would improve

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Speaker 1: their lives and allow them to tread a path beyond

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Speaker 1: the realm of placid domesticity.

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Speaker 2: When Evelyn was born, her parents, Robert and Mary Hamilton,

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Speaker 2: were renting a room at the house of a Mexican

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Speaker 2: born taylor and his British wife in Newcastle, a city

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Speaker 2: burgeoning with heavy industry in the eighteen seventies. The British

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Speaker 2: government had imposed a legal duty on parents to ensure

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Speaker 2: that their children were educated, so, unlike many of their forbears,

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Speaker 2: working class Robert and Mary would have been able to

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Speaker 2: read and write. Robert in particular, would have had some

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Speaker 2: numerousy skills and drawn on these in his work as

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Speaker 2: a collector for the Anglo American Zither Company. In the

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Speaker 2: late nineteenth century. The zither had become popular with the

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Speaker 2: middle classes as a novelty parlor instrument. Vendors would even

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Speaker 2: throw in lessons when they sold the harp like.

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Speaker 4: Device learnt in few minutes.

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Speaker 2: Promised the adverts. Customers of the Anglo American Zither Company

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Speaker 2: might buy their instruments on an installment plan, and collectors

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Speaker 2: like Robert would have visited them to take their payments

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Speaker 2: until the debt was cleared. And there was good money

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Speaker 2: to be made in this zither craze on the streets

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Speaker 2: of one genteel town. Rival zither vendors even came to

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Speaker 2: blows in a literal fistfight over this lucrative trade. The

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Speaker 2: police had to intervene.

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Speaker 4: They grappled together and both fell to the ground. They

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Speaker 4: were both bleeding from the nose and mouth.

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Speaker 2: But eventually public interest in the zither waned, perhaps prompting

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Speaker 2: Robert to leave Newcastle. By the time a second daughter, Edith,

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Speaker 2: was born, they had moved to the nearby village of Wrighton,

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Speaker 2: where willow trees bend to brush the waters of the

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Speaker 2: River Tyne. Wrighton relied on agriculture and coal miner and

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Speaker 2: here the Cellar of Zias became a more prosaic colliery label,

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Speaker 2: doing unskilled work at one of the local mines.

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Speaker 4: That's all of it.

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Speaker 2: He eventually became a banks the pati. We are now

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Speaker 2: in charge of loading and unloading coal and workers from

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Speaker 2: the mine shaft elevator.

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Speaker 5: You're more.

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Speaker 2: Hamilton children arrived, and their mother, Mary, for whom no

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Speaker 2: occupation is recorded on the census, likely stayed at home

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Speaker 2: to raise them. Evelyn was the oldest of three brothers

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Speaker 2: and four sisters, and the family lived in a small,

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Speaker 2: two roomed cottage. One room would probably have been a

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Speaker 2: kitchen and living space, and the other a shared bedroom.

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Speaker 2: The Hamiltons were a typical working class family. They were

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Speaker 2: far from afri luant, and they lived in cramped quarters,

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Speaker 2: but they wouldn't have been pitied or considered to be

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Speaker 2: extremely poor, and the tragedies that befell the family wouldn't

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Speaker 2: have seemed unusual to their peers either. When Evelyn was seven,

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Speaker 2: her little brother caught scarlet fever, a bacterial illness that

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Speaker 2: produces a distinctive pink red rash. Although there was some

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Speaker 2: understanding about how the disease spread and about just how

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Speaker 2: susceptible infants and small children were to it in the

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Speaker 2: days before antibiotics, it could still be a death sentence.

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Speaker 2: The boy passed away with his father at his side.

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Speaker 2: Scarlet fever outbreaks returned without respite, and the illness then

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Speaker 2: claimed the life of five year old Edith. In nineteen eleven,

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Speaker 2: Robert Hamilton was asked to fill out the censor's form

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Speaker 2: and name all his children. Heartbreakingly, he wrote first the

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Speaker 2: name of his dead daughter Edith. Then he realized his

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Speaker 2: mistake and crossed it out. The death of children, though tragic,

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Speaker 2: was an ordinary part of working class life. Even so,

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Speaker 2: sorrow must have pierced Robert's heart as his pen struck

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Speaker 2: out young Edith's name. Another son would later die of

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Speaker 2: diphtheria and heart failure in the same infectious diseases hospital

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Speaker 2: where Edith had perished, And cruel fate had not yet

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Speaker 2: finished with the Hamilton family. Playing with other children. On

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Speaker 2: the banks of the River Tyne, Evelyn's four year old

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Speaker 2: brother John slipped into the water. A passer by attempted

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Speaker 2: to resuscitate the child, but to no avail, and so

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Speaker 2: in just a few short years, Evelyn lost four younger siblings.

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Speaker 2: The family home would surely have been an emptier, quieter,

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Speaker 2: and sadder place, haunted by these deaths.

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Speaker 1: Tiny writing cricket team is thrashing the county professionals against

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Speaker 1: the odds. In the high summer sun, the men of

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Speaker 1: Evelyn Hamilton's village are humbling the visiting side. This sensational

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Speaker 1: performance would have been a source of huge excitement, and

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Speaker 1: thirteen year old Evelyn may well have been on hand

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Speaker 1: to cheer the victors on. It is July nineteen fourteen,

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Speaker 1: and this peaceful village, it all, is about to be shattered.

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Speaker 6: Soon.

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Speaker 1: These players may well be swapping their cricket whites for

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Speaker 1: army khaki, some never to return to the pitch.

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Speaker 4: In one short week, the threatening war clouds have settled

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Speaker 4: down over Europe and the long ridicule German menace has

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Speaker 4: become a reality. The Kaiser's troops are at war with England,

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Speaker 4: Russia and France.

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Speaker 1: At forty Robert Hamilton was at the upper age limit

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Speaker 1: to fight, but he appears not to have volunteered for combat. Instead,

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Speaker 1: he became a munitions worker, helping to produce the guns,

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Speaker 1: bullets and bombs kneeded at the front. Still, teenage Evelyn

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Speaker 1: would have watched as the young men of the village

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Speaker 1: and those who had worked in the pits with her father,

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Speaker 1: register their names and droves for the local battalions. They

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Speaker 1: were dispatched to the trenches of France and Flanders, to

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Speaker 1: the horrors of war and to death. The dangers and

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Speaker 1: hardships of war weren't entirely absent from the home front.

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Speaker 1: German airships, the dreaded Zeppelins, were sent on bombing raids

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Speaker 1: against civilian targets. One cruised over Evelyn's community in nineteen fifteen.

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Speaker 1: Those on the ground switched off all the lights, halted

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Speaker 1: all the trams and trains, and held their breath into

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Speaker 1: the raidar floated away again. The war altered the worlds

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Speaker 1: of the women left behind in other profound ways too.

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Speaker 1: Their working lives changed as they took on new roles

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Speaker 1: on farms and in factories. At home, food shortages placed

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Speaker 1: additional strain on families whose main earners had gone away

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Speaker 1: to war. Survival became a struggle for many. State pensions

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Speaker 1: for women widowed by the war were pitiful, at just

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Speaker 1: five shillings per week in nineteen fourteen. This was far

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Speaker 1: less than the amount needed to provide proper nutrition to

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Speaker 1: families with children. Sylvia Pankhurst, a suffragette and socialist, observed

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Speaker 1: scorchingly that in Newcastle, close to the Hamilton's home soldiers.

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Speaker 1: Wives were given food tickets instead of the money due

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Speaker 1: to them, and were permitted to obtain household commodities only

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Speaker 1: from a prescribed list which comprised the cheap inferior qualities

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Speaker 1: of food. Evelyn would no doubt have witnessed such struggles

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Speaker 1: in her community. She would also have followed the growing

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Speaker 1: women's suffrage movement, itself fueled by aspirations to bring about

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Speaker 1: the kind of social changes that a male dominated parliament

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Speaker 1: was ignoring and alleviate women's hardship and suffering.

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Speaker 2: As the guns fell silent, women were finally granted the vote,

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Speaker 2: but seventeen year old Evelyn wouldn't yet benefit. The reform

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Speaker 2: came with an age restriction, women had to be thirty

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Speaker 2: or over and a property qualification. Women voters had to

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Speaker 2: be registered to a home of certain value. Full suffrage

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Speaker 2: was still some years away. Clever and hard working Evelyn

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Speaker 2: was studying chemistry at Skerry's College in Newcastle, a technical

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Speaker 2: training school. According to Patthane, visiting professor of History at

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Speaker 2: Birkbeck University of London, Robert and Mary would likely have

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Speaker 2: supported their daughter's edge occasional aspirations for the tendency for

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Speaker 2: young men to emigrate to places like Australia, Canada or

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Speaker 2: New Zealand had skewed the marriage market.

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Speaker 7: Families were quite often quite keen to encourage education for

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Speaker 7: their daughters because it wasn't obvious they'd be able to

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Speaker 7: get married because women were a majority of the population

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Speaker 7: and quite an often couldn't marry, and unless they came

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Speaker 7: for quite a well off family that could be sure

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Speaker 7: it could support them, than they needed to be socially

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Speaker 7: educated to get a job that would enable them to

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Speaker 7: support themselves.

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Speaker 2: Aside from voting reform, new legislation had just given women

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Speaker 2: access to a greater number of professional jobs. They were

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Speaker 2: still paid less than men, and they had fewer opportunities

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Speaker 2: for promotion, but they could now become lawyers or go

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Speaker 2: into architecture or accountancy. Evelyn was the child of a

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Speaker 2: coal mine worker, but education and hard work appeared to

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Speaker 2: have enabled her to leap from into a higher social class,

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Speaker 2: and she now embarked on her chosen career pharmacy. This

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Speaker 2: was a respected and fulfilling profession, but it would also

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Speaker 2: prove to be a tricky and sometimes solitary part for Evelyn.

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Speaker 2: As a woman entering a man's profession. Evelyn would have

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Speaker 2: been expected to prioritize the comfort of her male colleagues

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Speaker 2: and managers, to flatter their feelings and egos, to mold

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Speaker 2: herself to their whims and ways. But Evelyn was cut

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Speaker 2: from very different cloth, and instead she clashed with her employers.

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Speaker 2: Their gripes and groans about the independent and implacable woman

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Speaker 2: in their midst would dog her career, jeopardizing everything that

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Speaker 2: she had worked for, and pushing her to the edge

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Speaker 2: of breakdown. Bad women the blackout Ripper would be back

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Speaker 2: in just a moment.

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Speaker 1: Pharmacy had come a long way since the heyday of

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Speaker 1: quackery and snake oil remedies. In eighteen forty one, the

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Speaker 1: Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain was established. Admission to this

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Speaker 1: body was by examination. The exams were taken very seriously

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Speaker 1: and the threshold for passing them was high. Pharmacists created

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Speaker 1: medicines from scratch, and they had access to deadly poisons too,

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Speaker 1: placing them in a position of privilege within many communities.

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Speaker 1: Their work required highly specialized knowledge and it was not

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Speaker 1: to be entered into lightly. In Evelyn's day, the landscape

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Speaker 1: of pharmacy was full of possibilities. One could work in

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Speaker 1: a hospital, while the more entrepreneurial could open a druggist's store. Crucially,

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Speaker 1: it was also a respectable profession. It involved brainwork, but

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Speaker 1: it was genteel enough to be suitable for a woman.

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Speaker 1: In fact, as Evelyn was growing up, dispensing drugs was

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Speaker 1: heavily marketed to parents and guardians. One newspaper advert called

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Speaker 1: it the right career for women.

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Speaker 3: Training, short cost, moderate work, pleasant future assured.

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Speaker 1: Throughout the nineteen twenties, Evelyn worked part time as a

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Speaker 1: chemists assistant at a shop in Newcastle called Milbourne's, presumably

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Speaker 1: to help fund her studies at a nearby college. The

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Speaker 1: teaching staff said Evelyn was older than many of the

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Speaker 1: other students and described her manner as distinctive. While Evelyn's

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Speaker 1: sister Kathleen had entered nursing, a traditionally feminine profession, pharmacy

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Speaker 1: remained a male dominated world. Perhaps the challenge inherent in

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Speaker 1: this exclusion was part of the appeal for someone as

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Speaker 1: distinctive and single minded as Evelyn. There may have been

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Speaker 1: another reason that Evelyn chose pharmacy over nursing, too, as

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Speaker 1: caregivers nurses would constantly interact with their patients, whereas pharmacists

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Speaker 1: might spend all day in their laboratories or safely behind

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Speaker 1: a large wooden counter. If they had a shop assistant,

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Speaker 1: they might speak with customers only rarely. Evelyn, said to

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Speaker 1: be reserved and pensive, may well have found such distance appealing.

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Speaker 1: After passing her chemists and druggist's qualifying exam, Evelyn began

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Speaker 1: practicing as a pharmacist in nineteen twenty eight, the same

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Speaker 1: year that equal voting rights were finally granted to all

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Speaker 1: men and women in Britain. For the next twelve years,

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Speaker 1: Evelyn managed a drugger's shop, Messrs. A. Wilson, in the

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Speaker 1: village of Wrighton, where she'd grown up. Wilson's promised the

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Speaker 1: finest quality medicines at the lowest prices, and peppered local

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Speaker 1: newspapers with adverts for herbal cough candy, vitamin cream and

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Speaker 1: cod liver oil emulsion. Evelyn lived in a flat above

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Speaker 1: the shop. She appears to have remained single, living a quiet,

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Speaker 1: even reclusive existence. I do not know any of her friends,

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Speaker 1: said her sister Kathleen.

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Speaker 8: I've never known her to court anyone, and as far

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Speaker 8: as I know she's never had a man friend.

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Speaker 1: Most other acquaintances painted a similar portrait of Evelyn. Local

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Speaker 1: woman Florence Shivers described her as.

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Speaker 5: A lonely girl of studious nature who was rather unversed

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Speaker 5: in sex matters and did not associate with men.

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Speaker 1: The landlady of one of Evelyn's lodgings did, however, remember

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Speaker 1: having occasional male visitors, and Evelyn confided to one female

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Speaker 1: acquaintance that she gone to dinner with a male colleague

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Speaker 1: and even had enough with a man in her youth.

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Speaker 1: But to most observers, the Pharmacies seemed contentedly free of

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Speaker 1: romantic entanglements. According to historian Pat Vane, it wasn't uncommon

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Speaker 1: for women at this time to embrace single life, and

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Speaker 1: this wasn't just about the dearth of available men.

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Speaker 7: But also quite a lot of women chose not to

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Speaker 7: marry that they didn't happen to find a man they

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Speaker 7: really wanted to marry, and they were an occupation that

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Speaker 7: they liked.

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Speaker 1: Women were generally forced to leave their professions when they wed,

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Speaker 1: irrespective of how much time they'd invested in their training.

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Speaker 1: Then as now, domesticity didn't appeal to everyone, so women

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Speaker 1: who enjoyed their careers may simply have led more fulfilling

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Speaker 1: lives by staying single. For her part, Evelyn appears to

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Speaker 1: have been independent and conscientious.

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Speaker 8: Her one hobby in life was to improve her knowledge

294
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Speaker 8: and mind on all subjects.

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Speaker 1: According to Kathleen, she.

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Speaker 8: Was also a keen socialist and studied very deeply the

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Speaker 8: problems connected to the subject.

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Speaker 1: This is too broad a statement to shed real light

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Speaker 1: on Evelyn's actual political views. As a socialist, Evelyn may

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Speaker 1: simply have been in favor of social reform in general.

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Speaker 1: She might have actively supported her local left wing labor Party,

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Speaker 1: or she may have even drawn inspiration from the Russian

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Speaker 1: Revolution of nineteen seventeen and held genuine communist sympathies. Evelyn appears,

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Speaker 1: at the very least to have been committed to helping

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Speaker 1: democratize education. Her sister stated that she was a member

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Speaker 1: of the Worker's Educational Association, an organization that had been

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Speaker 1: set up in nineteen oh three. It provided evening classes

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Speaker 1: enabling working class people to further their studies. Evelyn's brand

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Speaker 1: of socialism may equally have been directly connected to the

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Speaker 1: awful diseases that had carried away her siblings as well

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Speaker 1: as to her daily work as a pharmacist in the

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Speaker 1: depressed Northeast, where unemployment rates were high, public health was poor,

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Speaker 1: and doctors were expensive.

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Speaker 7: She may have encountered a lot of working class people

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Speaker 7: who couldn't afford decent health care because there was no

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Speaker 7: decent free healthcare before the National Health Service in nineteen

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Speaker 7: forty eight, and left wingers were in favor of having

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Speaker 7: a free health service.

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Speaker 1: If Evelyn's politics indeed included a vision of universal health care,

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Speaker 1: they may also have been shaped by a further tragedy

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Speaker 1: in the family. In nineteen thirty one, her twenty four

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Speaker 1: year old sister Mary died with epilepsy at the County

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Speaker 1: Mental Hospital. If Mary had spent any length of time

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Speaker 1: in that institution, the medical bills may well have represented

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Speaker 1: a financial strain for the family as well as an

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Speaker 1: emotional burden.

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Speaker 2: In nineteen thirty eight, on the eve of yet another

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Speaker 2: World War, Robert Hamilton, a man who had seen so

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Speaker 2: many of his offspring die, himself, succumbed to heart failure.

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Speaker 2: Evelyn was now approaching forty and still working at the

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Speaker 2: pharmacy in her home village, but then something snapped and

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Speaker 2: she quit. According to Kathleen, she.

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Speaker 8: Had mentioned for a considerable time previously that she would

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Speaker 8: like a change, and was in fact seeking one.

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Speaker 2: Evelyn's manager told a different story, describing how her sour

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Speaker 2: attitude had made her continued employment untenable. Resourceful, Evelyn soon

337
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Speaker 2: found another job as a traveling representative for a company

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Speaker 2: making a tonic wine that claimed to ward off anemia, influenza,

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Speaker 2: and menopausal symptoms. But perhaps the social activity of meeting

340
00:23:57,036 --> 00:24:01,276
Speaker 2: and greeting druggists and shop owners bore her down, because

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00:24:01,716 --> 00:24:07,316
Speaker 2: by late summer she was experiencing symptoms of depression and insomnia.

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Speaker 2: Just a few weeks into her new role, her manager,

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Speaker 2: mister Blackwell, who described Evelyn as abrupt in speech, formed

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Speaker 2: the opinion that.

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Speaker 4: She was mentally disarranged, and also that she was fully

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Speaker 4: aware of this.

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Speaker 2: Blackwell quickly terminated Evelyn's contract, paying her a month's wages

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Speaker 2: in lieu of notice. Kathleen again offered a slightly different

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Speaker 2: account of events. It was Evelyn who had chosen to

350
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Speaker 2: resign and return home to Newcastle. Evelyn sought professional help

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Speaker 2: from Professor Frederick Natrass of the Newcastle Infirmary, a respected

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Speaker 2: expert in nervous diseases, and after two months recuperating in

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Speaker 2: the home of her recently widowed mother, her health was

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00:24:51,436 --> 00:24:54,796
Speaker 2: said to greatly improve enough that she was soon packing

355
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Speaker 2: her bags once more. This time Evelyn was heading south,

356
00:25:00,036 --> 00:25:03,396
Speaker 2: a decision possibly implemenced by her father's death and its

357
00:25:03,396 --> 00:25:07,036
Speaker 2: impact on the family's finances. People in the South were

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Speaker 2: richer than their northern counterparts, meaning greater demand for pharmacy

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00:25:10,996 --> 00:25:15,796
Speaker 2: services and probably higher wages too. This would have enabled

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Speaker 2: Evelyn to better support her widowed mother. She took a

361
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Speaker 2: post at a psychiatric hospital south of London, but here

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Speaker 2: she found herself understimulated and without enough work, and so

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Speaker 2: in late nineteen forty one she took up the post

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Speaker 2: of manageress at Yardley's Pharmacy on the eastern edge of London.

365
00:25:35,276 --> 00:25:38,236
Speaker 2: Evelyn appears to have seen Yardley's as little more than

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Speaker 2: a temporary job, perhaps a stopgap before returning to the North,

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Speaker 2: but any plans would soon be brought to an abrupt

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00:25:46,556 --> 00:25:53,516
Speaker 2: and violent end. Bad Women, the Blackout Ripper will return shortly.

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00:26:31,596 --> 00:26:36,996
Speaker 1: Evelyn Hamilton was quiet, dignified and studious. She maintained close

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Speaker 1: links to her family, but to most other people she

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00:26:40,036 --> 00:26:43,836
Speaker 1: seemed self sufficient, marching to the beat of her own drum.

372
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Speaker 1: She apparently issued typical leisure activities like dance halls, preferring

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Speaker 1: instead to take long nighttime walks in the countryside. It

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Speaker 1: was this self contained figure who arrived in the unfamiliar

375
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Speaker 1: suburb of Hornchurch, where people's accents and outlooks were different

376
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Speaker 1: to those back home. At Yardley's, Evelyn earned around three

377
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Speaker 1: pounds per week, roughly equivalent to a weekly wage of

378
00:27:10,036 --> 00:27:13,476
Speaker 1: over one thousand dollars today, and she would send money

379
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Speaker 1: to her mother. She appears to have been guarded from

380
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Speaker 1: the word go solitary taciturn. Even aloof missus Eva Lever,

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Speaker 1: who rented a room to Evelyn, found her to be withdrawn.

382
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Speaker 5: Miss Hamilton never took me into her confidence whilst staying

383
00:27:30,916 --> 00:27:33,276
Speaker 5: with me, and no person visited her at my house.

384
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Speaker 4: She did not discuss matters with me.

385
00:27:36,916 --> 00:27:41,916
Speaker 1: Evelyn's new colleagues also found her somewhat curious. Her manager

386
00:27:41,996 --> 00:27:43,516
Speaker 1: suggested she was a.

387
00:27:43,596 --> 00:27:47,476
Speaker 4: Rather eccentric type of person, always looks sort of frightened,

388
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Speaker 4: and I should think she suffered with her nerves.

389
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Speaker 1: He felt she seemed bored there and suggested that apart

390
00:27:55,276 --> 00:27:58,716
Speaker 1: from occasional cinema visits, she found little with which to

391
00:27:58,756 --> 00:28:03,316
Speaker 1: occupy herself at Hornchurch be Tina Gray, the fourteen year

392
00:28:03,316 --> 00:28:06,996
Speaker 1: old shop assistant, agreed that Evelyn was eccentric.

393
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Speaker 5: I was not very happy with Miss Hamilton, as she

394
00:28:09,796 --> 00:28:12,476
Speaker 5: was unsociable and grumbling and did not speak to me

395
00:28:12,516 --> 00:28:16,956
Speaker 5: except to give orders. Frequently, after approaching customers, she would

396
00:28:16,996 --> 00:28:18,436
Speaker 5: walk away without serving them.

397
00:28:19,316 --> 00:28:23,116
Speaker 1: Bettina observed other oddities and Evelyn's behavior too.

398
00:28:23,236 --> 00:28:25,756
Speaker 5: I know from what she told me that she went

399
00:28:25,796 --> 00:28:28,396
Speaker 5: back to the shop most nights, and on one occasion

400
00:28:28,436 --> 00:28:31,036
Speaker 5: she said, I suppose you wonder why I came back,

401
00:28:31,076 --> 00:28:34,356
Speaker 5: but I cannot be bothered to explain. Now about four

402
00:28:34,396 --> 00:28:36,716
Speaker 5: times during the cold weather, she filled a hot water

403
00:28:36,756 --> 00:28:39,276
Speaker 5: bottle just before I left the shop and put it

404
00:28:39,316 --> 00:28:41,956
Speaker 5: on the bench. I could not say why she did.

405
00:28:42,716 --> 00:28:46,076
Speaker 1: Was Evelyn sleeping in the shop. Bettina did not believe so,

406
00:28:46,756 --> 00:28:49,716
Speaker 1: and missus Lever confirmed that the pharmacist returned to her

407
00:28:49,756 --> 00:28:55,236
Speaker 1: lodgings each night. So was Evelyn restless and agitated? Had

408
00:28:55,236 --> 00:28:59,156
Speaker 1: a depression in insomnia? Perhaps returned? Did she go back

409
00:28:59,196 --> 00:29:01,556
Speaker 1: to the empty shop rather than toss and turn in

410
00:29:01,596 --> 00:29:06,596
Speaker 1: her bed? Today we might view Evelyn's behavioral traits and

411
00:29:06,636 --> 00:29:10,396
Speaker 1: mental health troubles with a little more similpathy. But in

412
00:29:10,476 --> 00:29:15,836
Speaker 1: nineteen forty two, disdain, exasperation, and the sharp and kindness

413
00:29:15,836 --> 00:29:18,876
Speaker 1: of fourteen year old Bettina Gray would not have been

414
00:29:18,956 --> 00:29:20,156
Speaker 1: uncommon responses.

415
00:29:21,916 --> 00:29:26,716
Speaker 6: It's so oppressive being not typical, and so many of

416
00:29:26,796 --> 00:29:30,436
Speaker 6: us don't feel typical. Who's applying all this pressure to

417
00:29:30,516 --> 00:29:33,316
Speaker 6: be exactly like everybody else because everyone has a sack

418
00:29:33,356 --> 00:29:36,396
Speaker 6: of rocks and everyone is a total weirdo, And yet

419
00:29:36,476 --> 00:29:38,636
Speaker 6: we're like, m m, you have to be like this,

420
00:29:38,756 --> 00:29:39,516
Speaker 6: you have to be like this.

421
00:29:40,156 --> 00:29:44,356
Speaker 1: Laura Nober is a journalist. She was recently diagnosed with autism,

422
00:29:44,436 --> 00:29:47,716
Speaker 1: and her podcast The Loudest Girl in the World tells

423
00:29:47,756 --> 00:29:50,436
Speaker 1: the story of her journey to understand what it means

424
00:29:50,476 --> 00:29:54,356
Speaker 1: to be autistic. We shared Evelyn Hamilton's story with Lauren.

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Speaker 6: A colleague characterized her as unsociable and grumbling and did

426
00:29:59,396 --> 00:30:03,636
Speaker 6: not speak to me except orders, and I thought that

427
00:30:03,836 --> 00:30:07,876
Speaker 6: is relatable. People have said that I come at them

428
00:30:07,916 --> 00:30:10,236
Speaker 6: if I need something, like my hair is on fire,

429
00:30:10,276 --> 00:30:12,636
Speaker 6: and I forget to say Hi, how are you are

430
00:30:12,636 --> 00:30:15,276
Speaker 6: you having a good day? Great? Me too? Anyway, I

431
00:30:15,356 --> 00:30:18,956
Speaker 6: need this thing? You know, there's great pain in not

432
00:30:19,036 --> 00:30:24,276
Speaker 6: getting the socializing or the sort of human interaction right

433
00:30:24,396 --> 00:30:26,596
Speaker 6: in the way that everybody expects you to. There's a

434
00:30:26,636 --> 00:30:30,716
Speaker 6: particular way that you should interact and if you're not

435
00:30:30,916 --> 00:30:34,836
Speaker 6: doing just that thing, And particularly in the forties, I

436
00:30:34,836 --> 00:30:38,356
Speaker 6: imagine it was a million times worse there because we

437
00:30:38,396 --> 00:30:41,556
Speaker 6: didn't have names for things. We had a much narrower

438
00:30:41,636 --> 00:30:45,876
Speaker 6: view of how people should act. So people describing your

439
00:30:46,036 --> 00:30:49,876
Speaker 6: presence as grumbling. I felt for Evelyn. I felt like boy,

440
00:30:49,916 --> 00:30:51,956
Speaker 6: it was probably a really hard road for her.

441
00:30:52,476 --> 00:30:55,276
Speaker 1: Lauren says that for women, the pressure to get social

442
00:30:55,316 --> 00:30:58,356
Speaker 1: interaction right can be particularly onerous.

443
00:30:59,036 --> 00:31:06,196
Speaker 6: Women bear the vast majority of the weight in social situations. Yes,

444
00:31:06,356 --> 00:31:11,156
Speaker 6: the pressures put on women and girls and people who

445
00:31:11,156 --> 00:31:15,316
Speaker 6: are not men to sort of smoothly and gracefully and

446
00:31:15,436 --> 00:31:21,396
Speaker 6: elegantly navigate social situations, it's just oppressive. It's so oppressive.

447
00:31:21,876 --> 00:31:25,396
Speaker 1: Well, her employer's colleagues and even the strangers she encountered

448
00:31:25,436 --> 00:31:28,836
Speaker 1: each and every day might have found Evelyn exasperating an

449
00:31:28,876 --> 00:31:32,716
Speaker 1: odd From a distance of eighty years, Lauren has huge

450
00:31:32,796 --> 00:31:33,876
Speaker 1: admiration for her.

451
00:31:34,476 --> 00:31:37,396
Speaker 6: This woman's life was so hard, and it's amazing that

452
00:31:37,476 --> 00:31:40,516
Speaker 6: she got as far as she did. It's amazing that

453
00:31:40,956 --> 00:31:43,276
Speaker 6: she was able to carve out a career for herself.

454
00:31:43,316 --> 00:31:48,276
Speaker 6: Being sort of reserved, repensive, or solitary, those are not

455
00:31:48,996 --> 00:31:53,436
Speaker 6: the qualifiers that make for a successful social person in

456
00:31:53,476 --> 00:31:54,356
Speaker 6: the world.

457
00:31:54,636 --> 00:31:58,876
Speaker 1: Though Evelyn was by nature detached, she could also crave interaction.

458
00:31:59,836 --> 00:32:04,196
Speaker 1: At times, she would speak freely with total strangers. Maud

459
00:32:04,276 --> 00:32:10,116
Speaker 1: Yoxhall remembered meeting the pharmacist at Yardley's for the first time, chatting.

460
00:32:09,996 --> 00:32:12,196
Speaker 5: And she informed me that she had no friends in

461
00:32:12,236 --> 00:32:16,236
Speaker 5: Hornchurch and stated she was mentally starved. I invited her

462
00:32:16,236 --> 00:32:18,276
Speaker 5: to my house as she appeared lonely.

463
00:32:19,476 --> 00:32:22,476
Speaker 1: Maude said that they met again on several occasions, but

464
00:32:22,596 --> 00:32:25,836
Speaker 1: on the whole Evelyn never described having any sort of

465
00:32:25,916 --> 00:32:30,356
Speaker 1: social life. By nineteen forty two, Yardley's appears to have

466
00:32:30,436 --> 00:32:35,156
Speaker 1: run into financial difficulties. Other Druggish shops complained of the

467
00:32:35,196 --> 00:32:39,676
Speaker 1: toll that limited supplies, uncertain deliveries, and high wartime taxes

468
00:32:39,756 --> 00:32:44,236
Speaker 1: was placing on profits. It's possible that Yardley's faced similar struggles,

469
00:32:44,796 --> 00:32:48,156
Speaker 1: and in mid January it was decided that the Hornchurch outlet,

470
00:32:48,436 --> 00:32:53,276
Speaker 1: among others, should close. Evelyn was fired, but quickly found

471
00:32:53,316 --> 00:32:57,476
Speaker 1: another position in the northern port of Grimsby. She told

472
00:32:57,516 --> 00:33:01,316
Speaker 1: her family of the move. This was the last they

473
00:33:01,356 --> 00:33:02,236
Speaker 1: ever heard from her.

474
00:33:04,676 --> 00:33:08,836
Speaker 2: February eighth, nineteen forty two, was Evelyn's final day in Hornchurch.

475
00:33:11,156 --> 00:33:13,356
Speaker 2: She might have lain in bed until late that morning,

476
00:33:13,516 --> 00:33:16,996
Speaker 2: as was her custom on Sundays. Reading the paper, she

477
00:33:17,116 --> 00:33:21,396
Speaker 2: might have noted an impassioned opinion piece predicting social catastrophe

478
00:33:21,796 --> 00:33:24,476
Speaker 2: unless women left the workplace after the war was over.

479
00:33:24,916 --> 00:33:28,396
Speaker 4: And as for the ultra emancipated young woman, the writer

480
00:33:28,476 --> 00:33:30,116
Speaker 4: of this column is yet to meet one who is

481
00:33:30,156 --> 00:33:33,476
Speaker 4: happy or who is capable of making any other person happy.

482
00:33:34,316 --> 00:33:37,956
Speaker 2: Elsewhere, it was reported that soldier Cyril Johnson had just

483
00:33:38,036 --> 00:33:40,516
Speaker 2: been charged with the murder of a young bank clerk,

484
00:33:40,636 --> 00:33:44,876
Speaker 2: Maggie Smail, in her home near London. Johnson reportedly killed

485
00:33:44,916 --> 00:33:51,196
Speaker 2: Maggie because he hated women. That evening, after packing, Evelyn

486
00:33:51,276 --> 00:33:54,636
Speaker 2: braced herself against the bitter February weather by donning a

487
00:33:54,676 --> 00:33:58,476
Speaker 2: green woolen jumper, full length camel coat and small turban hat.

488
00:33:59,476 --> 00:34:02,396
Speaker 2: The time on her gold wristwatch read six pm. As

489
00:34:02,436 --> 00:34:07,716
Speaker 2: she departed missus Leaver's house in the evening gloom. Maude

490
00:34:07,756 --> 00:34:11,356
Speaker 2: Yoxall observed Evelyn heading south towards the train station and

491
00:34:11,436 --> 00:34:14,356
Speaker 2: pausing to linger a moment in the doorway of Yardlease.

492
00:34:15,236 --> 00:34:18,196
Speaker 2: She carried a suitcase and a polished, dark brown handbag.

493
00:34:19,316 --> 00:34:21,956
Speaker 2: At seven twenty pm, Evelyn met with a clerk at

494
00:34:21,956 --> 00:34:24,196
Speaker 2: the station and arranged to have the bulk of her

495
00:34:24,236 --> 00:34:27,476
Speaker 2: luggage collected from Missus Leaver's house and sent on to Grimsby.

496
00:34:28,756 --> 00:34:30,916
Speaker 2: She then hopped on a train to spend the night

497
00:34:31,076 --> 00:34:35,836
Speaker 2: in London. A taxi driver, Abraham Ash, collected Evelyn at

498
00:34:35,876 --> 00:34:38,396
Speaker 2: the train station at around ten pm and dropped her

499
00:34:38,436 --> 00:34:41,236
Speaker 2: at a hotel, where an altercation ensued.

500
00:34:41,996 --> 00:34:45,036
Speaker 3: A maid answered the door and there was a slight argument,

501
00:34:45,276 --> 00:34:48,556
Speaker 3: the maid saying she had no beds. The woman, who

502
00:34:48,676 --> 00:34:52,276
Speaker 3: was well spoken, although she spoke slowly, then returned to

503
00:34:52,316 --> 00:34:55,916
Speaker 3: the cab, slightly perturbed, and said they must put me

504
00:34:56,036 --> 00:34:58,436
Speaker 3: up somewhere. I have got the money to pay for

505
00:34:58,476 --> 00:34:59,396
Speaker 3: a room.

506
00:34:59,636 --> 00:35:02,476
Speaker 2: Evelyn's train the next morning would be from King's Cross,

507
00:35:02,916 --> 00:35:04,916
Speaker 2: but she told Ash that she did not wish to

508
00:35:04,916 --> 00:35:08,796
Speaker 2: stay in this area, after all, it had an insalubrious

509
00:35:09,196 --> 00:35:13,156
Speaker 2: rough reputation. At her request, they drove on to the

510
00:35:13,196 --> 00:35:16,036
Speaker 2: Three Arts Club, a West End establishment where she had

511
00:35:16,036 --> 00:35:19,956
Speaker 2: stayed at least once before. Housed in a tall brick

512
00:35:20,036 --> 00:35:23,636
Speaker 2: and stucco fronted Georgian terrace typical of the area, the

513
00:35:23,676 --> 00:35:28,036
Speaker 2: club provided both short and long term accommodation to women only.

514
00:35:29,116 --> 00:35:32,636
Speaker 2: Guests were subject to a long list of rules. For example,

515
00:35:33,076 --> 00:35:37,196
Speaker 2: they couldn't introduce literature of a controversial character into the

516
00:35:37,236 --> 00:35:40,996
Speaker 2: communal spaces, nor could they bring with them wines, spirits,

517
00:35:41,076 --> 00:35:45,356
Speaker 2: or provisions of any kind. Above all, this accommodation was

518
00:35:45,396 --> 00:35:49,196
Speaker 2: intended to be a safe space for women. It was

519
00:35:49,276 --> 00:35:52,556
Speaker 2: here that Evelyn chose to spend the night. The manageress

520
00:35:52,556 --> 00:35:55,316
Speaker 2: who showed at her room and gave her key, thought

521
00:35:55,316 --> 00:36:01,116
Speaker 2: Evelyn seems agitated, though she could not say why. At

522
00:36:01,116 --> 00:36:04,396
Speaker 2: some point between ten thirty and eleven PM, Evelyn went

523
00:36:04,436 --> 00:36:06,956
Speaker 2: out into the darkened streets to find some supper.

524
00:36:10,636 --> 00:36:13,596
Speaker 1: She walked for fifteen minutes or so to Maison Lions

525
00:36:13,676 --> 00:36:16,516
Speaker 1: at Marble Arch on the edge of Hyde Park, a

526
00:36:16,636 --> 00:36:19,396
Speaker 1: twenty four hour restaurant that she could rely on to

527
00:36:19,436 --> 00:36:23,836
Speaker 1: still be serving meals. Maison Lyons was consciously designed to

528
00:36:23,876 --> 00:36:27,756
Speaker 1: appeal to will evening madame. Inside it was sleek, clean

529
00:36:27,836 --> 00:36:31,756
Speaker 1: and glass walled. It even boasted in ladies boudoir and

530
00:36:31,916 --> 00:36:34,876
Speaker 1: hair dressing salon, and had been fitted with so called

531
00:36:35,076 --> 00:36:39,716
Speaker 1: sunshine lighting to create the effect of continuous indoor daylight.

532
00:36:40,956 --> 00:36:44,716
Speaker 1: Maison Lions sought to provide food fit for gourmetz at

533
00:36:44,756 --> 00:36:49,356
Speaker 1: popular prices. Evelyn sat alone at a table covered in

534
00:36:49,436 --> 00:36:53,076
Speaker 1: starched linen. She ate some beetroot, and she may have

535
00:36:53,156 --> 00:36:57,156
Speaker 1: ordered a drink for herself too. Perhaps it was here

536
00:36:58,196 --> 00:37:02,716
Speaker 1: that an raf cadet noticed her, marking her out as

537
00:37:02,756 --> 00:37:08,636
Speaker 1: a solitary soul who would not be immediately missed. Perhaps

538
00:37:08,676 --> 00:37:13,196
Speaker 1: he approached and struck up an exchange. Perhaps he offered

539
00:37:13,196 --> 00:37:15,996
Speaker 1: to see her safely through the dark night back to

540
00:37:16,076 --> 00:37:21,676
Speaker 1: her accommodation. Or maybe Evelyn walked home alone and heard

541
00:37:21,676 --> 00:37:25,436
Speaker 1: a man's footsteps trailing her. Her route back to her

542
00:37:25,476 --> 00:37:29,036
Speaker 1: lodgings would have passed the grand houses of Montague Square,

543
00:37:29,676 --> 00:37:34,236
Speaker 1: their windows blacked out, their white stucco reflecting the beam

544
00:37:34,276 --> 00:37:38,196
Speaker 1: of her flashlight. At the end of the square was

545
00:37:38,236 --> 00:37:42,516
Speaker 1: a squat air raid shelter, a dank structure of brick

546
00:37:42,796 --> 00:37:49,716
Speaker 1: and concrete, damp, musty cold. It's inconceivable that Evelyn would

547
00:37:49,756 --> 00:37:53,196
Speaker 1: have entered such a dark and squalid place willingly. When

548
00:37:53,236 --> 00:37:55,516
Speaker 1: She was just minutes from the safety of the Three

549
00:37:55,636 --> 00:38:00,996
Speaker 1: Arts Club, but whether by force or by deception, enter

550
00:38:01,316 --> 00:38:46,996
Speaker 1: that freezing shelter, she did bad women. The Blackout Ripper

551
00:38:47,236 --> 00:38:50,076
Speaker 1: is hosted by me Halle Rubinholt.

552
00:38:49,476 --> 00:38:50,756
Speaker 2: And me Alice Fines.

553
00:38:51,236 --> 00:38:53,916
Speaker 1: It was written and produced by Alice Fines and Ryan Dilley,

554
00:38:54,156 --> 00:38:58,316
Speaker 1: with additional support from Courtney Guarino and Offa Gomperts. Kate

555
00:38:58,356 --> 00:39:01,956
Speaker 1: Healy of Oakwood Family Trees aided us with genealogical research.

556
00:39:02,556 --> 00:39:05,716
Speaker 2: Pascal Wise Sound designed and mixed the show and composed

557
00:39:05,796 --> 00:39:08,876
Speaker 2: all the original music. The show was recorded at Orders

558
00:39:08,916 --> 00:39:12,516
Speaker 2: two by David Smith and Tom Berry. You also heard

559
00:39:12,516 --> 00:39:16,476
Speaker 2: the voice talents of Ben Crow, David Glover, Melanie Gutridge,

560
00:39:16,556 --> 00:39:20,356
Speaker 2: Stella Harford, Gemma Saunders, and rufus Wright. Much of the

561
00:39:20,436 --> 00:39:23,796
Speaker 2: music you had was performed by Ed Gocken, Ross Hughes,

562
00:39:24,036 --> 00:39:27,316
Speaker 2: Christian Miller and Marcus Penrose. They were recorded by Nick

563
00:39:27,396 --> 00:39:31,876
Speaker 2: Taylor at Porcupine Studios. Pushkin's Ben Holiday mixed the tracks.

564
00:39:31,836 --> 00:39:35,756
Speaker 1: And you heard additional piano playing by the great Berry

565
00:39:35,836 --> 00:39:39,956
Speaker 1: Wise Hi Berry. The show also wouldn't have been possible

566
00:39:40,036 --> 00:39:43,636
Speaker 1: without the work of Jacob Weisberg, Heather Fane Carli mcgliori,

567
00:39:44,156 --> 00:39:49,476
Speaker 1: Maggie Taylor, Nicole Morano, Eric Sandler, and Daniela Lukhan. We'd

568
00:39:49,476 --> 00:39:52,316
Speaker 1: also like to thank Michael Buchanan Dunn of the Murder

569
00:39:52,396 --> 00:39:57,036
Speaker 1: Mile podcast, Lizzie Mckerroll, Kathryn Walker at the Royal Pharmaceutical

570
00:39:57,076 --> 00:40:01,476
Speaker 1: Society and the Earbe Historical Society. Bad Women is a

571
00:40:01,476 --> 00:40:05,116
Speaker 1: production of Pushkin Industries. Please rate and review the show

572
00:40:05,356 --> 00:40:07,836
Speaker 1: and spread the word about what we do. And thanks

573
00:40:07,836 --> 00:40:08,396
Speaker 1: for listening.

574
00:40:09,196 --> 00:40:09,436
Speaker 2: Yeah,