Hallie Rubenhold
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
They wanted to make sure that Ethel didn't inherit any of Belle's personal belongings through Crippen.
And so they had the law changed, inheritance law, and Britain changed.
They paid for Belle's funeral.
They testified at the trial.
They testified at the coroner's inquest.
They, you know, sacrificed their own health to help their friend.
Many of them found this really, really traumatic and had to take time off work.
You know, it cannot be underestimated just how loved she was and just what lengths these women went to to ensure that justice was met.
Ethel is such a complex and fascinating person and was absolutely intertwined in this crime in every way.
As much as Belle has been depicted as this kind of harridan, Ethel has been portrayed as her foil, really like this meek, wilting violet.
And just like Belle, she was nothing like that.
Ethel was as strong of a character as Belle was, but she learned how to play into the Edwardian expectations of being a meek and quiet little woman who stared at her shoes and
did what she was told.
Ethel came from an impoverished background, much like Belle as well.
And she was born in Dis in Norfolk, in basically a two-room cottage with a dirt floor.
And her father, who had some...
And Forsyte, he was quite progressive, which is pretty amazing for a Victorian man, decided that his children were going to make something out of their lives in the way that he had because he was a railway clerk.
And it meant that he had a slightly better life than everyone who came before him who were agricultural labourers.
And so he took his kids to London.
He took his family to London.