Letter from James Parke

Letter from James Parke, 1st Baron Wensleydale, barrister and judge, to Alfred Swaine Taylor, dated Jan 12 1856, querying aspects of the Wooler trial. The Wooler trial, also known as the Great Burdon Slow Poisoning Case, Durham, was the trial of Joseph Snaith Wooler accused of poisoning his wife Jane over a long period of time, until her death in 1855. Despite arsenic being found during Jane Wooler's post-mortem, the absence of a motive meant that Joseph was acquitted. Alfred Swaine Taylor (1806-1880) was an eminent British forensic medicine expert, toxicologist and early photographic pioneer.