Bio

Marguerite Dixblanc was born in 1842 in Belgium. People who knew her as an adult said she came from a village where the Bouillion family also came from. In 1868 she stayed with the Bouillions for a few weeks when she was out of work. A record in a work book shows she entered service on 8 June 1870 and left on 16 August 1870 in Paris.

She was in Paris during the siege of 1870. Contemporary reports say she was connected with Communists after the German occupation. Those reports describe her as having been in Paris during those events.

By January 1872 she was in London and working as a cook at 13 Park Lane for Mme Marie Caroline Besant Riel. She spoke little or no English and communicated mostly in French and by signs. Reports from the household say Mme Riel had a quick temper and that Dixblanc and her employer sometimes had quarrels in French. The household records show she was given notice to leave around 20 March 1872.

Witnesses and police descriptions from the time give her age as about 28 or 29. She was described as about 5 ft. 5 in. tall, stout and powerful, with a fresh complexion, a red face, dark hair, and brown eyes. Letters and testimony show she wrote to a friend named Victoire and that she paid money to the Bouillions in April 1872. A green satin dress and a waterproof cloak are mentioned in the records as being hers.

Murder Story

On April 7, 1872, Marie Caroline Besant Riel, age 46, was found dead in her Park Lane home in London. The cause of death was listed as strangulation. A sum of money and other property were missing from the house.

Marguerite Dixblanc, born in 1842 and described in reports as a 29-year-old Belgian cook, was absent from the house after the discovery. Detectives followed her trail to France. She was arrested in a coal-merchant's shop in St. Denis, Paris, and the missing property was found in her possession. She was returned to England on April 20. The arrest came seven days after the murder.

Dixblanc was tried at the Old Bailey on June 14, 1872. She pleaded that she had been provoked and the defence sought to reduce the charge to manslaughter. The judge ruled that verbal abuse did not amount to sufficient provocation. The jury found her guilty and she was sentenced to death.

She was reprieved from execution and her sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life. The case is classified as a murder with characteristics listed as argument and robbery. The known victim count is one.