Taking place across our Autumn/Winter season, Thackray Insights invites you to delve deep into eye­ opening topics and explore the unheard stories of medicine.

Lake County, Florida, November 1897. 22-year-old Black defendant Mary Mozeak is sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering her husband to secure a $500 insurance claim. Her weapon of choice? Rat poison. In an era obsessed with purity and social hygiene, Prof Vivien Miller explores how cultural attitudes toward popular poisons – often the staples of respectable and clean homes – could shape the identities ascribed to defendants by both the public and the media.

From CSI to Silent Witness, ‘forensics’ are a source of fascination to many. Prof Katherine D. Watson’s talk recalls a time before true crime podcasts, where medicine and science combined to meet the aims of justice. Drawing on cases of insanity, poisoning and infanticide, she’ll trace this history showing the impact of legal systems, medical practitioners and the rise of the ‘expert’ in Britain, Europe and North America.

This is an Insights Deep-Dive Lecture where two leading academics present an in-depth look into a topic

About the Speakers

Prof Vivien Miller is Professor of American History at the University of Nottingham UK. Her books, journal articles, and essays cover 19th and 20th century social, criminal justice and legal history.

Prof Katherine D. Watson is Professor of Criminal Justice History at Oxford Brookes University. She is a historian of forensic medicine and crime in Britain, focusing on the period between 1700 and the Second World War.

Interested in attending multiple events in the season? Add three or more Insights events into your basket for a 20% discount on your overall purchase at checkout.

We also offer a select number of free Insights tickets for students studying A-Level or above – email groups@thackraymuseum.org to find out more.