A new song on the Mannings

A new song on the Mannings

Marie Manning (1821–13 November 1849) was a Swiss domestic servant who was hanged outside Horsemonger Lane Gaol, London, England, on 13 November 1849, after she and her husband Frederick were convicted of the murder of her lover, Patrick O'Connor, in the case that became known as the "Bermondsey Horror." It was the first time a husband and wife had been executed together in England since 1700.

Bodleian Library - Shelfmark: Firth c.17(268); Bodleian Bod 9607

Another shocking murder I have for to declare,
At Bermondsey, near London, number three, Minerva Square,
Master and Mistress Manning, if you'll listen here awhile,
For the murder of O'Connor, a man from Erin's Isle.

O'Connor was a Guager in the London Docks,
An invitation from Maria to dine with her he gets,
She desired him to attend at five the next day,
The Mannings were determined Patrick Connor for to slay.

O'Connor left his lodgings - to the Mannings went straightway,
But little did he think that night that they would him betray,
But those two barbarians, as you shall understand,
For a long time previous this horrid deed had planned.

They shot him with a pistol - with a crowbar bruised his head,
They stripped the clothes from off his back when that he was dead
His legs they doubled up and with a cord them tied,
They buried him in a hole by their kitchen fireside.

That evening after the murder, Maria Manning went
Unto O'Connor's lodgings - on robbery she was bent,
She took both cash and documents, and many other things,
From O'Connor's lodgings, at different times she brings.

She took the train from London to Edinburgh town,
There she was apprehended all for that murderous crime,
Then they conveyed her back again to London with all speed,
There to take her trial for that horrid barbarous deed.

Frederick George Manning to the Isle of Jersey went,
To shun the ends of justice, for America he was bent,
Then he was taken prisoner for the murder they had done,
He said, 'Is that wretch taken?' - meaning Mistress Manning.

They told him she was taken - they knew he meant his wife,
He said, 'Then I am satisfied, for that will save my life,
'Twas she who fired the pistol - gave O'Connor his death wound,'
But they brought Manning back with them to famed London town.

Their trial it is over and they are both condemned to die,
May the Lord have mercy on your souls, the judge to them did cry
And I hope this will a warning be unto both young and old,
Never to commit a murder for the sake of cursed gold.

J. Clark

hanging

murder

London, Horsemonger Lane Gaol