During the early years of the twentieth century birth control pills were non existent, so when local women heard of a pill which aborted a foetus, chemists were bombarded with requests for it. The matter was brought to light at an inquest held at the Sheffield Public Mortuary on Friday 23 March 1906 on the body of a young married woman called Maria Russell. She was just twenty years of age and lived at Norton, Sheffield. Also in attendance was Dr Arthur Hall (who was later knighted by Queen Victoria) and was one of the most influential members of Sheffield Medical School. He was well known in the town through his efforts to try to stop the sale of pills containing diachlyon.
It had been at first thought that Maria had died supposedly from shock from a tram car collision she had been involved in prior to her death. However when the family physician, Dr Gale undertook the post mortem, he found that death was due to what he presumed was lead poisoning. The chief evidence was there right in front of his eyes, indicated by the presence of blue lines on the woman’s gums. Curiously, he noted that the poison had been taken in large quantities for some time before her death. Questioned by the coroner, Mr D Wightman the surgeon admitted that the diachlyon pills containing lead were sometimes taken by young women and were generally sold by quack doctors.
The jury brought in a verdict that ‘the deceased woman had died from the effects of lead poisoning, but as to how or why it was administered there was no evidence to show.’ The jury also requested the coroner to forward a copy of the verdict to the Home Office, to which he agreed. However the fame of the substance was spreading. Just a week later, Mr Wightman was asked to hold another inquest on 31 March 1906 on yet another twenty year old married woman of Rotherham called Mrs Beatrice Newcomb. She had died the day before from exactly the same symptoms as Maria Russell. It seems that Beatrice had been married for two years and already had two children, so she did not wish to have any more.
She lived with her husband at Conisborough and since moving to Sheffield, often went back to visit her mother at Thrybergh. Mrs Julia Allen, Beatrice’s mother was asked questions about the pills which had been found in the girl’s bedroom, by one of the servants. When the coroner asked Mrs Allen where the pill had come from, she denied all knowledge of them. She said that she had never seen her daughter take any pills whatsoever. However, the deceased woman’s husband next gave his account and he stated that he was aware that Beatrice had some pills labelled as ‘Nurse Oaklands Female Pills’ which he had seen her take.
Dr J Mason of Darnall, Sheffield told the coroner that he had undertaken a post mortem on the deceased and found that she too had died from lead poisoning. He stated that no medical man would proscribe any kind of pills made with diachlyon, however he admitted that he was aware of the rumours of their use in procuring abortions. The surgeon stated that he had learned that lead pills were frequently taken by women to prevent conception or to procure abortions. He admitted that he had looked after the deceased woman for five days before her death. Continuing with his evidence, Dr Mason stated that in his own practice in Darnall, he had been called to many cases in which women suffered and died from taking this poison.
A servant of Mrs Julia Allen was the first witness and she introduced herself to the inquest and said that her name was Lily Ricketts. She said that Beatrice had stayed at her mothers house at Thrybergh, near Rotherham some time ago and they had both slept in the same bed. During that visit Lily had witnessed the deceased woman making up some pills to her own recipe, which included diachylon and aloes. When Beatrice told her the purpose of the pills, she told her that she kept them in a box, away from her mothers knowledge. However another servant, Mrs Hannah Clarke told the inquest that the truth was that the previous witness had given Beatrice the recipe for the pills in exchange for a guinea.
Lily Ricketts was re-called but she denied having done so, blaming Hannah Clarke instead. After hearing from the two domestic servants, the jury brought back a verdict that ‘death was due to lead poisoning, caused by diachlyon pills, administered by the deceased for a specific purpose.’ The coroner, Mr Wightman demanded that the substance should to be put on the poisons list. He explained that in such a manner, the pills would have to be entered in chemist’s Poison Register and the names of both purchaser and seller would have to be noted down. A few days later, the events in Sheffield had caused such a scandal that the British Medical Association was forced to step in.
A letter signed by Mr J Smith the Medical Secretary to the BMA writing from the Strand, London gave a statement which was printed in several local newspapers. The letter roundly condemned ‘the evil which has been found to be prevalent in your district.’ The letter, was published over several days following Wednesday 4 April 1906 and warned:
‘The attention of the British Medical Association has been drawn to the danger incurred through the use of diachlyon in pills or otherwise. The Council feels that the public should be made aware that ingesting this substance has resulted frequently in paralysis, blindness, insanity and death.’
In Parliament, a question on the subject was even asked by the Home Secretary, Mr Gladstone by Mr Samuel Roberts, the Member of Parliament for the Eccleshall Division of Sheffield. He said that following two deaths in Sheffield, there was a developing increasing in the use of these pills among many local women. He admitted however that many of these woman were ignorant of the properties of the drug. Mr Gladstone declared that ‘to schedule diachylon as a poison would not mitigate the evil complained of.’
However that was not the end of the matter. Suddenly it was found that the scandal of the pills was not just confined to Sheffield….
(To read about the second part of Sheffield’s diachlyon problem, check out this space on Wednesday 19 November 2025)