Thomas Neill Cream

Serial Killer

Thomas Neill Cream: The Lambeth Poisoner

A Doctor Who Became a Serial Poisoner

Thomas Neill Cream was a Scottish-born physician whose criminal career stretched across Canada, the United States, and England during the late nineteenth century. Better known as the "Lambeth Poisoner," Cream used the respectability and medical knowledge associated with his profession to gain access to vulnerable people and to obtain dangerous drugs. Strychnine became the poison most closely associated with him. His confirmed and attributed victims included a male patient in Illinois and several young women in London. Cream's murders were unusual not only because of his reliance on poison but because he repeatedly drew attention to crimes that might otherwise have remained unexplained. He sent anonymous letters, accused innocent people of killings, attempted to extort money, and demonstrated knowledge of deaths that was difficult for an innocent person to possess. That reckless behavior ultimately helped investigators identify him.

Early Life and Medical Training

Thomas Neill Cream was born on May 27, 1850, in Glasgow, Scotland. His family emigrated to Canada when he was a child and settled in Quebec. In November 1872, Cream enrolled in the medical faculty at McGill College in Montreal. He completed his medical studies in 1876, receiving a medical degree after writing a thesis concerning chloroform. That subject would later appear ominous in accounts of Cream's early career. Chloroform was an important anesthetic of the period, but in sufficient quantities it could also be lethal. Cream subsequently traveled to Britain for additional medical training, spending time at St. Thomas's Hospital in London and obtaining further medical qualifications in Edinburgh. During his time in Canada, Cream became involved with Flora Eliza Brooks. After she became pregnant, Cream reportedly attempted to perform an abortion that left her seriously ill. Her family compelled Cream to marry her on September 11, 1876. He departed for England almost immediately afterward. Flora later died in 1877 from an illness generally described as consumption or tuberculosis. Some later accounts raised suspicions that Cream might somehow have contributed to her death, but no murder charge was ever brought and the allegation remains unproven. ...

Confirmed Victims: (5)

Ellen Conworth Age: (19), Date of Death: 1891-10-13

Suspected Victims:

Kate Gardener , Date of Death: 1879-05

Flora Eliza Brooks , Date of Death: 1877-08-12

Mary Ann Faulkner , Date of Death: 1880-08

Ellen Stack , Date of Death: 1881-12

Alice Montgomery , Date of Death: 1881-04

Thomas Neill Cream - Wikipedia