Aconitine - Famous Poisonings

Famous Poisonings

During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, a British detachment were the subject of attempted poisoning by Aconitine by the Indian regimental chefs. The plot was thwarted by John Nicholson (East India Company officer) who, having detected the plot, interrupted the British officers just as they were about to consume the poisoned meal. The chefs refused to taste their own preparation, whereupon it was force fed to a monkey who "expired on the spot". The chefs were hanged.

Aconitine was the poison used by George Henry Lamson in 1881 to murder his brother-in-law in order to secure an inheritance. Lamson had learned about aconitine as a medical student from professor Robert Christison, who had taught that it was undetectable—but forensic science had improved since Lamson's student days.

Aconitine was also made famous by its use in Oscar Wilde's 1891 story Lord Arthur Savile's Crime. Aconite also plays a prominent role in James Joyce's Ulysses, in which the protagonist Leopold Bloom's father used pastilles of the chemical to commit suicide.

In 1953 aconitine was used by a Soviet biochemist and poison developer Grigory Mairanovsky in experiments with prisoners in the secret NKVD laboratory in Moscow. He admitted killing around 10 people using the poison.

In 2004 Canadian actor Andre Noble died from aconitine poisoning. He accidentally ate some monkshood while he was on a hike with his aunt in Newfoundland.

In 2009 Lakhvir Singh of Feltham, west London, used aconitine to poison the food of her ex-lover (who died as a result of the poisoning) and his current fiancée. Singh received a life sentence for the murder.