Mary Lamb - Murder of Elizabeth Lamb

Murder of Elizabeth Lamb

On 22 September 1796, while preparing dinner, Mary became angry with her apprentice, roughly shoving the little girl out of her way and pushing her into another room. Elizabeth began yelling at her for this. Mary suffered a mental break-down as her mother continued yelling at her. She took the kitchen knife she had been holding, unsheathed it, and approached her mother, who was sitting down. She then fatally stabbed her mother in the chest, in full view of John and Sarah Lamb who were standing nearby. Charles ran into the house soon after the murder and took the knife out of Mary's hand.

Later in the evening Mary was confined in a local mental facility called Fisher House, in Islington, a place found for her by Charles through a doctor friend of his. Charles took over responsibility for Mary after refusing his brother John's suggestion that they have her committed to a public facility. A few days later, the murder was reported in the newspapers. The coroner had returned a verdict of lunacy. A month after the murder, while still at Fisher House, Mary told Charles she had come to terms with her guilt over the murder, and felt that she had for the most part been a good and faithful daughter.