49. Elizabeth Manning - Hocusser
Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley
BBC
4.7 • 908 Ratings
🗓️ 15 July 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Lucy Worsley is back with another episode of Lady Swindlers, where true crime meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than a hundred years to revisit the audacious and surprising crimes of swindlers, hustlers and women on the make. Women trying to make it in a world made for men.
In this episode, Lucy is delving into the life of Elizabeth Manning, a daring Lady Swindler known as a hocusser, who spikes men’s drinks and empties their pockets in Victorian London. Most men she hocusses are too embarrassed to report the crime - but when will Elizabeth’s luck run out?
With Lucy to explore Elizabeth Manning’s story is the barrister Nneka Akudolu KC who shares her experience of prosecuting spiking cases today.
Lucy is also joined by historian Rosalind Crone, Professor of History at the Open University. Lucy and Ros visit the site of the lodgings where Elizabeth hocussed at least one of her victims, and Brixton Prison, the destination of many women who were trying and failing to make a living in Victorian London.
Lucy wants to know how Elizabeth Manning went about hocussing her victims. How common was this crime in Victorian England? And what can Elizabeth’s story tell us about spiking today?
Producer: Jane Greenwood Readers: Clare Corbett, Jonathan Keeble and Alex Phelps Sound design: Chris Maclean Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter
A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Mariana Spring, the BBC's social media investigations correspondent. |
| 0:06.0 | In my podcast, I've been investigating what happened to the daughter of a conspiracy theorist who died having rejected chemotherapy. |
| 0:13.0 | It would mean the world to me if I could make it that she wasn't just another in the long line of people that die in this way. |
| 0:19.0 | How does this reflect the rise of health conspiracy theories on social media and beyond? |
| 0:24.8 | The new series of Mariana in Conspiracy Land, listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:31.1 | BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts. |
| 0:45.6 | Welcome to Lady Swindlers with me Lucy Worsley, where true crime meets history with a twist. |
| 0:55.7 | Join me and my all-female team of detectives as we travel back more than 100 years to revisit the audacious crimes of swindlers, hustlers and women on the make. |
| 1:02.5 | Women who are trying to make it in a world made for men. |
| 1:07.0 | What do their lives and their crimes tell us about women in the past? |
| 1:12.4 | And how different is it for women today? |
| 1:16.5 | Now, we've all heard distressing stories of women having their drinks spiked by men who then rob or sexually assault them. |
| 1:27.1 | Today I'm investigating Elizabeth Manning, |
| 1:30.6 | a young woman in 1860s London, |
| 1:33.3 | who turns this notion on its head. |
| 1:36.6 | If I'm a married man, it's the first I've heard of it. |
| 1:39.9 | The marriage must have taken place while I was in a state of unconsciousness. |
| 1:44.0 | I should like a little drop of gin. |
| 1:46.9 | Will you lend me a shilling to send for some? |
| 1:50.2 | I partook of half a glass. |
| 1:52.5 | I became unconscious for several minutes, and on recovering, I was missing me watch and chain, |
| 1:58.4 | me ring and 23 shillings from my pocket. |
... |
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