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Mabel Greenwood — The Kidwelly Poisoning Mystery: A Life Restored to the Record

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Mabel Greenwood (née Bowater) died on 17 June 1919 at Rumsey House, Kidwelly, from arsenic poisoning. Her husband Harold Greenwood was tried for her murder at Carmarthen Assizes in November 1920 and acquitted. No one was ever convicted. For over a century Mabel has lain beneath a silent, uninscribed headstone in the churchyard of St Mary's Church, Kidwelly her name unrecorded on the ground where she was buried.

This article tells her full story for the first time: her background as the daughter of William Vansittart Bowater, founder of what became the world's largest newsprint empire and sister of two Lord Mayors of London; her life in Kidwelly; the events of June 1919; the exhumation, the inquest, and the trial; the jury's suppressed rider; and what became of her four children. The grave location was confirmed by the Reverend Jim Flanagan, Vicar of St Mary's Church, Kidwelly. A FindAGrave memorial has been created alongside this article to restore her name to the permanent digital record.

Owner:
Graham T Emmanuel
Creator:
Graham T Emmanuel
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Item uploaded:
28/4/2026
Date originally created:
28/4/2026
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