The Horrifying and Harrowing Case Of Celestina Sommer

The sensational case that took place in mid-19th century London that made people ask, do the courts give women lighter sentences than men.

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[BriefCaseOfficial]

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[BoingBB]

She didn't want the stigma of being the mother of an illegitimate daughter but ended up with the shame of being a murderer.

[jennaolbermann]

It has always bothered me that women are blamed and shamed for having children when they’re not married, never the men. It takes two to tango. Her poor daughter didn’t deserve what she got, she should have had a chance to live her life.

[andrealittle]

Poor little child. I think the mother guilty as everything was premeditated. She did not form a bond with the girl as someone else raised her. Even so, what kind of evil allows to slit a 10 year old sweet innocent’s throat?

[pimpozza]

What a tragedy Celestina's daughter was removed from Mrs Harrington's care after a decade! 
A mother telling her daughter to _HUSH_ as she commits such a heinous act sends shivers down my spine.. what a monster! *WHY* did she do it?!
Rachel was clearly terrified of her mistress, which makes me wonder about Celestina's personality! 😢
Unmarried mothers at the time definitely had a hard time, but Celestina did marry later.. Could her husband really not spare the money for the child's foster care? 😔 Was Celestina really insane? I guess we'll never know.. Thanks, as always BC💼 for a brilliant presentation of a sad and harrowing crime.. 👏👍

[shelleydaly]

I’ve heard about conditions in the prisons and the asylums. She may have escaped the death penalty but she didn’t escape justice.

[sapphoslips]

What kind of affluent husband wouldn’t spare half a crown a week to support a child that should be in his wife’s care? What about the grandfather? What a monstrous case all round!

[CrypticCharm]

"i know of this story, what i always find interesting was the historically "Baby Farmers" were mean and abusive according to most stories, but Celestina survived until she was 10, until her mother collected her, and then killed her. but give it a few years and the child would have started work, in service or a factory, even though it was hard labour
hell, even if the mother had a bit of imagination, she could have "adopted" Celestina or pretended that she was a deceased cousin's daughter.
even though the murder was so badly thought out, did she actually think no servant would hear her killing her own daughter in the cellar, where they sleep?

[ButterflyWings]

How so very sad….RIP dear little daughter 🌹

[peggyjaeger]

What a sad story. Things really sucked in those days for the children and women, too. Stuck with the burden of an unwanted child. The father nowhere to be seen. That poor baby never had a chance. Glad your channel is drawing more attention to the victims of these crimes.

[orientalrose]

This case puts me in mind of a novel by Charles Dickens, “Dombey & Son”. In his story, a girl, Florence Dombey, about the same age as little Celestina, gets lost and separated from her wealthy respected shipowning family during a day out, and is kidnapped by a shady lady of the streets, “Good Mrs Brown”. She is then taken to a dodgy lodging house, threatened with having her throat cut, her good clothes taken away, to be sold, her hair cut off, to be sold. Then Florence is dressed in rags and turned out on the streets again. By this time no one recognises her so she can’t find her family, and is only saved by the family’s messenger boy who hears her asking strangers in the street if they know of the firm “Dombey & Son”. All Florence had were words to try and survive as well. In the story fortunately she survives and is taken back into her family - I wish little Celestina’s story could been so lucky. We don’t completely know what happened, here, but It seems to me that if you were a child then and found yourself on the wrong side of the tracks, or fell out of your own social class, a lot could go wrong. Dickens was one of the first writers who saw these children’s plight from their point of view, and published stories about them, which were immensely popular at the time and still are.
Thank you for a great and thought-provoking episode Brief Case!

[luciebrisson]

Celestina's family knew the child was hers, I wonder if she even went to them about her lack of means and asked for help. What she did should not have been an option and was monstruous. Ugh, leaves me with a feeling of pure disgust and outrage. Poor little Celestina was the innocent yet her own mother made her pay for her indiscretion and inability to provide for her. Thank you Brief Case for this sad story from a bygone era.

[colleens]

What a monster
Some people are embodiment of evil

That poor child 😢

[J-Williams]

It's hard to believe that the Sommers could not afford the upkeep of Celestina's daughter when Carl was gainfully employed as an "in demand" silversmith. I think he may have been worried about losing his place in "polite society" should it be discovered that Celestina birthed a child outside of wedlock. I also don't understand why the crowd chose to terrorize the witnesses Rachel and her sister Rebecca. Did they believe that the sisters were the true murderers? Historically, women were often given lighter sentences (or acquitted altogether), because it was hard for people to believe that a member of the "fairer sex" could commit heinous crimes. However, that misconception has changed over the years.

[Eirinen_E]

So happy to see another BC video! 🎉
Poor child... such an evil act committed by her own mother.
Unfathomable!

[tarawho]

Many children were horribly abused in all ways back in those days. When i was in college years ago, I did a report on the children who worked in the factories in the 1800s. Almost as soon as a child could walk well, like 3 years old, these children were put in horrible, hot, rat infested factories to work. These poor babies died by the hundreds each year due to the abuse they endured. Children were small so they were put behind big machines and told to fix the machine when it broke down. When the machine started to run again, the children were trapped behind the machine until the worked stopped for the day. The child would have to sit there all day and many died due to getting crushed by machinery and many other accidents. It was just an awful time to be a kid in those days...

[phinhnanthasone]

The jury just debating 15 minutes was lightning fast!

[theresaallen]

Good Morning,
Listening to Brief Case before the students come into the classroom. Better than caffeine.

[DianeLake-swym]

The poor little girl. She was okay in the foster home but, for some reason her mother decided it was too expensive now. You have to wonder if the mother took the little girl away from her foster home with the idea of murdering her then.
How heartbreaking

[K-Mariposa]

The description the maid gave describing what she heard happening - oh my goodness - heartbreaking 💔.

The poor child.

Thanks for sharing BC.