Behind the gentlemanly facade lived a man with a double life. Florie thought she had fallen in love with a successful cotton merchant who lived in
Liverpool but also spent much of each year in
Norfolk, Virginia. Unknown to Florie, Maybrick had an English mistress with whom he had several children. Unknown to Florie, Maybrick had a bad drug habit. He was hooked on arsenic and strychnine.
People with double lives are often very good at keeping personal secrets. In the summer of 1881, when Florence Elizabeth Chandler married Maybrick at St. James Church in London's
Picadilly, she knew her husband had contracted malaria during one of his trips to Norfolk. (Malaria had spread in epidemic proportions during the Civil War.) While Maybrick had recovered from the disease itself, he had not recovered from the treatment. He would remain addicted to the ingredients of Fowler's Medicine (arsenic and
strychnine ) for the rest of his life.
A chemical element, arsenic was a component of other interesting products during the late 19th century. Women (including Florie Maybrick) sometimes used it as a cosmetics base and chemists used it in flypaper, among other things. Even Queen Elizabeth I used arsenic as part of the preparation that made her face appear white.
It wasn't until Florie found "white powder" stashed in various places around her house that she knew her husband had a drug habit. But that was several years after her wedding. And it was well after Florence had two children: James Chandler (called "Bobo") born in 1882, and Gladys Evelyn, born in 1885.