The Manchester beer poisoning scandal

Hundreds of people became sick and dozens died before deadly arsenic was found in the city's beer supply

Like many working people at the turn of the twentieth century, Annie Gledhill was reluctant to tell a doctor she liked a drink.

Admitting she supped four cups of beer before bed to ease her bronchial cough might have left her liable to having her children taken.

So every time she was seen by Mr Allen at Hulme Dispensary about the pains in her legs, Annie …