Florence Bravo (née Campbell; 5 September 1845 – 17 September 1878), previously known as Florence Ricardo, was an Australian-born British heiress and widow who was linked to the unsolved murder of her second husband, Charles Bravo. On 21 April 1876, after three days of agonising illness, Charles died of antimony poisoning. Although there was widespread innuendo in the press about Florence's role in his death, she was never indicted and the case never reached the courts due to lack of evidence.
During the Coroner's inquest, the lurid details of Florence's past affair with Dr James Manby Gully, a married man thirty-seven years her senior, became a topic of intense fascination, covered by newspapers ranging from The Times and The Daily Telegraph to The Illustrated Police News,Worsley, Lucy (2022). "1. Florence Bravo" in "Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley". BBC Radio 4. as well as publications overseas.
Florence had previously inherited £40,000 after her first husband, Alexander Ricardo, an alcoholic who drank himself to death. Florence herself lived for only two years after Charles' death and died at the age of 33.
Early life and family Florence Bravo was born Florience Campbell on 5 September 1845 in the settlement of Darlinghurst in what was then the Colony of New South Wales. She was the eldest daughter of land speculator, merchant and future politician Robert "Tertius" Campbell and his wife Ann (née Orr). Florence's father had made a considerable fortune buying and selling gold. The family's affluence them to move with their eight children, a governess and three servants to England in 1852. In 1859 Robert purchased Buscot Park, a large estate near Faringdon and historically in Berkshire; he also had homes in Belgravia and Brighton. Whilst growing up in England, Florence took elocution lessons, learned French and some German and did needlework. She was very fond of animals, especially horses.
As a teenager, Florence traveled with her family to Canada, where she met Alexander Ricardo, a young British military officer stationed at the Royal Military College. Ricardo was the grandnephew of economist David Ricardo; the only son of International Telegraph Company founder John L. Ricardo, who had served as Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent; and the nephew of James Duff, the Fifth Earl of Fife, through his mother, Lady Catherine.
First marriage
On 21 September 1864, at the age of nineteen, Florence married Ricardo at Buscot Park, following a brief courtship. Newspapers hailed their marriage as "the union of two great families of Europe" – the Campbells, who had been landowners of Scottish descent, and the Ricardos, descendants of a prominent Dutch Jewish family. Their lavish wedding was officiated by the local vicar, as well as Samuel Wilberforce, the Bishop of Oxford. Florence received a generous marriage settlement of £1,000 a year from her father. After a honeymoon in the Rhineland, the couple returned to England and lived in the West Country.
Problems Seven months into their marriage, Florence informed her father that she and Ricardo were having problems. They were at odds over Ricardo's military career with the Grenadier Guards; she wanted to have a large family, and feared that he would be sent to war and killed in conflict. Florence finally prevailed, and in the spring of 1868 Ricardo received an honourable discharge and left the service with the rank of captain. The couple moved to Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire, where they took part in aristocratic pursuits such as hunting, fishing and horseriding, and regularly hosted parties. Ricardo tried to get involved in their families' businesses, but quickly lost interest and grew depressed.
Florence soon found out about Ricardo's infidelity. He had a mistress who lived in the West End of London, and had been seen with women in hotels in Sussex and in the West Country. When confronted, Ricardo eventually confessed, but persisted with his extramarital affairs. He became an alcoholic, and his health started to deteriorate. When drunk, he was verbally abusive and at times violent toward Florence. Florence herself became ill and eventually found herself on the verge of a nervous breakdown. In late 1869 she wrote to her mother that she wanted a separation from Ricardo, but her father regarded the failure of their marriage as "morally offensive"; both parents were determined to avoid the scandal that would result.
Treatment by Dr Gully
As an alternative to separation, Florence's mother advised the couple to visit the spa town of Malvern, where their family friend Dr James Gully, a homeopathic hydrotherapist, had been successfully treating Victorian celebrity patients including Benjamin Disraeli, Charles Darwin, Alfred Tennyson and Florence Nightingale. In 1870, Florence became the patient of 62-year-old Dr Gully, who had once treated her for a throat infection when she was aged 12. To the alarm of her parents, Gully recommended that Florence separate from her husband for the sake of her own health and wellbeing. She went ahead with the separation, with help from Gully, despite her father's threat to cut her off financially.
Death of Alexander Ricardo Ricardo made a final attempt to reconcile with Florence before the separation papers were finalised in March 1871, and decided to go abroad after she refused. Several weeks later, on 20 April 1871, Florence received a telegram from London saying that Ricardo had been found dead in Cologne, Germany, in lodgings he shared with a "female companion." The cause of death was haematemesis, triggered by a final alcohol binge. Because Ricardo had neglected to change his will, Florence inherited a fortune of £40,000.
Affair with doctor
In the years that followed, Florence and Gully had an affair which they tried to keep secret, while maintaining the outward appearance of propriety. Florence's parents disapproved of her "infatuation" with Gully and insisted that she cut all ties with him. Florence refused and became estranged from them, but because of the inheritance from her late husband, she was now independently wealthy. Florence later admitted that she and Gully had had "conversations about marriage." Although Gully was technically married, he had been separated from his wife, who was seventeen years his senior, for thirty years. Gully promised to marry Florence after his wife died, to avoid scandal, and planned to move with her abroad.
Florence moved to South London and leased a large mansion called The Priory in Balham, where she could keep two horses and a garden. Gully retired and leased a house called Orwell Lodge, which was a five-minute walk away. According to their servants, Florence and Gully frequently visited each other, went shopping and went riding, but never spent the night together.
Author James Ruddick states, however, that the relationship was exposed in May 1872 when Florence was invited to stay at the family home of her solicitor, Henry Brookes, in Surrey. Mr and Mrs Brookes returned home from a walk to pick up an umbrella, when they discovered Florence and Gully having sex in their drawing room. A heated exchange ensued, overheard by the servants, and their relationship quickly became the subject of widespread gossip. Gully instructed his solicitor to sue Mrs Brookes for slander, but soon withdrew the instruction. The social consequences were devastating to Florence: two servants threatened to quit, some grocers refused to serve her staff and the invitations she sent out for afternoon tea and dinner were returned without explanation. Within a week, the news had reached Florence's parents in Buscot Park. According to Alison Harris, a descendant of Florence's eldest brother William, her father was "incensed and outraged" but also "broken" by the scandal. Florence's telegrams to her parents and her letters to her sister Edith went unanswered.
Abortion In 1873, Florence traveled with Gully to Bad Kissingen, a spa town in rural Bavaria. Later, she discovered she was pregnant. Fearing further scandal, Florence allowed Gully to perform an abortion, which went badly. She became seriously ill, and later stated that Jane Cannon Cox, her "lady's companion", had saved her life by attending to her around the clock for six days and six nights. The ordeal effectively ended Florence's affair with Gully. She refused to see him for two weeks, ended their physical relationship and started to distance herself. Weary of social ostracism and longing for reconciliation with her parents, Florence started to seek a way out of the relationship.
Friendship with Jane Cox When she was moving into the Priory, Florence had decided to hire Cox to oversee day-to-day management of the household, including her large staff. Cox was a widow who had lived in Jamaica and returned to England with her three young sons after the death of her husband. Florence said she was "very impressed by her, particularly her kindness and her excellent manners." According to author James Ruddick:Neighbours in Balham would later recall the sight of Florence and Mrs Cox travelling together in their open-top carriage, and comment on the attraction of opposites: Florence, the beautiful young widow, with her jewellery and flowing hair; Mrs Cox, the small, shy woman, draped in black, with the hardness and the sheen of a strange insect. By all accounts, Florence and Cox grew very close. During this period when Florence was cut off from her familyand from societyCox became a maternal figure and confidante. Florence later stated, "I called her Janie and she called me Florrie. At one time she was my only friend."
Second marriage
In 1874, Cox engineered a series of "accidental" meetings between Florence and Charles Bravo in Kensington, where he lived with his parents, and in Brighton. Charles was the stepson of Joseph Bravo, a business associate of Cox's late husband, and the same age as Florence. Educated at King's College London and Trinity College at Oxford University, Charles had been admitted to the bar as a barrister in 1870. His friendship with Florence quickly blossomed, and although she joked to her mother that his letters were "cold and undemonstrative" and that he wrote "tersely, as all barristers do," he wrote to her regularly and not without affection.
In October 1875, Charles proposed marriage. For Florence, this prospect offered the chance to restore her respectability in society. She wrote a letter to Gully from Brighton that their relationship had to end because she wanted to reconcile with her family. Gully went to Brighton, where they met in a hotel dining room, and Florence admitted that she was expecting a marriage proposal from Charles. In November 1875, she told Charles about her past affair with Gully, knowing that she risked rejection. According to Florence, after some thought, Charles said she "had acted nobly and generously in telling him" and that her confession made him "more certain" that it was unlikely she would "err" again. The following day, Charles confessed to Florence that he had also had an affair for four years with a mistress in Maidenhead, who had a daughter by him. They agreed not to mention their past affairs to each other ever again.