Leading doctors attended the bedside, including the royal physician Sir William Gull,[2] and all agreed that it was a case of antimony poisoning.

Ricardo died in 1871 and Florence married Charles, a respected up-and-coming barrister, on 7 December 1875, terminating her affair with Gully.

Florence was wealthier than Charles and had opted from the start to hold onto her own money, an option only recently provided by the Married Women's Property Act 1870.

One hypothesis is that Charles Bravo was slowly poisoning his wife with small cumulative doses of antimony in the form of tartar emetic, which explains the chronic illness that she suffered from since shortly after their marriage.

[4] Their housekeeper Mrs Cox reportedly told police that when they were alone together, Charles had admitted using the tartar emetic on himself; but she later changed her statement, perhaps to deflect suspicion from herself to Florence.

Two inquests were held, and the details were considered to be so scandalous that women and children were banned from the room while Florence Bravo testified.