Alice Arden

Alice Arden (1516–1551) was the daughter of John Brigantine and Alice Squire, who conspired to have her husband, Thomas Arden of Faversham, murdered so she could carry on with a long-term affair with a tailor, Richard Moseby. The murder took place on 14 February 1551. She was tried, convicted, and burnt at the stake for her part in the murder.

Conspirators

The murder was described by Raphael Holinshed and later had entries in both The Newgate Calendar and the Chambers Book of Days. Alice Brigantine married Thomas Arden on an unknown date. They made their home at Faversham Abbey, which had been dissolved in 1536. They had at least one daughter, Margaret, who was born in 1538.

According to these accounts, Alice was "young, tall, and well favoured of shape and countenance". She began an affair with a tailor, Richard Mosbye, and then she plotted to kill her husband. Thomas Arden was a "private gentleman". His rival Mosbye (or "Mosbie") was in the service of Edward North, 1st Baron North, before setting up shop in London. Mosbye frequented the house of the Ardens and the affair was carried on rather openly. Thomas had to turn a blind eye, unwilling to sever relations with Alice's family. In time Alice came to loathe her husband and considered disposing of him. She made an early attempt on his life by poisoning him. She mixed milk and poison within a porringer, serving it to Thomas for breakfast. She had failed to account for the taste of the poison used. Thomas only took "a spoonful or two" before quitting his breakfast and complaining of its quality.

Alice Arden (athlete)

Alice Jean Arden-Hodge (July 23, 1914 – March 1, 2012) was an American athlete who competed in the women's high jump event at the Olympic games in Berlin in 1936. Raised in Long Island, New York, Arden won ten athletic letters during her high school career across several different sports. The only woman from the New York City area to have been selected for the 1936 Summer Olympics women's team, Arden placed ninth in the high jump event and never competed in the sport again. Soon after, she married basketball player Russell Hodge and together they had three children, one of whom was Russ Hodge, a decathlete at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. As of 2008, Arden and Hodge's participation make them the only mother-son Olympians in American history.

Early life

Arden was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but grew up in Long Island, New York. Her father, Ray Arden, was an inventor who held over 400 patents. During her athletic career at Baldwin High School in New York, she won ten athletic letters in basketball, field hockey and athletics, and broke Babe Didrikson's high jump record. Arden had made what would become the best jump of her career in 1935, when she achieved a height of 1.613 m (5'3½").