Violet Charlesworth

May Charlesworth, known as Violet Charlesworth (January 1884 – after  1912) was a British fraudster.

After obtaining money by misrepresenting herself as an heiress she faked her death in Wales on 2 January 1909. She was found and brought to trial.

She and her mother Miriam Charlesworth were sentenced to three years' penal servitude (reduced from an initial sentence of five years when the judge reconsidered his verdict); their appeal against the sentence was dismissed.

She was released from prison in February 1912 but nothing is known of her later life.

Her story attracted international attention.