|
The female publicly hanged 1800 - 1868. |
Between
January 1800 and April 1868 in the British Isles (including Southern Ireland
and the Isle of Man), at least 206 women and girls were taken to places of public
execution and there hanged by the neck until they were dead, in accordance with
the sentence of the court.
Frances Kidder became the last to suffer this cruel and humiliating fate when
she was executed by William Calcraft at
From
|
Date |
Name |
Age |
Place
of execution |
Crime |
|
1800 -
7 hanged |
||||
|
|
Mary
Connor |
|
Cork
(Gallows Green) |
Murder |
|
|
Mary
Thorpe |
|
York
(Knavesmire) |
Murder of
her bastard child. |
|
|
Sarah
Bailey |
25 |
York
(Knavesmire) (hanged with 2 men) |
Forgery |
|
|
Sarah
Lloyd |
19 |
Bury St
Edmunds |
Stealing
in a dwelling house. |
|
|
Ann
Mead |
16 |
Hertford |
Murder of
Charles Proctor |
|
|
Elizabeth
Johnson |
|
York
(Knavesmire) |
Uttering
forgery |
|
|
Mary
Lloyd |
|
Boughton ( |
Forgery |
|
1801 -
7 |
||||
|
|
Hannah
Palmer |
|
|
Murder
of Mrs. Palmer (wife of John) |
|
|
Alice
Clarke |
|
Ruthin |
Murder
of baby daughter |
|
|
Elizabeth
Burne |
|
Naas ( |
Murder |
|
|
Hannah
Eastwood |
|
|
Forgery
(hanged with 2 men) |
|
|
Susanna
Mottershall |
23 |
|
Murder
of Samuel Glem |
|
|
Ann
Baker |
|
|
Killing
and stealing sheep |
|
|
Sarah Claridge |
|
|
Murder
of her son age 4 |
|
1802 -
3 |
||||
|
|
Mary
Voce |
24 |
|
Murder
of her baby |
|
|
Maria
Davis and Charlotte Bobbett |
|
|
Murder
her son Richard Davis |
|
|
Aiding
above murder |
|||
|
1803 -
3 |
||||
|
|
Mary Lappidge |
|
|
Uttering
forgery |
|
|
Martha Chapple |
19 |
|
Murder
of bastard child |
|
|
Sarah
Jones |
27 |
|
Murder
of her female bastard |
|
1804 -
4 |
||||
|
|
Ann Hurle |
22 |
Newgate |
Forgery
(hanged with 1 man) |
|
|
Elizabeth
Caesar (Carter) |
|
|
Murder
of her female bastard |
|
|
Elizabeth
Laughan |
|
|
Murder
of bastard child |
|
|
|
24 |
Newgate |
Forgery
(hanged with 2 men) |
|
1805 -
6 |
||||
|
|
Ann
Heywood |
|
|
Murder
of her child |
|
|
Elizabeth
Barber |
53 |
|
Murder
of John Daly |
|
|
Mary
Morgan |
17 |
Presteigne |
Murder
of bastard child |
|
|
Ann
Davis (Gordon) |
|
Horsham
Common |
Murder
- child |
|
|
Betty Hulee ( |
|
|
Murder |
|
|
Mary
Parnell |
23 |
Newgate |
Forgery
(hanged with 2 men) |
|
1806 -
2 |
||||
|
|
Sarah
Herring |
|
Horsemonger
Lane Surrey |
High
Treason coining |
|
|
Mary
Jackson |
|
|
Stealing
in dwelling house |
|
1807 -
3 |
||||
|
|
Margaret
Cunningham |
|
|
Murder
of her husband |
|
|
Elizabeth
Godfry or Godfrey |
34 |
Newgate |
Murder
of Richard Prince |
|
|
Martha Aldin |
32 |
|
Murder
of her husband |
|
1808 -
3 |
||||
|
|
Barbara
Malcolm |
|
|
Murder
- child |
|
|
Sarah
Pugh |
|
|
Murder |
|
|
Mary
Chandler |
19 |
|
Stealing
in dwelling house |
|
1809 -
3 |
||||
|
|
Mary
Barrington (aka |
31 |
Newgate |
Making
a false oath to obtain property |
|
|
Mary
Bateman |
41 |
|
Murder
("The |
|
|
Susan
Grant |
64 |
|
High
Treason coining |
|
1810 -
6 |
||||
|
|
Rebecca
Blundell |
|
|
Murder
of her bastard child |
|
|
Jane
Curran |
|
|
Forgery
(hanged with 5 men) |
|
|
Francis
Thompson |
|
|
Uttering
(hanged with 4 men) |
|
|
Melinder Mapson |
30 |
Newgate |
Robbery
in a dwelling house |
|
|
Mary Costigan |
|
|
Murder |
|
|
Betty Amphlett |
21 |
|
Murder
of her bastard child |
|
1811- 2 |
||||
|
|
Jane
Cox |
31 |
|
Murder
of John Tremman (child) |
|
|
Eleanor
Shiel |
|
|
Child
murder |
|
1812 -
3 |
||||
|
|
Elizabeth
Smith |
|
|
Murder
of her daughter (husband John also hanged for this) |
|
|
Hannah
Smith |
|
|
Riot
(hanged with 3 men) |
|
|
Catherine
Foster |
36 |
Newgate |
Making
false oath |
|
1813 -
8 |
||||
|
|
Ann
Arnold |
|
|
Murder
of her bastard child |
|
|
Catherine
Geran |
|
|
Burglary |
|
|
Catherine
Donovan |
|
Cork
(Gallows Green) |
Murder |
|
|
Sarah
Fletcher |
19 |
|
Child
murder |
|
|
Edith Morrey |
35 |
|
Murder of
her husband, George |
|
|
Azubah Fountain |
|
|
Murder
of her husband |
|
|
Elizabeth
Osborne |
20 |
Bodmin |
Arson |
|
|
Christian
Sinclair |
60 |
|
Murder
- child |
|
1814 -
3 |
||||
|
|
Mary
Gibbs |
|
|
Murder
of her bastard child |
|
|
Sarah
Owens |
|
Ilchester |
Stealing
in dwelling house |
|
|
Mary
Cook |
|
|
Murder
of her bastard child |
|
1815 -
6 |
||||
|
|
Sarah
White |
|
|
Arson
(hanged with 1 man) |
|
|
Sarah
Woodward |
|
|
Murder of
her bastard child |
|
|
Jane Mulholland |
|
|
Murder
of her husband |
|
|
Elizabeth
Wollerton |
|
|
Murder |
|
|
Elizabeth
Fenning |
21 |
Newgate |
Attempted
murder |
|
|
Honora Houraghan |
40 |
Cork
(Gallows Green) |
Murder
of her husband |
|
1816 -
3 |
||||
|
|
Sarah
Cock |
|
Hertford |
Murder
of her bastard child |
|
|
Dinah Riddiford |
69 |
|
Burglary |
|
|
Susanna
Holroyd |
|
|
Murder
of her husband |
|
1817 -
7 |
||||
|
|
Sarah
Perry |
33 |
Newgate |
Murder
of her child |
|
|
Elizabeth
Fricker |
30 |
Newgate |
Burglary |
|
|
Elizabeth
Witing |
|
|
Murder
of her child |
|
|
Ann
Statham |
28 |
|
Murder
of her bastard child |
|
|
Ann Hawlin |
|
|
Murder
of her child |
|
|
Elizabeth
Warriner |
|
|
Murder |
|
|
Margaret
Crossan |
50 |
|
Arson |
|
1818 -
8 |
||||
|
|
Mary
Ann Jones |
20 |
Newgate |
Forgery
(hanged with 3 men) |
|
|
Charlotte
Newman |
33 |
Newgate |
Forgery |
|
|
Mary
Connell |
|
Cork
(Gallows Green) |
Murder |
|
|
Margaret
Dowd |
|
|
Uttering
(hanged with 4 men) |
|
|
Harriet
Skelton |
33 |
Newgate |
Uttering
(hanged with 1 man) |
|
|
Ann Bamford |
|
|
Uttering |
|
|
Ann Tye |
38 |
|
Murder |
|
|
Bridget
Murray |
|
Cavan |
Murder
of her husband |
|
1819 -
6 |
||||
|
|
Sarah Huntingford |
61 |
|
Murder
of her husband |
|
|
Sarah
Hurst |
|
Aylesbury |
Murder of
her husband, William |
|
|
Hannah Bocking |
16 |
|
Murder
of Jane Grant |
|
|
Mary
Woodman |
30 |
|
Murder
of her husband |
|
|
Mary McGarry |
|
Downpatrick |
Child
murder |
|
|
Mary Bissaker |
56 |
|
Coining
(High Treason) |
|
1820 -
4 |
||||
|
|
Ann Heytrey |
22 |
|
Petty
treason murder of mistress – Mrs. Dormer |
|
|
Sarah Polgreen (or Polgrean) |
34 |
Bodmin |
Petty
treason murder of husband, Henry |
|
|
Rebecca
Worlock |
36 |
|
Murder
of her husband |
|
|
Sarah
Price |
43 |
Newgate |
Uttering
(hanged with 5 men) |
|
1821 -
7 |
||||
|
|
Mary
Clarke |
|
|
Murder
of her husband |
|
|
Margaret
Plunkett |
29 |
Trim ( |
Murder
of her husband |
|
|
Francis
Gilligan |
18 |
Trim ( |
Aiding
Plunkett above |
|
|
Esther
Waters |
|
|
Murder of
Elizabeth Clarke aged 3 |
|
|
Ann
Barber |
45 |
|
Petty
treason |
|
|
Ann
Norris |
21 |
Newgate |
Robbed
brothel (hanged with 2 men) |
|
|
Margaret
Tindell or Shuttleworth |
36 |
Montrose |
Murder
of her husband |
|
1822 -
2 |
||||
|
|
Hannah
Halley |
31 |
|
Murder
of her bastard child |
|
|
Rachael
Edwards |
|
Monmouth |
Murder
of her husband |
|
1823 -
4 |
||||
|
|
Mrs. ?? McKinnoy |
|
|
Murder |
|
|
Mary McKinnon |
|
|
Murder |
|
|
Catherine
Kinrade |
19 |
Castle Rushton |
Accessory
to murder. |
|
|
Grace
Griffin |
|
Berwick |
Murder
of her husband |
|
1824 -
1 |
||||
|
|
Ester Loughbridge |
|
Carrickfergus |
Murder
of her sister in law |
|
1825 -
2 |
||||
|
|
Eleanor
Ryan |
|
|
Murder
of her husband |
|
|
Hannah
Read |
|
|
Petty
treason - murder |
|
1826 -
2 |
||||
|
|
Mary
Cain |
44 |
Newgate |
Murder
of Maurice Fitzgerald |
|
|
Joanna
Lovett |
30 |
|
Murder
- husband |
|
1827 -
5 |
||||
|
|
Amelia
Roberts |
30 |
Newgate |
Robbery
(hanged with 1 man) |
|
|
Rachael
Bradley |
27 |
|
Murder
- child |
|
|
Sarah
Jones |
26 |
Monmouth |
Murder
of her bastard child |
|
|
Margaret
Wishart |
|
Forfar |
Murder
of her sister |
|
|
Mary Wittenback |
41 |
Newgate |
Murder of
her husband, Frederick |
|
1828 -
6 |
||||
|
17/03/1828 |
Mary Magrath |
60 |
Dundalk |
Murder |
|
|
Jane
Scott |
22 |
|
Murder
of her parents |
|
|
Catherine
Welch |
24 |
Newgate |
Murder
of her unnamed son |
|
|
Elizabeth
Commins |
22 |
Bodmin |
Murder
of her male bastard |
|
|
Ann
Harris |
50 |
|
Accomplice
to the murder of James Harrison |
|
|
Isabella
( |
25 |
|
Robbery
& assault (hanged with co defendant Thomas Connor) |
|
1829 -
5 |
||||
|
|
Jane
Jameson |
|
|
Matricide |
|
|
Esther Hibner |
61 |
Newgate |
Murder
- child |
|
|
Ann
Mary Chapman |
28 |
Newgate |
Attempted
murder of baby daughter. (hanged with 6 men) |
|
|
Kezia Westcombe |
32 |
|
Murder
of her husband Samuel (hanged with her lover Richard Quantance,
age 35) |
|
|
Catherine
Wright (Stewart) |
28 |
|
Murder
(hanged with her husband) |
|
1830 -
7 |
||||
|
|
Ellen Connell |
|
|
Murder
of her husband |
|
|
Mary
Kelly |
|
Kilkenny |
Murder
of her aunt |
|
|
Jane
Graham |
49 |
Carrickfergus |
Murder |
|
|
Mary
Murphy |
50 |
|
Conspiracy
to murder |
|
|
Bridget
Brennan |
|
|
Murder
of her husband |
|
|
Margaret
Cleland |
|
Downpatrick ( |
Murder |
|
|
Catherine
Davidson (Humphries) |
|
|
Murder |
|
1831 -
5 |
||||
|
|
Margaret
Mackesay |
|
|
Murder |
|
|
Agnes
Clarke |
|
Downpatrick |
Murder |
|
|
Judith
Butler |
|
Clonmel ( |
Murder |
|
11/08/1831 |
Mary
Ann Higgins |
19 |
Coventry |
Murder
of her uncle |
|
06/10/1831 |
Mary
Steel (Bryce) |
|
Glasgow |
Murder |
|
1832 -
4 |
||||
|
09/01/1832 |
Elizabeth
Ross |
38 |
Newgate |
Murder
of Mrs. Walsh |
|
26/03/1832 |
Mary Kellaway |
27 |
Exeter |
Murder
of her bastard child |
|
26/03/1832 |
Sarah
Smith |
28 |
Leicester |
Murder
of Elizabeth Wood |
|
08/06/1832 |
Margaret
Gunning |
|
Clonmel |
Murder |
|
1833 -
3 |
||||
|
30/03/1833 |
Mary
Hunter |
47 |
York
Castle |
Arson
(hanged with 2 men) |
|
19/08/1833 |
Elizabeth
Heaffy |
|
Cork |
Murder |
|
31/08/1833 |
Charlotte
Long |
33 |
Gloucester |
Arson |
|
1834 -
3 |
||||
|
17/02/1834 |
Maria
Canning |
|
Dublin |
Murder |
|
19/03/1834 |
Mary
Holden |
29 |
Lancaster
Castle |
Murder
of her husband |
|
19/03/1834 |
Mary
Smith |
24 |
Stafford |
Murder
of her bastard child |
|
1835 -
6 |
||||
|
30/03/1835 |
Lucinda
Sly |
|
Carlow |
Murder
of her husband |
|
06/04/1835 |
Ursula Lofthouse |
26 |
York
Castle |
Murder
of her husband |
|
15/04/1835 |
Mary
Ann Burdock |
30 |
Bristol |
Murder
of Mrs. Smith |
|
03/08/1835 |
Elizabeth
Banks |
54 |
Edinburgh |
Murder |
|
10/08/1835 |
Francis
Billing |
46 |
Norwich
Castle |
Poisoning
murder of Mary Taylor |
|
10/08/1835 |
Catherine
Frary |
40 |
Norwich |
As
above |
|
1836 -
3 |
||||
|
09/04/1836 |
Harriet
Tarver |
21 |
Gloucester |
Murder
of her husband Thomas |
|
09/04/1836 |
Betty
Rowland |
46 |
Liverpool |
Murder
of her husband |
|
14/04/1836 |
Sofia Edney |
23 |
Ilchester |
Murder
of her husband |
|
1837 -
1 |
||||
|
07/08/1837 |
Mary Cooney |
|
Limerick |
Murder
of Anne Anderson |
|
1838 -2 |
||||
|
05/05/1838 |
Ann Wycherly |
28 |
Stafford |
Murder
of her daughter, Ann |
|
21/05/1838 |
Elizabeth
Jeffrey (Nicholson) |
36 |
Glasgow |
Murder
of Ann Newall and |
|
1839 -
0 |
||||
|
1840 -
0 |
||||
|
1841 -
1 |
||||
|
01/05/1841 |
Mary
Anne McConkey |
|
Monaghan |
Murder
of her husband |
|
1842 -
0 |
||||
|
1843 -
2 |
||||
|
06/05/1843 |
Betty
Eccles |
38 |
Liverpool |
Murder
of her stepson, hanged with Wilmot Buckley |
|
05/08/1843 |
Sarah Dazley |
24 |
Bedford |
Murder
of her husband |
|
1844 -
5 |
||||
|
13/01/1844 |
Sarah
Westwood |
42 |
Stafford |
Murder
of her husband |
|
02/08/1844 |
Eliza
Joyce |
31 |
Lincoln
Castle |
Murder
of her stepson |
|
07/08/1844 |
Catherine
Bryan |
|
Roscommon |
Murder
of her husband Patrick |
|
07/08/1844 |
Bridget
Lanigan |
|
Roscommon |
Murder
of Patrick Bryan (brother in law) |
|
28/12/1844 |
Mary
Gallop |
20 |
Chester |
Patricide
(murder of her father) |
|
1845 -
2 |
||||
|
11/01/1845 |
Mary Sheming |
51 |
Ipswich |
Murder
of her son |
|
23/04/1845 |
Sarah
Freeman |
28 |
Taunton |
Murder
of her brother, Charles |
|
1846 -
1 |
||||
|
05/01/1846 |
Martha
Browning |
23 |
Newgate |
Murder
of Mrs. Mundell |
|
1847 -
2 |
||||
|
17/04/1847 |
Catherine
Foster |
18 |
Bury St
Edmunds |
Murder
of her husband, John |
|
30/07/1847 |
Mary
Ann Milner * |
|
Lincoln
Castle |
Murder
of her sister in law |
|
1848 -
2 |
||||
|
21/02/1848 |
Harriet
Parker |
28 |
Newgate |
Murder
of her 2 step children |
|
14/08/1848 |
Mary
May |
38 |
Chelmsford |
Murder
of her half brother |
|
1849 -
7 |
||||
|
21/03/1849 |
Jane
Scully |
|
Roscommon |
Murder
of Isabella Brennan (hanged with male co-defendant and 1 other man). |
|
20/04/1849 |
Sarah
Thomas |
17 |
Bristol |
Murder of
Miss Jefferies (mistress) |
|
09/08/1849 |
Mary
Ball |
31 |
Coventry |
Murder
of her husband |
|
11/08/1849 |
Catherine
Dillon |
|
Limerick |
Murder
of her husband Daniel |
|
21/08/1849 |
Mary
Ann Geering |
49 |
Lewes |
Murder
of her husband and 2 sons |
|
23/08/1849 |
Rebecca
Smith |
44 |
Devizes |
Murder
of her infant son |
|
13/11/1849 |
Maria
Manning |
28 |
Horsemonger
Lane |
Murder
of Patrick O'Connor |
|
1850 -
4 |
||||
|
31/01/1850 |
Margaret
Hamilton or Lennox |
25 |
Glasgow |
Murder
of sister in law, Jean |
|
11/04/1850 |
Catherine
Moore |
|
Maryborough (now Portlaoise) |
Murder
of her husband, Patrick |
|
13/04/1850 |
Mary
Reader |
20 |
Cambridge |
Murder of
sister, Susan Lucas (Elias’s wife) (hanged alongside Elias Lucas) |
|
27/07/1850 |
Bridget
Keogh |
32 |
Ennis ( |
Murder
of Arthur O'Donnell |
|
1851 -
3 |
||||
|
25/03/1851 |
Sarah
Chesham |
42 |
Chelmsford |
Attempted
murder of husband |
|
10/05/1851 |
Catherine
Connelly |
70 |
Cork |
Murder
of Mary Morris |
|
19/08/1851 |
Mary
Cage |
40 |
Ipswich |
Murder
of her husband, James |
|
1852 -
2 |
||||
|
16/03/1852 |
Elizabeth
Pinchard or Pinckard |
51 |
Northampton |
Murder
of her mother in law |
|
10/04/1852 |
Sarah
Ann French |
27 |
Lewes |
Murder
of her husband, William |
|
1853 -
3 |
||||
|
29/04/1853 |
Bridget
Stackpoole |
|
Ennis |
Murder
of her nephew, James (hanged with husband Richard) |
|
29/04/1853 |
Honora Stackpoole |
|
Ennis |
As
above, hanged an hour later. (Last woman to be publicly hanged in Ireland) |
|
11/08/1853 |
Helen
Blackwood |
30 |
Glasgow |
Murder
of Alexander Boyd. (hanged with male co-defendant.) |
|
1854 -
1855 - 0 |
||||
|
1856 -
1 |
||||
|
09/08/1856 |
Elizabeth
Brown |
45 |
Dorchester |
Murder
of her husband, John |
|
1857 -
1861 - 0 |
||||
|
1862 -
2 |
||||
|
29/04/1862 |
Mary
Ann Timney (Reid) |
27 |
Dumfries |
Murder
of her neighbour, Ann Hannah. (Last female public hanging in Scotland) |
|
20/10/1862 |
Catherine
Wilson |
40 |
Newgate |
Murder
of Mrs. Soames |
|
1863 -
1 |
||||
|
28/12/1863 |
Alice
Holt (Hewitt) |
27 |
Chester |
Murder
of her mother |
|
1864 -
1865 - 0 |
||||
|
1866 -
1 |
||||
|
28/03/1866 |
Mary
Ann Ashford |
45 |
Exeter |
Murder of
her husband, William |
|
1867 -
1 |
||||
|
10/01/1867 |
Ann
Lawrence |
29 |
Maidstone |
Murder
of her infant son (hanged with 1 man) |
|
1868 -
1 |
||||
|
02/04/1868 |
Frances
Kidder |
25 |
Maidstone |
Murder
of her step-daughter, Louisa (12) |
Note.
Newgate was the main place of execution for London and the County of Middlesex
up to 1902. Horsemonger Lane jail was the “hanging” prison for the County of
Surrey up to 1878.
At least 5,508
people were executed in the whole of the British Isles (including Ireland up to
1923) between 1800 and 1964. Women represented a tiny proportion of these
executions - just 4.25% of the total. Between 1829 and 1899, 231 women were
sentenced to death. A hundred of these sentences were carried out, 96 for
murder, 1 for attempted murder, 1 for conspiracy to murder (in Ireland) and 2
for arson. Three women were found insane and respited to Bedlam or
Broadmoor, 1 was given a free pardon and 1 committed suicide in the condemned
cell - Mary Ann Milner (Denoted by an * above). (Louisa Masset was sentenced to death in 1899 but not hanged until
the following January.)
As you can see, murder was by far the most common crime for which women were
hanged in the 19th century, often of their husband or child. 160 of the women
listed here suffered for it, representing 77.4% of the total. However prior to
1836, 40 women were to die for robbery or theft, riot, coining, uttering false
cheques, forgery, impersonating, making a false oath and even in one case,
killing sheep. Up till 1836, the law still permitted the death sentence for a
wide range of crimes, although the number had been steadily decreasing.
Coining was deemed to be high treason and 3 women were executed for it in the
19th century, the last being Susan Grant in 1809. Coining was the practice of
clipping off the edges of gold and silver coins and melting down the clippings
either to form ingots or to forge other coins. Previously, women found guilty
of coining were burnt at the stake up to June the 5th, 1798. The
last to suffer this being Christian Murphy, who was burnt on
Coining ceased to be a capital crime in 1832. Forgery (particularly of bank
notes and coins) also carried the death penalty up to 1834 as did
"uttering" which was the crime of passing forgeries - e.g. forged
coins, bank notes or cheques.
Attempted murder was still a capital crime in
Charlotte Young became the last woman to be executed for a crime other than
murder or attempted murder, when she was hanged at
It was not until 1861 that the Criminal Law Consolidation Act reduced the
number of capital crimes to 4: murder, treason (including arson in Royal Naval
dockyards), mutiny and piracy. From then on, the execution rate for both sexes
declined sharply. No woman was to hang for any of these crimes other than
murder.
Catherine Connelly was the oldest woman hanged, being 70 at the time, the
youngest recorded was Hannah Bocking, who was only 16
and one of at least 9 teenage girls to be executed during the 19th century. She
was hanged for poisoning another girl, Jane Grant, at Wardlow
Miers in Derbyshire. The execution of persons under
16 was not formally outlawed until the Children's Act was passed in 1908.
Click here for a
graph showing the steady decline in female executions during the 19th century
as the number of capital crimes and severity of punishments were reduced.
However, of the 351 executions in England and Wales between 1837 and 1868, 32
were of women – 9.1% of the total. In some of the earlier years of this
period, women make up a much higher proportion.
All of
these women suffered in public, often before large crowds, hanged using the
short drop method which meant that none of them had a pain free death and in
many cases, it would be reported that they "died hard," i.e.
struggled for some time in agony before unconsciousness supervened. Twenty two
year old Ann Hurle's execution in 1804 is described
thus in the Newgate Calendar :
"She was brought out of the debtors' door in Newgate at
Very little was done to, in any way, lessen the suffering of these women and in
some cases it was increased by the judge. Martha Aldin's
sentence was that on "Friday next she should be drawn on a hurdle to the
place of execution, there to be hanged by the neck till she was dead, and her
body afterwards to be dissected." The sentence was carried out in full on
In the first half of the 19th century, murderers were often executed on a
market day (often a Saturday) in the rural county towns to draw the biggest
crowd. It was not abnormal either for a woman to be hanged with several men for
unrelated crimes. This happened at Newgate with Elizabeth Fenning and at
In 1817, the famous prison reformer, Elizabeth Fry, recorded one of her visits
to Newgate prison where she went to comfort a young woman called Eliza(beth) Fricker, aged about
30. Eliza had been condemned for burglary. Fry found "also 6 men
waiting to be hanged and 7 young children." One of the men was
Twenty
two year old Jane Scott, who was executed at
Seventeen
year old Mary Morgan was hanged at Presteigne in Radnorshire in 1805 for the
murder of her illegitimate child. She had become pregnant after being seduced
by a member of the local gentry in Presteigne and then abandoned by him. She
was found guilty of the killing and sentenced to death on Thursday, the 11th of
April, her execution taking place two days later on Saturday the 13th, as was
required by law at the time, and her body being dissected afterwards. It is
generally thought that the hanging took place 7 days later, and that her lawyer
rode to London to obtain a reprieve for her but arrived back one hour after she
had been hanged. There are two memorial stones to her in the churchyard at
Presteigne. Although it makes a romantic story, the first account of her
execution is much more likely.
Mary Ann Geering, (née Plumb), was born at Westfield around 1800,
the daughter of agricultural labourers. She went into domestic service and
became pregnant by a farmhand while still a teenager. After a forced marriage
at
With thanks to Helena Wojtczak for providing this information from her
book, "Women of Victorian
The last
woman to be hanged in public was 25 year old Frances Kidder, who
was executed in front of
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