Murderous Monday - Men Who Kill - John Gould, last man to publicly hang at Reading Gaol.

John Gould went down in history, in more ways than one, as the last man to be publicly executed at Reading Gaol.

“Good people all I pray attend, 
On earth my life will shortly end,
For dreadful murder my life is took away,  
I my dear child did basely slay,
I gave her the sad and dreadful wound,
And left her bleeding on the ground,
John Gould is my name,
I bought myself to grief and shame,
To grief and shame it does appear,
In Windsor Town in Berkshire,
My early grave will be made soon,
No tears will fall on my earthly tomb;
No flowers or grass on my grave will rise,
No stone will mark where m body lies.”

(Verse written at the time of Gould’s execution in 1862)

On 30th December 1861 at his home in Clarence Clump, Clewer near Windsor, Berkshire, John Gould a hod carrier, aged 39, murdered his seven-year-old daughter, Hannah.

John Gould was born in Windsor Berkshire in 1823.  In Newington in 1851 John Gould married Caroline Miller.  Their only child, a daughter Hannah Gould was born in Clewer, Windsor in 1854.  The family can be found living at Clarence Clump, Clewer Berkshire.

Little Hannah had spent the 30th December playing with her best friend, 9-year-0ld Harriet Clarke and Harriet’s younger brother.

Around one in the afternoon, John returned home after drinking at The Prince of Wales beer shop to find that Hannah had not cleaned the house to his satisfaction, nor did she have the fire ready for him to warm himself by. John started shouting at Hannah: “You naughty child, why didn’t you clean up the place!”

“Oh, father I couldn’t do it,” Hannah cried, but her tears only served to anger John further.  Taking his cut throat razor, John slit Hannah’s throat.

He then summoned his neighbour Mrs Clarke, Harriet’s mother, to his home.  Pointing at his daughter he exclaimed, “I have done it! I have done it!”  Horrified, Mrs Clarke ran into the street shouting for help to all that would listen.  John, still in a terrible rage grabbed Hannah’s limp body and threw her into the street shouting, “you little s**t, I will die for you!” 

According to witnesses, John threw Hannah with such force that her head hit a wall with a “sickening squelching noise”. 

Samuel Wilkins, aged 12, who lived next door managed to drag Hannah, hardly breathing and struggling for life, away from the house before shouting for help.  Another neighbour Mr Coker, helped Samuel carry Hannah to the nearest infirmary, where Hannah’s mother worked as a nurse.
Unfortunately, nothing could be done and Hannah died on the way.

Mr Coker and Samuel returned with PC Radbourne to find John waiting in the doorway of his home still with the blood-soaked razor. 

John Gould was tried on 26th February 1862, evidence was submitted as a formality as John had repeatedly confessed his guilt.  The jury retired for a short time before finding him guilty of murder.

On 12th March 1862, 4000 men, women and children gathered to watch William Calcraft send John Gould to his maker.  Once the bolt was withdrawn, John struggled for a minute or two and then was gone.

Such was the outcry over the manner of John Gould’s execution that it was to become the final public execution performed at Reading Gaol.

Orginally posted on Spooky Isles.



Murderous Monday - Priscilla Biggadyke - Hung for a crime she didn't commit

At 9:00am on Monday 28th December 1868, Priscilla met her maker at the end of Thomas Askern's rope at Lincoln Castle for the alleged poisoning of her husband Richard Biggadyke.

Priscilla Biggadyke was born Priscilla Whiley in 1833 in Gedney Lincolnshire to George Whiley, an agricultural labourer, and his wife Susanna Crook.  In 1853 Priscilla married Richard Biggadyke, an agricultural labourer in Boston, Lincolnshire.

On the 1861 Census, Priscilla is living with her children Frederick and Alice, while Richard is living at his father William's house.

To supplement Richard's wages, the couple took in lodgers.  It wasn't long before Richard began to suspect Priscilla of having an affair with their lodger Thomas Proctor, a 30 year old rat catcher from Lincolnshire.

On the evening of Wednesday 30th September 1868, Richard returned to the home he shared with his wife Priscilla, their three children, Frederick, Alice and Rachel, as well as the two lodgers George Ironmonger and Thomas Proctor.  Previously that evening Priscilla, George and Thomas had sat down to a meal of tea and cake, some of which had been saved for Richard's return.  Soon after Richard finished his meal he became unwell.  A doctor was summoned, but he was unable to offer Richard any relief, 12 hours later Richard was dead.  The speed of Richard's passing concerned the doctor and he arranged for a post mortem to take place and for the stomach contains to be analysed.  It was soon determined that arsenic was present and Richard had died from poisoning. 

Priscilla protested that she had seen Thomas Protect place something in her husband's drink as well as the piece of leftover cake. 

Her statement of that fact is as follows -

'On the last day of September, on a Wednesday, I was standing against the tea-table and saw Thomas Proctor put a white powder of some sort into a tea-cup, and then poured some milk, which stood on the table, into it. My husband was at that time in the dairy washing himself. My husband came into the room directly after and sat himself down to the table, and I then poured his tea out and he drank it, and more besides that. And half-an-hour afterwards he was taken ill. He went out of doors and was sick, and came in and sat about a few minutes, and went out and was sick again, and then went to bed, and he asked me to send for the doctor, which I did. The doctor was an hour before he came. I went to the doctor’s about a quarter of an hour after he left and he gave me some medicine and ordered me how to give it to him - two tablespoons every half hour – and I was to put a mustard plaster on the stomach, and he came no more until eleven o’clock at night. I came downstairs to go out of doors and asked Thomas Proctor to go upstairs and sit with my husband. When I went upstairs into the room, as I was going up, I saw Proctor putting some white powder into the medicine bottle with a spoon, and he then went downstairs and left me in the room with my husband. As soon as he had left the room I poured some medicine into the cup and gave my husband, and I tasted it myself. In an hour afterwards I was sick and so I was for two day’s after. What I have just stated about the medicine took place about two o’clock in the morning, and after the doctor had gone. I wish you to send a copy of what I have said to the Coroner, and I wish to be present at the inquest to state the case before them, as it is the truth.

- Priscilla Biggadike X her mark.'
 

Priscilla and Thomas were duly arrested and taken before Lincoln Assizes, where the judge Justice Byles instructed the jury to dismiss Thomas Proctor on the grounds of lack of evidence.  It only took a few minutes for the jury to find Priscilla guilty of the wilful murder of her husband, she was then sentenced to death.

On the morning of the execution, Monday 28th December 1868, Priscilla had to be assisted to the scaffold.  However while the noose was placed around her neck and the hood over her head, Priscilla stood firm, then exclaimed, “All my troubles are over; shame, you’re not going to hang me. Surely my troubles are over.”  The bolt was then drawn, Priscilla dropped and struggled for a full three minutes before becoming still. 

Priscilla was then buried in the grounds of Lincoln Castle, a small grey stone baring the simple inscription P. B.  Dec 28 1868 marks her grave.

Priscilla's story may have ended there, if it had not been for the conscience of Thomas Proctor, who upon his deathbed 14 years later confessed to the murder of Richard Biggadyke.

Priscilla received a posthumus pardon, yet still remains with the convicts in Lucy Tower, Lincoln Castle.

Murderous Monday - Women Who Kill - Mary Eleanor Wheeler Pearcey, Jealous Lover?

 

"London's Newest Tragedy."

 

"Two Murders by Mary Wheeler In A Fit Of Jealousy."

On 23rd December 1890, Mary Eleanor Wheeler Pearcey met her maker at the end of James Berry's rope at Newgate Prison, London.  She had been convicted of the murder of her lover Frank Hogg's wife Phoebe and baby daughter Phoebe Hanslope Hogg.

Mary Eleanor was born Mary Eleanor Wheeler on 26th March 1866 in Inhtam Kent to James Wheeler, a delivery foreman and Charlotte Ann Kennedy.

Note: there are many references online to Mary Eleanor Wheeler being the daughter of Thomas Wheeler, the famed murderer of Edward Anstee. This is not true and has been proven definitively from direct testimony given by Charlotte Ann in the consequent murder trial of her daughter, Mary Eleanor.

On the 1881 Census, 15 year old Mary is shown living with her parents at 16 Maroon Street, London.  However, Mary's father James was to die on 17th August 1882, his death greatly affected Mary and three months later she tried to commit suicide by hanging herself in the garden, from the nail the washing line was attached to.

Around the age of 18 whilst working at a seal skin factory, Mary met and befriended John Charles Pearcey a carpenter, soon after they were living together as man and wife, with Mary calling herself Mrs Pearcey.

"When I made her acquaintance I knew her as Eleanor Wheeler, after an acquaintance of three or four months she lived with me.  I lived at different places, and eventually at Bayham Street, Camden Town.  I lived with her about three years, when I ceased to live with her she remained at Bayham Street when she lived with me she took the name of Pearcey, and afterwards passed in that name" - John Charles Pearcey at Mary's trial.

They seemed happy, that was until the arrival of Frank Hogg.  Frank Samuel Hogg was born In Pancras London in 1860 to James a grocer and tea dealer and Maria Hogg nee Hanslope.  When friendship blossomed between Frank and Mary he was working at his then widowed mother's grocery shop at 87 King Street, Camden Town.  It wasn't long before their 'friendship' started to sour Mary's relationship with John.

"Towards the latter part of the time she made the acquaintance of Mr. Hogg, and I saw her from time to time in company with Hogg, frequently in the shop in King Street, in consequence of that I ceased to live with her."

"After I ceased to live with the prisoner, I saw her from time to time, and spoke to her.  I simply passed the time of day, I never visited her.  I was told she she had removed from Bayham Street to Priory Street." - John Charles Pearcey at Mary's trial.
 

At some point Mary gave Frank a latch key to her door at 2 Priory Street so that he could come and go as he pleased.  However there was soon to be a thorn in the side of Mary's happiness.  In 1888 Frank married Phoebe Styles who was pregnant by him, their daughter Phoebe Hanslope Hogg, affectionately known as Tiggy, being born in 1889.  At first Frank had wanted to avoid the marriage, considering both leaving the country and suicide to do so.  Through letters Mary had managed to change his mind and convince he to accept his responsibilities. 

2nd October 1888

My dear F,  Do not think of going away, for my heart will break if you do; don’t go , dear. I won’t talk too much, only to see you for five minutes when you can get away; but if you go quite away, how do you think I can live? I would see you married fifty times over, yes. I could bear that far better than parting with you for ever, and that is what it would be if you went out of England. My dear loving F, you was so down-hearted to-day that your words give me much pain for I have only one true friend I can trust to, and that is yourself. Don’t take that from me. What good would your friendship be then with you so far away? No, no, you must not go away. My heart throbs with pain only thinking about it. What would it be if you went? I should die. And if you love me as you say you do, you will stay. Write or come soon, dear. Have I asked too much?  From your loving, M. E.

P.S.  I hope you got home safe, and things are all right, and you are well.  M.E.

18th November 1888

Dearest Frank,  I cannot sleep, so am going to write you a long letter. When you read this I hope your head will be much better, dear. I can’t bear to see you like you were this evening. Try not to give way. Try to be brave, dear, for things will come right in the end. I know things look dark now, but it is always the darkest hour before the dawn. You said this evening, “I don’t know what I ask.” But I do know. Why should you want to take your life because you want to have everything your own way? So you think you will take that which no man has a right? Never take that which you cannot give you will not if you love me as you say you do. Oh, Frank, I should not like to think I was the cause of all your troubles, and yet you make me think so. What can I do? I love you with all my heart, and I will love her because she will belong to you. Yes, I will come and see you both if you wish it. So, dear, try and be strong, as strong as me, for a man should be stronger than a woman. Shall I see you on Wednesday about two o’clock? Try and get away, too, on Friday, as I want to know if you are off on Sunday till seven o’clock. Write me a little note in answer to this. I shall be down on Monday or Tuesday in the morning, about 5 a.m. So believe me your most loving, M.E.

Mrs. Phoebe Hogg

Mary befriended Phoebe, inviting her and Frank to spend Christmas and Boxing day with her at 2 Priory Street in 1889.  Phoebe became ill in the February 1890 and it was Mary that nursed her during that time.  It was around this time that Frank had his own concerns about his wife's fidelity and an argument ensued that stopped Mary from visiting Frank.  However Mary continued her friendship, both with Frank's sister Clara Hogg and his wife Phoebe.

It was on the 23rd October 1890 that Mary paid Clara a visit for the last time, it was after this visit that Mary invited Phoebe to have tea with her at her home the next day at 4:00pm

The New York Times reported -

"About 3 o'clock P.M. of Oct 24, the luckless woman left her home, taking her child with her in a perambulator, and was never thereafter seen alive by nay of her relatives.  Next day her sister-in-law, still in ignorance of her death, called upon Mary Wheeler to inquire [sic] if she had seen 'Phee' and received an answer in the affirmative."

Mary was still with Clara, explaining how she had, 'scratched her hands and smeared her dresser with blood killing mice', when news was received that the body of a murdered woman had been found in Hampstead.

The corpse was found to have a fractured skull as well as extensive bruising around the head and forearms, the neck had also been cut so violently that the head was almost severed from the body.

Clara asked Mary to accompany her to the mortuary in order to see whether the remains where that of the missing Phoebe.  It was Mary's bizarre behaviour when confronted with the corpse of her victim that raised suspicions of the police and resulted in a search of her home at 2 Priory Street.  The discovery of blood stains on the walls and kitchen door as well as on the clothes worn by Mary resulted in her arrest.

Later that evening whilst on his rounds, a police constable discovered a heavily bloodstained perambulator in Hamilton Terrace, a mile from where Phoebe's body had been discovered, yet little Phoebe was still missing.  The next morning little Phoebe's unmarked body was discovered, it was believed that she had died from suffocation either during her mother's murder or soon after.

The New York Times continued -

"according to the theory set up by the surgical witnesses respecting the manner in which the crime was committed, Phoebe Hogg, upon entering the kitchen, was struck down from behind by a heavy blow, inflicted by a poker upon the back of her head, and fell upon the floor in "terrible convulsions".  While struggling for her life, she received three more blows, which probably stunned her, whereupon the murderess to "make sure," all but severed her victim's head from the body with three several [sic] cuts of a knife.  It is assumed that she then strangled the child, packed the two corpses into Phoebe Hogg's own perambulator, and wheeled them off to the places where they were subsequently found lying dead."

Two separate witnesses recalled having seen Mary pushing a 'heavily laiden' perambulator between the hours of 6 and 7 the previous evening.  The search earlier conducted by the police at 2 Priory Street turned up a metal button missing from the jacket of Phoebe Hogg.  Also a cardigan indentified as belonging to Mary was found wrapped around murdered Phoebe's head.

Mary was sent to trail at The Old Bailey on 1st December 1890.  The trail lasted for three days in which many witnesses were called and Mary's letters to Frank read out.  Mary gave no evidence at the trail, yet maintained he innocence with a plea of, 'not guilty'.  Unfortunately for Mary the Jury did not share her feelings and after only 52 minutes found her guilty of the murders of Mrs Hogg and her baby.  Before her sentence was read out Mary was asked if she had anything to add, Mary simply stated, 'I say that I am innocent of this charge.'

The execution happened on the morning of Tuesday 23rd December 1890, carried out by James Berry.  When asked by the Sheriff of London, Sir James Whitehead, if she had any final remarks Mary uttered, 'my sentence is a just one, but much of the evidence against me false.'

Picture of Mary Eleanor Wheeler-Pearcey's
wax work once housed in the chamber of horrors.



Murderous Monday - Women who Kill - Susan Newell, Newspaper Murder

On 10th October 1923 Susan Newell met her maker at the end of John Ellis's rope.  She had been convicted of the murder of 13 year old paperboy John Johnson.  She became the last woman to hang in Scotland and the first woman to hang in Glasgow Prison

Susan was born Susan McAllister sometime between 1893 and 1895 to Peter, a tinsmith and Janet McAllister.  Not much is known about her early life, but around the outbreak of World War I she is said to have married Robert McLeod with whom she had a daughter Janet in 1915.  Severn years later Robert McLeod was dead and Susan had married John Newell.  John by most accounts was a drunken womaniser and their relationship was volatile and at times violent.

In the May of 1923 the Newells had moved to 2 Newlands Street, Coatbridge after being given notice to quit their previous lodgings due to their noisy and violent arguments.  However within three weeks of moving into their new lodgings, they were again given notice to quit.  This caused another argument between the couple, resulting in John abandoning Susan and Janet to move in  with relatives in Glasgow.  Susan is said to have tracked her husband down and demanded that he return to the family home, when he refused she head-butted him.  A matter John reported to the police, yet it is unknown whether Susan was ever spoken to about this matter.

On the evening of Wednesday 20th June 1923 John Johnson stopped by 2 Newlands Street to enquire whether Susan would like a copy of the evening paper.  Susan invited John in and took the paper, but when John asked her to pay Susan lost control and throttled the helpless lad crushing his windpipe.  Some accounts say that John was also battered about the head resulting in several fractures and his body had extensive burns.  Was a woman really capable of such brutality?

When young Janet came home from playing in the street she found her mother with the body of John.  Susan urged Janet to help her wrap the body in a quilt before the retired for the night.  In next morning Susan and Janet loaded John's body into a old pram and set off, with Janet perched on top of the bundle, towards Duke street in Glasgow.  Susan accepted a lift from a passing Lorry driver Thomas Dickson, who dropped them off in Duke's Street.  As Thomas was helping lift the pram down from the lorry the bundle came undone a little and the top of John's head and his foot became visible.  Thomas failed to notice this, but a neighbour, Helen Elliot did notice. 

John and Susan Newell at their trial

Helen Elliot called her sister and together they decided to follow Susan to see what she was up to.  The sisters followed Susan to 650 Duke Street, where the bumped into Robert Foote and James Campbell.  Robert and James took over tailing Susan while Helen and her sister went to alert the police. 

Susan was caught clambering over a wall adjoining two greens.  Discovered dumped near a tenement in Duke Street, wrapped in a red quilt was the body of a teenage boy.  Susan and her husband John Newell were arrested for his murder.  John Newell was able to provide alibis to his whereabouts at the time of the murder and as a result was found not guilty of John Johnson's murder.  Susan was not as lucky, her own daughter's evidence against her was damning.  Despite protesting her innocence throughout her trial Susan was found guilty and sentenced to hang.

Susan was executed by John Ellis with William Willis assisting at Glasgow Prison in Duke Street, the same street John's body was dumped.  Ellis disliked executing woman and in his hurry to get the ordeal over with quickly he failed to pinion her wrists properly.  Susan was able to work her hands free and tear the white hoof off her head saying 'don't put that thing over me!'  John Ellis proceeded with the execution minus the hood.

Glasgow Prison in Duke Street

Was Susan really guilty of killing John Johnson?  Was a woman capable of inflicting the brutal wounds suffered by the boy?  Did her husband have more to do with the murder?  These are answers Susan took to her grave.

Murderous Monday - Women Who Kill - Frances Kidder The Evil Step Mother

On 2nd April 1868 Frances Kidder met her maker at the end of William Calcraft's rope.  She had been convicted of killing her step daughter Louisa Staples-Kidder.  She became the last woman to be publicly hanged in England.

Frances Kidder was born Frances Turner in 1843 in New Romney, Kent to John an agricultural labourer and Frances Turner nee Drury.  In 1861 Frances was working as a house servant for John English, a bookmaker and newsagent and his family in Folkstone.  Some time in 1865 Frances met greengrocer William Henry Kidder and became pregnant by him, they had a daughter Emma and married later that year.  However unknown to Frances, William already had an illegitimate child with his house servant Eliza Staple, 8 year old Louisa.  Eliza had died in 1863, so Louisa came to live with Frances, William and their daughter Emma.

By some accounts Louisa was a spirited child and relations with her step mother never really flourished.  Frances disliked Louisa and metered out regular beatings as well as depriving the child of food and forcing her to wear rags.  The Kidder's neighbours even reported Frances for shutting Louisa out of the house irrespective of the weather.  Frances was fined for her abuse of Louisa and the child was sent to live with a guardian.  Unfortunately for Louisa, her father fell behind in his maintenance payments to the guardian and Louisa was sent back to her step mother's house, the abuse resumed.

One day in July 1867 whilst helping William with his potato dealing, Frances was involved in a accident and fell from the back of the cart, hitting her head when their horse bolted.  According to William -

"She was in a fit for about four hours and she has been strange in her head ever since."

Some believe this accident caused brain damage and may have paved the way for what was to happen barely a month later.  In the August of 1867 Frances took Emma and Louisa to visit her parents John and Frances in New Romney.  During her stay she confessed to one neighbour -

“I mean to get rid of that bitch Kidder’s child. I hate the sight of her because she is always making mischief.  I do not like other people’s bastards.”

Whilst her parents were out Frances took the opportunity to take action on her earlier threat.  She took Louisa on a walk with the promise of visiting a nearby fair.  As they were walking over Cobb's Bridge in Romney Marsh Frances grabbed Louisa and pushed her face down into the water filled ditch and drowned Louisa less then a foot of water. When Frances and Louisa had failed to return to the Turners home her father and William went out to search for them.  A little while later Frances turned up at her parents house without Louisa and refused to tell anyone her whereabouts.  Fearing the worst William and Frances's father contacted the police.

Bridge on Romney Marsh

Constable Aspinall arrested Frances under the suspicion of murder.  It was then that Frances finally revealed Louisa's location, stating that the girl had been frightened by passing horses and fell from the bridge into the water.  She had tried to rescue Louisa but was unable to do so.  Constable Aspinall said of the search for Louisa's body -

“It was a clear star lit night and we were furnished with lamps. There was a very heavy dew on the grass. Someone noticed something white in the ditch.  I threw my light in that direction, it was the body. She was lying on her back, her head was under the water.”

Frances was taken to Kent Spring Assizes and charged with the murder of her step daughter.  Frances continued to protest her innocence but finally confessed to Rev Fraser whilst awaiting her execution in the condemned cell at Maidstone Prison. 

Maidstone Prison

Public anger towards Frances and her crime ran high and over 2,000 people turned out to watch her hang.

On 29th May 1868 Parliament passed the Capital Punishment Within Prisons bill, Ending all public hangings.

Murderous Monday - Elizabeth Martha Browne - Last woman to publicly hang in Dorset

Artist's impression of Elizabeth Browne's hanging

On a drizzly morning in August, Elizabeth Martha Browne met her maker at the end of William Calcraft's rope.  She had murdered her second husband John Anthony Browne, twenty years her junior, with an axe becoming the last woman publicly executed in Dorset, England.

Not much is known about Elizabeth before her arrest and trial.  Her place of birth is unknown and the year estimated at around 1811, but her date of death - 9th August 1856  - is cemented in history.

John and Elizabeth's marriage was not a happy one.  Some accounts say that John only married Elizabeth for her money and that John had several affairs during the course of their marriage.  It was an argument about one of these alleged affairs with a Mary Davis that sealed John's fate.  Elizabeth had struck John with a wood chopping axe several times, shattering his skull.  Upon her arrest Elizabeth told police that John had received his injuries from a 'horse kick to the head'.  However she later confessed that she had accused him of being at Mary Davis's house when he had failed to return home for supper.

"He then kicked out the bottom of the chair on which I had been sitting, and we continued quarrelling until 3 o’clock, when he struck me a severe blow on the side of the head, which confused me so much I was obliged to sit down.

He then said (supper being on the table at the time) “Eat it yourself and be damned,” and reached down from the mantelpiece a heavy hand whip, with a plaited head and struck me across the shoulders with it 3 times, and every time I screamed out I said “if you strike me again, I will cry murder” He replied “if you do I will knock your brains through the window,” and said hoped he should find me dead in the morning, and then kicked me on the left side, which caused me much pain.

He immediately stooped down to unbuckle his boots, and being much enraged, and in an ungovernable passion at being so abused and struck, I seized a hatchet that was lying close to where I sat, and which I had been making use of to break coal for keeping up the fire to keep his supper warm, and struck him several violent blows on the head – I could not say how many – and he fell at the first blow on his side, with his face to the fireplace and he never spoke or moved afterwards."

A crowd of around 3-4,000 people turned out to watch the rare event of a woman being hanged.  One of those spectators was a 16 year old Thomas Hardy.  The hanging left a lasting impression on Thomas Hardy and many believe it was the inspiration behind his novel Tess of the D'Urbvilles.  Thomas Hardy wrote of the hanging seven decades later:

"I saw — they had put a cloth over the face — how, as the cloth got wet, her features came through it. That was extraordinary. 

I remember what a fine figure she showed against the sky as she hung in the misty rain and how the tight black silk gown set off her shape as she wheeled half round and back."

Thomas Hardy

Murderous Monday - Women Who Kill - Mary Ann Britland, First Woman To Hang At Strangeways Prison

On the 9th August 1886, Mary Ann Britland met her maker at the end of James Berry's rope.  The first woman to hang at Strangeways Prison


Mary Ann Britland was born Mary Ann Hague in 1847, Oldham Lancashire.  The eldest daughter of Jonathan and Hannah (nee Lee) Hague.

In 1866 she married Thomas Britland, a domestic servant.  They had two daughters together, Elizabeth Hannah in 1867 and Susannah in 1868.  The 1871 Census shows them living at Park Bridge, Ashton-under-Lyne before they moved to 133 Turner Lane where they can be found on the 1881 Census, later they moved to 92 Turner Lane.  Mary Ann worked two jobs to help make ends meet, a cotton reeler in a factory by day and a barmaid by night.

However by the February of 1886 the Britland home was not a happy one.  Mary Ann had taken up an affair with her neighbour Thomas Dixon, who lived across the street at 128 Turner Lane.  Mary Ann had purchased some Harrison's Vermin Killer from her local chemist supposedly to rid her home of mice.  Harrison's Vermin Killer contained both strychnine and arsenic and thus Mary Ann was required to sign the poisons register.

Soon afterwards Mary Ann's 19 year old daughter Elizabeth Hannah became deathly ill.  Elizabeth was to die on 9th March of 1886, her death attributed to natural causes, leaving Mary Ann free to collect the £10 life insurance policy.  Thomas Britland was to follow his daughter on 3rd May of 1886 from suspected epilepsy.  Again Mary Ann collected the £10 life insurance policy.


Feeling sorry for her recently bereaved neighbour Mary Dixon the wife of Mary Ann's love interest invited her over to 128 Turner Lane for supper and to stay the night.  The kindhearted Mary was soon to become Mary Ann's third victim, she passed away on 14th May after a sudden illness.

Three people in the same street, all dying within a few months of the exact same symptoms could not be ignored.  A paper of the time reports:

"Suspicious Neighbours Alert the Police

Mrs Britland, who worked as a reeler in a factory, lived at 92 Turner Lane, Ashton-under-Lyne with her husband Thomas, and daughter Elizabeth Ann, who died suddenly on 9th March. Mrs Britland’s husband died on the 3rd of May, suffering suspected epilepsy and the third death, that of Mary Dixon, wife of Thomas Dixon, the Britlands’ neighbours, occurred on 14th May [both couples were Thomas and Mary]. It was only after Mary Dixon’s death that suspicions were aroused and other neighbours contacted the police. It subsequently transpired that Mrs Britland claimed £10 life insurance on her daughter’s death and on the day of her husband’s death, but prior to his becoming ill, she paid up arrears on his life insurance policy."


Mary Ann was questioned by police in connection with Mary Dixon's death and the body was examined by a pathologist.  The body was found to contain lethal levels of both arsenic and strychnine, the two main ingredients in Harrison's Vermin Killer.  Mary Ann and Thomas Dixon were arrested on suspicion of murder.  As soon as Mary Ann arrived at Ashton police station she made a full confession, stating that she had first poisoned her daughter as she believed Elizabeth  suspected the affair between her and Thomas Dixon and was about to tell her husband.  She then killed her husband and finally Mary Dixon in the hope that Thomas Dixon would later marry her.

Manchester Assizes 1886  (c) Manchester Libraries

Thomas Dixon was found to have played no part in the murder of his wife and was released without charge.  How much he knew of Mary Ann's intentions is not clear, but he testified against her during her trial at Manchester Assizes.


"Mr Dixon Describes the Last Supper

On the night his wife fell ill, Mr Dixon and his wife had been together until 8 o’clock, and then gone separate ways. Mr Dixon did not get home until 10 and when he got home learned his wife had asked Mrs Britland to come and have supper and get ready for bed. For their supper they had bread and butter, tea and mixed pickles. He could not tell if his wife had anything at Mrs Britland’s house. He had known Mrs Britland for three years, and she had been at his house 10 days before his wife died. His wife was insured in two companies, and he had received more than £29 from them."


On 22nd July, after four hours deliberation the jury found Mary Ann Britland guilty of murder.  She was sentenced to death.  The Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser reported on 24th July:

“Mrs Britland, whose demeanour in the dock had been remarkable for coolness and self-possession, utterly broke down under the capital sentence, and was removed from the dock shrieking loudly.”


Mary Ann Britland was hung at Strangeways Prison on the morning of 9th August 1886.  The Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, reported:

“The scene, whilst the procession was moving from the condemned cell to the scaffold, was very painful. The voice of the chaplain as he read the prayers was completely drowned by the wild appeals of Britland as she cried: ‘Oh Lord have mercy! Oh Lord forgive me!’ She was supported on the scaffold by two female warders and, when once there, everything was soon over."

Strangeways Prison 1951 (c) Manchester Libraries

Mary Ann was buried within the grounds of Strangeways, but she was not to rest in peace.  During the 1990 riots much of the prison facility was damaged and had to be rebuilt.  During this time the prison cemetery was demolished and the remains of between 60 -100 executed prisoners were cremated and interred in a communal grave at Blackley Cemetery.

Murderous Monday - Women Who Kill - Mary Bateman The Yorkshire Witch

Mary Bateman was hung on 30th March 1809 near York Castle for murder by poison and witchcraft.

Mary Batemen was born Mary Harker in 1768 to farming parents in Thirsk.  She started out her adult life as a servant, con artist and petty thief.  But soon her greed for what others had was to drive her to murder.

At the age of 24 on the 26th February 1792 Mary married John Bateman after a courtship of only three weeks.  John was soon to tire of his wife's conniving ways, but only after she had sold every stitch of his clothing and all the furniture in the house after tricking her husband into leaving their lodgings by sending a forged letter stating that John's father was desperately ill.  John eventually joined the army to escape Mary.

By 1799 Mary was parting vulnerable women from their money pretending to be a fortune teller who could help her victims with special charms and spells.  However Mary wanted more and she was prepared to kill to get it.

In 1803 she befriended two Quaker sisters who along with their mother ran a draper's shop in St Peter's Square, Quarry Hill.  All three women were to die mysteriously after taking 'medicines' prescribed by Mary.  As soon as the women were dead Mary stripped the house and shop completely, telling their concerned neighbours that the sisters and their mother had died from the plague. 

Rebecca Perigo had developed a fearful fluttering in her chest that her doctor could not treat.  When it was suggested that and 'evil wish' had been placed upon her Rebecca's niece recommended Mary's services.  Mary told Rebecca and her husband William of a Mrs Blythe who lived in Scarborough and was better placed to help them, via Mary herself.  Soon Rebecca and William began receiving letters from the fictional Mrs Blythe, asking for household and personal items from the Perigo home so that she could better assist them in ridding Rebecca of the curse.


"My dear Friend

You must go down to Mary Bateman's at Leeds, on Tuesday next, and carry two guinea notes with you and give her them, and she will give you other two that I have sent to her from Scarborough, and you must buy me a small cheese about six or eight pound weight, and it must be of your buying, for it is for a particular use, and it is to be carried down to Mary Bateman's, and she will send it to me by the coach -- This letter is to be burned when you have done reading it."

Mrs Blythe's demands became increasingly bizarre and expensive and the Perigo's faith in her ability began to waver.  It was then that they received another letter with a frightening prediction scrawled within it's pages.


"My dear Friends

I am sorry to tell you you will take an illness in the month of May next, one or both of you, but I think both, but the works of God must have its course. You will escape the chambers of the grave; though you seem to be dead, yet you will live. Your wife must take half-a-pound of honey down from Bramley to Mary Bateman's at Leeds, and it must remain there till you go down yourself, and she will put in such like stuff as I have sent from Scarbro' to her, and she will put it in when you come down, and see her yourself, or it will not do. You must eat pudding for six days, and you must put in such like stuff as I have sent to Mary Bateman from Scarbro', and she will give your wife it, but you must not begin to eat of this pudding while I let you know. If ever you find yourself sickly at any time, you must take each of you a teaspoonful of this honey; I will remit twenty pounds to you on the 20th day of May, and it will pay a little of what you owe. You must bring this down to Mary Bateman's, and burn it at her house, when you come down next time."

The Perigo's did as they were instructed and soon fell deathly ill.  William ceased eating the pudding, but Rebecca continued to do so, taking the honey as well.  On 24th May 1807 Rebecca Perigo died.  When William informed 'Mrs Blythe' of his wife's death she was able to convince him that this was because Rebecca had not followed her exact instructions and had brought the death upon herself.  Again the letters and bizarre demands continued, only this time William had becomes suspicious of Mrs Blythe's abilities and intentions.

Mary Bateman was arrested and items from the Perigo home was found to be in her possession, as well as some quantity of arsenic.  It soon became apparent that there was no Mrs Blythe in Scarborough and that Mary had written all the letters.

Mary pleaded not guilty to murder, but confessed to the fraud that had taken place.  But the evidence was soon to mount against her.  A doctor testified that Rebecca's corpse showed poison to be the cause of death.  The supposed letters from Mrs Blythe stating that no one should know about the puddings or the mysterious white powders and that the letters should always be burnt and finally the honey and remains of the puddings were tested and found to contain corrosive sublime of mercury.

Mary was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death.

After her execution Mary's body was displayed at Leeds General Infirmary where a sum of £30 was raised by charging others to view it.  Pieces of her skin were stripped off and sold as magic charms to ward off evil.  Eventually she was dissected and the top half of her skeleton placed on display at Thackery Medical Museum.

Murderous Monday - Women Who Kill - Mary Ansell, A Sinful Sister.

On Wednesday 19th July 1899, Mary Ann Ansell met her maker at the end of James Billington's rope at St Albans Gaol.  She had poisoned her own sister, Caroline.  Mary Ann was the last woman to hang in Hertfordshire.

Mary Ann born in 1878 was the second eldest daughter of James and Sarah Ansell nee Rowley, Caroline born in 1873 was the eldest of the twelve children.

At the age of 26 Caroline was residing in Ward 7 at Watford's Leavesden Mental Asylum when she received an unexpected gift through the post, the brown paper package contained an inviting piece of cake.

Caroline ate some of the cake, sharing the rest with some of her fellow inmates.  Soon after everyone that had eaten the cake felt unwell.  Two of the inmates became seriously ill with severe stomach cramps, Caroline who had eaten most of the cake died four days later.  It soon became apparent that Caroline and the other inmates had been poisoned.  This was in all probability not the first attempt on Caroline's life by such means.  Before the cake Caroline had received a package of tea and sugar, which were quickly discarded due to their bitter taste and strange damp appearance.  But who would wish to end Caroline's life and why?

Two days after the death of Caroline, her sister Mary Ann and mother Sarah arrived at the Asylum.  They were shocked to hear that a post mortum had been ordered to ascertain the cause of death.  Mary Ann was anxious to obtain a death certificate for her sister, but found this impossible as one could not be issued without a cause of death.  Suspicion centred around the cake Caroline and the other inmates had eaten and a search for the wrapping was made.  It was soon found discarded in a nearby field and importantly it still contained the senders handwriting.  It was later found that Caroline had died of phosphorous poisoning.

Superintendent Wood of the Watford Police took over the case and soon his suspicions were drawn to Caroline's sister Mary Ann.  Mary Ann had recently taken out an insurance policy on her sister for the sum of £11, 5s, 0d, a large sum of money in those days, especially for a domestic servant.  Mary Ann had planned to use the money to marry her lover.  She had been witnessed by a sales assistant buying phosphorous in a shop near her place of work to reportedly use to kill rats.  More evidence came in the form of a Christmas card Mary had written, which was seen to bare the same handwriting as the wrapping that contained the poisoned cake.  Mary Ann was tried at Hertford Assizes and found guilty of the murder of her sister Caroline.  Mary Ann was to hang.

Their father James Ansell described the situation as 'a nightmare'.  He and his wife Sarah had already lost one daughter to tragic circumstances during the early part of their marriage and they had now lost a second to murder, a third daughter was about to be claimed by the state.

The morning of Wednesday 19th July 1899 was a sunny one.  Mary Ann, overcome by emotion had to be assisted to the scaffold, where she dropped seven foot to her instant death.

Murderous Monday - Women Who Kill - Mary Ann Cotton, Britain's First Female Serial Killer

"Mary Ann Cotton,

Dead and forgotten,

She lies in her bed,

With her eyes wide open,

Sing, sing, oh, what can I sing,

Mary Ann Cotton is tied up with string,

Where, where? up in the air

Sellin' Black puddens a penny a pair."

On 24th March 1873 Britain's first femail serial killer, Mary Ann Cotton met her maker at the end of William Calcraft's rope.  She is believed to have killed 21 people by the means of arsenic poisoning between 1865 and 1872.

Mary Ann Cotton, was born Mary Ann Robson in October 1832 in Houghton-le-spring, County Durham to Michael and Margaret Robson (nee Lonsdale).  In December 1841 Mary's father, a coal miner, fell 150 feet to his death down a Murton Colliery mine shaft.  Her widowed mother soon married George Stott in 1843.  Mary did not get on well with her step father and left the family home at the age of 16 to become a nurse to Edward Potter.  Three years later she returned to the family home.

Mary Ann Cotton.

At the age of 20 in 1852 Mary Ann married colliery labourer William Mowbray.  They had nine children together, seven of which died in infancy from 'gastric fever'.  In January 1865 William died of an unknown intestinal disorder.  At the time his life was insured with British and Prudential Insurance, Mary collected the £35 pay out, nearly half a year's wages.

Soon after William's death Mary moved to Seaham Harbour and struck up a relationship with Joseph Nattrass.  Joseph was already engaged to another women and reluctant to break off the engagement.  Mary left Seaham after Joseph's wedding and returned to Sunderland, where her 3 year old daughter died, leaving only one surviving child, Isabella, whom she sent to live with her mother.

Mary Ann gained employment as a nurse at Sunderland Infirmary, where she met her second husband George Ward.  They married on 28th August 1865.  George continued to suffer greatly with ill health before he died in October 1866 of intestinal problems.  The doctor attending his case confirmed that George was an ill man, but his sudden death was unexpected.  Mary Ann collected the insurance money from her second husband's death.

Sunderland Royal Infirmary taken in 1900

In the November of 1866, James Robinson hired Mary as a housekeeper.  James was recently widowed and when his baby died of 'gastric fever', he turned to Mary Ann for comfort, she soon became pregnant.  When Mary Ann's mother became ill she immediately went to nurse her.  Although Margaret began to get better she started to complain of stomach pains before she died aged 54 in the spring of 1867, just nine days after Mary Ann's arrival.  Isabella was then brought back to live in the Robinson household where she soon developed stomach pains and died, along with two of James's other children.  All three children were buried in the last few weeks of April 1867.

James soon became suspicious of his wife's actions when she insisted that he insure his life.  He discovered that she had run up debts of over £60 as well as stealing £50 she was supposed to bank.  The last straw came when he found out she had been forcing the remaining children to pawn household items.  James eventually threw Mary Ann out, an action that was to save his life.

Desperate and living on the streets Mary Ann turned to her friend Margaret Cotton, who introduced her to her recently widowed brother Frederick Cotton.  Margaret had been acting as a stand in mother to Frederick's two young children, Seven year old Frederick Jr and five year old Charles.  In March 1970 Margaret was to die from and undetermined stomach ailment, leaving Mary Ann to comfort the grieving Frederick.  Mary Ann bigamously married Frederick in the September of 1870, their son Robert was born in the February of 1871.

The home of Frederick and Mary Ann Cotton, Front Street, West Auckland.

Mary Ann soon discovered that her ex lover Joseph Nattrass was living nearby and no longer married, she wasted no time in rekindling their affair.  Frederick was to go to his grave in December of that year.  After Frederick's death Joseph moved in with Mary Ann as her lodger, shortly afterwards Mary Ann became a nurse to Excise Officer John Quick-Manning.  She was soon to become pregnant by him with her twelfth child.  This presented a problem for Mary Ann, now certain family members were in her way.  Young Frederick Jr was to die in 1872, followed soon after by the infant Robert.  Joseph fared no better and died from 'gastric fever' not long after he had revised his will in Mary Ann's favour.  Mary Ann had still to collect the insurance policy she had taken out on young Charles's life.

Mary Ann had initially approached parish official Thomas Riley, asking him to admit Charles to the workhouse as he was in her own words, 'in the way'.  Thomas said that she would have to accompany the child in to the workhouse, upon which Mary Ann told Thomas that the child was sick before adding, "I won't be troubled for long, He'll go like the rest of the Cottons."  Five days later the boy was dead.  Concerned, Thomas contacted the local police and convinced the doctor to delay writing a death certificate.

Mary Ann's first port of call after poor Charles's death was the insurance office, where she found out no payment would be made without the death certificate.  An inquest into Charles's death was held, where Mary Ann claimed Riley's accusations against her were due to her spurning his advances.  A verdict of natural causes was returned.  Mary Ann may have gotten away with murder had the local papers not picked up on the story.  They soon found out that Mary Ann had moved about northern England, leaving a trail of dead loved ones behind her, all of whom died of stomach complaints.

Rumour soon turned to suspicion and Little Charles's body was exhumed and a autopsy performed, where high levels of arsenic where found.  Mary Ann was arrested and charged with murder, however her trial was delayed until after the birth of her twelfth child, Margaret Edith Quick-Manning Cotton on 10th January 1873.  Mary Ann's trial took place on 5th March 1873, it took the jury 90 minutes to find her guilty of the murder of Charles E Cotton.

The Times reported on 20th March 1873 ~

"After conviction the wretched woman exhibited strong emotion but this gave place in a few hours to her habitual cold, reserved demeanour and while she harbours a strong conviction that the royal clemency will be extended towards her, she staunchly asserts her innocence of the crime that she has been convicted of."

Execution site at Durham Gaol.

Several petitions for mercy were raised with the Home Secretary, but to no avail, Mary Ann Cotton was hanged at Durham Gaol on 24th March 1873, bringing an end to Britain's first serial killer.

Murderous Monday - Women who Kill - Williamina (Minnie) Dean, The Only Woman Executed In New Zealand

"Minnie Dean is part of Winton's history.  Where she now lies is now no mystery"


Williamina Dean nee McCulloch was the first and only woman to be hung in New Zealand.

Williamina was born in West Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland on 2nd September 1844.  The second of four daughters to John and Elizabeth McCulloch nee Swan.  The 1851 Census shows Williamina living with her parents and siblings at 65 Ann Street, West Greenock.  At some point after the death of her mother in 1857, Minnie travelled to New Zealand.  She turns up in Invercargill in 1860 with two daughters Ellen and Isabella, purporting to be a widow of a physician from Tasmania.  However no records of such a marriage or the birth of her two daughters can be found.

On the 19th June 1872 Minnie married innkeeper Charles Dean at Etal Creek, a flourishing waggon stop in the 1860s, yet by the end of the gold rush in 1872 it had become a backwater.  In 1878 the Deans took up farming only for the collapse of the land boom in 1884 to leave them facing financial difficulties.  In 1887 the couple adopted a daughter Margaret, before moving to Winton to raise pigs.  Around this time Minnie started taking in unwanted babies for payment.  Babies were taken in for 5s - 8s or 'adopted' for a lump sum of £10 - £30.  At any one time Minnie had up to nine children and infants in her care.  With the high infant mortality rate in New Zealand at the time some deaths were expected.

Williamina at the time of her marriage in 1872

In 1889 a six month old infant died of convulsions after an illness and in 1891 a six week old infant died of heart and respiratory problems.  An inquest was held into the deaths but it was decided that the remaining children were well nourished and cared for even though the house was deemed to be inadequate.  Minnie was advised to reduce the number of children she cared for but she carried on as before.  In 1894 another child was to die from drowning while under her care, to avoid another inquest Minnie decided to bury the child in her backyard.  Earlier in 1893 Minnie had had a three week old baby removed from her care. 

The detective wrote in his report,

'I believe this woman would have killed or abandoned this child before she got to Dunedin, if it had not been taken from her.' 

Frustratingly for the police there was little they could do with the inadequate child welfare laws of the time.

Police digging in Minnie's garden

May of 1895 saw Minnie boarding a train with a young baby and a hat box, only to disembark leave the train with just the hat box.  After a search of the railway line turned up nothing the police began to excavate Minnie's garden where they unearthed the bodies of three children, one year old Dorothy Edith Carter,  one month old Eva Hornsby (the baby from the train) and the skeletal remains of a four year old boy.  Dorothy was found to have died from a overdose of laudanum, an opiate used to quieten babies and suppress their appetite.  Poor Eva died from asphyxiation.  Minnie was arrested and charged with infanticide.  During Minnie's trial dolls in miniature hatboxes were sold to the public outside the courthouse.

Dolls in miniature hatboxes sold at Minnie's trial

On 12th August 1895, three months after her arrest Minnie was hanged at Invercargill gaol.  Five healthy and well cared for children were found to be living at Minnie's house at the time of her arrest.  It is thought some 26 children passed through the hands of Minnie between 1889 and 1895, the fate of seven of those children was never known.

Remaining children at under Minnie's care

Due to public concern over Minnie activities New Zealand passed the Infant Life Protection Act 1893 and the Infant Protection Act 1896

Minnie Dean's headstone

Murderous Monday - The Finchley Baby Farmers

On February 3rd 1903 the first women to be hanged at Holloway Prison met their maker at the end of executioner Henry Perrepoint's rope.

They were Amelia Sach, 36 and Annie Walters, 54.  Finchley's Baby Farmers.

Baby Farming was a term used in Victorian Britain, to mean the taking in of an illegitimate infant or child for payment with the view of 'adopting the child out' or caring for the child for an agreed weekly fee. 

Illegitimacy in Victorian Britain was a huge stigma, not only for the child but also for the child's mother, who would find herself shunned by society.  The stigma of being an unmarried mother could cause her to lose employment and even make it difficult for her to gain further employment.  With no welfare system, save the local work house, unmarried mothers were faced with a difficult decision.  Enter the feared Victorian work house, or give up her child.

Baby farming soon became a profitable business for those less scrupulous members of society. A high infant mortality rate was part of daily life during the Victorian Era, so the death of one or two bastard children was unlikely to raise any eyebrows. Many baby farmers would take in infants, leaving them to die of starvation or neglect.  Other baby farmers found it far more profitable to dispose of the infants as soon as possible.

Little is known about Annie Walters background.  It is thought that she was married at one point and may have had a drinking problem.  It is believed she may have also been feeble minded.

Amelia Sach was born Frances Amelia Thorne in Wimborne Dorset in May 1867, the fourth child of Francis and Georgiana Thorne.  In 1896 Amelia married builder Jeffery Sach.  On the 1901 Census they are listed as living at The Walks Cllanview House with their young child.

By 1902 Amelia was running a 'lying in' house at Claymore House.  A place where unmarried women could have their babies and for a fee leave them behind to be adopted or fostered out.  The charge for these services was usually around £25 - £30, a vast amount when you consider a labourer at the time might be paid 3s 9d a week.  Many of these women left their babies behind dreaming of the loving families that would adopt and care for them, giving them everything their mother could not.  Unfortunately this was far from the truth.

Once an infant had been left in the care of Amelia Sach, Annie Walters would be called upon to collect it.  She would then murder the hapless infant by means of administering Chlorodyne, a morphine based drug that causes asphyxia in babies or if the drug was unsuccessful, smothering the child.  Their bodies were then dumped in the Thames or left in rubbish heaps.  It is thought that Amelia and Annie may have disposed of up to 20 infants in this manner.  However their enterprise was soon to come to an end.

One evening Annie Walters decided to take one of the babies home with her to her rented room.  She told her landlord, a police officer, that she was looking after the little girl while her parents were away on holiday. The landlord's wife helped Annie change the babies nappy and noted that the baby was in fact a boy.  A few days later Annie told her landlord and his wife that the baby had died.  she seemed genuinely upset about the babies passing, but her landlord's suspicions were aroused when a few months later Annie returned with another baby, who was to die a few days later.

Amelia Sach pictured at Holloway prison 1902

Annie was arrested and charged with the murder of a male infant by the name of Galley.  Soon more bodies where discovered and with the information volunteered by Annie, the police arrived on the doorstep of Amelia Sach.  A search of Amelia's house turned up several items of baby clothing, some of which were identified by mourning mothers whose children had vanished without a trace whilst in the care of Amelia.  The police now have enough evidence to arrest and charge Amelia with murder too.

Their trail took place on the 15th and 16th of January 1903 before Mr Justice Darling.  They jury took just 40 minutes to find them both guilty.  They were taken to Holloway prison to await execution.  Mr Perrepoint noted in his diary.

"These two women are baby farmers of the worst kind and they are both repulsive in type.  One was two pounds less than the other (in weight) and there was a difference of two inches in the drop, for which we allowed.  Once (Sach) had a long thin neck and the other (Walters) a short neck, points which I was bound to observe in the arrangement of the rope."

Amelia Sach had to be carried to the scaffold, while Annie Walters remained quite calm, is is said that she called out, "Goodbye Sach" when hooded on the trapdoor.  It was to be the last double female hanging in Britain.

The bodies of Amelia and Annie were buried in unmarked graves inside the walls of Holloway prison.  In 1971 during a extension work at the prison their bodies where exhumed and reburied in plot 117 in Brookwood Cemetery along with the bodies of two other women who were executed at Holloway, Styllou Christofi and Edith Thompson.

Picture by Connie Nisinger, findagrave.com

It is because of baby farmers such as Sach and Walters that we have our child protection laws today.