Criminal Women

Famous London Cases

John J. Eddleston

• Publisher: Wharncliffe True Crime
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781844683284
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

Shocking portraits of women who have committed capital crimes in England's capital city—from the author of Jack the Ripper: An Encyclopedia. Women have sometimes been seen as less criminally inclined than men. But, as John J. Eddleston shows in this revealing anthology of female crimes in London, this image is hard to mesh with reality, for the city's history is crowded with cases of women who broke the law. In vivid detail, he reconstructs a series of dramatic, often harrowing, cases in which women were involved and puts their acts in the context of their times. Taking episodes from the eighteenth century to near the present day, he looks at criminal women of all types, from all walks of life. The work of the London police, the courts, and the prisons is an essential element in his study, and each chapter reveals much about how attitudes toward crime and punishment have changed over the centuries. Fascinating portraits of these criminal women as individuals emerge from their stories; their cases come to life—as does the London in which they lived. They include Catherine Hayes, who was burnt alive for murdering her husband; three women hanged on the same day for highway robbery; two women executed for rioting; Anne Hurle and Charlotte Newman, who were both hanged for forgery; Florence Bravo, who was sensationally acquitted of murder; and, perhaps most famous of all, Ruth Ellis, whose execution in 1955 provoked an outcry against capital punishment.

CHAPTER 1

Catherine Hayes 1726

Catherine Hayes was born near Birmingham in the year 1690. By the time she had become a teenager, Catherine already showed signs of being a voluptuous and attractive girl, and soon discovered that she was popular with men. In due course she ran away from home and settled in Great Ombersley in Worcestershire. Now fifteen years of age, Catherine earned her living as a prostitute, being well known in the nearby army camp.

It appeared that Catherine alternated her life between periods of prostitution and domestic service, and soon she had moved on again, becoming a servant to a farmer named Hayes, who lived some four miles from Worcester city.

The Hayes family were very well off and Catherine decided to use her charms on the younger of Mr Hayes’ two sons. John Hayes was captivated by the young attractive woman, and they soon agreed to marry. Fearful that his parents would not approve, John married Catherine in secret.

For a time, they seemed happy enough but soon it became clear that this comfortable life wasn’t enough for Catherine. Some six months after they had married, she insisted that they should abandon the rural farm life and move to London. John was duly persuaded and, in 1719, set himself up as a coal-merchant, pawnbroker and money-lender, in Marylebone.

The business thrived and Catherine led a most comfortable life but this, it seems, was still not enough for her. She demanded more money and servants, but John Hayes would have none of it. Indeed, so angry did he become by her constant demands that he actually reduced her allowances. This only served to lead to fresh arguments. Still, Catherine did have at least one thing to console her. In 1725, she had persuaded John to take in a lodger, eighteen-year-old Thomas Billings. Unbeknown to John, Thomas was Catherine’s illegitimate son. Furthermore, Catherine now embarked on an incestuous relationship with Billings.

After some time, Catherine persuaded John to allow another lodger to stay with them. This man, named Thomas Wood, was a close friend of Billings. In time, however, he also grew to be rather close to Catherine and soon he too was having an affair with his landlord’s wife. Even this was not enough for Catherine who now decided that she would be better off without her husband altogether. Of course, she could simply have left him and gone to live elsewhere, with one, or both of her lovers, but Catherine decided that he had to die. At least that way she would inherit all his property. Over a number of weeks she mooted the idea to her two lovers and eventually they agreed to help.

The plan was put into action on 1 March 1726. Billings and Wood took John Hayes out drinking and, by means of betting who could drink the most, soon had him completely under the influence of alcohol. A semi-conscious John was taken home by his two lodgers and placed gently into his bed. Then, just as he was drifting off to sleep, Billings took an axe and struck John on the head.

The blow did not kill John Hayes, who immediately screamed out very loudly. Another blow from the axe was delivered and this finally finished John off. The question now was how to dispose of the body.

Wood was a butcher by trade so he found it a simple task to cut the body into pieces. The various body parts were then dumped into a pond at Marylebone, but the head, the one part which might cause the body to be identified, was thrown into the River Thames, at Millbank. Unfortunately for the killers, the head came to rest on a sandbank, in Westminster, from where it was recovered by the authorities.

In these days before photography, how could the head be identified? The authorities decided that the best way was to place it on public exhibition. So, the battered head was placed on a spike in St Margaret’s churchyard. There it was seen each day by hundreds of passers-by, and eventually no fewer than three witnesses came forward to say that they believed the head to be that of John Hayes.

As a matter of course, Catherine Hayes was now questioned and she told officers that her husband was away on business. However, one of the men who had recognised the head, a Mr Ashby, had had a business appointment with John, who he said would not simply have gone away without telling him. Once again, the authorities visited Catherine’s house where they found her in bed with Thomas Billings. They were both arrested and, a few days later, Wood too was taken into custody.

On 16 April, an inquest into John Hayes’ death concluded that he had been a victim of wilful murder and his wife, Billings and Wood were named as those responsible. Catherine and Billings maintained that they were completely innocent of any involvement in John’s death, but Wood told a completely different story.

Wood readily admitted his part in the crime and said that it had been Catherine who gave him and Billings the money to get John drunk. He also claimed that it had been Billings who struck the fatal blows but admitted that it had been he, as a butcher, who had cut the body into pieces. Catherine, apparently, had been kind enough to hold a candle so that he had enough light whilst he performed the terrible deed. Faced with this testimony, Catherine then also admitted her guilt, but claimed that the Devil had made her do it.

All three defendants faced their trial at the Old Bailey, in April. Billings and Wood were both charged with murder, but Catherine was charged with the more serious crime of petty treason. She claimed, in her defence, that she had not taken part in any of the actual murder itself, but admitted suggesting that John should be done away with, and to holding the candle whilst his body was dismembered.

Catherine also claimed that the reason she had suggested that John Hayes should be killed was partly due to the way he had treated her. He had prevented her from reading her Bible and had only ever allowed her to go to church on two or three occasions all the time they had been together. He had also offered her violence and once, when she had been pregnant, his treatment of her had caused her to lose the child.

Despite these protestations, the jury had little difficulty in adjudging all three to be guilty. Wood and Billings were sentenced to be hanged, and their bodies afterwards gibbeted. Catherine was sentenced to be burned alive, the standard punishment for treason. In fact, Wood never did face the ultimate penalty of the law as he died in prison before the sentence could be carried out. For Billings and Catherine there would be no such escape, and they were due for execution on Monday 9 May 1726, along with eight other men.

On the morning of the execution, three carts left the prison for Tyburn. In the first cart were Gabriel Lawrence, William Griffin and Thomas Wright, three men who had been sentenced to death for sodomy. In the next, rode John Gillingham, John Mapp and Henry Vigius, three highway-robbers, and in the last cart rode Billings, John Cotterell and James Dupress, two men condemned for burglary. As for Catherine, she was dragged along behind the carts, on a hurdle.

The procession duly arrived at Tyburn, where the three carts were positioned under the beams of the scaffold. The executioner, Richard Arnet, secured each man in turn, put a noose around their necks, and the carts were then removed, leaving them suspended. Catherine was able to watch the death throes of all nine men, including those of her son, Billings. Then it came to her turn to die.

Although the sentence for petty treason was to be burned alive, mercy was invariably shown to such unfortunates. A cord was fastened around the condemned woman’s neck, passed through a hole in the stake to which she was tied, and then to the executioner’s hand. The custom was that the condemned woman would be strangled before the flames could reach her. Unfortunately, on this occasion, luck was not on Catherine’s side.

As Arnet began to pull on the rope, the flames from the burning faggots blew towards his hands, burning them. He had no choice but to let go. Catherine, therefore, was still alive as the flames licked around her.

Three blood-curdling screams echoed around Tyburn as Catherine began to burn. She was seen trying to push the burning faggots away from herself but it was no use. The flames grew ever stronger and Catherine was still alive.

Contemporary reports of the execution claim that Arnet, seeing the distress that Catherine was in, threw a massive piece of wood at her head, which shattered her skull and killed her, putting her out of her misery. Whatever the truth of that, Catherine finally fell silent and, after a full hour, her body was reduced to ashes. As for Billings, his body was later taken down from the scaffold and hanged in chains on the road to Paddington.

CHAPTER 2

Catherine Conway, Elizabeth Banks and Margaret Harvey 1750

Executions at Tyburn were a public spectacle, and on occasions many miscreants were hanged at the same time. We have already seen how, in Chapter 1, a total of eleven executions took place on the one day, much to the satisfaction of the mob. Female executions were common, but far less common were multiple executions where all those hanged were female. One such occasion is the subject of this chapter.

Catherine Conway

Catherine, who was forty-five years of age, had been born in Kilkenny, Ireland. When she was just fourteen, she married Richard, much to the disapproval of her parents. The newly-weds moved to Waterford, where Catherine eventually produced no less than ten children.

Some time around 1743, one of Catherine’s sons, a sailor, fell seriously ill at Portsmouth. Catherine and her husband immediately travelled to that city to take care of him but, once he had recovered, they did not return to Ireland but travelled up to Liverpool instead, where two more of their children were now living.

Five years later, in 1748, Catherine received the news that her eldest son, John, had died abroad, whilst serving on a ship. She and her husband then went to London in order to collect any wages that might have been due to him. They had little trouble in collecting the money, most of which was taken by Richard who then spent it on drink and other women. The problem was that this gave Richard an idea about making still more money.

According to the story Catherine would later tell the authorities, Richard had discovered that another sailor, William Noble, had also died on board the same ship that John had served on. Richard suggested to Catherine that she should represent herself as William’s mother, draw up a will naming her as beneficiary and then claim the wages due to his estate. After some discussion, Catherine agreed to the plan.

A fake will was drawn up, dated 9 July 1744. After all, it would not do to place a recent date on the forgery in case that aroused suspicion. Catherine and Richard then travelled down to Chatham, presented the will to the naval authorities and, on 2 July 1748, received the sum of £20 1s 6d, being the wages due to William Noble. Once again, Richard pocketed most of the money and then promptly disappeared. Catherine then returned to her family in Liverpool.

The fraud was soon discovered when the real family of William Noble came forward. Catherine was traced to Liverpool, arrested and placed into jail there. Days later, a writ was served which ordered that she be transferred to Newgate, pending her trial for uttering a forged will. That trial took place in April 1749 and, having confessed her guilt, Catherine was duly sentenced to death. As for Richard Conway, the supposed instigator of the crime, he was never traced.

Margaret Harvey

Margaret was also an Irish girl, having been born in Dublin, in 1725. When she was about sixteen years old, she married John Harvey, at St Patrick’s church, also in Dublin.

John earned his living as a sailor and, consequently, spent long periods away from home. A jealous man, he managed to convince himself that, whilst he was at sea, his wife had been seeing other men. Though there was no truth in this, Margaret was unable to convince John that she had been faithful to him and a series of arguments followed. These grew ever more serious and on some occasions, John had even been known to pull a knife on Margaret and cut her about the head.

This situation persisted for some time, until one day, when John was back at sea, a female friend told Margaret that she knew of another man who wanted to be with her. He would treat her fairly and kindly and would support her if only she would leave her husband and live with him. Tired of all the arguments and assaults from her husband, Margaret agreed to move in with the other man.

When John Harvey returned from sea the next time he found that all his suspicions were now proven. His wife was cohabiting with another man. Declaring that he wanted nothing more to do with Margaret, John left Ireland and moved to London.

It wasn’t very long before the new man in Margaret’s life discarded her. He told her that he had had what he wanted from her and was no longer attracted to her. Since her parents were now dead, Margaret had no one to support her. Somewhat reluctantly, she decided to move to London, try to find her husband, and attempt a reconciliation.

Margaret had no luck in tracing John, so took a position as a servant in Marylebone Street. She did not, however, stay there for very long. One day she spent some time in the company of a group of sailors and some women, where large quantities of drink were consumed. She decided that she had had enough of servitude and vowed never to return to the house, taking lodgings instead in St Giles Pound.

On 14 June 1749, Margaret was again in the company of some sailors and the group went drinking in various establishments around Tower Hill and Wapping. Soon, all were very drunk and one of the sailors then suggested to Margaret that she should relieve a passing gentleman, Robert Lane, of his gold pocket watch. Margaret did steal the watch and chain from Robert, but in her drunken state she was so obvious in her actions that Robert raised the alarm and chased after her. Margaret seemed to be getting away until she turned into Russell Street, off Covent Garden. That street was a cul-de-sac. Margaret was seized there and handed over to the authorities. With the evidence of Robert Lane, there was little difficulty in convicting her of theft, and she too was sentenced to death.

Elizabeth Banks

Elizabeth had been born in Weymouth, but her parents both died when she was very young. As a result, Elizabeth was taken into the care of the parish, who decided, when she was old enough, to apprentice her to a mistress. This woman treated her very badly and, at the age of ten, Elizabeth ran away, to Dorchester.

The young girl only stayed in Dorchester for a few days before she befriended a wagon driver, who told her that he was travelling to London. Elizabeth persuaded him to give her a lift and was eventually dropped off outside the Black Bull Inn, on Piccadilly. The landlady of that public house took an immediate liking to the attractive ten year old and Elizabeth was invited to stay in her house. In fact, she went on to live in comfort there for seven years.

At the age of seventeen, Elizabeth, used to the atmosphere of a public house, took a position in another such establishment, in St Mary Le Strand, where she stayed for four or five years. During that time she married her first husband and together they moved into Russell Court, off Drury Lane, where Elizabeth gave birth to four children. Sadly, over the next few years, Elizabeth’s husband and all four of her children died, leaving her alone again.

Elizabeth returned to employment in the licensed trade and worked in various public houses around The Strand. After nine or ten years she married her second husband, but he was only a labourer, making very little money.

On 2 May 1750, a young girl named Frances Mercer was found wandering, in a state of undress. She told those who came to her aid that a woman had stripped her, taken her clothes, placed them into a bundle and walked off with them. The woman was still in the vicinity and was soon arrested. That woman was Elizabeth Banks. She was charged with stealing the child’s clothing but, since this had taken place on the King’s highway, it was deemed to be highway robbery.

In her defence, Elizabeth claimed that Frances had been with another woman who was carrying a bundle of clothing. The woman said she had to visit someone inside a certain house and offered Elizabeth 2d to watch the child and the bundle. The woman then simply disappeared, and when Elizabeth was arrested she was merely looking for the woman to hand the clothing back. It was a weak story at best, and did nothing to explain how Frances had been found almost naked.

The Executions

In fact, two other women were also sentenced to death and due to be hanged at the same time. Judith Archer had been found guilty of stealing £28 from a gentleman named William Finch, and Mary Ryan had been sentenced to death for housebreaking; but both had been reprieved, and sentenced to be transported instead. For Catherine Conway, Elizabeth Banks and Margaret Harvey, there was to be no such escape.

On the morning of 6 July 1750, all three women were placed into a cart a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Ture Crime from Wharncliffe
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Catherine Hayes, 1726
• Chapter 2 Catherine Conway, Elizabeth Banks and Margaret Harvey, 1750
• Chapter 3 Elizabeth Brownrigg, 1767
• Chapter 4 Charlotte Gardiner and Mary Roberts, 1780
• Chapter 5 Charlotte Goodall, 1782
• Chapter 6 Elizabeth Taylor, 1785
• Chapter 7 Elizabeth Watson, 1787
• Chapter 8 Mary Finlayson, 1795
• Chapter 9 Anne Hurle, 1804
• Chapter 10 Sarah Puryer, 1810
• Chapter 11 Charlotte Newman, 1817
• Chapter 12 Ann Mary Chapman, 1829
• Chapter 13 Martha Browning, 1846
• Chapter 14 Maria Manning, 1849
• Chapter 15 Ann Merritt, 1850
• Chapter 16 Catherine Wilson, 1862
• Chapter 17 Florence Bravo, 1876
• Chapter 18 Caroline Perry, 1884
• Chapter 19 Mary Eleanor Wheeler (Pearcey), 1890
• Chapter 20 Ann Sarah Hibberd, 1894
• Chapter 21 Amelia Sach and Annie Walters, 1903
• Chapter 22 Clara Alice White, 1912
• Chapter 23 Marie Marguerite Alibert Fahmy, 1923
• Chapter 24 Styllou Pantopiou Christofi, 1954
• Chapter 25 Ruth Ellis, 1955
• Appendix Female Executions in London, 1800–1955
• Source References from The National Archives
• Index