...The Life & Cruel Actions of Elizabeth Brownrigg..., 1767
An appeal to humanity, in an account of the life and cruel actions of Elizabeth Brownrigg. Who was tried at the Old Bailey..., and sentenced to be hanged at Tyburn…for cruelly [sic] beating and starving Mary Clifford...her apprentice...To which is added The Trial of Elizabeth Branch and her daughter, for the murder of their servant maid... 64 pp. (London, 1767).
About the Case
In 1765, London midwife Elizabeth Brownrigg took in two apprentices. The girls were severely abused by Brownrigg and her husband, and one of them, Mary Clifford, was found locked in a cupboard with sores all over her body, lash marks around her neck, and her mouth so swollen she was unable to speak. Clifford was taken to a hospital where she died. At trial, Brownrigg was identified as the principal culprit, found guilty of murder and sentenced to be hanged. She confessed her guilt on the scaffold. After the hanging, her body was dissected and her skeleton was put on display in Surgeon’s Hall.