Elizabeth Martha Brown
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Martha Brown née Clark, was the last woman to be hanged in public in Dorset
, England. She was executed outside Dorchester Prison after being convicted of the murder of her second husband, John Brown, on July 22, just 13 days earlier. The prosecution said she had attacked him with an axe after he had taken a whip to her.
, 16 years old at the time, standing close to the gallows. He wrote 70 years later that he was ashamed to have been there. Brown was dressed in a long, black, silk dress. A cloth was placed over her head, but as it began to rain, her face became visible again. Hardy wrote, "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," he wrote elsewhere, "and how the tight black silk gown set off her shape as she wheeled half-round and back." Blake Morrison
writes that the hanging of Tess in Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles
(1891) reflected his experience of watching Brown's death.
A local newspaper recorded that she was counselled just before her death by the Rev. D Clementson, the prison chaplain, and that she remained composed:
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, England. She was executed outside Dorchester Prison after being convicted of the murder of her second husband, John Brown, on July 22, just 13 days earlier. The prosecution said she had attacked him with an axe after he had taken a whip to her.
Background
Among the crowd of 3,000–4,000 who watched the hanging of Brown was the English novelist, Thomas HardyThomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
, 16 years old at the time, standing close to the gallows. He wrote 70 years later that he was ashamed to have been there. Brown was dressed in a long, black, silk dress. A cloth was placed over her head, but as it began to rain, her face became visible again. Hardy wrote, "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," he wrote elsewhere, "and how the tight black silk gown set off her shape as she wheeled half-round and back." Blake Morrison
Blake Morrison
Philip Blake Morrison is a British poet and author who has published in a wide range of fiction and non-fiction genres. His greatest success came with the publication of his memoirs And When Did You Last See Your Father? which won the J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography. He has also written a...
writes that the hanging of Tess in Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented, also known as Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman, Tess of the d'Urbervilles or just Tess, is a novel by Thomas Hardy, first published in 1891. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British...
(1891) reflected his experience of watching Brown's death.
A local newspaper recorded that she was counselled just before her death by the Rev. D Clementson, the prison chaplain, and that she remained composed:
This morning (Saturday) a few minutes after 8 o'clock, Elizabeth Martha BROWN, convicted of the wilful murder of her husband was executed on a scaffold erected over the gateway of the new entrance leading to Dorset County Goal from North Square. The culpret did not up to the last moment, appear to shed a tear. She on leaving her cell, shook hands with the chief warder and other officers. On her way to the scaffold her demeanour was extraordinary. The attendants on either side were entirely overcome, whilst she bore her awful position with the greatest resignation and composure. The Chaplain the Rev. D Clementson, conversed with her on spiritual subjects, and she appeared to engage in fervant devotion and prayer, with her hands clasped firmly together and upturned eyes. On arriving at the place of execution she walked with firmness up the first flight of eleven steps. On this spot the ceremony of pinioning was proceeded with. Her female attendants here left her in the care of the executioner.
External links
- Dorset Echo (2000). "The Mystery of Martha Brown", November 11, 2000.
- Fordington newspaper (1856). Fordington newspaper transcripts, dated August 11, 1856. Ancestry.com, accessed January 21, 2010.
- Morrison, Blake (2008). 'What a fine figure she showed as she hung in the misty rain', The Guardian, August 2, 2008.
Further reading
- Clark, Richard (2008). Women and the Noose: A History of Female Execution. Tempus. ISBN 0752444891, 9780752444895
- Knelman, Judith (1998). Twisting in the Wind: The Murderess and the English Press. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0802074200 9780802074201
- Thorne, Nicola (2000). My Name is Martha Brown. Harper Collins. ISBN 0002259494, 9780002259491
- Millgate, Michael (2006). Thomas Hardy: A Biography Revisited. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199275661, 9780199275663