![Anne-Greene](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Anne-Greene.jpg)
Anne Greene (1659) was an English domestic servant who was accused of committing
infanticide
Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose is the prevention of reso ...
in 1650. She survived her attempted execution and was revived by physicians from the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
.
Trial and punishment
!['A Scholler in Oxford' (R](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/%27A_Scholler_in_Oxford%27_%28R._Watkins%29%2C_title_page._Wellcome_L0020243.jpg)
Greene was born around 1628 in
Steeple Barton
Steeple Barton is a civil parish and scattered settlement on the River Dorn in West Oxfordshire, about east of Chipping Norton, a similar distance west of Bicester and south of Banbury. Most of the parish's population lives in the village of ...
,
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
. In her early adulthood, she worked as a
scullery maid
In great houses, scullery maids were the lowest-ranked and often the youngest of the female domestic servants and acted as assistant to a kitchen maid.
Description
The scullery maid reported (through the kitchen maid) to the cook or chef. Along ...
in the house of Sir Thomas Read, a
justice of the peace
A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...
who lived in nearby
Duns Tew
Duns Tew is an English village and civil parish about south of Banbury in Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 478. With nearby Great Tew and Little Tew, Duns Tew is one of the three villages known collectively as ...
. She later claimed that in 1650 when she was a 22-year-old servant, she was seduced by Sir Thomas's grandson, Geoffrey Read, who was 16 or 17 years old.
She became pregnant, though she later claimed that she was not aware of her pregnancy until she miscarried in the
privy
Privy is an old-fashioned term for an outdoor toilet, often known as an outhouse and by many other names. Privy may also refer to:
* Privy council, a body that advises the head of state
* Privy mark, a small mark in the design of a coin
* Privy Pur ...
after seventeen weeks.
She tried to conceal the remains of the fetus but was discovered and suspected of infanticide. Sir Thomas prosecuted Greene
under the "Concealment of Birth of Bastards" Act 1624, under which there was a legal presumption that a woman who concealed the death of her illegitimate child had murdered it.
A midwife testified that the fetus was too underdeveloped to have ever been alive, and several servants who worked with Greene testified that she had experienced "issues" for approximately one month before her miscarriage, which began after she laboured
turning malt". In spite of the testimony, Greene was found guilty of murder and was
hanged
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in ...
at
Oxford Castle
Oxford Castle is a large, partly ruined medieval castle on the western side of central Oxford in Oxfordshire, England. Most of the original moated, wooden motte and bailey castle was replaced in stone in the late 12th or early 13th century and ...
on 14 December 1650. At her own request, several of her friends pulled her swinging body and a soldier struck her four or five times with the butt of his
musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...
to expedite her death. After half an hour, everyone believed her dead, so she was cut down and given to
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
physicians
William Petty
Sir William Petty FRS (26 May 1623 – 16 December 1687) was an English economist, physician, scientist and philosopher. He first became prominent serving Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth in Ireland. He developed efficient methods to su ...
and
Thomas Willis
Thomas Willis FRS (27 January 1621 – 11 November 1675) was an English doctor who played an important part in the history of anatomy, neurology and psychiatry, and was a founding member of the Royal Society.
Life
Willis was born on his pare ...
for dissection.
Recovery
The physicians opened Greene's coffin the following day and discovered that she had a faint pulse and was weakly breathing. Petty and Willis sought the help of their Oxford colleagues
Ralph Bathurst
Ralph Bathurst, FRS (1620 – 14 June 1704) was an English theologian and physician.
Early life
He was born in Hothorpe, Northamptonshire in 1620 and educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry.
He graduated with a B.A. degree from Trinity C ...
and
Henry Clerke. The group of physicians tried many remedies to revive Greene, including pouring hot
cordial down her throat, rubbing her limbs and extremities,
bloodletting
Bloodletting (or blood-letting) is the withdrawal of blood from a patient to prevent or cure illness and disease. Bloodletting, whether by a physician or by leeches, was based on an ancient system of medicine in which blood and other bodily flu ...
, applying a
poultice
A poultice, also called a cataplasm, is a soft moist mass, often heated and medicated, that is spread on cloth and placed over the skin to treat an aching, inflamed, or painful part of the body. It can be used on wounds, such as cuts.
'Poultice' ...
to her breasts, and having a
Tobacco smoke enema
The tobacco smoke enema, an Insufflation (medicine), insufflation of tobacco smoke into the rectum by enema, was a medical treatment employed by European physicians for a range of ailments.
Tobacco was recognised as a medicine soon after it was ...
. The physicians then placed her in a warm bed with another woman, who rubbed her and kept her warm. Greene began to recover quickly, beginning to speak after twelve to fourteen hours of treatment and eating solid food after four days. Within one month she had fully recovered, aside from
amnesia
Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use ...
about the time surrounding her execution.
The authorities granted Greene a reprieve from execution while she recovered and ultimately pardoned her, believing that the
hand of God had saved her, demonstrating her innocence.
Furthermore, one pamphleteer notes that Sir Thomas Read died three days after Greene's execution, so there was no prosecutor to object to the pardon. However, another pamphleteer writes that her recovery "moved some of her enemies to wrath and indignation, insomuch that a great man amongst the rest, moved to have her again carried to the place of execution, to be hanged up by the neck, contrary to all Law, reason and justice; but some honest Souldiers then present seemed to be very much discontent thereat" and intervened on Greene's behalf.
After her recovery, Greene went to stay with friends in the country, taking the coffin with her. She married, had three children and died in 1659.
Cultural significance
The event inspired two 17th-century pamphlets. The first, by W. Burdet, was entitled ''A Wonder of Wonders'' (Oxford, 1651) in its first edition and ''A Declaration from Oxford, of Anne Greene'' in its second edition. Burdet's pamphlets portray the event in miraculous, metaphysical terms. In 1651, Richard Watkins also published a pamphlet containing a sober, medically accurate prose account of the event and poems inspired by it, entitled ''Newes from the Dead'' (Oxford: Leonard Lichfield, 1651). The poems, of which there were 25 in various languages, included a set of English verses by
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...
, who was at that time a
gentleman-commoner
A commoner is a student at certain universities in the British Isles who historically pays for his own tuition and commons, typically contrasted with scholars and exhibitioners, who were given financial emoluments towards their fees.
Cambridge
...
(a student who paid all fees in advance) of
Wadham College
Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road.
Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...
.
Greene's story was also mentioned in the 1659 English edition of
Denis Pétau
Denis Pétau (21 August 158311 December 1652), also known as Dionysius Petavius, was a French Jesuit theologian.
Life
Pétau was born at Orléans, where he had his initial education; he then attended the University of Paris, where he successfully ...
's ''The History of the World'' and in
Robert Plot
Robert Plot (13 December 1640 – 30 April 1696) was an English naturalist, first Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford, and the first keeper of the Ashmolean Museum.
Early life and education
Born in Borden, Kent to parents Robe ...
's 1677 ''The Natural History of Oxfordshire''. Plot's book is the first account known to have mentioned Greene's later marriage and the year of her death.
References
Citations
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Greene, Anne
Execution survivors
Murder in 1650
People from Oxfordshire
Women who experienced pregnancy loss
1628 births
1659 deaths
17th-century English women
17th-century executions by England