Elizabeth Brownrigg (1720 – 14 September 1767) was an 18th-century English murderer. Her victim, Mary Clifford, was one of her domestic servants, who died from cumulative injuries and associated infected wounds. As a result of witness testimony and medical evidence at her trial, Brownrigg was hanged at

Tyburn Tyburn was a manor (estate) in the county of Middlesex, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. The parish, probably therefore also the manor, was bounded by Roman roads to the west (modern Edgware Road) and south (modern Ox ...

on 14 September 1767.

Early life: 1720–1765

Born in 1720 to a

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

family, Elizabeth married James Brownrigg, an apprentice

plumber A plumber is a tradesperson who specializes in installing and maintaining systems used for potable (drinking) water, and for sewage and drainage in plumbing systems.

, while still a teenager. She gave birth to sixteen children, but only three survived infancy. In 1765, Elizabeth, James and their son John moved to Flower de Luce Road in London's

Fetter Lane Fetter Lane is a street in the ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. It forms part of the A4 road and runs between Fleet Street at its southern end and Holborn. History The street was originally called Faytor or Faiter Lane, then Fe ...

. James was prospering from his career as a plumber, and Elizabeth was a respected

midwife A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; co ...

. As a result of her work, Saint Dunstans Parish appointed her overseer of women and children, and she was given custody of several female children as domestic servants from the London

Foundling Hospital The Foundling Hospital in London, England, was founded in 1739 by the philanthropic sea captain Thomas Coram. It was a children's home established for the "education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children." The word "hospital" w ...

Foundling Hospital: vocational and educational debate

Since

Thomas Coram Captain Thomas Coram (c. 1668 – 29 March 1751) was an English sea captain and philanthropist who created the London Foundling Hospital in Lamb's Conduit Fields, Bloomsbury, to look after abandoned children on the streets of London. It is said ...

had founded it in 1739, there had been a constant debate about what the station of the Foundling Hospital's young charges should be: whether they were being overeducated, or whether they should be subject to

vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an ind ...

and trained for

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...

s, which would lead to future stable lives as domestic servants. The latter was decided upon, and the Foundling Hospital began to tender older children and young adolescents for vocational training as apprentices in 1759, shortly before the events described in this entry took place. Elizabeth Brownrigg was not the only abusive adult who used hapless children as slave labor, however, as contemporary accounts indicate. After the events described in this entry, the Foundling Hospital instituted greater safeguards of oversight for apprenticeship tendering, and reported cases of apprentice abuse dropped considerably.

Abuse of servants: 1765–1767

Little biographical information is available to explain her subsequent behavior. However, Elizabeth Brownrigg proved ill-suited to the task of caring for her foundling domestic servants and soon began to engage in severe physical abuse. This often involved stripping her young charges naked, chaining them to wooden beams or pipes, and then

whipping Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on ...

them severely with

switches In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...

bullwhip A bullwhip is a single-tailed whip, usually made of braided leather or nylon, designed as a tool for working with livestock or competition. Bullwhips are pastoral tools, traditionally used to control livestock in open country. A bullwhip's leng ...

handles and other implements for the slightest infraction of her rules. Mary Jones, one of her earlier charges, ran away from her house and sought sanctuary with the London

. After a medical examination, the Governors of the London Foundling Hospital demanded that James Brownrigg keep his wife's abusive tendencies in check, but enforced no further action. Heedless of this reprimand, Brownrigg also severely abused two other domestic servants, Mary Mitchell and Mary Clifford. Like Jones before her, Mitchell sought refuge from the abusive behavior of her employer, but John Brownrigg forced her to return to Flower de Luce Road. Clifford was entrusted to Brownrigg's care, despite the Governors' earlier concerns about her abusive behaviour towards her charges. As a result, Brownrigg engaged in more excessive punishment towards Clifford. She was kept naked, forced to sleep on a mat inside a

coal hole A coal hole is a hatch in the pavement (sidewalk, in US usage) above an underground coal bunker. They are sometimes found outside houses that existed during the period when coal was widely used for domestic heating from the early 19th century t ...

, and when she forced open cupboards for food because she was fed only bread and water, Elizabeth Brownrigg repeatedly beat her for a day's duration, chained to a roof beam in her kitchen. By June 1767 Mitchell and Clifford were experiencing infection of their untreated wounds, and Brownrigg's repeated assaults gave them no time to heal. Beginning to suspect something was awry, Brownrigg's neighbours asked the London Foundling Hospital to further investigate the premises. As a result, Brownrigg yielded Mary Mitchell, but Foundling Hospital Inspector Grundy then demanded to know where Clifford was, and took James Brownrigg prisoner, although Elizabeth and John Brownrigg escaped. Public feeling ran high against the Brownriggs, ensuring their capture would be swift. In Wandsworth, a chandler recognised the fugitives, and the trio stood trial in the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

in August 1767.

Trial and execution: August–September 1767

By this time, Mary Clifford had succumbed to her infected wounds, and Elizabeth Brownrigg was charged with her murder. At th
trial
Mary Mitchell testified against her former employer, as did Grundy and an apprentice of James Brownrigg. Medical evidence and autopsy results indicated that Brownrigg's repeated assaults and negligence of Clifford's injuries had contributed to the fourteen-year-old's death, so Elizabeth Brownrigg was sentenced to hang at Tyburn and her corpse be publicly dissected. While awaiting execution, she expressed remorse and prayed for salvation. Crowds condemned her on the way to her execution, spitting and shouting at her. :“On her way to the place of execution the people expressed their abhorrence of her crime in terms which, though not proper for the occasion, testified their astonishment that such a wretch could have existed: they even prayed for her

damnation Damnation (from Latin '' damnatio'') is the concept of divine punishment and torment in an afterlife for actions that were committed, or in some cases, not committed on Earth. In Ancient Egyptian religious tradition, citizens would recite th ...

instead of her salvation: they doubted not but that ‘the devil would fetch her,’ and hoped that ‘she would go to hell.’ Such were the sentiments of the mob.” Even sixty years later, ''

The Newgate Calendar ''The Newgate Calendar'', subtitled ''The Malefactors' Bloody Register'', was a popular work of improving literature in the 18th and 19th centuries. Originally a monthly wikt:bulletin, bulletin of executions, produced by the Prison governor, ...

'' crime periodical still bore testimony to the impression that Elizabeth Brownrigg's crimes had made on

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

and Victorian England.

References

General references

*''Elizabeth Brownrigg: Executed for Torturing Her Female Apprentices to Death'' (from the ''Newgate Calendar'', Volume 2: 1825: 369–374

*''James Brownrigg, His Wife Elizabeth and Their Son John: Killing: Murder, Killing: Murder, 9 September 1767'': The Proceedings of the Old Bailey Ref. t17670909:''The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London 1674 to 1834''

*Trial of James, Elizabeth and John Brownrigg at the Old Bailey Online: https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t17670909-1-punish11&div=t17670909-1&terms=fleet_street#highlight

Bibliography

*Marthe Jocelyn: ''A Home for Foundlings'': Toronto: Tundra Books: 2005: *Ruth McClure: ''Coram's Children: The London Foundling Hospital in the Eighteenth Century:'' New Haven: Yale University Press: 1981: *Patty Seleski: "A Mistress, A Mother and A Murderess Too: Elizabeth Brownrigg and the Social Construction of the Eighteenth Century Mistress" in Katherine Kitredge (ed): ''Lewd and Notorious: Female Transgression in the Eighteenth Century:'' Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press: 2003: *Kristina Straub: "The Tortured Apprentice: Sexual Monstrosity and the Suffering of Poor Children in the Brownrigg Murder Case" (p. 66–81) in Laura Rosenthal and Mita Choudhary (ed) ''Monstrous Dreams of Reason'': London: Associated Universities Presses: 2002: *Lisa Zunshine: ''Bastards and Foundlings: Illegitimacy in Eighteenth Century England:'' Columbus: Ohio State University Press: 2005: {{DEFAULTSORT:Brownrigg, Elizabeth 1720 births 1767 deaths British female murderers English midwives English murderers of children English people convicted of murder Executed English people Executed English women Murder in London People convicted of murder by England and Wales People executed at Tyburn People executed by England and Wales by hanging People executed by the Kingdom of Great Britain People executed for murder