Sarah Malcolm ( – early March 1733) was a British

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

er who was sketched by

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like s ...

as she awaited execution for a multiple murder.

Life

Malcolm came from an Anglo–Irish family in

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, where she was born around 1710. She was brought up in Dublin. She came to London and found work in domestic service, working as a laundress for residents above the Inns of the Court. She came to know an old lady named Lydia Duncomb (aged about 80). Duncomb lived with two maids: Elizabeth Harrison (aged about 60), who was infirm; and Ann Price (aged about 17). In February 1733 the three women were found murdered and their apartment burgled, and Malcolm was brought in for questioning. Malcolm confessed to being involved in the robbery (itself a

capital crime Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

), but said that she was part of a group of four. If she could have implicated the other three for the murders then she might still have escaped a death sentence, but the investigators were not convinced. The key evidence was that her clothing had blood stains (Malcolm claimed this was simply her own menstrual blood rather than the blood of the victims) and that 45

guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from t ...

were found hidden in her hair. During the trial she defended herself, and Jane Magreth considers that her defence was "convincing" and "at least worthy of consideration". Arthur Griffiths,

military historian Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships. Professional historians norma ...

, author and prison administrator states that she was an "unsexed desparado", her murders of "particular atrocity even in those bloodthirsty times". Malcolm was sentenced to be hanged after the jury took 15 minutes to decide her guilt.Ian Donnachie, ‘Malcolm, Sarah (c.1710–1733)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 7 Aug 2014
/ref> 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 ...

in London in early March 1733, still denying the killing, she is remembered because

visited her in

Newgate Prison Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, t ...

a few days before she was executed and sketched her and later arranged for both an engraving and later an oil painting to be made of her. Hogarth was not alone in exploiting her notoriety as others went to see if they could gain a confession that they could publish.Sarah Malcolm
The Tate, retrieved 7 August 2014

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Malcolm, Sarah 1733 deaths People from Durham, England British female murderers Year of birth missing English people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by England and Wales People executed for murder People executed by the Kingdom of Great Britain Executed British people People executed by England and Wales by hanging Executed English women