Introduction
In the second of the series on infanticide, we examine the case of Ann Statham, who may well have been suffering from post-natal depression.
Background and Relationship
Life Before the Crime
Ann Statham was an unmarried 28-year-old woman who had lived with her mother near Wichnor (now spelled Wychnor), between Lichfield and Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire. Thomas Webster drove the mail coach between Birmingham and Derby and had come to know Ann, who lived just a few yards from the main road that he traversed on each journey.
They formed a relationship, and she moved to Birmingham to be with him. They had been living together for some ten months at the time of the crime, and Ann had quickly become pregnant by him. Unlike some men of the time, it seems that Thomas was happy to support Ann and the baby.
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Birth and Return to Wichnor
In June 1816, the now heavily pregnant Ann moved to Derby, where her baby boy was born. She returned to Wichnor aboard Thomas’ coach on the 23rd of July, when the baby was five weeks old.
She stopped off at nearby Burton-on-Trent on the way back and went to visit John Mason, a constable in the town. John saw that Ann had a baby with her and heard it cry, although he later told her trial that he could not identify the baby, as he did not see its face, which was covered by a shawl.
The Disappearance of the Baby
Suspicious Behavior
On the following Saturday, John took Ann to the Three Tuns public house in Wichnor and noticed that she did not have the baby with her. He enquired after it and was told by Ann that it had died suddenly—she thought from a fit. She said that she was going to bury the baby at Walton, and John offered her money to help with the funeral expenses, which she told him she didn’t need.
The Last Sighting
On the evening of Tuesday the 29th of July, Ann was walking along the towpath of the Trent and Mersey Canal and was seen with the baby by a bargeman named John Deakin. He testified at her trial that the bank was in poor condition and very muddy.
Ann’s Explanation
The wife of the landlord of the Three Tuns, Mrs. Thompson, had spoken to Ann on Tuesday evening. Ann told her that she had suffered a fit whilst walking along the towpath and dropped the baby, who had fallen into the canal. This surprised Mrs. Thompson, as she had known Ann for some years and had never known her to have a fit.
Discovery of the Body and Arrest
Body Found
The body was recovered by another bargeman, Thomas Wooton, on Sunday the 28th of July. He spotted a small bundle in a white bed gown and cap floating in the water. He took it to the Three Tuns where it was placed in the store room.
Identification
Early Sunday morning, the body of the baby was viewed by John Mason. It appeared to be about the same age as Ann’s baby. John sent for Charles Nicholls, another constable from Burton. Nicholls went to Ann’s mother’s house, where she was eating breakfast with her mother, and questioned her.
When asked where her baby was, Ann became agitated and claimed it was in Derby. Nicholls reminded her that she had been seen with the baby near the Three Tuns on Tuesday evening, but she simply repeated that the baby was in Derby. This unsatisfactory answer led to her arrest.
William Challinor, a butcher from Burton, had also seen Ann with the baby a few days earlier and had been able to see its face, allowing him to positively identify the dead baby as hers.
Inquest and Cause of Death
Mr. Enoch Hand, the Coroner, performed the inquest on the corpse. He asked Ann if the child had been christened, and she told him that it had—as William Statham. Death was found to be due to drowning, and it was recorded that there were no marks of violence on the body.
Trial and Sentencing
Pre-trial Confession
Ann was taken to Burton and committed by the magistrates to stand trial at Stafford Assizes, charged with the baby’s murder. During the journey to Stafford Gaol on Tuesday the 8th of August, Charles Nicholls reported that Ann had asked him, “Do you think I shall be hung?” and added, “They cannot hang me for nobody saw me.”
The Trial
Ann had to wait nearly nine months until the Staffordshire Lent Assizes of 1817. Her trial took place on Wednesday the 19th of March before Mr. Justice Park. The prosecution was led by Mr. Dauncey, and all the witnesses mentioned earlier gave evidence against her.
Mr. Justice Park pointed out the various contradictions in Ann’s story to the all-male jury, who returned a verdict of guilty.
The Sentence
Before passing sentence, the judge commented on the particularly heinous nature of murdering an infant, especially given that she had apparently been breastfeeding the child one moment and had dropped him into a canal the next.
There was no apparent motive: Thomas Webster, the father, was willing to support both Ann and the baby, and she was not ostracized by friends or at risk of losing her job.
He passed sentence:
“She was to be taken to the place from whence she came and that on Friday next she was to be taken from there to the place of execution where she was to be hanged by the neck until she was dead and that afterwards her body was to be delivered to the surgeons for dissection.”
Ann became the first woman to be executed outside Stafford Gaol.
The Execution
Preparations and Gallows Collapse
As was customary at many prisons at this time, the gallows was set up over the imposing main entrance of the gaol on the flat roof of the gatehouse. This location was easier to guard and afforded the many spectators a good view.
In the condemned cell, Ann seemed resigned to her fate and had confessed her guilt to the chaplain.
The execution was scheduled between eleven o’clock in the morning and noon. Soon after eleven, Ann was led up onto the gatehouse roof in a procession with the under-sheriff, the chaplain, and several turnkeys. As she knelt in prayer with the chaplain, the structure collapsed, sending all present into a heap on the roof below.
The gallows was quickly repaired, and the execution took place about an hour later. By then, Ann was in a great state of agitation and had to be supported on the drop by two turnkeys.
The unidentified executioner released the bolt, and Ann paid the ultimate price for her crime. Her body was left to hang for the customary hour before being taken back into the gaol. It seems she was not actually dissected, but that her body was symbolically cut several times before being returned to her friends for burial.
Reflections and Modern Perspective
If one accepts the evidence against Ann—which is difficult to question two centuries later—it is clear that there was no recognition of the possibility that she was suffering from post-natal depression at the time.
Could this explain her actions?
As stated earlier, it appears the father was willing to support Ann and the baby. She was not stigmatized by her friends or in danger of losing her job as a result of her pregnancy or William’s birth.
In 1817, she was simply seen as evil and a murderess. Today, she would be viewed quite differently and likely examined by psychologists to determine her motives and responsibility.
Aftermath and Legacy
Execution Records and Changes
Strangely, the Staffordshire Advertiser newspaper makes no mention of the gallows collapse, nor does it give any real details of her execution.
Ann was the last prisoner to be hanged on top of the gatehouse lodge at Stafford. From then on, executions were performed on a portable gallows drawn out in front of the gatehouse, similar in pattern to the one used at Newgate.
This arrangement was used for the execution of Edward Campbell for uttering forgery on the 16th of August 1817—the only other person hanged in the county that year.
Ann was one of seventeen prisoners condemned at the Lent Assizes but the only one to be executed.
Other Female Executions at Stafford
Only three more women were executed at Stafford:
- Mary Smith (24) for the murder of her illegitimate child at Bloxwich, hanged on Wednesday the 19th of March 1834.
- Ann Wycherley for child murder, executed on the 5th of May 1838.
- Sarah Westwood for poisoning her husband with arsenic, executed on Saturday the 13th of January 1844.
Male executions continued at Stafford until 1914, when part of the prison was turned over to the military during World War I. Afterward, Staffordshire executions took place at Winson Green Prison in Birmingham.
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