Public Reaction and the Tyburn Journey
There was usually an ambivalent attitude amongst the public towards criminals on their way to execution at Tyburn.
Yes, they had committed crimes, but crowds turned out to watch the spectacle, especially if the condemned participated and behaved bravely. Spectators along the way and around the gallows often extended sympathy to the prisoners.
However, there was absolutely no public sympathy for the lone woman in the cart on the morning of Monday, September 14th, 1767.
She had systematically tortured and abused her parish apprentice girls, ultimately killing one of them. Attitudes to child abuse and murder have not changed over the centuries; the crowds expressed total abhorrence of her crimes, praying for her damnation rather than her salvation and shouting that “the devil would fetch her”.
Early Life and Professional Standing
The object of this public hatred was 47-year-old Elizabeth Brownrigg.
She was born in 1720 to a working-class family and, as a teenager, married James Brownrigg, an apprentice plumber. The couple had sixteen children, of whom only three survived to adulthood—a reflection of high infant mortality rates at the time.
The marriage was outwardly successful, and James’s plumbing business prospered.
Elizabeth established a thriving practice as a midwife from their home at Flower-de-luce Court in London’s Fetter Lane.
She was officially appointed by the parish overseers of St Dunstan-in-the-West to care for destitute women in the workhouse, a role in which she initially earned praise for showing care and consideration.
As demand for her services grew, she resolved to take on parish apprentice girls to assist her.
The Apprentices and Systematic Abuse
Mary Mitchell from Whitefriars was the first parish apprentice to join the Brownrigg household in 1765, followed shortly by Mary Jones.
Both girls were subjected to incessant physical and verbal cruelty, receiving severe beatings for minor domestic errors.
Under the apprenticeship conventions of the 18th century, a juvenile could be placed with a master or mistress for a probationary month “on liking”; if satisfied, the child would be legally bound by parish indentures for several years.
Mary Jones was initially treated well, but as soon as her indenture was sealed, the abuse escalated.
Noticing that the house key was left in the front latch overnight, Mary Jones successfully escaped and fled to the Foundling Hospital.
A physician examined her and documented severe bruising and lacerations across her body. The hospital’s governors directed their solicitor to write to James Brownrigg threatening prosecution.
Brownrigg ignored the warning, and the hospital chose not to pursue the case further.
Mary Mitchell remained with the family for about a year before attempting to flee.
She was spotted in the street by one of the Brownriggs’ sons, dragged back to Fetter Lane, and subjected to harsher punishments to break her resolve.
Mary Clifford’s Tragic Fate
In early 1766, fourteen-year-old Mary Clifford was apprenticed to the Brownriggs by the overseers of the Whitefriars precinct.
As with her predecessors, she was treated tolerably during her probationary trial, but savage beatings began the moment the legal indentures were signed.
On July 12th, 1767, Mary’s stepmother, also named Mary Clifford, went to visit her but was turned away at the door by servants instructed to deny the girl’s presence.
Disturbed by the encounter, Mrs. Clifford consulted her husband and persuaded a neighbouring tradesman, Mr. Deacon, to have his servant William Clipson keep watch on the Brownrigg premises.
On Monday, August 3rd, Clipson observed a severely beaten and emaciated girl in the back yard.
The matter was reported to Mr. William Grundy, overseer of St Dunstan’s, who went to the residence alongside Mr. Elsdale, overseer of Whitefriars. They confronted the Brownriggs and demanded that the girl be produced.
After an altercation, the family brought out Mary Mitchell. However, Clipson stated she was not the girl he had seen in the yard.
Overriding threats of legal action from the Brownriggs, Grundy searched the property and discovered Mary Clifford locked inside a dark cupboard.
Her stepmother described her horrific state:
“her face was swelled as big as two, her mouth was so swelled she could not shut it, and she was cut all under her throat, as if it had been with a cane, she could not speak; all her shoulders had sores all in one, she had two bits of rags upon them.”
Mary Clifford was transported immediately to the workhouse infirmary while James Brownrigg was placed under arrest.
Elizabeth and her son John fled into hiding.
Mary Clifford was transferred to St Bartholomew’s Hospital, where she succumbed to severe infection and trauma on August 9th, 1767.
A coroner’s inquest returned a verdict of wilful murder against James, Elizabeth, and John Brownrigg.
Flight, Capture, and Old Bailey Trial
Elizabeth and John adopted disguises and relocated across London, eventually renting a room in Wandsworth from a chandler named Mr. Dunbar.
On August 15th, Dunbar recognized his lodgers from newspaper reward notices and alerted a parish constable. Mother and son were arrested and remanded to Newgate Prison.
Their trial took place at the September Sessions of the Old Bailey on September 7th, 1767, before Sir Robert Kite, Lord Mayor of London.
The trial lasted eleven hours, with sixteen-year-old apprentice Mary Mitchell serving as the prosecution’s principal witness.
The Evidence of Torture
Mary Mitchell testified that Mary Clifford had been repeatedly beaten over the head and shoulders with walking canes and horsewhips, and was forced to sleep naked on bare floorboards in the parlour or unlit cellar.
When Mary Clifford was once caught breaking into a cupboard in search of food, she was stripped completely naked, whipped mercilessly, and chained by the neck to a cellar door.
The evidence against Elizabeth was damning:
“used to tie her (Mary Clifford) up in the kitchen when first she began to be at her, she used to tie her up to the water-pipe, with her two hands drawed up above her head.”
Elizabeth frequently used a horsewhip, rarely stopping until blood was drawn.
A heavy iron hook was later driven into a kitchen beam specifically to suspend Mary Clifford naked while Elizabeth whipped her.
Testimony from James Brownrigg’s apprentice, George Benham, confirmed that after James was locked in the Compter prison, he secretly instructed Benham to remove the iron hook from the kitchen beam and burn every cane and stick in the house.
William Denbeigh, the workhouse doctor who examined Mary Clifford, described her condition:
“The top of her head and shoulders and back, appeared very bloody; I turned down the sheet, and found from the bottom of her feet to the top of her head almost one continued sore, scars that seemed as if cut with an instrument upon the body, legs, and thighs; upon one hip was a very large wound; it spread about half the palm of my hand.”
Surgeon Mr. Young of St Bartholomew’s Hospital confirmed that extensive physical trauma and ulceration caused her death.
Verdict and Capital Sentence
In her defence, Elizabeth claimed that the neck injury was caused by an accidental fall against a saucepan handle, an explanation dismissed by the medical witnesses.
The jury acquitted James and John Brownrigg of murder, but both were convicted of misdemeanour assaults against Mary Mitchell, receiving six months’ imprisonment and a fine of one shilling each.
Elizabeth Brownrigg was found guilty of wilful murder.
On Friday, September 11th, the judge pronounced the sentence of death:
“It is my duty to pronounce sentence in accordance with the law, that you are to be taken from hence to the prison from whence you came; that you be removed on Monday next, the 14th of this instant September, to the usual place of execution, and there to be hanged by the neck until you are dead; your body afterwards, to be dissected and anatomised, according to the statute – and God have mercy on your soul.”
Under the Murder Act 1751, capital sentences for murder mandated post-mortem anatomical dissection.
Public Execution at Tyburn
Elizabeth was returned to Newgate and placed in heavy irons in the condemned cell on a diet of bread and water.
Over the weekend, she confessed the justice of her sentence to the Ordinary of Newgate, the Reverend Joseph Moore.
On the morning of Monday, September 14th, 1767, she had a final meeting with her husband and son in the Press Yard, where the family prayed together.
Her irons were removed by a blacksmith, her arms were corded, and the halter was secured around her neck.
She was placed in the execution cart alongside London hangman Thomas Turlis for the journey across the city to Tyburn.
A hostile crowd lined the route from Newgate to Tyburn, hurling insults and calling for her execution. Reverend Moore later wrote:
“This unchristian behaviour greatly shocked me and I could not help exclaiming: Are these people called Christians?”
At the Tyburn gallows, Brownrigg prayed with the Ordinary and made a final public acknowledgement of her guilt.
She was “turned off” the cart under the short drop and hung for the customary thirty minutes.
Her corpse was transferred in a hackney coach to Surgeons’ Hall, where it was dissected in accordance with the statute. Her articulated skeleton was subsequently placed on permanent display in the anatomical museum of the Company of Surgeons.
Apprentice abuse cases were not unknown under 18th-century law—parallel convictions occurred with Elizabeth Wigenton in 1681, Elizabeth and Mary Branch in Somerset in 1740, and Sarah Metyard at Tyburn in 1762.
Other notable 18th-century executions from this era include Ann Beddingfield at Ipswich in 1763 and Joseph Harris at Tyburn in 1777.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Elizabeth Brownrigg?
Elizabeth Brownrigg was a 47-year-old London midwife from Fetter Lane who was convicted and executed in September 1767 for the sadistic torture and murder of her 14-year-old parish apprentice, Mary Clifford.
What acts of abuse did Elizabeth Brownrigg commit?
Brownrigg subjected her female parish apprentices to starvation and repeated beatings. She installed a dedicated iron hook in her kitchen ceiling beam from which she suspended Mary Clifford naked to whip her with horsewhips and canes, leaving her body covered in open wounds.
What happened to Elizabeth Brownrigg’s husband and son?
James Brownrigg and their son John were acquitted of the capital murder charge at the Old Bailey, but both were convicted of misdemeanour assault against surviving apprentice Mary Mitchell and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.
What happened to Elizabeth Brownrigg’s body after execution?
Under the Murder Act 1751, her body was taken directly from Tyburn to Surgeons’ Hall for public dissection. Her skeleton was cleaned, mounted, and kept on long-term display in the anatomical theatre.
Where and when was Elizabeth Brownrigg executed?
She was hanged at Tyburn on the morning of Monday, 14 September 1767, by executioner Thomas Turlis, before one of the most hostile crowds recorded in 18th-century London.
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