Rebecca Smith – The Last Woman in Britain to Hang for Infanticide

Background and Domestic Poverty

Rebecca Smith was about 44 years old.

She moved to Westbury in Wiltshire with her husband, Philip, whom she married on the 5th of May 1831 and would give birth to eleven children by him.

She was described as “undernourished and in poor health, living in abject poverty and almost illiterate”. Her husband, Philip, was an alcoholic who seldom worked and frittered away the £100 that her father left her.

It seems that she thought that ending the children’s lives by murder was a less cruel fate than death by slow starvation.

Of these children, only one would survive, a daughter. Two died of natural causes, by no means uncommon at this time.

She ultimately confessed to murdering seven of her children with a rodent poison called “Blue” and her infant son Richard with arsenic.

The Murder of Richard Smith

Richard Smith was born on the 16th of May 1849 at Westbury.

The crime came to light when neighbours became suspicious of Rebecca telling them that Richard was “wasting away” when he appeared to be healthy.

She had asked a girl called Caroline Mackay to purchase arsenic, and Richard then died suddenly on the 12th of June.

The police investigated the death and discovered arsenic in his remains. Rebecca was then arrested and charged with murder.

The Trial at Devizes Assizes

She was tried for the murder of Richard at Devizes before Mr. Justice Cresswell on Tuesday the 7th of August 1849.

The jury made a recommendation to mercy.

However, in the condemned cell she confessed to the chaplain of Devizes Gaol that she had systematically poisoned seven of her previous children shortly after birth.

A contemporary account described her demeanor as she awaited death:

“Her conduct was most becoming. Mild and contented in her manner and deportment, it might be thought that she was totally incapable of the unnatural crime of which she was convicted. Free from guile or hypocrisy, she at once unhesitatingly confessed her crime, and acknowledged the justice of the punishment that awaited her, and frequently expressed a hope that others would take warning by her fate. At the same time, she was extremely ignorant, and betrayed a want of any deep feeling.”

This account was syndicated and published in a number of contemporary newspapers.

Public Execution at Devizes Gaol

From early on the morning of execution, the streets leading to the gaol were thronged with people.

At noon on Thursday the 23rd August 1849, she was hanged by William Calcraft before a large crowd outside the New Prison in Devizes, Wiltshire.

Using his customary short drop, Calcraft carried out the sentence in public, nearly two decades before the abolition of public hangings in 1868.

Legal Reforms and the Infanticide Acts

Although it was normal practice for judges and the Home Office to recommend a reprieve for a woman who had killed a newborn after 1849, it was not until the passing of the Infanticide Act 1922 that juries were legally permitted to return a verdict of infanticide rather than murder.

This reform was further enhanced by the Infanticide Act 1938, which formally made the killing of a child under one year of age by its mother a non-capital offence if the balance of her mind was disturbed by reason of giving birth or lactation.

This legislation finally provided statutory recognition for post-partum depression and severe maternal psychosis under British law.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Rebecca Smith?

Rebecca Smith was a 44-year-old impoverished mother from Westbury, Wiltshire, who was convicted and executed in August 1849 for fatally poisoning her one-month-old son Richard with arsenic.

Why is Rebecca Smith’s execution historically significant?

She was the very last woman in British history to be executed for infanticide—the murder of her own infant child. Following her execution in 1849, every subsequent woman convicted in Britain of murdering her newborn was reprieved, leading ultimately to the Infanticide Acts of 1922 and 1938.

How many children did Rebecca Smith confess to killing?

While tried solely for the death of her son Richard, Smith confessed to the prison chaplain in the condemned cell that she had poisoned seven of her previous infants shortly after birth using arsenic and a commercial vermin poison known as “Blue” to save them from starvation.

Where and when was Rebecca Smith executed?

She was publicly hanged outside the New Prison (Devizes Gaol) in Wiltshire at noon on Thursday, 23 August 1849, by executioner William Calcraft.

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