Brownrigg, Elizabeth (1720–1767)

English murderer. Born Elizabeth Harkly (or Hartley) in 1720; hanged at Tyburn, England, on September 14, 1767; married James Brownrigg (an apprentice plumber); children: sixteen, three of whom survived childhood.

Married to a prospering plumber, Elizabeth Brownrigg lost 13 of her 16 children in infancy, and, in light her subsequent behavior, it is possible that she was at least a contributory factor in their deaths. She went on to build a successful, respected midwifery practice, which kept her so busy that she was forced to take in apprentices from the local workhouse, where unwanted children were housed and put up for hire. Brownrigg abused three successive teenage apprentices, all named Mary, starving and beating the girls at will and forcing them to work 18 hours a day. The abuse grew increasingly severe with each victim and was often carried out in front of her husband and son, who were said to enjoy their participation as spectators. Brownrigg managed to avoid investigation for a long time, even after one of the girls escaped and made her way to a foundling hospital.

Brownrigg's crimes were not disclosed until the stepmother of the third apprentice demanded to see her child and was turned away; consequently, authorities searched the house and found the victim, who had been severely beaten, crammed into a small cupboard. The child later died of her massive injuries. After an unsuccessful escape attempt, Brownrigg was captured and brought to trial for murder. Silent and offering no defense, she was condemned to execution, while her husband and son were given six-months in prison and fined one shilling each. On September 14, 1767, Elizabeth Brownrigg was hanged in front of one of the largest, and angriest, crowds ever assembled for a public execution in England.