Jane Wenham

Jane Wenham (d. 1730) was the subject of what is commonly but erroneously regarded as the last witch trial in England. The trial took place in 1712 (not 1716 as some modern sources say) and was reported widely in printed tracts of the period, notably F. Bragge's "A full and impartial account of the discovery of sorcery and witchcraft practis'd by Jane Wenham of Walkerne in Hertfordshire" (published 1712).

Wenham was accused after she said in a losing court proceeding that she would have justice "some other way." After she made that statement, her adversary's daughter sickened and livestock died. Wenham was put on trial in 1712. The trial caused a sensation in London. The popular press printed multiple broadsheets proclaiming her innocence or guilt.

During her trial, she was asked to repeat the Lord's Prayer, as it was believed that no witch could do so. During the recitation, she stumbled. Also, when her lodgings were searched, a potion, believed to be magical, was discovered under her pillow. She was convicted, but the judge set aside her conviction, suspending the death penalty, and seeking a royal pardon from Queen Anne.

Her cause was adopted by William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper, a Whig aristocrat, and she was moved from her home town and secreted in a cottage on his lands, where she lived for the rest of her life. Later in her life, Francis Hutcheson visited with her and deemed her a simple, pious woman.

Trials and executions for witchcraft continued in England after the Wenham case. One such case involved Mary Hickes and her nine-year-old daughter Elizabeth, who were condemned to death by the assizes and were hanged in Huntingdon on Saturday 28 July, 1716. They were believed to have taken off their stockings in order to raise a rainstorm.

References

*Alan Akeroyd and Caroline Clifford, "Huntingdon: Eight Centuries of History" (2004)

External links

* [http://www.earlymodernweb.org.uk/emn/index.php/archives/2004/10/from-the-dnb-the-last-convicted-witch-in-england/ From the "Dictionary of National Biography"] Note that this source quotes the 1716 date.