The Execution of "The Yorkshire Witch"

Mary Bateman (Mary Harker; Asenby, Yorkshire, England, 1768 – York, England, 20th March 1809)

Today we meet a lady who was known to Georgian England as a villain. Poisoner, con woman and all-round bad egg, Mary Bateman travelled from humble beginnings to the scaffold and earned herself the nickname, the Yorkshire Witch. Now, I know Yorkshire very well and it is a county of most singular sorts, but I am relieved to say that I have never met anyone quite like Mary.

Bateman was the daughter of a North Yorkshire farmer and after enjoying a good education, left home to take up a domestic role in a household in Thirsk. However, the young woman was eventually fired from her position after indulging in some petty thievery and at the age of 24 she married John Bateman, with whom she travelled around the north.

With no means of employment, she continued her criminal career and branched out into confidence trickery, often employing the story that she possessed psychic powers. By the turn of the century she was living in Leeds, making a living as the supposed go-between for an entirely fictional oracle named Mrs Moore, though she later also claimed to serve a Mrs Blythe. Bateman claimed that these women could read the future, give blessings and also prepare potions that might provide protection against evil.

In 1806 Rebecca Perigo complained to her husband, William, that she was suffering from chest pains. Fearful that the woman had been cursed, the superstitious couple went to see Bateman and she cooked up a most singular pudding, with an added dash of mercury chloride. Whilst William could not manage to keep the pudding down, Rebecca dined on it religiously and perhaps unsurprisingly, died in May 1806. Not at all suspicious of Bateman, William continued to employ her services for two years, paying her regularly in return for prophecies that stated he would soon be in possession of a financial windfall.

When no pennies from heaven rained down on William, he finally began to grow suspicious of the magic charms Bateman had sold him. Many tiny silk pouches containing supposed blessings were stitched into William's bedsheets by Bateman and when he unfolded them, the unfortunate man was shocked to find himself in possession of nothing but scraps of blank paper. Finally he went to the authorities and told them of all that had happened since he had first met Mary Bateman.

When Bateman was arrested, she protested her innocence vociferously but her house was found to contain poison and items procured from the people under her influence. At her trial in York she was found guilty of fraud and murder and sentenced to death. Bateman pleaded her belly and the ladies who had gathered to watch the trial made a hasty retreat for the exit, keen not to be employed on the panel of females who must judge the truth of Bateman's supposed pregnancy. Eventually it was decided that the prisoner was not with child and at five o'clock in the morning of 20th March 1809, she went to the gallows at York Castle. Her body was put on display as a warning to others and, perhaps ironically, flayed strips of her skin were sold as charms against evil spirits.

Once hundreds of paying visitors had filed past Bateman's corpse, she was presented to the anatomists of Leeds for dissection. To this day those of you with a taste for the macabre can visit her remains in the Thackray Medical Museum, though the ghoulish souvenirs available to our Georgian thrillseekers are long since all sold out.

The Frail Life of Princess Louisa of Great Britain

Princess Louisa of Great Britain (Louise Anne; London, England, 19th March 1749 -  London, England, 13th May 1768)

Roll out the red carpet and be careful with the best china because once again we welcome a royal lady today. Princess Louisa of Great Britain lived a short life, not marked by any great marriage or scandal; she did not fall victim to a revolution nor did she rule a country, she was simply a young lady who was destined to die tragically young.

HRH Princess Louisa was born at Leicester House, Westminster, to Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. Her grandparents were George II and Caroline of Ansbach and she joined a large family, counting future kings and queens amongst her siblings.

Louisa was a bright and cheerful child yet, around the time of the death of her sister, Elizabeth, her health began to fail. She grew weak and frail and would never recover her precarious well being. Because of her health issues, Louise was frequently confined to her bed and was unable to fully participate in court life, nor were any plans made to secure the young lady a marriage.

The young princess passed away at Carlton House aged just 19, the fourth among her siblings to meet an early death.

Life in the Georgian Court, true tales of 18th century royalty, is available at the links below.

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The Post-Mortem Travels of Laurence Sterne

Laurence Sterne (Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland, 24th November 1713 - London, England, 18th March 1768)

Laurence Sterne by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1760

Today I tell the tale of what befell the great Laurence Sterne after his death. Rightly celebrated in life, the writer almost met a grisly fate at the hands of Cambridge anatomists hungry for subjects.

Laurence Sterne fell ill whilst visiting London in early 1768 and never recovered his health. He was only 54 when he died at his lodgings at 41 Old Bond Street and was buried at St George's, Hanover Square. He left behind a wife, Elizabeth, and Lydia, their 21 year old daughter.

This was not to be the end of Sterne though and a rumour began to circulate that the writer's body had been spirited away from its grave and sold to anatomists at Cambridge University. However, far from meeting the ghoulish fate expected to befall such unfortunates, one of the anatomists recognised Sterne and decided that he could not possibly be dissected for the purposes of scientific advancement. Undercover of night the author's body was returned to St George's and buried in an unmarked plot, leaving his original grave empty.

In 1969, more than two centuries after Sterne's death, the churchyard was redeveloped. Over 10,000 skulls were unearthed, some of which showed evidence of examination and damage that suggested they had been used by anatomists. Among these skulls was one that appeared to match exactly the size and shape of a bust made of Sterne by Nollekens. The sculptor was renowned for the meticulous nature of his measurements and work and it was accepted that this was likely the skull of Laurence Sterne. 

The skull was reburied in the churchyard of St Michael's Church, Coxwold, thanks to the efforts of the Laurence Sterne Trust. After years away Sterne had finally returned to St Michael's, the church where he was perpetual curate. Even better he now rests just five minutes away from Shandy Hall, the house where he had spent nearly ten happy years.

"The Name Will Never Die": The Execution of Juraj Jánošík

Juraj Jánošík (Terchová, Slovakia, baptised 25th January 1688 - Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia, 17th March 1713)

Juraj Jánošík by Władysław Skoczylas. The inscription reads: "The name of Janosik will never die".

We have met English highwaymen in the past and today we travel to Slovakia to remember the final day of a man who has become a legendary figure in his homeland and surrounding countries.

Like our own Robin Hood, legends tell that Jánošík robbed from the rich and gave his takings to the poor. In the years since his death he has become a familiar figure in the cultural life of Slovakia as a symbol of strength against oppression, but in his lifetime, Jánošík was known a highwayman who met a gruesome fate.

In March 1713 Jánošík was visiting a lady friend in a pub owned by landlord, Tomáš Uhorčík, but unbeknownst to the wanted man, local forces had been tipped off and were already on their way to detain him. When Jánošík realised that arrest was imminent he tried to flee and his escape was foiled not by weapons or force, but by an old lady who threw a plate of peas onto the pub floor, causing the outlaw to slip and fall. Captured and restrained, he was imprisoned in the town of Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš to await trial.

Jánošík came before the courts on 16th March 1713 and on 17th was sentenced to death. Although the date of his execution was not written, it was usual for the sentence to be carried out immediately and for Jánošík, the means of death were particularly gruesome. 

He had already endured torture whilst imprisoned and now he was to face a final, terrible end on the scaffold.  Rather than a noose a hook awaited Jánošík and he was hung from it by his ribcage and left there to die. Legend claims that the highwayman danced a jig before leaping onto the hook himself but whether he jumped or was set there by guards, Jánošík ended his days in agony.