Elizabeth Canning convicted of Perjury. May ye 7th 1754. Price 3 pence.
[n.d. c.1754.]
Engraving. Sheet 175 x 120mm (6¾ x 4¾"). Trimmed. Vertical crease.
Elizabeth Canning (1734-73), an 18-year-old London maidservant, claimed to have been kidnapped on New Year's Day and held for a month in a brothel in Enfield. She accused `Mother Wells', the madam of the establishment, of trying to force her to become a prostitute. A hideous gypsy crone staying in the house, Mary Squires, cut off the girl's stays (worth 10 shillings), and Elizabeth was imprisoned in an attic with only a few crusts of bread and a jug of water to live on. On January 29th she escaped through a window and walked all the way back to her mother's house in the City. Squires and Wells were apprehended, and tried at the Old Bailey; the former was condemned to be hanged, and the latter was burned in the hand and imprisoned. However opinion turned against Canning and new evidence led her to be charged with perjury and transported for seven years.
CS 36.ii.
[Ref: 53153] £160.00
Engraving. Sheet 175 x 120mm (6¾ x 4¾"). Trimmed. Vertical crease.
Elizabeth Canning (1734-73), an 18-year-old London maidservant, claimed to have been kidnapped on New Year's Day and held for a month in a brothel in Enfield. She accused `Mother Wells', the madam of the establishment, of trying to force her to become a prostitute. A hideous gypsy crone staying in the house, Mary Squires, cut off the girl's stays (worth 10 shillings), and Elizabeth was imprisoned in an attic with only a few crusts of bread and a jug of water to live on. On January 29th she escaped through a window and walked all the way back to her mother's house in the City. Squires and Wells were apprehended, and tried at the Old Bailey; the former was condemned to be hanged, and the latter was burned in the hand and imprisoned. However opinion turned against Canning and new evidence led her to be charged with perjury and transported for seven years.
CS 36.ii.
[Ref: 53153] £160.00