It's a story we've all read in the news at one time or another: an unmarried young woman, not knowing she was pregnant, went to the toilet and gave birth. Frightened, she hid the baby and went about her business. The body was found, and the young woman was arrested. This was the story of Anna Greene of Oxfordshire in the year 1650. Despite testimony from midwives that the infant was premature and stillborn, Anne was convicted of infanticide. She was hanged on December 14.
At her own request, several of her friends pulled Anne’s legs as she hung to hasten her death. A soldier assisted by hitting her several times with the butt of his musket. After thirty minutes or so, the Sheriff pronounced her dead and her body was cut down, placed in a coffin, and taken to a local house to await dissection.
In this period, local by-laws stipulated that the body of any person executed within twenty-one miles of Oxford became the property of the University’s Reader in Anatomy. When, however, the University physicians turned up to prepare the body for dissection (this too was to be done in front of a crowd, albeit a smaller one, that included Anne’s family and friends), someone heard a sound in Anne’s throat. Her pulse was checked and she was found to be alive, just.
While others took pains to avoid being the subject of an anatomy class, it saved Anne's life. But what about her conviction? Read the story of Anne Greene at These Islands. -via Strange Company
(Image credit: W. Burdet)
