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shed a tear. She on leaving her cell, shook hands with the chief warder and other officers. On her way to the scaffold her demeanour was extraordinary. The attendants on either side were entirely overcome, whilst she bore her awful position with the greatest resignation and composure. The
Chaplain the Rev. D Clementson, conversed with her on spiritual subjects, and she appeared to engage in fervant [
178:] devotion and prayer, with her hands clasped firmly together and upturned eyes. On arriving at the place of execution she walked with firmness up the first flight of eleven steps. On this spot the ceremony of pinioning was proceeded with. Her female attendants here left her in the care of the executioner.
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This morning (Saturday) a few minutes after 8 o'clock, Elizabeth Martha BROWN, convicted of the wilful murder of her husband was executed on a scaffold erected over the gateway of the new entrance leading to Dorset County Goal from North Square. The culpret did not up to the last moment, appear to
150:. He wrote seventy years later that he was ashamed to have been there. Brown was dressed in a long black silk dress. A cloth was placed over her head, but as it began to rain, her face became visible again. Hardy wrote, "I saw—they had put a cloth over the face—how, as the cloth got wet,
154:. That was extraordinary." "I remember what a fine figure she showed against the sky as she hung in the misty rain," he wrote elsewhere, "and how the tight black silk gown set off her shape as she wheeled half-round and back."
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based on the life and times of Martha Brown. The play premiered at
Deverills Festival in Wiltshire on 3 May 2014 and continued on a tour of the South West and South East. In September - October 2015 it again toured the UK.
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in Dorset may belong to Brown. In 2018 it was reported that Martha may be re-buried with others in the
Poundbury Cemetery, should she not be buried in the churchyard at Blackdown, where her husband's remains lie.
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A local newspaper recorded that she was counselled just before her death by the Rev. D Clementson, the prison chaplain, and that she remained composed:
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after being convicted of the murder of her second husband, John Brown, on 5 July, just thirty-five days earlier. The
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292:. The date appears to be an error; the entry says "this morning (Saturday)," but 11 August that year was a Monday.
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Among the crowd of 3,000–4,000 spectators who watched Brown's execution was the
English novelist
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A Genealogically Led
History of Martha Brown, the Last Woman to be Hanged in Dorset.
329:"Bodies of former prisoners - including Martha Brown - to be exhumed and reburied"
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303:"Bones found at prison may belong to real-life Tess of the d'Urbervilles"
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Bernard Bearn (1831–c. 1851); John Brown (1852–1856)
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In 2016, it was reported that remains unearthed at the site of
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540:'What a fine figure she showed as she hung in the misty rain'
164:(1891) reflected his experience of watching Brown's death.
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Twisting in the Wind: The
Murderess and the English Press
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220:" based on Thomas Hardy's recollections of the event.
419:Women and the Noose: A History of Female Execution
355:"Dorchester Prison human remains 'to be reburied'"
16:English murder executed by public hanging in 1856
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524:Rev. D Clementson, Fordington newspaper (1856).
592:People convicted of murder by England and Wales
223:The case was re-examined in the BBC programme
146:, aged 16 at the time, standing close to the
587:19th-century executions by England and Wales
290:Fordington newspaper, dated August 11, 1856
158:writes that the hanging of Tess in Hardy's
93:William and Thomas Bearn, died in childhood
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383:. Angel Exit Theatre. Archived from
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485:Thomas Hardy: A Biography Revisited
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607:1856 murders in the United Kingdom
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134:after he had taken a whip to her.
130:said she had attacked him with an
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526:Fordington newspaper transcripts
443:. University of Toronto Press.
280:Millgate 2006, pp. 62–63.
110:(c. 1811 – 9 August 1856), née
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519:"The Mystery of Martha Brown"
226:Murder, Mystery and My Family
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42:9 August 1856 (aged 44 or 45)
409:Binnie-Dawson, John (2023).
381:"The Ballad of Martha Brown"
152:her features came through it
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532:, accessed 21 January 2010.
487:. Oxford University Press.
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597:Women of the Victorian era
483:Millgate, Michael (2006).
206:The Ballad of Martha Brown
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439:Knelman, Judith (1998).
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200:A Dorset-based company,
577:Executed English people
463:My Name is Martha Brown
461:Thorne, Nicola (2000).
417:Clark, Richard (2008).
229:(series 4, episode 9).
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108:Elizabeth Martha Brown
25:Elizabeth Martha Brown
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101:John and Martha Clark
216:released the track "
521:, 11 November 2000.
218:Thomas & Martha
58:Cause of death
465:. Harper Collins.
309:. 19 February 2016
202:Angel Exit Theatre
196:In popular culture
501:978-0-19-927566-3
479:978-0-00-225949-1
457:978-0-8020-7420-1
435:978-0-7524-4489-5
387:on 4 October 2019
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421:. Tempus.
138:Background
74:Occupation
98:Parent(s)
82:Spouse(s)
538:(2008).
517:(2000).
391:12 April
359:BBC News
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183:Remains
148:gallows
69:British
61:Hanging
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