Anne Greene
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Anne Greene (1659 or ) was an English domestic
servant A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly ...
who was accused of committing
infanticide Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose being the prevention of re ...
in 1650. She is known for surviving her attempted execution by
hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...
, being revived by physicians from the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
.


Early life

Greene was born around 1628 in
Steeple Barton Steeple Barton is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish and scattered settlement on the River Dorn in West Oxfordshire, about east of Chipping Norton, a similar distance west of Bicester and south of Banbury. Most of the parish's populati ...
,
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
. In her early adulthood, she worked as a
scullery maid In great houses, scullery maids were the lowest-ranked and often the youngest of the female domestic servants and acted as assistants to a kitchen maid. Description The scullery maid reported (through the kitchen maid) to the cook or chef. Alo ...
in the house of Sir Thomas Reade, a justice of the peace who lived in nearby
Duns Tew Duns Tew is an English village and civil parish about south of Banbury in Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 478. With nearby Great Tew and Little Tew, Duns Tew is one of the three villages known collectively as ...
. She later claimed that in 1650 when she was a 22-year-old servant, she was seduced by Sir Thomas's grandson, Geoffrey Reade, who was 16 or 17 years old.


Trial and punishment

She became pregnant, though she later claimed that she was not aware of her pregnancy until she miscarried in the privy after seventeen weeks. She tried to conceal the remains of the fetus but was discovered and suspected of infanticide. Sir Thomas prosecuted Greene under the Concealment of Birth of Bastards Act 1624 (21 Jas. 1. c. 27), under which there was a legal presumption that a woman who concealed the death of her illegitimate child had murdered the child. A
midwife A midwife (: midwives) is a health professional who cares for mothers and Infant, newborns around childbirth, a specialisation known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughou ...
testified that the fetus was too underdeveloped to have ever been alive, and several servants who worked with Greene testified that she had experienced "issues" for approximately one month before her miscarriage, which began after she laboured turning malt. In spite of the testimony, Greene was found guilty of
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
and was
hanged Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...
at
Oxford Castle Oxford Castle is a large, partly ruined medieval castle on the western side of central Oxford in Oxfordshire, England. Most of the original moated, wooden motte and bailey castle was replaced in stone in the late 12th or early 13th century and ...
on 14 December 1650. At her own request, several of her friends pulled her swinging body and a soldier struck her four or five times with the butt of his
musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually dis ...
to expedite her death. She was presumed dead half an hour later, so she was cut down and given to
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
physicians
William Petty Sir William Petty (26 May 1623 – 16 December 1687) was an English economist, physician, scientist and philosopher. He first became prominent serving Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth of England, Commonwealth in Cromwellian conquest of I ...
and
Thomas Willis Thomas Willis Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (27 January 1621 – 11 November 1675) was an English physician who played an important part in the history of anatomy, neurology, and psychiatry, and was a founding member of the Royal Society. L ...
for dissection.


Recovery

The physicians opened Greene's coffin on the morning of her hanging and discovered that she had a faint pulse and was weakly breathing. Petty and Willis sought the help of their Oxford colleagues
Ralph Bathurst Ralph Bathurst, FRS (1620 – 14 June 1704) was an English theologian and physician. Early life He was born in Hothorpe, Northamptonshire in 1620 and educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry. He graduated with a B.A. degree from Trini ...
and Henry Clerke. The group of physicians tried many remedies to revive Greene, including pouring hot cordial down her throat, rubbing her limbs and extremities,
bloodletting Bloodletting (or blood-letting) was the deliberate withdrawal of blood from a patient to prevent or cure illness and disease. Bloodletting, whether by a physician or by leeches, was based on an ancient system of medicine in which blood and othe ...
, applying a
poultice A poultice or cataplasm, also called a fomentation, is a soft moist mass, often heated and medicated, that is applied to the skin to reduce inflammation, soothe pain, promote healing, or otherwise treat wounds or ailments. Soft materials like cer ...
to her breasts, and administering a
tobacco smoke enema The tobacco smoke enema, an insufflation of tobacco smoke into the rectum by enema, was a medical treatment employed by European physicians for a range of ailments. Tobacco was recognised as a medicine soon after it was first imported from the ...
. The physicians then placed her in a warm bed with another woman, who rubbed her and kept her warm. Greene began to recover quickly, beginning to speak after twelve to fourteen hours of treatment and eating solid food after four days. Within one month she had fully recovered, aside from
amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or brain diseases,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be temporarily caused by t ...
about the time surrounding her execution.


Pardon and later life

The authorities granted Greene a reprieve from execution while she recovered and ultimately pardoned her, believing that the hand of God had saved her, demonstrating her innocence. Furthermore, one pamphleteer notes that Sir Thomas Reade died three days after Greene's hanging, so there was no prosecutor to object to the pardon. However, another pamphleteer writes that her recovery "moved some of her enemies to wrath and indignation, insomuch that a great man amongst the rest, moved to have her again carried to the place of execution, to be hanged up by the neck, contrary to all Law, reason and justice; but some honest Souldiers then present seemed to be very much discontent thereat" and intervened on Greene's behalf. After her recovery, Greene went to stay with friends in the country, taking the coffin with her. She married and had three children.
Robert Plot Robert Plot (13 December 1640 – 30 April 1696) was an English naturalist and antiquarian who was the first professor of chemistry at the University of Oxford and the first keeper of the Ashmolean Museum. Early life and education Born in Bor ...
's 1677 ''The Natural History of Oxfordshire'' claims that she died in 1659, while Petty claimed that Greene lived fifteen years after her hanging, dying , according to a 1675 entry in ''
John Evelyn's Diary The ''Diary'' of John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February 1706), a gentlemanly Royalist and ''virtuoso'' of the seventeenth century, was first published in 1818 (2nd edition, 1819) under the title ''Memoirs Illustrative of the Life and Writin ...
''.


Cultural significance

The event inspired two 17th-century pamphlets. The first, by W. Burdet, was entitled ''A Wonder of Wonders'' (Oxford, 1651) in its first edition and ''A Declaration from Oxford, of Anne Greene'' in its second edition. Burdet's pamphlets portray the event in miraculous, metaphysical terms. In 1651, Richard Watkins also published a pamphlet containing a sober, medically accurate prose account of the event and poems inspired by it, entitled ''Newes from the Dead'' (Oxford: Leonard Lichfield, 1651). The poems, of which there were 25 in various languages, included a set of English verses by
Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren FRS (; – ) was an English architect, astronomer, mathematician and physicist who was one of the most highly acclaimed architects in the history of England. Known for his work in the English Baroque style, he was ac ...
, who was at that time a
gentleman-commoner A commoner is a student at certain universities in the British Isles who historically pays for his own tuition and commons, typically contrasted with scholars and exhibitioners, who were given financial emoluments towards their fees. Cambridge ...
(a student who paid all fees in advance) of
Wadham College Wadham College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy Wadham, a ...
. Greene's story was also mentioned in the 1659 English edition of
Denis Pétau Denis Pétau (21 August 158311 December 1652), also known as Dionysius Petavius, was a French Jesuit theologian. Life Pétau was born in Orléans, where he had his initial education; he then attended the University of Paris, where he successfully ...
's ''The History of the World'' and in
Robert Plot Robert Plot (13 December 1640 – 30 April 1696) was an English naturalist and antiquarian who was the first professor of chemistry at the University of Oxford and the first keeper of the Ashmolean Museum. Early life and education Born in Bor ...
's 1677 ''The Natural History of Oxfordshire''.


See also

* Rebecca Smith (infanticide), last British woman executed for the infanticide of her own child


References


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Greene, Anne 1620s births 17th-century deaths Execution survivors People from Oxfordshire 17th-century English women 17th-century executions by England English people convicted of murder English prisoners sentenced to death People convicted of murder by England and Wales Prisoners sentenced to death by the Kingdom of England Recipients of English royal pardons Women sentenced to death