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Item # 688730 THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, London, September, 1767
* The infamous Elizabeth Brownrigg
* Her arrest - conviction & execution
* Cruelties to apprentice girls
The first article is: "An Authentick Narrative of the Many horrid Cruelties inflicted by Mrs. Elizabeth Brownrigg upon her Poor Apprentice Girls" which is a four page article. Brownrigg was quite the notorious person, about whom much can be found on the internet.
Among other articles are: "A Description of a Deer of the Cape of Good Hope" (related plate is lacking); "An Assay for Finding the Longitude" "A Geographical Observation" "Some Account of Leonardo Donato, the Venetian" and more.
There is a full page of: "American News" which includes reports from Charleston, New Providence, Elizabethtown, N.J., and Boston. One item includes: "...What must other colonies think of you when they know how you tax the subject merely for your own benefit & advantage...Such grievances called aloud for redress..." with more.
The Charleston article notes in part: "...Different gangs of robbers & horsestealers have lately infested the forks of Saludy and Savannah rivers & committed many robberies & cruelties...went to the house of one Wilson, burnt him with red hot irons to discover his money, and there robbed him of all he had...From Denis Hayes they...brutally & lustfully used his wife & daughter, stripped them and left them naked...".
The third plate shows: "Representations of Some Antiquities at Aldsriston".
Near the back is the "Historical Chronicle" which include a small mention of troops remaining in America.
Complete in 48 pages 5 by 8 inches, full title/contents page with an engraving of St. John's Gate, nice condition.
AI notes: Elizabeth Brownrigg (c. 1720 – 14 September 1767) was an English midwife notorious for the brutal abuse and murder of a young apprentice in 18th-century London. Born into a working-class family, she married James Brownrigg, a plumber, and together they had sixteen children, only three of whom survived infancy. In 1765, she moved to Fetter Lane, where she became an overseer of women and children for the parish of Saint Dunstans, giving her custody of several girls from the Foundling Hospital. Despite her respectable public role, Brownrigg subjected her apprentices to horrific treatment, including severe beatings, forced nudity, confinement in coal holes, and deprivation of food, which ultimately led to the death of one girl, Mary Clifford, in June 1767. Her cruelty was exposed when another apprentice, Mary Mitchell, escaped and reported the abuse, prompting authorities to investigate. Elizabeth, along with her son John, fled but were later apprehended, and at trial, medical evidence confirmed her responsibility for Clifford’s death. Convicted of murder, Brownrigg was executed at Tyburn on 14 September 1767, and her body was publicly dissected, while James and John received six-month prison sentences for their roles in the abuse. The case shocked London and prompted reforms in the supervision of apprentices from charitable institutions, highlighting the vulnerabilities of children placed in the care of private households.
A very nice pre-Revolutionary War magazine from the "mother country" with a wide range of varied content. This was the first periodical to use the word "magazine" in its title, having begun in 1731 and lasting until 1907.
Category: The 1600's and 1700's
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$68.00
