Deborah Churchill

Deborah Churchill (1677 – 1708) was a British pickpocket and prostitute executed for being an accomplice to murder in 1708.

Deborah Churchill was born in Norfolk to a respectable family in 1677.[1] Her first marriage was with John Churchill, an Army Ensign who died of alcoholism. She had two children from him. Churchill cohabited with a Richard Hunt in London, became a prostitute and picked pockets of her own customers.[2] Hunt extracted money from her wealthy clients by blackmailing them and whenever Churchill was arrested, he ensured her release by bribing officials.[3] One account stated that she had been to the Clerkenwell Bridewell 28 times and was once sentenced to New Prison for the theft of 104 guineas.[1] On another occasion, she received a large debt and to escape it duped a soldier into marrying her and on their wedding night escaped; her husband thus became responsible for her debt and she could not be prosecuted.[4]

In 1708, she was moving through Drury Lane closely followed by Hunt and his two friends, William Lewis and John Boy.[3] She tried to pick a merchant Martin Were's pocket but he pushed her to the ground instead.[2][3] Immediately the three men reached the spot and on Churchill's insistence stabbed Were.[3] The three fled to Holland and only Churchill was apprehended.[1] On 26 February 1708, she was ordered to be executed for being an accessory. However, to escape the sentence, Churchill falsely informed the court that she was pregnant. This delayed her execution by seven months.[4] When the court came to know about her lie, it ordered for the sentence to be carried out immediately and she was executed in Tyburn on 17 December 1708 before a large audience whom she asked to pray for her.[1] An entry on her is included in The Newgate Calendar.[5]

References
  1. Smith, Alexander (2013). A Complete History of the Lives and Robberies of the Most Notorious Highwaymen, Footpads, Shoplifts and Cheats of Both Sexes: Previously published 1719 and 1926. Taylor & Francis. pp. 251–54. ISBN 978-1-136-48423-0.
  2. Nash, Jay Robert (1986). Look for the Woman: A Narrative Encyclopedia of Female Prisoners, Kidnappers, Thieves, Extortionists, Terrorists, Swindlers and Spies from Elizabethan Times to the Present. M. Evans. p. 80. ISBN 978-1-4617-4772-7.
  3. "Churchill, Deborah (1677–1708)". encyclopedia.com. Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  4. McLynn, Frank (2013). Crime and Punishment in Eighteenth Century England. Routledge. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-136-09316-6.
  5. Jackson, William (1795). The New and Complete Newgate Calendar. Alexander Hogg. pp. 115–17.

Further reading
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