"The ducking of John Osborn and his Wife"

Social History (Museum of St Albans)

Etching illustrating a test for witchcraft, captioned: "The ducking of John Osborn and his Wife wrapped in blankets on a charge of WITCHCRAFT, near Tring in HERTFORDSHIRE, by which the WOMAN was drowned." (1751), anonymous engraving. Ruth Osborne (b 1680) was the last person in England to be lynched for witchcraft. Her story fits a common pattern in witchcraft accusations. In 1745 she had begged a local dairy farmer for charity in the shape of some buttermilk; he roughly refused, and she went away muttering that he would be paid out. In the following years his cattle grew sick and he developed epileptic fits. He gave up farming and took a public house, blaming his misfortune on witchcraft by Ruth Osborne and her husband. In 1751 a lynch-mob, led by Thomas Colley, a chimney-sweep, decided to combine sport and justice by ducking the Osbornes in the pond at Long Marston, outside Tring. Despite the efforts of local officials to hide the couple they were seized, stripped naked, and repeatedly ducked with their hands tied to their toes. The old woman drowned in the mud, and her husband barely survived the ordeal. Our print shows another version of events, with the Osbornes wrapped in blankets. The authorities determined to make an example of the rioters. Thomas Colley and twenty-one persons unknown were convicted of wilful murder. Colley was executed at Gubblecote Cross, the place where Ruth Osborne had been refused milk; and where his body would be seen by the villagers of Long Marston as it hung in chains.

1751

PX5193.tif

Amy Cooke

Near Tring, Hertfordshire, UK.

PWD Box 30 (black).

23/03/2006