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Well, that’s…something

If you can’t read it, it says “1868 – last publicly hanged woman in Britain.”

She wasn’t executed on that exact spot – this is on the path in the mall. The old Maidstone Gaol is about a thousand feet away. It’s been a jail for over 200 years; what’s left of it is currently a sex offenders unit. Reggie Kray married his girlfriend there in 1997.

Frances Kidder married the man who fathered her child and then found he already had a daughter. She was not pleased. Neighbors said she could be heard beating Louisa of a night.

One day, they were visiting relatives in New Romney and Frances and Louisa went for a walk. Frances came back alone and said Louisa fell in a ditch or something, whatever.

At her trial, her mother, father, husband and sister gave evidence how much Frances hated Louisa (which probably says something about how the family felt about Frances). She was hanged in front of the jail at noon on 2 April 1868. She was twenty-five. Her husband was already living with her sister by then and they both were in the crowd.

People, eh?

It was Maidstone day today. I went all by myself on the train like a big girl and had my fingerprints taken in aid of my citizenship application. It was all very pleasant, but I’m whacked. I’ll know if I succeeded in six months.

June 7, 2023 — 6:07 pm
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