Public reactions to the case of Mary Wilson, the last woman to be sentenced to death in England and Wales

In 1958, 68 year old Mary Wilson became the last woman to be reprieved from the death penalty in England and Wales. She was convicted of the capital murders of two of her husbands, whom she poisoned. This article examines the discourses of capital punishment that were articulated in letters members of the public sent to Rab Butler, Home Secretary at the time, about Mary’s case. It identifies discourses both in support of the death penalty and against it, and places them within their mid twentieth-century context. The article also explores how Mary’s identity as an older working class woman shaped people’s views regarding the acceptability of her punishment.