Feminist History
The Lamb and The Lioness
Uncovering the secret history of the women who ended the death penalty in modern Britain.
Two women who never met each other had a huge part to play in the abolition of the death penalty. Both from humble beginnings, their lives, their loves and their losses have been largely overlooked by history. But what was it about these two women that overturned a thousand years of tradition? And why has history largely forgotten them?
Ruth
It’s the 12th July 1955 and a 28-year-old woman sits alone in a cell. She’s penning a letter to the mother of the man she killed. The nation is divided. She is a mother of two. This time tomorrow she will hang by her neck until she is dead.
She’s pleased about this. In many ways, she’s engineered this exact outcome. Tomorrow, the 13th of July, she will become the last woman hanged in the UK.
Her name is Ruth Ellis.
Violet
Outside a Rolls Royce pulls up. An older woman gets out. She takes her place amongst the mothers with prams who have come to protest. She’s dressed only in black. Everyone knows who she is. Everyone is expecting her. This time she hasn’t shown up with a brass band in tow. Her fortune is…
