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Women Who
Shocked The Nation
Diane Canwell
Is the female of the species really more deadly than
the male? In Women Who Shocked The Nation
Diane Canwell chronicles the deeds of the most notorious
British women of all time – from as early as
the 11th century up to the present day.
The women in these pages stand accused of many crimes,
from murder, piracy and witchcraft to adultery and
all forms of lewd conduct. Well-known cases such as
those of Ruth Ellis and Rosemary West appear alongside
other names that have now faded into history but which
called forth the nation's outrage in their time. Moll
Cutpurse was a 17th-century master thief who, as well
as being an expert pickpocket, liked to smoke a pipe
and carouse about town in men's clothing. Amelia Dyer
was a Victorian baby-farmer with a taste for strangling
her infant victims. Perhaps most intriguing is the
story of Dr James Barry, an army surgeon who, on his
death after forty years of service, was found to have
been a woman in disguise.
Many of the offences here portrayed would not be
perceived as terrible by today's standards, but each
at the time sent shockwaves through British society
– radicals, criminals, courtesans and killers
all taking their place in the history of infamy.
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