“I Will Forgive You if the World Will”: Wife Murder and Limits on Patriarchal Violence in London, 1690–1750

Abstract

On December 16, 1731, a pale, emaciated woman fell from the garret window of the Four Swans Inn in Mile-end Town, London, onto an old shed. The structure crumbled beneath her, and she then hit the ground. Christopher Best, the parish Beadle, happened to be passing by, and described what he saw: “Her Body was all black, and her Legs were perfectly covered with a white Mold. She had on a thin old Crape-Gown, and a Bit of a red Petticoat, but no Shift nor Stockings.” No one in the crowd that had quickly gathered about her knew who she was. She had appeared lifeless, but began to stir. She was carried into the Four Swans, and Best followed to continue his inquiries. After much probing, he discovered that her name was Mary Vezey. She was “55 or 56 years of age,” and married to Corbet Vezey. She was carried back up to the garret, followed by Best, to whom she was gradually able to speak. Her first words rang with desperation: “For God’s Sake stay by me! I have been used barbarously! I am starved to Death!” She had spent the last year locked in the garret of the Four Swans, fed with “a half-peck loaf” of hardened bread, and bits of dried cheese. She had no candle, fire, nor bedsheets to protect her from the cold. Because of this, she informed Best, “my very Skin has peeled off.”