Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

History's Deadliest Women: The Husband Killer

August 14, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In 1773, Elizabeth Herring was the last woman burned at the stake in London for killing her husband—not because her guilt was in doubt, but because the law treated husband-killing as a species of treason. The crime was called petty treason, and it carried a traitor’s death: burning for women, hanging, drawing, and quartering for men. Her case is a window into how the 18th-century legal system used spectacular punishment to reinforce patriarchal authority, and how one working-class woman’s desperate, public act of violence became a calculated example.

What Petty Treason Actually Was

Under the Treason Act of 1351, petty treason was a separate offense from murder. It applied when someone killed a person to whom they owed “faith and obedience”—a servant killing a master, a clergyman killing a superior, or a wife killing her husband. The logic was that these killings weren’t just homicides; they were attacks on the social order itself. A man who killed his wife was charged with ordinary murder, not petty treason, because he was not subordinate to her.

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What you'll learn

1 (04:56) **Petty Treason Defined** - Professor Rose Wallace explains the legal concept of petty treason, a crime distinct from murder.
2 (13:48) **The Traitor's Death: Gendered Punishments** - The episode details the horrific and gendered execution methods for petty treason, which remained legal until 1790.
3 (18:42) **Rarity of Execution and the "Theatre of Law"** - Despite the brutal punishment, very few women were actually executed for petty treason in the 18th century.
4 (26:24) **Profile of a Petty Treason Defendant** - The typical woman charged with petty treason was a working-class woman whose husband's death occurred during a quarrel.
5 (31:09) **The Story of Elizabeth Herring** - The episode focuses on the case of Elizabeth Herring, the last woman burned at the stake for husband-murder in 1773.
6 (33:35) **The Prosecution's Case and Key Witnesses** - The prosecution's argument for premeditation rested on the testimony of two key witnesses.
7 (35:37) **Elizabeth's Defense and the Question of Provocation** - Elizabeth Herring, without a lawyer, had to defend herself, focusing on a history of abuse and provocation.

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Show Notes

Until the 19th century in Britain, a woman killing her husband was guilty of worse than murder, she was guilty of petty treason.

So what is petty treason? What is its very harsh punishment? And why was women killing their husbands so terrifying?

Kate is joined by Rose Wallis, a social historian of crime, criminal justice and social protest at the University of the West of England. They discuss the particular case of Elizabeth Herring, and why she ended up at the stake.

This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

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