This Day in History: April 13th, 1743

The Fatal Scheme of Cannon and Ellard

In the early hours of a Sunday morning in April 1743, a quiet house in Gravel Lane, Houndsditch, became the scene of a crime as foolish as it was tragic. By midday, the culprits were discovered; within weeks, they would be dead.

At the centre of the affair were two women: Elizabeth Cannon, a 15-year-old apprentice, and Ann Ellard, a 36-year-old stocking worker. One young, impressionable, and restless; the other older, experienced, and already acquainted with hardship. Together, they formed a partnership that would prove fatal.

A Crime Conceived in Drink

Elizabeth Cannon had, by all accounts, begun her apprenticeship honestly. She lived under the roof of her mistress, Mary Bates, a bedridden woman who relied heavily on those around her. Cannon knew the house intimately — including where her mistress kept her money.

For some time, she had entertained the idea of robbing her.

Enter Ann Ellard.

Ellard, a lodger in the same house, quickly became Cannon’s confidante — and, fatally, her accomplice. Whether through persuasion, encouragement, or simple shared recklessness, the two women began to entertain a plan: to rob the very woman who housed them.

But there was a problem. Sobriety.

Cannon herself later admitted she lacked the nerve to carry out the theft while clear-headed. The solution, as so often in these cases, was gin.

On the Saturday night, the pair made themselves thoroughly drunk. They even ensured the nurse attending Mrs Bates was equally incapacitated. With the household subdued, Cannon seized her opportunity.

The Theft

Cannon crept to her mistress’s bedside and took the keys from beneath her pillow — a detail as chilling as it is telling. Unlocking a box, she removed a considerable sum: over £16 in gold and silver coin — a small fortune at the time.

Not content with this, she broke open a fellow apprentice’s trunk and helped herself to linen and clothing.

The stolen goods were handed to Ellard. Their plan complete, the pair fled into the night sometime between eleven and midnight — heading, rather ambitiously, for Enfield.

They did not get far.

The Swiftest of Downfalls

Drunk, disorganised, and flushed with stolen gold, the pair made it only as far as Tottenham High Cross, where they took a room at the Bull Inn.

By morning, their fate was sealed.

Back in Houndsditch, the open door and missing goods quickly raised the alarm. A messenger was sent, and in a remarkable twist of timing, news had already reached Ellard’s employer that she had been seen at the Bull — openly displaying gold coins.

Within hours, they were found.

Still in bed. Still drunk. Still in possession of the stolen money.

When confronted, they broke down immediately — returning what they had and confessing in floods of tears. The linen, less fortunately, had already been reduced to a sodden and filthy state, having been dropped in a ditch.

Trial and Sentence

At trial, the evidence was overwhelming. They had been caught with the stolen goods, had confessed, and had no credible defence.

Both were found Guilty.

Both were sentenced to Death.

The Lives Behind the Crime

The Ordinary’s Account paints a deeply human — and deeply sobering — picture of both women.

Elizabeth Cannon, only fifteen, came from a fractured home. Her parents had separated, her mother reduced to the workhouse, and her father largely absent. Though given an education and an honest start, she drifted into bad company — and, ultimately, into crime.

She later admitted that the idea had been hers, and that she had drawn Ellard into it.

Ann Ellard, by contrast, had lived a fuller and more complex life. Raised respectably, trained in a trade, and once considered honest, she had gradually fallen into instability. A failed relationship, an illegitimate child, and a growing reliance on drink marked her decline.

She herself would later say that drunkenness paved the way to her crime.

The Final Scene

In the days before their execution, both women displayed repentance.

They attended chapel. They prayed. They reflected.

Cannon confessed herself “a very wicked girl” and acknowledged the justice of her fate. Ellard expressed sorrow not only for the crime, but for the life that had led her there.

At the gallows, they wept.

They prayed.

And as the cart was drawn away, both cried out:

“God be merciful to us! Lord Jesus receive our spirits!”

Why This Case Matters

This case is a stark illustration of how quickly lives could unravel in 18th-century London — and how unforgiving the justice system could be, even to a child.

A single night of drink, a poorly conceived plan, and a moment of opportunity were enough to turn two lives into a cautionary tale ending at the gallows.

It is also a reminder of the recurring themes that echo through the Old Bailey records:
poverty, drink, bad company, and the fatal consequences of impulsive crime.

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Quote of the Day: The Futility of Hostility

“Hostility is like firing a bullet into mud — it makes a mess, slows everything down, and rarely reaches anything that truly matters.”
— The Sage

Hostility often feels sharp and purposeful in the moment. It carries the illusion of direction — as though anger, once expressed, will strike its target cleanly and resolve something. But The Sage offers a different image: not a clean shot, but a bullet sinking uselessly into mud.

When conflict is driven by emotion rather than clarity, it rarely travels far. It creates disturbance, noise, and resistance, but little progress. Energy is spent, positions harden, and what could have been a conversation becomes something heavier and harder to move through.

There is strength in restraint. Not every impulse to react needs to be followed, and not every disagreement needs to escalate. When we avoid firing into the mud, we give ourselves a better chance of reaching something meaningful — understanding, resolution, or simply peace.

— The Sage

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Advice of the Day: Choosing a Pet

Ensure you choose the right pet by selecting the one that makes the loudest noise in the shop.

the sage

Choosing a pet is often approached with careful thought, research, and a troubling sense of responsibility. The Wise Sage recommends ignoring all of this and trusting your instincts — specifically, your ability to locate the loudest creature available.

A quiet animal may seem appealing at first, but how will you know it’s still there? By selecting the pet that is barking, squawking, screeching, or attempting to escape its enclosure, you guarantee a constant reminder of its presence and a lively home environment.

For added excitement, the Sage suggests choosing an animal with unclear dietary requirements or a suspiciously vague label. Mystery adds character, and the process of discovering what your pet will and won’t eat can become a rewarding daily challenge.

If possible, pick a pet that requires specialised equipment you do not own. This creates an immediate sense of purpose and urgency, which is the foundation of all strong relationships.

As always, The Sage accepts no responsibility for sleepless nights, unexpected destruction, or forming a deep and irreversible bond with something you cannot fully identify.

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This Day in History: 10 April 1771

The Sailor Who Cried Murder

A Trial About a Trial

On 10 April 1771, the Old Bailey heard a case that had already cast a long shadow over the court.

It was not, at least on the surface, a murder trial.

That had come earlier.

Instead, this was the prosecution of John Commings, a sailor, accused of wilful and corrupt perjury for the evidence he had given at the Admiralty Sessions the previous December, when Captain Richard Broad had stood charged with the murder of Thomas Scott aboard the King David.

At the heart of the matter was a simple but devastating question:

Had Commings told a terrible truth… or an extraordinary lie?

The Original Accusation

At Captain Broad’s earlier trial, Commings had painted a scene of almost theatrical brutality.

He claimed that aboard the King David he had seen Broad:

  • knock Scott down with a blunderbuss,
  • strike him again with the cock of the gun,
  • punch him repeatedly with the butt end,
  • and then drive the muzzle into his belly.

According to Commings, Scott never recovered. He lay helpless on deck, unable to speak, denied assistance, and died within a day or two from the blows.

It was a vivid story, rich in violence, fear, and cruelty. Commings even claimed that others, including Richard Osgood, had seen it happen.

But the problem with dramatic evidence is that it must remain steady under pressure.

His did not.

A Witness Unravels

The shorthand notes of the earlier trial were read back in court, and with them came the full extent of Commings’s contradictions.

At one moment, Scott died within twenty-four or twenty-eight hours. Then it became forty-eight.

At one moment, Scott was speechless from the instant he was struck down. Then, somehow, he later spoke movingly of his wife and family, and blamed Captain Broad for his death.

At one moment, Commings said he begged the captain to allow the surgeon to bleed Scott. Then he admitted the captain’s refusal had actually concerned another man entirely.

At one moment, he claimed he had reported the whole affair to Admiral Parry at Jamaica. Then no one could remember hearing a word of it.

By the end, his story had become a patchwork of emphatic certainties and sudden revisions. It did not merely wobble. It came apart in his hands.

The Officers Speak

The prosecution then called the men whom Commings had placed at the scene.

Richard Osgood, chief mate of the King David, flatly denied it all.

He had never seen Broad strike Scott with a blunderbuss.
He had never heard of such an assault.
He had never heard Scott complain of Broad.
As far as he was concerned, Scott died of fever and ulcers in his legs, the miserable companions of a hard voyage.

Samuel Harris, another officer, supported the same account. There had been sickness aboard. Men had died. But there had been no such murderous beating.

The blunderbuss, Harris said in effect, had not been used in that fashion at all.

What Commings had presented as a witnessed killing now looked more and more like a tale he had embroidered out of shipboard misery.

Admiral Parry Remembers Nothing

One of the most striking parts of Commings’s original evidence was his insistence that he had told the whole story to Admiral Parry, not once, but repeatedly, in Jamaica and again on the voyage home.

The Admiral himself was then called.

He did not know the man.

He did not remember any such complaint.

And more importantly, he made clear that had such a charge been laid before him, he would have acted on it immediately. A captain accused of murder would not have been left to drift home unchallenged if a proper complaint had truly been made.

That denial was ruinous.

Commings had not merely accused Broad of murder. He had tried to anchor his tale to the authority of a senior naval officer. When that officer denied all knowledge, the story lost one of its last supports.

What He Told the Owner

The final blow came not from a sailor or an admiral, but from Mr Miller, one of the principal owners of the King David.

Miller described meeting Commings in Bristol after the voyage. The sailor had come to ask for his wages, and during their conversation complained in general about the hardships of the voyage and the mortality aboard.

But when Miller pressed him specifically about Captain Broad’s conduct, Commings, by Miller’s account, said something devastating:

he had never been ill-used by Captain Broad in his life, nor seen anything in him but what was humane.

When Miller challenged him for having previously said otherwise, Commings reportedly admitted:

“what I said was false; we must say something to make our story good.”

It is difficult to imagine a sentence more fatal in a perjury trial.

Commings’s Defence

Faced with this, Commings tried to wriggle free in the only way left to him.

He insisted that what he had sworn at the first trial was true, and that the later contradictions had come because Captain Broad’s friends had made him drunk. He also claimed that other witnesses, absent at sea, could have supported his original accusation if only they had been present.

It was not enough.

The jury had before them not a man confused by one unfortunate inconsistency, but a witness who had shifted his ground repeatedly and whose story had been contradicted by nearly every solid source around him.

The Verdict

The jury found him:

Guilty.

Not of murder, but of something the court plainly regarded as serious enough: corrupt perjury in a capital case.

A false oath in an ordinary civil quarrel was one thing.
A false oath in a murder prosecution was another.

The Sentence

John Commings was ordered:

  • to pay a fine of one shilling,
  • to be imprisoned for one year in Newgate,
  • and, after that term, to be transported for seven years.

It was a heavy sentence, and meant to be.

The law could tolerate many things. It had far less patience for a man who might send another to the gallows by invention.

Why This Case Matters

This is a superb Old Bailey case because it reveals how fragile justice could be when it depended on testimony alone.

There was no forensic science here. No medical certainty worthy of the name. No photographs, no recordings, no neat paper trail. Instead there were voices:

  • a sailor with a shocking story,
  • officers denying it,
  • an admiral disclaiming all knowledge,
  • and an owner recalling a confession.

What the court punished in the end was not simply lying, but the danger of lying well enough to kill.

Commings’s crime was not that he spoke wildly in a tavern or grumbled on a quay. It was that he entered a court of law, took an oath, and told a story capable of hanging a man.

That, in the eyes of the Old Bailey, was a crime of its own.

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Quote of the Day: The Ground Beneath Your Own Carpet

“It is easy to feel as though you are on a grand quest, but much of what truly matters is found in how you treat the ground beneath your own carpet.”
— The Sage

There is something appealing about the idea of a quest. It suggests purpose, direction, and importance — a sense that we are part of something larger, something meaningful. The Sage recognises this instinct, but gently reminds us that not all significance lies in distant journeys or dramatic pursuits.

Often, what truly matters is much closer to home. It is found in the small, overlooked spaces — the habits we maintain, the care we show, the quiet responsibilities we either attend to or ignore. The “ground beneath the carpet” becomes a subtle metaphor for the parts of life we would rather not examine too closely.

Great ambitions are not diminished by attention to the ordinary; they are strengthened by it. A life well-lived is not only about the quest we declare, but the details we manage along the way. In the end, it is often these hidden, everyday choices that determine whether the journey itself holds real value.

— The Sage

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Advice of the Day: Peeling Potatoes

Speed up peeling potatoes by throwing them into a running lawnmower and collecting whatever comes out.

the sage

Peeling potatoes can be slow, repetitive, and dangerously close to being a chore. The Wise Sage recommends embracing modern machinery and a complete disregard for proportionate solutions.

Simply place your potatoes carefully in the path of a running lawnmower and allow nature — and several thousand spinning revolutions — to do the work for you. In moments, you will have a fine selection of partially peeled, fully peeled, and completely reimagined potato fragments.

For best results, stand well back and adopt a thoughtful stance, as though conducting an experiment. This gives the process an air of scientific legitimacy and distracts from the fact that you are essentially launching vegetables into a blade system.

If you do not own a lawnmower, a hedge trimmer, power drill, or particularly aggressive cheese grater can offer similar results, though with varying degrees of potato survival.

As always, The Sage accepts no responsibility for missing potatoes, startled neighbours, or explaining any of this to a medical professional.

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This Day in History: 9 April 1684

Two Mary Corbets

A Name Called Twice

On 9 April 1684, the name Mary Corbet was spoken twice in the Old Bailey.

Not once.

Twice.

Two women stood before the court.

Two different crimes.

Two separate lives.

And yet—

The same name.

The First Mary Corbet: The Counterfeiter

The first Mary Corbet stood accused of a crime that struck at the very heart of the kingdom:

👉 Counterfeiting the King’s coin

She had been seen:

  • Melting pewter, copper, and base metals
  • Pouring them into moulds
  • Producing false shillings and sixpences

Worse still—

Others admitted they had distributed the coins on her behalf.

The evidence was overwhelming.

A Crime of Treason

In modern terms, this was fraud.

In 1684—

It was High Treason.

To counterfeit coin was to undermine:

  • The Crown
  • The economy
  • The stability of the realm

The verdict:

👉 GUILTY

The sentence:

👉 To be burnt to death

The Second Mary Corbet: The Servant

Then—

The name was called again.

Mary Corbet.

But this was another woman entirely.

A maidservant.

Her crime was quieter.

More hidden.

And, in its own way, more disturbing.

A Death in Secret

She was accused of murdering her newborn child.

The court heard that she had:

  • Given birth in secret
  • Denied her pregnancy
  • Concealed the delivery

The child was found:

👉 Locked inside a small trunk

Her Defence

She admitted placing the child in the trunk.

But claimed:

👉 The baby had been stillborn

She insisted:

  • Another woman had been present
  • The child was already dead

But that witness testified:

  • She had heard no cries
  • She had no knowledge of the birth at all

And crucially—

Mary Corbet had denied being with child throughout.

The Judgment

Even if the child had been born dead—

The court reasoned:

👉 Concealing the birth
👉 Locking the body in a trunk

Was itself enough to condemn her.

The verdict:

👉 GUILTY OF MURDER

The sentence:

👉 Death by hanging

A Shared Fate

And so—

On the same day:

  • One Mary Corbet was condemned to burning
  • Another Mary Corbet was condemned to hanging

Two women.

Same name.

Different crimes.

Same end.

A Twist in the Record

Yet the story refuses to settle.

Months later, in July 1684, a General Pardon was read before the court.

Among the names listed:

👉 Mary Corbet

But which one?

  • The counterfeiter?
  • The servant?
  • Or another entirely?

The records do not tell us.

Why This Case Matters

This is not just a story of crime.

It is a story of:

  • Identity
  • Record-keeping
  • And the limits of history itself

Two women stood under the same name.

Both condemned.

And yet—

History leaves us with a question it cannot answer:

👉 Which Mary Corbet died?

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Advice of the Day: Drying Your Laundry

Speed up drying your laundry by wearing your wet clothes and letting your body heat do the rest.

the sage

Drying clothes can take hours, sometimes days, depending on weather, patience, and whether you’ve accidentally washed everything at once (as recommended). The Wise Sage offers a far more efficient solution: become the tumble dryer.

Simply put on your freshly washed clothes while they are still damp and go about your day as normal. Walking, sitting, and mild embarrassment will generate enough heat to gradually dry the fabric, while also moulding it perfectly to your body.

For faster results, increase activity levels. A brisk walk, light jogging, or standing awkwardly near a radiator will accelerate the process. If questioned, simply say you are “testing a new fabric technology.”

For indoor drying, the Sage recommends pacing slowly around the house while maintaining a thoughtful expression. This gives the impression of purpose while also ensuring even airflow.

As always, The Sage accepts no responsibility for dripping floors, raised eyebrows, or trousers that never quite feel dry.

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Quote of the Day: Pride in Peace

“Walk through the meadow without needing to conquer it, carry your crosses lightly, and you may find there is more to be proud of in peace than in victory.”
— The Sage

There is a quiet difference between moving through the world and trying to master it. The Sage reminds us that not every space is meant to be conquered. A meadow, for instance, asks nothing of us but our presence — to walk, to observe, to appreciate without the urge to claim or control.

Yet many of us carry burdens — our own crosses — that weigh more heavily than they need to. We treat them as measures of endurance, even of pride, believing that struggle itself is something to display. But there is a gentler way: to carry what we must without letting it define us.

In doing so, we may discover a different kind of pride — one rooted not in triumph over others, but in quiet composure. There is dignity in restraint, and strength in peace. And often, it is in the stillness of the meadow, rather than the noise of victory, that we come closest to understanding both.

— The Sage

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This Day in History: 8 April 1719

Spittle, Sedition, and the Price of Words

An Insult to a Princess

In April 1719, London witnessed not one, but two striking reminders of how seriously the Crown took both actions and words.

The first was brief, brazen, and unforgettable.

A man named Augustine Moore, a chairman by trade, encountered Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales—and did something extraordinary.

He spat at her.

And as if that were not enough, he declared:

“She is no Princess… you may make as good a Princess of a cobbler’s wife.”

He went further still:

“King George is an usurper, and has no business here.”

There was no misunderstanding.

No retraction.

No defence.

A Swift and Public Justice

Moore did not contest the charge.

He pleaded:

👉 Guilty

The sentence reflected both the insult and its target:

  • Public whipping from Somerset House to the Haymarket
  • Three years imprisonment

This was not merely punishment—

It was spectacle.

A reminder that contempt for royalty would be answered not quietly, but visibly.

A Woman Who Would Not Recant

If Moore’s offence was sudden and shocking, Margaret Hicks offered something different:

👉 Persistence.

👉 Defiance.

👉 Repetition.

Witnesses testified that she openly declared:

“God curse King George.”

When challenged, she doubled down:

“G— d d— n King George, and you too.”

And when told she risked hanging?

Her reply was remarkable:

She “had rather be hang’d for that than anything else.”

The Morning After

Perhaps most damning of all—

She did not blame drink.

When confronted the next morning and asked if she remembered her words, she calmly repeated them.

This was no drunken slip.

It was conviction.

Or, at the very least—

Stubbornness elevated to principle.

Threat Turns to Treason

Hicks went further still.

Knife in hand, she declared:

If she had a man’s heart’s blood, she would “stick him.”

And chillingly:

“The first time King George came by the door she would stick him.”

At this point, words alone became something else.

👉 Threat

👉 Intent

👉 Sedition edged toward violence

The Verdict

Like Moore, Hicks had little defence beyond denial.

The evidence was clear.

The jury returned:

👉 GUILTY

Her sentence:

  • 40 shillings fine
  • Six months imprisonment

Less severe than Moore’s—

But still a clear warning.

Why This Case Matters

These two cases, heard on the same day, reveal something essential about early 18th-century justice:

👉 The Crown did not distinguish lightly between word and deed

  • A spit could be treasonous
  • A sentence spoken aloud could be criminal
  • A threat could be treated as action

Yet there is also a contrast:

  • Moore’s act was physical—and punished publicly
  • Hicks’ offence was verbal—but persisted, repeated, and sharpened into danger

Together, they show a world in which loyalty was expected not only in action—

But in speech.

And where even the smallest defiance, once voiced aloud, might carry a very real cost.

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