Vauxhall History co-editor and author of The Murder of Mary Ashford Naomi Clifford presents an online talk at 7pm on Tuesday 8 December, in which she examines a notorious murder case of 1817 that highlighted Georgian attitudes to rape and also led to a change in English law.

After the sensational acquittal of Abraham Thornton for the rape and murder of Mary Ashford in a village near Birmingham, local gentlemen were so outraged they funded a second trial which pushed the case on to the national stage. Yet why did the people who tried to bring Thornton to justice blame Mary Ashford for her own death?

Naomi Clifford looks at this 200-year-old crime and examines how much attitudes to rape have really changed.

To book your place at the talk email southlambethlibrary@lambeth.gov.uk. Details will be sent out shortly before the talk.

Place: Online (Zoom) – you do not need a Zoom account to take part.
Date: Tuesday 8 December 2020
Time: 7pm
Cost: FREE

Warning: Language about sexual violence, murder and suicide.

This presentation is a collaboration between Vauxhall History and Friends of Tate South Lambeth Library.