Throughout the reign of King Henry VIII, there were many different executions ordered across
his Kingdom that caused great shock and outrage.
Henry even turned on some of his closest friends at the end, and he ordered the death of Thomas
Cromwell, his chief advisor and best friend who made him very rich during the Dissolutions
of the Monasteries.
Cromwell went to his death on Tower Hill and an axeman hacked his head clean off his shoulders,
and he was considered the man who orchestrated the downfall of Anne Boleyn.
The Second wife of Henry VIII was executed by sword inside the walls of the Tower of
London, after Cromwell spun a web of lies against Anne which saw her convicted of treason
adultery and incest.
Henry even altered the treason laws during his reign which allowed people guilty of poisoning
others to be deemed traitors, and these were then subject to be boiled alive, like Richard
Roose the Cook who tried to poison bishop John Fisher.
But there was one incredibly shocking execution which saw a young 11 year old girl going to
her death inside a small market town in Henry VIII’s England.
Join us today as we look at the Brutal execution of Alice Glaston.
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England has a dark history involving executions and children.
In the years following the Tudor period, the laws were changed during a period of time
referred to as ‘The Bloody Code,’ in which hundreds of new offences carried the death
sentence.
To put people off committing these offences, many executions of even minors were carried
out.
But Alice Glaston is considered the youngest girl on record to have been legally executed
in England.
There was a boy who was allegedly hanged for arson named John Dean who was condemned at
the age of around 9, but Alice Glaston is the youngest girl to be executed.
It was said in the records that in the small market town of Much Wenlock, alongside two
other criminals, Alice was hanged in front of a crowd that had assembled, but how and
why did this young girl face the hangman’s noose and the gallows?
The parish register and records written by the Vicar of Much Wenlock from 1545 states
that,
‘Here was buried John Dod of the Parish of Little Wenlock who was hanged here, as
also Alice Glaston, 11 years of age of the parish of Little Wenlock and William Harper
a tailor.’
With this it isn’t specifically stated that the three were executed for the same crime,
but as Much Wenlock was a small settlement it must be assumed that this could be the
case.
Three executions occurred at the same time inside of the small town, and it’s likely
that an executioner was summoned from a bigger settlement nearby to perform the killings.
But court records do not exist and have been lost to time, and because of this it’s not
completely clear what Alice did.
She was probably tried at the Wenlock Guildhall which was a town hall and also a local court
room where judges would preside over cases.
These were built 5 years before the execution as when Henry VIII dissolved a priory nearby,
the court cases needed to be heard somewhere else.
On the ground floor of the guildhall was a prison and Alice would have been held inside
this small cell for a while also.
Her story is incredibly sad, but during the Tudor times there were a number of serious
offences that Alice could have been killed for.
As she was a female, hanging was the standard death sentence and method for crimes such
as treason for women, as treason in men was dealt with by hanging, drawing and quartering
which was considered much more savage and sadistic.
But it’s unlikely that an 11 year old girl would have been executed for treason against
King Henry VIII, he was a very paranoid monarch and King, but its unlikely that he would even
order this, especially as the matter was dealt with in the local area and not in London.
If it was a threat against the King, Alice would have been taken to London to stand trial
and then would have faced execution at Tyburn.
Murder was a crime which was dealt with by hanging, and women who had murdered others
were hanged for this.
Also theft and arson were two crimes deemed very serious and did carry the death penalty,
but petty thiefs were dealt with differently as they were sometimes imprisoned also.
Thieves who were found guilty of stealing less than a shilling would be punished in
public and were whipped and also branded with hot irons.
Many more were also locked inside the stocks or the pillory and this punishment was deemed
enough.
The fact if she was deemed a heretic she would have been liable to be burned at the stake
also rules out that Alice Glaston was found guilty of religious crimes or being a heretic.
But as Alice Glaston was sentenced to death straight away, it shows that what she did
must have been very serious.
It’s possible that alongside the two men she was executed with that she could have
been involved in a murder or the death of someone else, or could have been guilty of
arson.
There are no other records of burials of young children at the time connected to Alice’s
story so its unlikely that she murdered another child also.
But what is hugely concerning is that Alice Glaston the young 11 year old girl could have
been executed after someone may have accused her of being a witch.
At this time, many women found themselves accused of witchcraft and with this they were
forced to defend themselves under immense pressure from the men and people who were
accusing them and were also forced to fight for their lives in front of the judges.
Some women were even thrown into lakes and rivers and were weighed down as they were
deemed witches, but Alice Glaston could have been sentenced to death as she may have been
accused of being involved in the dark arts.
During Henry VIII’s reign this was a common fear, and locals were very scared of women
who were accused of witchcraft and often trials and executions got carried away and women
were not given a chance to defend themselves.
But what is shocking is that a crowd would have gathered to see the execution of the
young 11 year old Alice Glaston, which shows you how brutal Tudor society was.
Tudor England was a terrifying and scary place which believed it was right to sentence a
young child to death.
It’s a time where Henry VIII executed around 70,000 people during his reign, but of these
Alice Glaston’s death has to be considered as shocking as Anne Boleyns and other prominent
Tudor figures.
She is a forgotten victim of the time period, but at the time the age of criminal responsibility
was 7, meaning that someone aged 7 could be held accountable for their actions and any
crimes that they committed.
But in Much Wenlock on that dark day, Alice Glaston became the child victim of King Henry
VIII.
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