Gillian Wright

The Lament of Rebecca Downing Gillian Wright

A gross miscarriage of justice! Was the barbaric execution of this 15yr old pauper apprentice girl in 1782, in rural South Devon, a true story based on well researched sources, thus? Tracing through all the historic evidence I can find, together with some conjecture, I have endeavoured to put together the events leading up to this awful punishment carried out during the period known as 'enlightened' in England in the 18th century. Was Rebecca, born at the very bottom of the rung, in the wrong place at the wrong time? This is her story, as I see it.