Elizabeth Canning

Date1754

MediumEtching and letterpress on laid paper

DimensionsOverall: 19 1/4" X 13 3/4"; Plate: 16 1/8" X 9"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1967-665,1

DescriptionBelow the image reads: "Publish'd August 16th 1754 Pursuant to the Statute the Eighth of George the Second."

Title reads: "ELIZABETH CANNING,/ Drawn from the Life, as she stood at the Bar to receive her Sentence, in the/ Sessions House, in the Old-Bailey."

Text at lower edge of plate reads: "LONDON: Printed and Sold by the Booksellers in Town and Country (Price Plain, Six-pence, Colour'd One Shilling.)"
Label TextThe curious case of Elizabeth Canning’s disappearance, trial, and banishment captivated the public. On New Year's Day 1753, teenager Elizabeth Canning left her mother's home. When she returned almost a month later, she was thin, injured, and dirty. What remains unclear is what happened during that time. She claimed she was kidnapped and held against her will in a hayloft. Her alleged captors, Mary Squires and Susannah Wells, were arrested, put on trial, and convicted. Press coverage of the story led to immense public support for Canning.

At first, Canning’s story held up, but newspapers, the public, and courts soon began to doubt the details of her extraordinary tale. Canning was charged with perjury. Witnesses flipped sides and alibis changed. The court convicted Canning and transported her to the colony of Connecticut.

Canning is shown standing before the court to receive her sentence. The foreman of the jury has risen to deliver the verdict. Judge and jury and other officials are seen in front of her. The gallery is filled with people who have come to witness her sentencing.
ProvenanceBefore 1967, The Old Print Shop (New York, NY); 1967-present, purchased by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).