‘The Crown and Anchor at Preston, where the Coroner’s inquest was held, with the assembled multitude in consternation; Ann Kennett sitting in the adjoining room’
BPC00144
Aquatint engraving after J Parez. No engraver or publisher is named. There is still a Crown and Anchor public house at Preston Park today.
This scene relates to the notorious murder of Celia Bashford by her husband John Holloway, who was aided by his bigamous second wife, Ann Kennett. Celia Bashford had been dismembered, with her head and limbs being dumped in a common cesspit outside their lodgings in Margaret Street. Holloway then took her torso in a wheelbarrow to a shallow grave in Lovers Lane, Preston village. After particularly heavy rain had washed away the topsoil, the torso was discovered on 25 July 1831, and Ann Kennett quickly confessed where they had put her head and limbs. Holloway was hanged on 21 December; his body was put on public display at Brighton Town Hall for 24 hours and attracted 23,000 spectators.
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