Alice Glaston

{{Short description|11-year old English girl executed in 1546}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox criminal | name = Alice Glaston | image_name = | image_size = | image_caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{circa|1535}} | birth_place = Little Wenlock, Shropshire, England | death_date = 13 April 1546 (aged 11) | death_place = Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England | apprehended = | conviction_penalty = | conviction_status = }} '''Alice Glaston''' ({{circa|1535}} – 13 April 1546) was an 11-year-old English girl from Little Wenlock who may have been hanged in Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England, under the reign of Henry VIII.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|author=Butler, Sir Thomas|title=The Cambrian Journal, 49 |place=London|year=1861|page=89|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QmQtAAAAMAAJ&q=glaston+little+wenlock&pg=PA89}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mercuriuspoliticus.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/alice-glaston/|title=Alice Glaston|date=19 March 2010}}</ref><ref name="capitalpunishmentukorg">{{Cite web|url=http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/child.html|title=Children & juvenile executions}}</ref> The evidence surrounding how Alice met her death is provided from a single source and open to interpretation. The Cambrian Journal dated 1861 includes a note made in the parish register by the vicar of Much Wenlock, Sir Thomas Butler in 1545, and states ''"Here was buried John Dod of the parish of Little Wenlock, who was hanged here, as also Alice Glaston, 11 yrs of age, of the parish of Little Wenlock, and Wm. Harper, a tailor."''<ref name=":0" />

Speculation that Alice was hung in 1546, five years after the introduction of the first Witchcraft Act, has fuelled unsubstantiated claims that Alice was a witch.

The first Witchcraft Act of 1541 introduced serious penalties for witchcraft and was the first act to define witchcraft as a felony, punishable by death. Witch trials in England were however not common until the until the end of the 16th century and early 17th century when James VI and I ascended to the throne. According to Joyce Gibson, the first person hanged for witchcraft in England was likely to be Elizabeth Lowys who was tried in July 1564 for killing a child by occult means.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gibson |first=Joyce |title=Hanged for witchcraft: Elizabeth Lowys and her successors |date=1988 |publisher=Tudor Pr |isbn=978-0-7316-1311-3 |location=Canberra}}</ref> The most commonly identified first person to have been executed as a witch in England is Agnes Waterhouse in 1566, and whose name appears in Judy Chicago's feminist history installation The Dinner Party.

In October 2014, writer Paul Evans released ''The Spirit Child'', a speculative supernatural radio play about the events leading to her execution.<ref>{{cite web|title= The Spirit Child|work=The Radio Times|year=2014|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/c68nk4/the-spirit-child|accessdate=2014-10-28}}</ref>

In 2024, it was announced that a feature film entitled ''Dreams of an Eleven Year Old Witch'' was to be produced, telling the story of Alice's life. On April 10, 2026, an editorial on the feature film appeared in the Wenlock Herald (Vol. 67 No.4), a newsletter published by the Wenlock Team of Parishes,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wenlock Herald |url=https://www.muchwenlockchurch.co.uk/wenlock-herald |access-date=2026-04-30 |website=muchwenlockchurch.co.uk}}</ref> states the film project aims to create a "visually fantastical yet sensitive exploration of childhood in that era." The film is being produced by Vitality Entertainment<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vitality Entertainment |url=https://www.vitality-entertainment.com/ |access-date=2026-04-30 |website=vitality-entertainment.com |language=en-GB}}</ref> who acknowledge "the specific crime that led an eleven year old to the gallows remains a mystery."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alice's Story / The History {{!}} Dreams of an Eleven Year Old Witch: the story of Alice Glaston |url=https://www.aliceglaston.com/the-history/alice-s-story-1 |access-date=2026-04-30 |website=aliceglaston.com |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==See also== * Capital punishment in the United Kingdom * John Dean, 8- or 9-year-old boy who was the youngest person executed in the history of England * Elizabeth Hicks * Hannah Ocuish * Mary (slave)

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glaston, Alice}} Category:1530s births Category:1545 deaths Category:Date of birth unknown Category:Year of birth unknown Category:16th-century executions by England Category:16th-century English criminals Category:Children executed by the United Kingdom Category:Executed English women Category:People executed by the Kingdom of England by hanging