Thomas Colley

{{For|Thomas Colley (MP)|Northampton (UK Parliament constituency)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{One source|date= April 2017}} '''Thomas Colley''' (died 24 August 1751) was an English chimney sweep, executed for the murder of accused witch Ruth Osborne at Tring, Hertfordshire.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.stcross.nildram.co.uk/witch.html|title=HERTFORDSHIRE'S LAST WITCH HUNT|accessdate=18 May 2011|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20020907091621/http://www.stcross.nildram.co.uk/witch.html|archivedate=7 Sep 2002}}</ref>

Colley was one of the leaders of a mob which gathered at Tring in April 1751 and seized an elderly couple, John and Ruth Osborne, from the local workhouse, accusing them of witchcraft. The mob subjected the pair to a dunking at a nearby pond in Wilstone. Ruth was beaten and dragged through the water repeatedly, until Colley drowned her by turning her face-down with a stick. John survived and testified at Colley's trial.

Colley was convicted of murder and hanged in chains at Gubblecote Cross.

==References== {{Reflist}}

===Secondary sources=== *{{cite book | author=John Brand | author-link=John Brand (antiquarian) | author2= Henry Ellis | author2-link= Henry Ellis (librarian) | title=Observations on popular antiquities: chiefly illustrating the origin of our vulgar customs, ceremonies, and superstitions | publisher= Charles Knight and Co. | date= 1842 |page=20 }} *{{cite book | first1= Marijke | last1=Gijswijt-Hofstra | first2= Brian P. | last2=Levack | first3= Roy | last3=Porter | first4= Bengt | last4=Ankarloo | title=Witchcraft and magic in Europe: the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries | publisher= Continuum International Publishing Group | date= 1999 | isbn=978-0-485-89005-1 | page= 195 }} *{{cite book | author= F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead | author-link= F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead | title=More Famous Trials | publisher= Hutchinson | date= 1928 | pages=221–226 }} *{{cite book | title= The Criminal recorder: or, Biographical sketches of notorious public characters, including murderers, traitors, pirates, mutineers, incendiaries ... and other noted persons who have suffered the sentence of the law for criminal offenses; embracing a variety of curious and singular cases ...| publisher= R. Dowson | date= 1815 |pages= 257–260 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yuAqAAAAMAAJ&q=Thomas+Colley }} * {{cite web|url=http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/08/24/1751-thomas-colley-witch-killer/|title=1751: Thomas Colley, witch-killer|work=ExecutedToday.com|date=24 August 2009|author=Headsman|accessdate=19 March 2016}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colley, Thomas}} Category:Year of birth missing Category:1751 deaths Category:1751 crimes Category:British people executed for murder Category:English people convicted of murder Category:Witchcraft in England Category:Executed English people Category:People executed by the Kingdom of Great Britain Category:People executed by England and Wales by hanging Category:Vigilantes Category:Witch hunters