Martha Rendell

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Martha Rendell (c. 1871 – 6 October 1909) was the last woman to be hanged in Western Australia. She was found guilty of the willful murder of her defacto husband's son, Arthur Morris, in 1908. She was also suspected of the killing of his two daughters, Annie and Olive. It was alleged that she killed the children by swabbing hydrochloric acid on the back of their throats. Martha however always protested her innocence, maintaining that she was treating the children for diphtheria. There was considerable public outrage at the time; the press portrayed her as a "Scarlet Woman" and "Wicked Stepmother". There was some debate on the appropriateness of execution for a woman, but on 6 October 1909 she was hanged at Fremantle Prison. She is buried at Fremantle Cemetery, in the same grave where Eric Edgar Cooke was interred more than half a century afterwards.

[edit] References

• Fremantle Prison a brief history, Cyril Ayris ISBN 0-9581882-1-1
• Daily News 05/10/1909
• West Australian 30/09/1909
• Murdering Stepmothers: The trial and Execution of Martha Rendell, Anna Haebich 1997