Bizarre Agnes Waterhouse – The First “Witch” Executed In England

Agnes Waterhouse, also known as Mother Waterhouse, was the first woman to be executed for witchcraft in England.

In 1566, at the age of 63, Agnes was accused of witchcraft alongside two other women; Elizabeth Francis and her eighteen-year-old daughter, Joan Waterhouse. All three women were from the same village, Hatfield Peverel.

Charged with using witchcraft to cause illness to William Fynne, kill her husband and kill livestock, the trial in 1566 was recorded in a pamphlet entitled “The examination and confession of certaine Wytches at Chensforde in the Countie of Essex before the Quenes Maiesties Judges the XXVI daye of July anno 1566.”

During the first examination, Reverend Thomas Cole and Sir John Fortescue were present. During the second examination Sir Gilbert Gerard, the queen’s attorney, and John Southcote, justice of the queen’s bench, were present. The presence of these men suggests that the case was considered to be of great significance.

During the trial, Elizabeth Francis was first to be examined. She confessed to possessing the familiar, a white-spotted cat called Satan. It was aid that the cat was given to her by her grandmother who taught her witchcraft when she was twelve years old.

It was said Elizabeth kept the cat for fifteen years before giving it to Agnes Waterhouse. According to Elizabeth, the cat could speak to her in a strange hollow voice and do anything for her in exchange for a drop of blood.

She then allegedly confessed to stealing sheep and killing people. This included a wealthy man named Andrew Byles, who she claimed got her pregnant but wouldn’t marry her. The cat then told her was herbs to drink to terminate the pregnancy. She then killed her daughter and made her husband lame.

Despite being found guilty, she accused Agnes Waterhouse and was given a lighter sentence. However, thirteen years later she would be hanged after a second conviction. A later pamphlet from her 1579 trial shows that Elizabeth and Agnes were in fact, sisters.

Agnes Waterhouse – England’s First Executed Witch

When Agnes went on trial, it was said that she was taught witchcraft by her sister. A confused Agnes then confessed to her cat Satan killing a pig. She allegedly kept the cat in a pot lined with wool but was also accused of turning Satan the cat into a toad. Despite denying that she ever killed anyone with witchcraft, she was found guilty.

Finally, Agnes’ daughter, Joan Waterhouse, went on trial. Joan had been refused a piece of bread and cheese by a neighbor’s child (Agnes Brown) and had invoked the toad’s help. She told how the toad promised to assist her if she would surrender her soul. After surrendering her soul to the toad supposedly haunted Agnes Brown in the form of a dog with horns.

Joan Waterhouse did not claim to have used the supernatural services of the cat to any large degree, but by testifying to its existence, it helped convict the other two women.

The main evidence against Agnes Waterhouse came from the 12-year-old neighbor Agnes Brown. Agnes described the demon as a black dog with an ape-like face. It also had a short tail, with a chain and silver whistle around its neck and a pair of horns.

The dog then threatened her with a knife, saying “that he would thrust his knife to my heart but he would make me to die.” The most incriminating piece of evidence was Agnes Brown’s account of asking the dog who his “dame” was, to which he wagged his head towards Agnes Waterhouse’s home.

On 29 July 1566, two days after the trial had come to an end, Agnes Waterhouse was executed by hanging. The first person to be executed in England for witchcraft.

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