λ Public execution interest. A rare and unusual early Victorian bone or ivory toggle / fob seal

λ Public execution interest. A rare and unusual early Victorian bone or ivory toggle / fob seal, inscribed 'Execn of S. D., Aug V., 1843, C.P. Makr' and the base with 'T. I. B', with a brass suspension ring, 3.2cm high.

Provenance: 'A Lifetime of Collecting' - The property of a Gentleman.

The initials 'S. D.' on this toggle relate to Sarah Dazley (1819-1843) the first and only woman to be publicly hanged at Bedford Gaol. She was known as the Potton Poisoner after she was convicted of murdering, by arsenic poisoning, her second husband William Dazley. She was also suspected but not tried of murdering her first husband and son, Simeon and Jonah Mead, in 1840. She was executed on the 5th August 1843 on the New Drop in front of thousands of onlookers and was the last person to be publicly hanged at Bedford Gaol.