Bladys of the Stewponey by Sabine Baring-Gould.

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Bladys of the Stewponey by Sabine Baring-Gould. This story is set in England in the days when women were regarded as having a low status, highwaymen and murder were common and people were executed for trivial offences. The novel is based on two historical events: The first of these was the last public execution by burning in England which took place in Shrewsbury in 1789. The horror of the scene is graphically enhanced by the description of the tolling bell: "St Mary's bell boomed, sending throbs of sound overhead that beat against the walls of the house in one street, and came back muffled in recoil." The second event was where a young lady had to endure the shame of being the prize at a bowling contest. This is described as follows: "O yes! O yes! O yes! This is to give notice that this 'ere evening, at six o'clock, at Stewponey, there will be a grand champion match at bowls on the green. The prize to be Bladys Rea, commonly called Stewponey Bla. Admittance one shilling. 'Arf-a-crown inner ring, and ticket admits to the 'oly function, by kind permission of the proprietor, in the Chapel of Stourton Castle. At six o'clock per-cise. No 'arf-price. Children and dogs not admitted." The heroine of the novel, Bladys Rea, of Spanish extraction, has to undergo a mock marriage under duress, performs an act of kindness to a woman sentenced to death and is later falsely accused and tried for murder herself.