Execution of Rebecca Smith. Rebecca Smith (née Prior; chr. 17 May 1807 – 23 August 1849) was the last British woman to be executed for the infanticide of her own child. She was convicted of killing her infant son Richard, and was publicly hanged at Devizes, Wiltshire. After her trial she confessed to having poisoned seven of her other children. Smith was born in the village of Bratton, Wiltshire, the daughter of William and Sarah Prior (or Pryor). Her father, who died in 1830, was a successful yeoman farmer, while her mother was a prominent member of the local Particular Baptist sect. In May 1831, she married an agricultural labourer, Philip Smith, who had a reputation as a drunkard. Their first child, Jane, was born the following year. Ten others followed, none of which lived more than a few months. In 1846, following her mother's death, Smith inherited ₤100 and moved the family to Westbury. Her husband squandered the inheritance, and she was forced to find seasonal work as a crop...