Elizabeth Southerns

One of the ‘whores’ to whom Richard Baldwin referred was probably Elizabeth Southerns. We know from the evidence given at the trial that she had two children, Elizabeth Device (nee Ingham) and an older son called Christopher Holgate. By 1612, Elizabeth was an elderly widow, her husband Thomas Ingham long deceased. It seems likely that her elder child, Christopher, was born out of wedlock prior to her marriage in 1563. If this was the case, this would have been well-known around the small communities of Pendle; a source of gossip at the time and for many years to come, recalled easily to mind as it was by the miller during that angry exchange.

"Whores and Witches": The Women of the Pendle Witch Trials, by Sarah L. King (22nd April 2016)