"Before my children shall be taken, I will kill every one of them"

The BBC series Lady Killers investigates historical murders perpetrated by women.

- By Rosalind Crone

1 The knife-wielding tavern owner
Mary McKinnon was convicted of stabbing one of the customers in her Edinburgh establishment – and earned a one-way trip to the gallows

Edinburgh in the 1820s was a city of contrasts. The New Town was the playground of the affluent, lined with beautiful houses and grand assembly and concert rooms, where the wealthy could indulge in intellectual pastimes. The Old Town, however, was crowded and filthy, packed with dingy inns and taverns. As well as selling pints of ale, many also offered sexual services to their customers. The city’s sex industry had been expanding since around 1760, and by the turn of the 19th century, South Bridge had become notorious for street walkers and brothels, and attracted residents from across the city in search of pleasure.

On 8 February 1823, William Howat, a writer’s clerk, dined and drank through the afternoon with a group of friends at his lodgings in Broughton Street, on the edge of New Town. At 9 o’clock the men decided to head down to South Bridge to continue their fun. They ended up at Mary McKinnon’s tavern. Mary, the licensee, was out visiting a friend. But her employees and lodgers, Elizabeth MacDonald, Mary Curly and Elizabeth Grey, took the men into a private room, served them drinks and joined them. Soon, things turned nasty.