Maggie Dickson

Local herstory time!! #OTD in Edinburgh history: Maggie Dickson (aka Half Hang’it Maggie) was hung – and survived to tell the tale!

Maggie Dickson was born and raised in Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, in about 1702. She married a fisherman but he soon left her after either joining the Royal Navy or goig to work in Newcastle (the stories differ, but the result is the same, Maggie was left alone).

In 1723 Maggie found work at an inn in Kelso, and subsequently "fell pregnant" after a relationship with the innkeeper's son. This was a terrible fate for a woman in those days, who would be viewed as an adulteress despite having been abandoned by her husband. Consequently, Maggie concealed the fact of her pregnancy and the baby was born prematurely. It is unclear whether the baby was stillborn or died shortly after birth, and if the latter how it died. Regardless, Maggie abandoned the body on the banks of the River Tweed. When the body was found, Maggie was arrested and subsequently tried in Edinburgh. - though how they knew the baby belonged to her remains a mystery, as does the exact nature of the trial. Some sources say she was charged under the Concealment of Pregnancy Act, but given the severity of her sentencing it seems more likely she was tried with causing the death of her child. Despite questionable medical evidence that the child had been born alive, she was convicted and sentenced to death.

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On the 2^nd September 1724, Maggie was due to be hanged in Edinburgh’s grassmarket. The hanging was carried out, followed by a near riot as friends and relatives fought with medical students for possession of her body. Her loved ones won, and Maggie was placed in a coffin to be transported to Musselburgh for burial. However, when the party carrying her coffin stopped for refreshment, the coffin lid was seen to move. Upon further inspection, it was discovered that Maggie was still alive – and well enough to walk the rest of the way to Musselburgh unaided!

This proved quite a shock to everyone involved, and became a legal grey area as no one knew what to do when a victim survived their own execution! However, it was decided that as the sentence of the court has been carried out, Maggie was beyond further prosecution and should be given her freedom. She lived for another 40 years, known universally as Half-Hangit Maggie. Rumours emerged that she had survived by seducing the ropemaker who supplied the hangman to produce a weaker rope that would not break her neck. Or, this may just be another case of women being blamed for men’s incompetence. Either way, Maggie is still a celebrated local character, and there is even a pub named after her overlooking the site of her “execution”, where you can raise a glass to her to this day!