Elizabeth Gaunt

Elizabeth Gaunt (died 23 October 1685) was an English woman sentenced to death for treason after having been convicted for involvement in the Rye House Plot. She was the last woman executed for a political crime in England , and the last woman executed in England by burning alive.

Gaunt was an Anabaptist shopkeeper in London. She was the daughter of Anthony Fothergill of Brownber, Ravenstonedale, and was well known to give shelter to persecuted people, such as victims of religious and political oppression. She was sentenced to death for treason in the Old Bailey on 19 October 1685.

Gaunt considered the trial to be a martyrdom and reportedly behaved with such good humour that the audience was moved to tears. She was executed by burning, and, as she was denied strangulation, she was literally burned alive. William Penn witnessed the execution and reported that she "died with a constancy, even to a cheerfulness, that struck all that saw it."