A Bruise, a Neck, and a Little Finger

Abstract Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be hanged in Britain. On April 10, 1955, front of witnesses, she shot and killed her lover, David Blakely, immediately arrested imprisoned. In so many other ways, however, life similar those aspirational women working classes postwar Britain; achieved notoriety because murder execution. This essay uses archives press photography examine diverse ways which constructed identity represented public as a sexualized woman. It attempts feminist encounter with visual archive—an not only an individual but also, importantly, 1950s sex, sexuality, class, violence.