Miss Sheppard had left home at Papplewick to go to Mansfield looking for work as a servant. According to the inquest held at the Old Blue Bell Inn in Sutton-in-Ashfield, her only possessions of note were a pair of new shoes and a light umbrella. She was seen to leave Mansfield at 6am on that fateful day, but did not return home. Her dead body was found next morning by the side of the road; her skull had been fractured by a large hedge stake, which was found nearby.

On the 25th of July, a 33-year-old man from Sheffield named Charles Rotherham stayed overnight at The Three Crowns Inn, Redhill. There he tried to sell a pair of women's shoes and an umbrella. He left the shoes behind in his room, and later sold the umbrella in Bunny. People soon made a connection between Charles Rotherham and the items on Elizabeth Sheppard, and he was tracked down and arrested at Loughborough.

After the Coroner's inquest Charles Rotherham confessed to the foul deed and said that he didn't know why he had done it. He had struck her repeatedly until she was dead. He did not know Elizabeth, and did not speak throughout the murderous act. Finding no money on the body, he took the shoes and umbrella.

Charles Rotherham was executed by hanging at Gallows Hill in Nottingham on July 28th 1817. View transcription of a broadsheet published on the day of his execution.

Mr Anthony Buckles and others from Mansfield paid for the erection of the stone in memory of poor young Elizabeth Sheppard.

Photos of Bessie Sheppard Stone
© Cath Staton 2002