The high court of Parliament for the trial of Earl Ferrers

Interior view of the empty high court of Parliament for the trial of Earl Ferrers. Laurence, Earl Ferrers was a debauched and mentally deranged aristocrat. He was executed at Tyburn, 5th of May, 1760 for his brutal murder of his steward. Earl Ferrers was born Lawrence Shirley. At the age of 20 he quit his estates and Oxford education and in Paris plunged into every kind of excess. When he was drunk his latent viciousness and cruelty came bubbling to the surface. He was vicious to servants, one was disabled for life after being repeatedly kicked in the groin. He treated his wife with equal brutality and she eventually had to leave him. His attempt to rape a servant girl called Elizabeth Bowler forced her to jump to her death from a high window. He was tried by his Peers in the House of Lords for shooting to death his loyal steward and despite being an aristocrat suffered a commoner's execution.