Margery Beddingfield, born Margery Rowe in June 1742, was the daughter of a Suffolk farmer, John Rowe, and his wife, also named Margery. She was baptized on June 29, 1742, in the parish church at Blaxhall, a rural village in the English county of Suffolk. At the age of just 17, she married John Beddingfield, a prosperous and well-established farmer from the neighboring parish of Sternfield. The couple resided in a large manor house on an estate, leading a life that appeared stable from the outside.

Together, they had two children: a daughter named Pleasance and a son, John, who sadly died at only four months of age. The household was further populated by several servants, including Elizabeth Riches, Elizabeth Cleobold, and two boys, William Masterson and John Nunn. In 1761, during Michaelmas (September 29), two more servants joined the home — nursemaid Elizabeth Cleobold and a 19-year-old farmhand named Richard Ringe.

Margery (referred to in some sources as Ann or Anne Margaret) became infatuated with Ringe soon after he arrived. Although she and her husband were not in open conflict, they frequently displeased each other, and Margery treated him with noticeable coldness. Her attraction to the young farmhand grew into a brazen affair that was noticed by at least four household staff. Ringe, flattered by the attention and lacking the resolve to resist, entered into a relationship with her.

Within months, the affair evolved into a murder plot. Margery promised Ringe that if he would kill her husband, she would marry him and give him half of the estate. At first hesitant, Ringe was eventually persuaded. The two reportedly spoke in code, and Margery even ominously told her maid, “It will not be long before somebody in the house dies, and I believe it will be your master.” Ringe attempted to poison John Beddingfield using arsenic sourced from a local chemist, but the poisonings failed due to suspicion or refusal by other servants to assist. Despite these failed attempts, the couple continued planning.

In March 1763, Margery Beddingfield and Richard Ringe acted on their deadly intentions. On a night when John Beddingfield was entertaining a business guest over punch, Ringe pretended to sleep until John had gone to bed. After waiting until the household was quiet, Ringe crept into John’s room and attempted to strangle him with a cord. A struggle ensued, and the two men crashed from the bed, damaging a rod in the process. Despite resistance, Ringe ultimately succeeded in strangling the sleeping man.

After the murder, Ringe reportedly went directly to Margery’s bedroom to declare, “I have done for him,” to which she replied, “Then I am easy.” What neither realized was that the maidservant Cleobold was sharing the bed with Margery that night for warmth and overheard the exchange. The next morning, John Beddingfield’s death was announced to the household. A superficial coroner’s examination followed, which — despite the clear signs of a struggle — declared the cause of death to be natural, possibly suggesting he had strangled himself in his own bedclothes.

Cleobold, cautious and fearful of immediate reprisal, waited until she had received her quarterly wages before alerting the authorities. She reported the crime during the Ipswich Lent Assizes. Following her statement, Beddingfield’s body was exhumed and a formal inquest was held. The findings revealed clear evidence of violent strangulation.

In April 1763, both Margery Beddingfield and Richard Ringe were tried before Baron Richard Adams. Ringe confessed early in the proceedings, providing details of the crime and implicating Margery. Eventually, she also admitted her involvement. Since Ringe was the servant of the man he murdered, and Margery his wife, they were both convicted of petty treason — a now-obsolete charge reserved for betrayal within hierarchical relationships such as servant-master or wife-husband.

Ringe was sentenced to hang. Margery was sentenced to death by burning at the stake, a punishment then reserved for female traitors and women convicted of petty treason. The sentence symbolized the perceived gravity of a wife's betrayal of her husband.

Their joint execution took place on Friday, April 8, 1763, in Rushmere, Ipswich. Ringe addressed the large crowd assembled, offering a confession and a warning about the dangers of temptation. Margery was tied to a stake and, in accordance with common (though unofficial) practice of the time, likely strangled before the fire consumed her body.