Renwick Williams: suggested protection from the monster

Renwick Williams, commonly called The Monster, assaulted and killed up to 60 women in the streets before his arrest in June 1790. Here a man rivetting a copper plates to make a skirt for the woman to protect her from potential stab wounds. Whether or not this actually occured is unknown - at the time, wooden ships had copper nailed to their undersides to protect from damage from barnacles. The term copper-bottomed was used (and then more generally to denote quality). So this period illustration also acts as a rather neat visual pun

1790 Assaulted Barnacle Bottomed Hull Murderer Protect Renwick Rivet Rivets Stab Stabbing Stabs Suggested Wounds

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