Kylie Minogue, the global Princess of Pop, is no stranger to headlines—but it turns out that notoriety runs deep in her family history. More than two centuries ago, on September 7, 1816, Dinah Riddiford, an ancestor on Kylie’s maternal side, was hanged at Gloucester Gaol at the age of 69. She is believed to be the oldest woman ever executed in England, in an event that became known as “The Granny Hanging.”
At the time, the dramatic story shocked the public and splashed across the broadside sheets—early 19th-century tabloids—declaring that Dinah and her son Luke had been found guilty of burglary. They allegedly broke into the home of Mr. Daniel Reed and stole two sides of bacon. Dinah was also accused of harboring her son and disposing of stolen goods without her husband’s knowledge.
Genealogy research has confirmed Kylie, her sister Dannii, and other members of the Minogue family descend from Dinah Riddiford. The grim punishment was carried out publicly, with Dinah’s body reportedly hung above the main gates of Gloucester Gaol—a grim reminder and spectacle characteristic of the era.
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Centuries later, the sensational broadside detailing “The True and Particular Account of John Williams and Dinah Riddiford” is due to be auctioned by Chorley’s Auctioneers in Prinknash. Part of a private collection of early 1800s crime sheets, the leaflet is expected to fetch between £400 and £600 when it goes under the hammer on March 3.
These inexpensive pamphlets captured the Georgian public’s fascination with crime, politics, and punishment—recounting tales from murder and rioting to political unrest. Highlights in the collection include the “Tewkesbury Tragedy,” where naval officer Samuel Gray murdered Susannah Shaw after false promises of marriage, and the 1831 account of the Bristol Riots, which saw the city overwhelmed by chaos and multiple hangings.
Werner Freundel, Director at Chorley’s, remarked, “These broadsides were the tabloids of their day, delivering crime and scandal with bold, graphic language straight to the streets. They were the true crime podcasts of Georgian England. Few could have imagined that one of the most infamous criminals of 1816 would be an ancestor to one of the world’s most famous women today.”