In the spring of 1662, the village of Tranent in Haddingtonshire became swept up in the intense legal scrutiny that characterized the witch hunts of the period. Among those identified during this period of heightened judicial activity was Jeane Manner, whose name appeared in the official records on 17 April 1662. Her involvement in these proceedings was not a result of a direct accusation by a local peer, but rather originated from the testimony of an individual named James Welch.
James had provided a series of denunciations against various community members, and although the authorities deemed him too young to undergo a formal trial himself, they nonetheless remanded him to prison. Despite his youth, the gravity afforded to his confessions ensured that his statements were treated as credible evidence by the court. Consequently, the legal proceedings against Jeane followed the standard bureaucratic pathways of the time, marked by the administrative designation C/EGD/546 and the subsequent trial reference T/LA/1381, linking her fate to the broader, systematic investigation triggered by James’s testimony.