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The execution of children and juveniles.
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With
special thanks to Michael Stern for his help with this article.
Some books convey
the impression that large numbers of children were hanged for minor crimes such
as theft during the 18th and 19th centuries, but the surviving records, e.g.
the Ordinary’s Reports from Newgate, do not support this. However, the laws of
the time did not accept the concept that children and teenagers did not know
the difference between right and wrong and could punish them just as severely
for the most serious offences, particularly murder, rape, arson, highway
robbery and some property crimes, as their adult counterparts. There was
also a strong presumption against those who committed murder for gain, murder
by poisoning or brutal murders, especially of their children or their
superiors. Death sentences were certainly routinely passed on 7 -13 year olds
but equally routinely commuted. Girls
were only typically hanged for the most serious crimes whereas teenage boys
were executed for a wide range of felonies.
The age of criminal responsibility was just seven years.
Probably
the youngest child executed in England was John Dean who was convicted of
arson at the Abingdon Assizes on the 23rd of February 1629.
His age is given in “The Annals of Windsor” as between eight and nine
years and he had set fire to two houses in Windsor.
It would appear that the judge, Mr. Justice Whitelock,
found evidence of malice, revenge and cunning and therefore did not recommend a
reprieve for the boy.
Alice Glaston, aged 11, who was one of three prisoners hanged on 13 April 1546 is almost
certainly the youngest girl to have been executed. Her burial is recorded by Sir Thomas Botelar, a vicar and former Abbot of Much Wenlock in Shropshire. He says she was
interred in the Parish Church there, before the
door of the Lady's Chapel. The crimes committed by these three was not specified.
It has been suggested that the youngest children ever
hanged in Britain were Michael Hamond and his sister,
Ann, whose ages were given as 7 and 11 respectively in "The History of
Lynn" written by William Richards and published in 1812 (page 888). In
other accounts they were referred to as “the boy and the girl” as they were
both small. Research into parish baptism records by Michael Stern reveals that
these two were almost certainly 17 and 20 years old respectively which is much more likely, as there are no other recorded
instances of small children being executed at this time. They were allegedly hanged outside the South Gate of (Kings) Lynn on Wednesday, the 28th of September 1709 for an
unspecified felony. It was reported that there was violent thunder and
lightning after the execution and that their hangman, Anthony Smyth, died
within a fortnight of it.
Court
records often did not give the age of defendants sentenced to death and in some
cases the only guide to their age is how old they told the Ordinary they
thought they were. Registration of
births was not required prior to 1837.
Executions of teenagers were not reported in early newspapers, where
they existed, so it is not easy to trace all of the executions of juveniles in
the 18th century. Here are some reliable examples, rather than a conclusive
list. Please also look at the Tyburn records for
other cases.
Eighteenth
century.
On Monday 12th of March 1716 William Jennings (also given as Jenkins and
Atkins) was hanged at Tyburn for housebreaking.
His age was reported as just 12 in the newspaper of the time, but there
is no Ordinary’s report to corroborate this.
Sixteen year old Thomas Smith was hanged at Tyburn on Wednesday, the 25th of April 1716 together with William King
who was 18, also for housebreaking. Edward Elton was hanged there the following
year for the same offence.
Four
teenagers were hanged at Tyburn on Monday,
the 20th of May 1717. They were 18 year old Martha Pillah (also Pillow) who had been convicted of stealing in
a shop, 17 year old Thomas Price and 18 year old Joseph Cornbach
for housebreaking and 17 year old Christopher Ward for burglary.
16 year
old James Booty suffered at Tyburn on Monday,
the 21st of May 1722 for the rape of a 5 year old girl.
On Saturday
18th March 1738, sixteen year old Mary Grote or Groke was tied a hurdle and drawn along in a procession
behind a cart containing two men, John Boyd and James Warwick, to Gallows Hill
on the outskirts of Winchester in Hampshire. Here she was held until the
two men had been hanged before being led to a large wooden stake nearby.
She was chained to this and bundles of faggots placed round her. The executioner
would have endeavoured to strangle her with a rope noose before igniting the
fire and reducing the hopefully unconscious girl to ashes. Mary had been
convicted of the Petty Treason murder, by poisoning, of her mistress, Justine
Turner.
16 year
old William Duell was hanged, along with four others,
at Tyburn on the 24th of November 1740. He had been
convicted of raping and murdering Sarah Griffin and was to be anatomised after
execution. He was taken to Surgeon’s Hall for this but signs of life were
discovered and he was revived and later had his sentence commuted to
transportation.
Seventeen
year old Catharine Connor went to the gallows at Tyburn on Monday
the 31st December 1750 for publishing a false, forged and counterfeit Will, purporting to be the
Will of Michael Canty, a sailor in the Navy, on
October the 29th of that year. She told the court that she could neither
read nor write and that the forgery was made by a Mr. Dunn, although she was
present at the time. Catherine was one of fifteen prisoners to hang that
day.
Elizabeth
Morton, aged fifteen, was hanged at Gallows Hill, Nottingham on the 8th of
April 1763
for the murder of the two year old child of her employer, John Oliver.
Susannah Underwood was hanged at Gloucester on Friday the
19th of April 1776 for setting fire to a barn and a hay stack at Longhope on 31st January 1776.
The Hereford Journal newspaper criticised the bad manners of the 15 year
old girl for refusing to shake hands with her master at her execution, but did
not criticise the authorities for hanging her.
On Saturday
the 16th of September 1786, seventeen year old Susannah Minton suffered for arson at Hereford before a large number of
onlookers. She had been convicted of “voluntarily and maliciously setting
fire to and burning a barn, the property of Paul Gwatkin,
in the parish of Kilpeck on the
11th of November 1785.” She had been tried at the Lent Assizes but was respited to the
Summer Assizes, possibly because she had claimed that she was pregnant.
Sarah Shenston, an eighteen year old, was hanged at Moor Heath on
the outskirts of Shrewsbury in Shropshire on Thursday, the 22nd
of March 1792.
She suffered for the murder of her illegitimate male child whose throat she had
cut immediately after birth, on the 30th of September 1791.
At the
Dorset Lent Assizes in Dorchester in March 1794, fifteen year old Elizabeth Marsh was convicted of the
murder of her grandfather, John Nevil. In accordance
with the provisions of the Murder Act of July 1752 she was required to be hanged
two days later, which would have been a Sunday, a day on which executions were
not permitted. As was normal the judge in her case delayed sentencing her
to the end of the Assize on thus giving her an extra day of life. Elizabeth would have been kept in chains and
only allowed bread and water between sentence and execution. She was hanged on
Monday the 17th of March and was the first person to be executed outside the
new County Gaol in Dorchester. Her body was afterwards given to
local surgeons for dissection.
Nineteenth century - public hangings.
Children,
like adults, continued to be sentenced to death for a very large number of
felonies up to 1838 although it was normal for younger children to have their
sentences commuted for the less serious crimes as there was increasing public
disquiet about hanging children. There is little actual evidence of anyone
under 14 years old being hanged in the 19th century, despite what you might
read in some books to the contrary. As stated earlier, executions were decreasing
rapidly, both for adults and young offenders after 1838, as the number of
capital crimes reduced and public attitudes changed.
The
following are confirmed cases of the execution of young people in the 19th
century, but cannot be considered definitive as the ages of prisoners were
still not always recorded:
Nineteen
year old Sarah Lloyd was executed at Bury St. Edmunds on the 23rd of April 1800 for stealing in
the dwelling house of her mistress, Sarah Syer, at Hadleigh on 3rd October 1799. She and her
boyfriend had stolen some jewellery and also started a fire in the house.
Ann Mead,
aged sixteen was found guilty of the murder of Charles Proctor, aged sixteen
months, by feeding him a spoonful of arsenic at Royston in Hertfordshire. She
expiated her crime on the “New Drop” gallows outside Hertford prison on Thursday the 31st of July 1800, watched by a
large crowd.
David Duffield, aged 17,was hanged at
the Bowling Green, Haverfordwest in
Pembrokeshire on the 6th of April
1801 for the murder of 11 year old Anne Morgan. Duffield
was afterwards hanged in chains at Tavernspite. He
was the last juvenile to suffer this fate in the 19th century. His execution and gibbeting
cost Pembrokeshire £20 7s & 4d.
Mary Voce
was hanged at Gallows Hill, Nottingham on Tuesday, the 16th of March 1802 for poisoning her
child. It is thought that she was born in 1788, which would make her only
fourteen. It is interesting that the newspapers of the day found little
noteworthy in the execution of fourteen year old girl and gave her story very
little coverage.
Seventeen
year old Mary Morgan was hanged at Presteigne in Radnorshire in 1805 for the
murder of her illegitimate child. She had become pregnant after being seduced
by a member of the local gentry in Presteigne and then abandoned by him. She
was found guilty of the killing and sentenced to death on Thursday, the 11th of
April, her execution taking place two days later on Saturday the 13th, as was
required by law at the time, with her body to be dissected afterwards. There are
two memorial stones to her in the churchyard at Presteigne.
On the 6th of May 1806, 15 year old
Peter Atkinson suffered at York Castle for cutting and
maiming Elizabeth Stockton.
Nineteen
year old Mary Chandler was hanged at Lancaster Castle on the 9th of April 1808 for stealing in a
dwelling house.
Sarah
Fletcher, aged 19, was hanged on the roof of Horsemonger Lane Gaol in Surrey on the 5th of April 1813 for child murder.
On the 22nd of March 1819, 16 year old
Hannah Bocking became probably the youngest girl to
be executed in the 19th century when she was publicly hanged outside Derby’s Friar Gate Gaol
for the murder, by poisoning, of Jane Grant.
15 year
old Edward Cassidy was hanged for robbery at Newgate in November of the same
year. His age is also given as 21.
Three
teenage boys were executed together for highway robbery outside Newgate in
March 1821, the youngest being John Davis who was 16, the other two being 17
and 19.
17 year
old William Thompson was hanged at Newgate for highway robbery on the 25th of September 1821 and 16 year old
Benjamin Glover was hanged in Somerset on the 1st of May 1822 for stealing in a
dwelling house.
16 year
old Giles East was executed at Surrey’s Horsemonger Lane prison on the 20th of January 1823 for raping a little
girl.
Catherine
Kinrade, aged 19, was hanged alongside her lover at
Castle Rushen on the Isle of Man on the 18th of April 1823 for the murder of
his wife.
Charles Melford, aged 17, suffered together with his 21 year old
brother, William, for housebreaking on the
12th of March 1828 at Newgate. Three days later 18 year old Moses
Angel was hanged at Fisherton Anger near Salisbury for the murder of
Daniel Blake.
On the 13th of May 1828, 18 year old
Russell Brown was hanged at Newgate for highway robbery.
James
Cook, aged 16, was hanged at Chelmsford's Springfield
Prison on the 27th of March 1829 for arson, having
set fire to the premises of William Green, the farmer for whom he worked as a
cow hand.
16 year
old William Jennings became the last person to be hanged at Gallows Hill,
Appleby in Westmoreland when he was executed on the 23rd of March 1829 for the rape of Agnes Corothwaite.
On the
30th of March Martin Slack went to the gallows at York for the murder of
his bastard daughter.
A boy of
just 9 was reputed to have been hanged at Chelmsford for arson on the 5th of August 1831, but it is
probable that William Jennings was actually 19.
Thomas Crowther, aged 18, was hanged outside Newgate for highway
robbery on the 22nd of July 1829.
17 year
old Thomas Turner suffered for the rape of 9 year old Louise Blisset at Worcester on the 13th of August 1830.
17 year
old Thomas Slaughter was hanged at Worcester on the 25th of March 1831, for setting fire
to a hayrick.
14 year
old John Any Bird Bell was executed on the
1st of August 1831 at Maidstone in Kent for the murder of
13 year old Richard Taylor. John and his 11 year old brother, James, killed
Richard Taylor for the sum of nine shillings (45p) which he was collecting from
the Parish on behalf of his disabled father. They were tried on Friday, the
29th of July and because the second day after sentence would have been a
Sunday, John was hanged on the Monday using the "New Drop" scaffold,
erected outside Maidstone prison. Bell was probably the
youngest person to be hanged in the 19th century. In 1833, a boy of 9 was
sentenced to death at Maidstone Assizes for housebreaking but was reprieved
after public agitation.
Mary Ann
Higgins, aged 19, was hanged at Coventry for the murder of
her uncle on the 11th of August 1831.
March
1832 saw two eighteen year olds hang in
four days. Daniel Middleton was one of three men to die for the rape of
Sarah Kempster at Salisbury on the 20th,
while James Addington suffered for arson at Bedford on the 24th.
16 year
old Sylvester Wilkes was executed at Dorchester on the 30th of March 1833 for arson.
Thomas Knapton, aged 17, was hanged at Lincoln Castle on the 26th of
July for the rape of 19 year old Frances Elstone.
17 year
old William Marchant suffered at Newgate on the 8th of July 1839 for the murder of
Elisabeth Paynton.
Bartholomew
Murray, aged 18 was hanged at Chester on the 24th of April 1841 for the murders
of Joseph & Mary Cooke.
17 year
old Joseph Wilkes was hanged at Stafford, also for murder
on the 2nd of April 1842.
Paul Downing
and Charles Powys, aged 19 & 17 respectively went to the gallows a Stafford for murder on the 25th January 1845.
Catherine
Foster was one of two teenage girls publicly hanged in the period from 1840 -
1868. She was just seventeen years old when she poisoned her husband,
John, to whom she had been married for only three weeks at Acton near Sudbury in Suffolk.
The hanging was carried out on Saturday the 17th
of April 1847 by William Calcraft on the New Drop gallows, erected
in the meadow outside Bury St. Edmunds Gaol. A crowd of some ten thousand
people had turned up to see it and Catherine made a speech from the platform
imploring other girls not to follow her example and to stick to her marriage
vows.
1849 saw four
teenage executions out of a total of seventeen in England and Wales that year. The
first was 17 year old Thomas Malkin who was hanged at
York Castle for the murder of
Ester Hannan on the
6th of January 1849. George Millen, also 17, was executed at Maidstone on the 28th of
March for the murder of 82 year old Mr. Law. James Griffiths (18)
suffered at Brecon on the 11th of April for killing Thomas Edwards.
The fourth of this series of executions was to be the last of a teenage girl in
England. On the 20th of April 1849 18 year old Sarah
Harriet Thomas suffered at Bristol for the murder of
her mistress. She was hysterical at the end and even Calcraft was noticeably
upset by her execution. Sarah was the last of nine teenage girls hanged between
1800 and 1849.
18 year
old William Flack was hanged at Ipswich on the 17th of August 1853 for murdering
Maria Steggles.
Thomas
Munroe, also 18, was executed at Carlisle on the 13th of March 1855 for the murder of
Isaac Turner.
George
Edwards (18) was executed at Maidstone on the 20th of August 1857 for killing his
brother, Thomas.
Seventeen
year old Charles Normington was hanged at York on the 31st f
December 1859, for killing Richard Broughton.
On the 11th of April 1863, Robert Burton,
aged 18, was hanged at Maidstone for killing 8 year old
Thomas Houghton.
Charles
Robinson, also 18, suffered at Stafford on the 9th of January 1866. He had murdered
Harriet Seager.
Private hangings 1868 - 1899.
Eighteen 17-19 year old boys were hanged between 1868 and 1899, although no one
of a younger age.
The first private hanging in Britain was that of 18
year old Thomas Wells, who was hanged by William Calcraft at Maidstone Prison
on the 13th of August 1868 for shooting his
boss, the station master, at Dover Priory railway station. Wells was hanged in
the former prison timber yard, out of site of the cell blocks and nearby
houses. Like so many of Calcraft's victims he died a
slow and painful death. Just under a month later the second private
execution in England was carried out
when nineteen year old Alexander Mackay was hanged at Newgate on the 8th of
September for the murder of his employer.
William Mobbs, also nineteen, was hanged at Aylesbury on the 28th of March 1870 for the murder of
a nine year old boy.
On the 13th of August 1872, nineteen year
old Francis Bradford was one of three murderers to hang at Maidstone.
The 4th of January 1875 saw the execution
of seventeen year old Michael Mullen at Liverpool for murder.
Nineteen year old John Stanton was hanged at Stafford on 30th of March
1875 for killing his uncle.
Nineteen
year old John Swift was one of three young men to be hanged at Leicester Gaol
on the 27th of November 1877 for the murder of
Joseph Tugby.
George
Abigail, aged nineteen, was hanged at Norwich Castle on the 22nd of May 1882 for the murder of
Mary Plunkett. Bernard Mullarky, also nineteen,
suffered at Liverpool on the 4th of December that
year for killing Thomas Cruise.
On the 10th of March 1884, seventeen year
old Michael M'Lean was hanged at Liverpool (Walton) for the
murder of Jose Jimenez.
17
year-old Joseph Morley was executed at Chelmsford on the 21st of November 1887, for the murder
of a young married woman.
On the 2nd of January 1889 18 year old
William Gower and 17 year old Charles Dobel suffered
at Maidstone for the murder of B. C. Lawrence.
19 year
old Richard Davis was hanged for the murder of his father at Crewe on the 2nd of April 1890. His 16 year old
brother George was also convicted of the murder but reprieved due to his age.
1893 saw
three nineteen year olds executed. They were William Williams who was hanged at
Exeter on the 28th of
March for the murder of Emma Doidge. John Hewitt who
was hanged at Stafford on the 15th of August for killing William Masfen and George Mason who was executed at Winchester on
the 6th of December for the murder of Army Sgt. James Robinson.
There was
a triple execution at Winchester on the 21st of July 1896, one of the
prisoners being eighteen year old Samuel Smith who had murdered Corporal Robert
Payne.
The final
teenager to hang in the nineteenth century was eighteen year old George Nunn at
Ipswich on the 21st of
November 1899 for the murder of Eliza Dixon.
Twentieth
century.
The Children's Act of 1908 stipulated for the first time a minimum age for execution
of 16 years, however there is no record of anyone
under the age of 18 being hanged in the 20th century, although quite a few
18/19 year old males were executed. The last juvenile to receive the death
sentence was 16 year old Harold Wilkins. He was condemned at Stafford
Assizes on November the 18th, 1932 for the sexually
motivated murder of Ethel Corey, but reprieved on the grounds of his age. The
law was changed the following year by the Children and Young Persons Act in
1933 which raised the minimum age to 18 years.
Three eighteen year olds were hanged in the 20th
century. They were Henry Julius Jacoby on the 7th June 1922 at Pentonville, for the murder of
Alice White.
Arthur Bishop on the
14th August 1925 also at Pentonville for the murder of Francis Rix.
Francis Forsyth became the last teenager to be executed in England & Wales, when he was hanged, together with
23 year old Norman Harris for the murder of Allan Jee
at Wandsworth on the 10th of November 1960.
The last teenage execution in Scotland took place at Barlinnie Prison on the
29th of December 1960 when Anthony Miller, aged 19, was hanged for the murder of John Crimin.
In addition
17 nineteen year old males were hanged for murder in England during the 20th century. They were:
John Charles Parr on the
2nd October 1900 at Newgate.
Charles Ashton on the 22nd of
December 1903 at Hull.
James Clarkson on the 29th March at Leeds.
Ferat Ben Ali on the 1st of August 1905 at Maidstone.
Jack Griffiths on the 27th February
1906 at Manchester.
George Newton on the 31st January
1911 at Chelmsford.
Edgar Bindon on the 25th March 1914 at Cardiff.
Jack Field on the 4th February
1921 at Wandsworth.
Charles Cowle on the 18th May 1932 at Manchester.
John Stockwell on the 14th November
1934 at Pentonville.
John Daymond on the 8th February 1939 at Durham.
Edward Anderson on the 31st July
1941 at Durham.
William Turner on the 24th March
1943 at Pentonville.
John Davidson on the 12th July
1944 at Liverpool.
James
Farrell on the 29th March 1949 at Birmingham
Herbert
Mills on the 11th December 1951 at Lincoln
Derek Bentley on the 28th January
1953 at Wandsworth.
Seven
teenage girls were condemned to death during the 20th century, although all
were reprieved. 17 year old Eva Eastwood was convicted of murder and robbery in
December 1902. Susan Chalice, also 17 was convicted of the murder on an
infant child in July 1904. 18 year old Catherine Smith was sentenced in Scotland in 1911, also for the murder of an
infant child and 18 year old Rosalind Downer for the same offence in London in 1918. Elizabeth Humphries,
also 18, was convicted of child murder in 1933. 18 year old Elizabeth
Marina Jones was convicted with her American soldier boyfriend of a robbery
murder in London in 1945, for which he was hanged. In 1952 Edith Horsley, another
18 year old, spent time in the condemned cell at Birmingham’s Winson Green prison for murdering
an infant.
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