|
The
history of judicial hanging in |
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Introduction |
An early
20th century hanging. |
Please note! As this page contains images of real executions which some
may find disturbing they must be accessed manually by clicking on the links.
Introduction.
In
Britain, death by hanging was the principal form of execution from Anglo-Saxon
times until capital punishment was abolished in 1964.
Up to 1868 all hangings were carried out in public and attracted large crowds
who were at least supposed to be deterred by the spectacle, but who more
probably went for the morbid excitement and the carnival atmosphere that
usually surrounded such events. The modern expression Gala Day is derived from
the Anglo-Saxon gallows day. After hangings retreated inside prisons,
large crowds would still often gather outside the gates to see the posting of
the death notice or to protest the execution.
Execution statistics.
In
the 230 year the period from 1735 to 1964 there were some 10,935 civilian
executions in England and Wales alone, comprising 10,378 men and 557
women. In 273 of the early cases, it is not possible to be totally
certain from surviving records whether a death sentence was actually carried
out or not. 32 of the 375 women executed between 1735 and 1799 were burnt at
the stake.
|
Country |
England & Wales |
Scotland |
Ireland |
Northern Ireland |
Channel Islands & Isle
of Man |
|||||
|
Period |
Male |
Female |
Male |
Female |
Male |
Female |
Male |
Female |
Male |
Female |
|
1735 -1799 |
6,069 |
375 |
209 |
26 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
1800 - 1899 |
3,365 |
172 |
275 |
15 |
529* |
26* |
- |
- |
13 |
1 |
|
1900 - 1964 |
748 |
15 |
33 |
1 |
46 |
2 |
16 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
* 1827 – 1899 figures for Ireland.
78 executions (all male) were carried out for offences under the
jurisdiction of the High Court of Admiralty at Execution Dock between
1735 and 1830 and are included above.
Last executions in the UK.
On
the26th of May 1868, Michael Barrett, a Fenian, (what
would now be called an I.R.A. terrorist) became the last man to be publicly
hanged in England, before a huge crowd outside Newgate prison, for causing an
explosion at Clerkenwell in London which killed Sarah
Ann Hodgkinson and six other innocent people. Frances Kidder was the last woman to be publicly hanged in
Britain, when she was executed at Maidstone at midday on Thursday, the 2nd of
April 1868. Strangely the last fully public hanging in the British Isles
did not take place until the 11th of August 1875, when Joseph Phillip Le Brun was executed for murder on the island of Jersey. The
provisions of the Capital Punishment Amendment Act of 1868 did not apply there.
The last hangings of all in Britain were two carried out simultaneously at 8.00
a.m. on August the 13th, 1964 at Walton prison, Liverpool and Strangeways
prison in Manchester, when Peter Anthony Allen and Gwynne Owen Evans were
executed for the murder of John West.
Wales had its last execution on the 6th of May 1958, when Vivian Tweed was
hanged for the murder of William Williams at Swansea. The last hanging in
Northern Ireland was that of Robert McGladdery on the
20th of December 1961 at Belfast for the murder of
Pearle Gamble. 21 year old Henry Burnett was the last person
hanged in Scotland in the newly refurbished Condemned Suite at Craiginches Prison in Aberdeen on the 15th of August 1963
for the murder of Thomas Guyan. Ruth Ellis was
the last woman to suffer the death penalty in Britain on the 13th of July 1955.
Abolition.
On
the 9th of November 1965, the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act suspended
the death penalty for murder in the United Kingdom for a period of 5
years. On the 16th of December 1969, the House of Commons reaffirmed its
decision that capital punishment for murder should be permanently abolished. On
a free vote, the House voted by 343 to 185, a majority of 158, that the Murder
(Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965, should not expire. Thus, the death
penalty for murder was formally abolished. For a more
detailed discussion of abolition click here.
The
gallows.
(Visit the Gallows Gallery for pictures of British gallows up to the
beginning of the 20th century)
A tree was the earliest form of gallows with prisoners being either hauled up
manually by the hangman or turned off from a ladder or the tail of a
cart. Two trees with a beam between them formed the gallows (see picture) for 33 year old Mary Blandy's
execution at
In other places more conventional gallows were built, having either a single
upright with a projecting beam cross braced to it or two uprights and a cross
beam where more than one person could be hanged at a time. Both types still
required the use of a ladder or a cart to get the criminal suspended. Many of
these gallows were not permanent and were dismantled after each execution. In some
cases, the gallows was erected near to the scene of the crime so that the local
inhabitants could see justice done.
In 1571, the famous "Triple Tree" was set up at Tyburn (see picture) to replace previous smaller structures and was, at
least once, used for the hanging of 24 prisoners simultaneously. This was on
On Monday 21st of April 1760 a new design gallows was used to execute the Earl
of Ferrers at Tyburn. It comprised a scaffold covered in black baize
reached by a short flight of stairs. Two uprights rose from the scaffold,
topped with a cross beam. Directly under the beam there was a small box
like structure, some 3 feet square and 18 inches high, which was designed to
sink down into the scaffold and thus leave the criminal suspended. This was the
forerunner of the "New Drop" gallows.
The "New Drop" gallows.
The 9th of December 1783 saw the first executions on Newgate's "New
Drop" gallows, when nine men and one woman were hanged simultaneously by
Edward Dennis and William Brunskill for a variety of
offences. See picture. The gallows was on wheels and was brought out
specially for each hanging by a team of horses. It was a large box like
structure with two uprights supporting two parallel beams from which a maximum
of a dozen criminals could be hanged at once. The prisoners stood on a
platform, 10 feet long by 8 feet wide, released by moving a lever or
"pin" acting on a drawbar under the drop. They now fell roughly to
knee level. The "New Drop" had 96 customers between February and
December of 1785, with 20 men being hanged on the 2nd of February of that year.
Newgate’s first "New Drop" is shown in its original form in this picture. By the mid 1820's, as hangings became less frequent,
the double beam gallows was replaced with a single beam pattern which could
still accommodate six prisoners at a time. (see picture).
The
"New Drop" pattern was copied by the county gaols and soon became universal,
as executions were moved from their previous sites on the outskirts of towns to
the actual prison. The gallows was normally big enough to accommodate two or
three prisoners side by side and was erected for each execution. The platform
was between 3 and 5 feet high and shielded by either wooden boards or black
cloth drapes to conceal the legs and lower body of the prisoner in their final
struggles. The trapdoors were released either from underneath by withdrawing
bolts or latterly from on top of the platform by pulling a lever. In some parts
of the country, the gallows had far more steps up to the platform (as in
Dorchester, Bristol and Nottingham). The “New Drop” was typically erected
directly outside of, or on top of the gatehouse roof of county gaols, thus
sparing the prisoner the long and uncomfortable ride to the place of execution
in a cart. It was also more secure and much easier to police. Some
prisons used a balcony type gallows (as at
After the
passing of the Capital Punishment Amendment Act of 1868, all executions had to
take place within the walls of county prisons. The existing gallows was
generally used, set up in the prison yard rather than in public, e.g. at
Gloucester and Durham.
Prisons that had more frequent hangings mostly had execution sheds built in one
of their exercise yards to house the gallows, e.g. Newgate, see picture, Wandsworth, see picture of interior, Durham, Armley (Leeds), Warwick and
Strangeways (Manchester). The shed stood apart from the main buildings and
necessitated a fairly lengthy walk from the condemned cell. In some cases the
gallows were set up in the prison van’s shed, e.g. at Exeter and Kirkdale (Liverpool).
The trapdoors were typically installed over a brick lined pit. With the coming
of the long drop the pit was deepened to about 12 feet deep, as drops of up to
10 feet were not unusual in William Marwood's
time. Having the gallows in a separate building spared the other
prisoners from the sound of the trap falling and made it easier for the staff
to deal with the execution and removal of the body afterwards.
The gallows beam at Newgate was wide enough to accommodate four prisoners side
by side, as was needed for the execution of the "Lennie
Mutineers" on the 23rd of April 1876. In 1881, a new gallows was built for
Newgate, consisting of two stout uprights with a cross beam. Normally only one
iron band was fitted to the cross beam in the centre and from it 6 links of
circular chain dangled, to which the rope was attached. Additional iron bands
could be added for multiple hangings. On each of the uprights, was a pulley for
raising the trapdoors which were operated by a lever on the platform and fell
against 3 bales of cotton in an attempt to muffle the noise. All the woodwork
was painted a dull buff colour.
Prior to
1884, each county was responsible for providing the gallows for carrying out
the death sentences passed in that county, and therefore all sorts of designs
were in use. In 1885, the Home Office commissioned Lieutenant Colonel Alton
Beamish to design a standard gallows for use throughout the country. This
consisted of two uprights with a cross beam in 8 inch section oak. The beam was
long enough to execute 3 prisoners side by side and was set over a 12 feet long
by 4 feet wide two leaf trap set level with the surrounding floor. The
trapdoors were made from 3 inch thick oak and were released by a metal lever
set into the floor of the execution chamber. This was a great improvement over
some of the designs then in use and considerably speeded up the process. The
beam had one or more iron bands attached to it from which hung lengths of chain
for attachment of the rope using "D" shackles. This made the setting
of the drop more accurate. The first person to die on the new style "stepfree" gallows was Matthew William Chadwick in
1890, at Kirkdale Prison in Liverpool. (See drawing of the interior of a Victorian execution shed being
tidied up after a hanging. The small trapdoor on the left of the picture is for
access to the pit below to examine and remove the body.) The gallows in the
execution shed at Wandsworth prison around 1900 (see picture), is one of the very few to have been actually
photographed - you can see the lever, open trap and one of the boards laid
across the drop for the warders to stand on whilst holding the prisoner.
In the thoughtful way of the Home Office, at least some of these gallows had
the Royal Coat of Arms displayed on the beam which must have been a great
comfort to the condemned!
In the early 20th century, the Victorian pattern single beam was replaced by two
beams of 8 inch x 3 inch section oak, running parallel to each other about 2
inches apart. From the centre of the beams, rose two heavy gauge metal brackets
each drilled with holes offset at half inch centres through which a metal pin
was inserted and to which a length of chain was attached. (See picture) This allowed very much more accurate adjustment of
the drop. This mechanism was further refined to allow the drop to be set to
within a quarter of an inch. The beams were 8 feet above the trapdoors and were
generally set into the wall at each end, there being no uprights.
The trapdoors were reduced in length as multiple hangings were no longer
favoured and normally consisted of two leaves each of 4 to 8 feet in length and
each 2 feet wide. The one nearest the lever being conventionally hinged whilst
the other has extended hinges that run under the first leaf and are held on top
of an iron drawbar which has three slots. The trap was operated by a lever on
top of the platform which moved the drawbar. When the slots in the drawbar
lined up with the ends of the extended hinges of the opposing door, the hinge
ends were no longer supported and thus cause the trap to open allowing the
prisoner to drop through into the cell below. The doors were caught by rubber
lined catches to stop them bouncing back and hitting the criminal. It was
normal for the hangman to make a chalk T on the trap so that the prisoner's
feet could be correctly positioned exactly over the centre of the two leaves.
The view from the underside of the trap, showing the operating mechanism, is
shown in this drawing.
During
the early 1900's, there was a move to reduce the number of "hanging
prisons" and in those where executions were to continue, purpose built
condemned suites were constructed within a wing of the prison on three floors.
One or two condemned cells were created on the first floor within 15 -20 feet
of the execution room. On the ground floor was a cell into which the trap doors
opened and often an autopsy room immediately adjacent to it. The 2nd floor room
contained the gallows beams, their ends set into the walls, where the drop
could be set in safety, without the need for stepladders. The rope was
suspended from a chain, attached to an adjustment mechanism bolted to the beams
and hung down through a hatch into the execution room below. Two other
ropes were also attached to the beams, one on each side of the noose, for the
officers supporting the prisoner to hold onto with their free hand.
Pentonville, Wandsworth and Holloway in London all used this arrangement as did
Durham, Strangeways and Walton prisons. This pattern remained standard, with
minor improvements up to abolition. Typically what the prisoner saw was
the trapdoors, the lever and the noose hanging down from the ceiling.
Britain's last working gallows, at Wandsworth prison, was dismantled in 1994
and was sent to the Prison Service Museum in Rugby, being now stored in the
Galleries of Justice in Nottingham but not on display. It was last used on the
8th of September 1961 and was kept in full working order up to 1992, being
tested every six months.
Pinioning.
In
England, the prisoner's hands were typically pinioned in front of them until
1892. In the days of public hangings, the prisoner's wrists were tied with a
cord and often a second cord passed round the body and arms at the elbows. This
was done to allow them to pray on the gallows, however, this made it easier for
them to resist and fight at the end so pinioning the wrists at the sides to a
leather body belt became normal by the 1850's - an idea invented by William
Calcraft. James Billington introduced the idea of pinioning the prisoner's
wrists behind their back using a double buckle leather strap, and this became
the standard method until abolition. It also significantly reduced the time
taken in the pinioning operation.
With the advent of the long drop, the prisoner's legs were normally pinioned with
a leather strap around the ankles to prevent them getting their feet onto the
sides of the trap when the doors fell. Previously, the legs had been left free
in short drop hangings, although it had been normal to tie the legs of female
prisoners to prevent their skirts billowing up and exposing their underwear!
The Noose.
Calcraft
and his predecessors used a simple halter style noose, consisting of a loop
worked into one end of a piece of hemp rope, with the other end passed through
it.
This was improved on in the 1890's by passing the free end of the rope through
a brass eyelet instead of just a loop of rope, which made it more free running.
One of James Berry’s nooses is pictured here. Following the report of the Aberdare Committee
in 1888, it was decided that execution ropes would be supplied by the Prison
Commission of the Home Office and not by the hangman himself. A contract
was duly entered into with John Edgington & Co of
the Old Kent Road in London to manufacture and supply the ropes. The
execution rope was formed from a 13 foot length of 3/4" diameter Italian
hemp. (see picture). Early versions had no
covering and a simple leather washer to hold the noose in place. From the
1920’s, the noose itself had a Chamois leather covering sewn over the rope
which was intended to reduce the marking of the skin and a plain rubber washer
to hold it in place. The ends of the rope, where they were spliced together,
had Gutta Percha coverings
(Gutta Percha is a natural
waxy resin and was used as the filling for golf balls). The Gutta
Percha tended to splinter when cold and had to be
heated with a candle to soften it and avoid cuts to the prisoner’s neck. In
1942, the plain rubber washer was replaced with an internally star shaped one
which gripped the rope better. The Gutta Percha covering the rope over the attachment eye to the
chain was omitted in 1952. In 1955 it was omitted from the noose end and
replaced with vulcanised rubber. The rope was stretched before use, by dropping
a sandbag of approximately the same weight as the prisoner through the trap and
leaving it suspended overnight. This reduced its diameter to about 5/8 inch.
The purpose of this was to remove any tendency of the rope to stretch during
the actual hanging which would reduce the force applied to the prisoner's neck.
Hemp has always been the preferred material as it is both soft and strong with
a smooth surface. Marwood and Berry, having positioned the noose, allowed the
free rope to loop down behind the prisoner's back. Marwood had an unfortunate
incident through this practice, at the hanging of James Burton at Durham in
1883. As Burton fell through the trap, the rope became entangled in his arm
thus shortening the intended drop. Marwood had to haul the unfortunate man back
onto the platform to free the entanglement and then pushed Burton back down
into the pit where he died by strangulation. James Billington used a similar
rope to Berry but coiled it up and tied it with a piece of pack thread to leave
the noose at chest level to avoid the prisoner being caught up in it or himself
tripping over it as at it lay on the trapdoors. This idea was also found to
speed up the process and remained in use to the end.
The positioning of the eyelet of the noose under the angle of the jaw is very
important as it is vital that the head is thrown backwards by the rope so that
the force is transmitted into the neck vertebrae rather than being thrown
forward and the force taken on the throat which tends to cause strangulation.
It is also crucial that the noose is put on the right way round so that it
rotates in the correct direction with the eyelet ending up under the jaw. See picture. All the
necessary equipment was included in the execution box sent to county prisons
from Pentonville in the 20th century. (see picture of contents).
The hood.
Over
the last 250 years or so it has been customary to cover the prisoner’s face so
that their final agonies would not be seen. In Tyburn and Newgate days
the "hood" was actually a nightcap supplied by the prisoner.
When they had finished their prayers, the hangman simply pulled it down over
their face. In some cases, women might choose a bonnet with a veil instead and
in other cases the prisoner possessed or chose neither. From the early 1800’s a
white hood was used and the earliest verifiable record of this was for the
execution of three men for High Treason in Derby in 1817. From around 1850, a
white linen hood was provided by the authorities which was similar to a small
pillowcase and was applied as part of the execution process. See photo As the nightcaps had generally been white
this became the traditional colour for British hoods, whereas in many other
countries they are black.
Typically the prisoner was hooded only at the last moment before the noose was
put round their neck and adjusted. Although they had been able to see the
gallows, the trap, the executioner and officials, and the noose dangling before
them, this was found to be better than hooding them earlier and trying to lead
them to the gallows as they were more frightened by not knowing what was
happening. Both ideas have been tried but hooding immediately prior to the
noose was normal.
The "Short Drop" method.
Hanging
using little or no drop was effectively universal up to the end of 1874. The
prisoner could be suspended by a variety of means, from the back of a cart or a
ladder or later by some form of trap door mechanism. Where a person was dragged
off the tail of the cart they usually got only a few inches of actual
drop. It was not unusual for the relatives and friends of prisoners to
hang on their legs to shorten their suffering. With the standardisation
on the “New Drop” gallows in the early part of the 19th century the condemned
fell 12-18 inches and this was found to give a slightly quicker death than was
normal using the cart. However death was still typically by strangulation
and the prisoner could struggle in agony for up to three minutes after the drop
fell. After the “New Drop” was introduced the hangman sometimes had to
pull down on the prisoner’s legs. The last short drop hanging in Britain
was that of John Henry Johnson at Armley prison Leeds, on the 3rd of April
1877, when he was executed by Thomas Askern. The last woman to suffer this fate
was Mary Ann Barry at Gloucester on Monday, the 12th of January, 1874.
She was hanged by Robert Anderson and struggled for some three minutes after
the drop fell.
Surviving the gallows.
There
are several recorded instances of revival in this country during the 17th and
18th centuries. One of the most famous is that of John Smith, hanged at Tyburn
on Christmas Eve 1705. Having been turned off the back of the cart, he dangled
for 15 minutes until the crowd began to shout "reprieve," whereupon
he was cut down and taken to a nearby house where he soon recovered.
He was asked what it had felt like to be hanged and this is what he told his
rescuers:
"When I was turned off I was, for some time, sensible of very great pain
occasioned by the weight of my body and felt my spirits in strange commotion,
violently pressing upwards. Having forced their way to my head I saw a great
blaze or glaring light that seemed to go out of my eyes in a flash and then I
lost all sense of pain. After I was cut down, I began to come to myself and the
blood and spirits forcing themselves into their former channels put me by a
prickling or shooting into such intolerable pain that I could have wished those
hanged who had cut me down."
Sixteen year old William Duell was hanged, along with
4 others, at Tyburn on the 24th of November 1740. He had been convicted of
raping and murdering Sarah Griffin and was therefore to be anatomised after
execution. He was taken to Surgeon’s Hall, where it was noticed that he was
showing signs of life. He was revived and returned to Newgate later that day.
The authorities decided to reprieve him and his sentence was commuted to
transportation. There are several other instances where people, including
at least two women, survived their hanging.
The "Long drop" or measured drop
method of hanging.
In
1872, William Marwood introduced the "long drop" to Britain for the
execution of Frederick Horry at Lincoln prison on the
1st of April of that year, as a scientifically worked out way of giving the
prisoner a more humane death. The first woman to be executed by the new method
was Frances Stewart who was hanged for the murder of her grandson by Marwood on
Monday the 29th of June 1874. The concept was invented by doctors in
Ireland and Marwood had read about their theory. Longer drops were in use in
other countries by the 1850's, but the short drop was universal in Britain at
this time. During the five years from 1872 to 1877 both the short and long drop
methods were in use with only Marwood using the latter.
The long drop method was designed to break the prisoner’s neck by allowing them
to fall a pre-determined distance and then be brought up with a sharp jerk by
the rope. At the end of the drop, the body is still accelerating under the
force of gravity but the head is constrained by the noose which delivers a
massive blow to the back and one side of the neck, which combined with the
downward momentum of the body, breaks the neck and ruptures the spinal cord
causing instant deep unconsciousness and rapid death. The later use of the
brass eyelet in the noose tended to break the neck with more certainty. Due to
its position under the angle of the left jaw, the head is snapped backward with
such force that the upper cervical vertebrae cuts the spinal cord a little
below the brain stem.
The accurately measured and worked out drop removed most of the prisoner's
physical suffering and made the whole process far less traumatic for the
officials who now had to witness it in the confines of the execution cell
instead of in the open air.
The drop given from 1875 to 1892 was usually between 4 and 10 feet, depending
on the weight and strength of the prisoner, the length of drop being calculated
to provide a final "striking" force of approximately 1,260 lbs. force
which combined with the positioning of the noose caused fracture and dislocation
of the neck, usually at the 2nd and 3rd or 4th and 5th cervical vertebrae. This
is the classic "hangman's fracture". The length of the drop was
worked out by the formula 1,260 foot pounds divided by the body weight of the
prisoner in pounds = drop in feet. Between 1892 and 1913, a shorter length of
drop was used, probably to avoid the decapitation and near decapitations that
had occurred with the old table. After 1913, other factors were also
taken into account and the drop was calculated to give a final "striking"
force of around 1,000 lbs. The Home Office issued a rule restricting all drops
to between 5 and 8 feet 6 inches as this had been found to be an adequate
range. The drop was worked out and set to the nearest quarter of an inch (see
below) to ensure the desired outcome. In the late 19th century, there was a
considerable amount of experimentation to determine the exact amount of drop
and James Berry, who succeeded Marwood, had an unfortunate experience when
hanging a murderer called Robert Goodale on the 30th
of November 1885, who was decapitated by the force of the drop and of Moses Shrimpton who very nearly was. Where the drop was
inadequate, the prisoner still strangled to death.
In 1886,
Lord Aberdare was commissioned to report into hanging in Britain after these
incidents and the unsuccessful attempt to hang John Lee on the 23rd of February
1885, because the trap would not open (he was reprieved after three attempts to
execute him.) Part of his remit was to devise a table of drops which was finally
issued in 1892 and specified shorter distances than Marwood and Berry had
typically used to avoid the possibility of decapitation.
The Aberdare Committee heard a lot of medical evidence and one witness, Dr.
Marshall, described a hanging in 1887 as follows.
"I descended immediately into the pit where I found the pulse beating at
the rate of 80 to the minute and the wretched man struggling desperately to get
his hands and arms free. I came to this conclusion from the intense muscular
action in the arms, forearms and hands, contractions, not continuous but
spasmodic, not repeated with any regularity but renewed in different directions
and with desperation. From these signs I did not anticipate a placid expression
on the face and I regret to say my fears were correct. On removing the white
cap about 1 1/2 minutes after the fall I found the eyes starting from the
sockets and the tongue protruded, the face exhibiting unmistakable evidence of
intense agony."
It is notable that there were quite few problems with early lethal injections
in the USA before the learning curve was surmounted.
The 1892 Home Office table of drops, and the revised in 1913 table are shown
below.
Drop tables.
The
weight is that of the clothed prisoner in pounds, the day before execution.
Note 1 pound is 0.454 Kg, 1 foot is 30.5 cm and an inch is 2.5 cm.
|
1892 table |
1913 table |
||
|
Weight of prisoner lbs. |
Drop in feet & inches |
Weight of prisoner lbs. |
Drop in feet & inches |
|
105 & under |
8’ 0” |
- |
- |
|
110 |
7’ 10” |
- |
- |
|
115 |
7’ 3” |
118 & under |
8’ 6” |
|
120 |
7’ 0” |
120 |
8’ 4” |
|
125 |
6’ 9” |
125 |
8’ 0” |
|
130 |
6’ 5” |
130 |
7’ 8” |
|
135 |
6’ 2” |
135 |
7’ 5” |
|
140 |
6’ 0” |
140 |
7’ 2” |
|
145 |
5’ 9” |
145 |
6’ 11” |
|
150 |
5’ 7” |
150 |
6’ 8” |
|
155 |
5’ 5” |
155 |
6’ 5” |
|
160 |
5’ 3” |
160 |
6’ 3” |
|
165 |
5’ 1” |
165 |
6’ 1” |
|
170 |
4’ 11” |
170 |
5’ 10” |
|
175 |
4’ 9” |
175 |
5’ 8” |
|
180 |
4’ 8” |
180 |
5’ 7” |
|
185 |
4’ 7” |
185 |
5’ 5” |
|
190 |
4’5” |
190 |
5’ 3” |
|
195 |
4’ 4” |
195 |
5’ 2” |
|
200 & over |
4’ 2” |
200 & over |
5’ 0” |
After
1913, where there were special reasons, such as the prisoner having a diseased
or weak neck, the Governor and Prison Medical Officer would advise the
executioner on the length of drop to be used.
It will be seen that the drops specified in the 1913 table are longer than
those in the 1892 one, as in some cases, the prisoner’s neck had not been
broken by the shorter fall. The official execution report on Alfred Stratton,
who was hanged at Wandsworth in 1905, records evidence of asphyxia and states
that the neck was not broken. This was not unusual at the time.
Setting the drop.
It
was necessary to know the prisoner’s height and weight accurately and to this
end they were weighed and measured by the prison staff and this information
passed to the hangman.
The length of drop was determined from the drop table based upon the person’s
weight in their clothes, combined with the hangman’s experience and his direct
observation of the prisoner.
A line was painted on the noose end of the rope marking the point where the
internal circumference was 18 inches (457mm) which in the 1890’s was deemed to
be equivalent to the circumference of the neck plus the distance from the
eyelet to the top of the head after the drop. The 18 inch figure allowed for
the subsequent constriction of the neck. Presumably this was increased
where the person had a very thick neck. From the painted line the hangman
measured along the rope and tied a piece of thread at the calculated drop
distance. The rope was then attached to the D shackle at the end of the
chain hanging down from the beam. The chain was adjusted so that the
thread mark was at the same height as the top of the prisoner’s head. A
sandbag of approximately the same weight as the prisoner was now attached to
the noose and dropped through the trap and left hanging over night to remove
any stretch from the rope. The following morning it was removed, the trap
doors re-set and the rope re-adjusted to get the thread mark back to the
correct height.
The Home
Office issued the following instructions to executioners in the 1930’s for the
correct setting up of the drop.
"Obtain a rope from Execution Box B making sure that the Gutta Percha covering the splice
at each end is un-cracked by previous use.
Find the required drop from the Official Table of Drops making allowance for
age and physique.
At the noose end of the rope measure thirteen inches (allowance for the neck)
from the centre of the brass eye, mark this by tying round the rope a piece of
pack-thread from Execution Box B.
From this mark measure along the rope the exact drop required (this must be to
the nearest quarter inch), mark again by a piece of pack-thread tied to the
rope.
Fasten the rope by pin and tackle to the chain suspended from the beams above,
and, using the adjusting bracket above so adjust the rope that the mark showing
the drop is exactly in accordance with the height of the condemned man.
Take a piece of copper wire from Execution Box B, secure one end over the
shackle on the end of the chain, and bend up the other end to coincide with the
mark showing the drop.
Put on the trap the sandbag, making sure it is filled with sand of an
equivalent weight to the condemned man.
Put the noose around the neck of the sandbag and drop the bag in the presence
of the governor.
The bag is left hanging until two hours before the time of execution the next
morning. At this time examine the mark on the rope and copper wire to see how
much the rope has stretched. Any stretch must be made good by adjusting the
drop.
Lift the sandbag, pull up the trapdoor by means of chains and pulley blocks,
set the operating lever and put in the three-quarter safety pin which goes
through the lever brackets to prevent the lever being accidentally moved.
Coil the rope ready and tie the coil with pack-thread leaving the noose
suspended at the height of the condemned man's chest. All is now ready."
After the drop fell.
In
the 19th and 20th centuries, once the person was suspended they were left hanging
for one hour. This was to ensure total death (see surviving the gallows
above) and in the days of public hangings to provide a continuing spectacle for
the crowd. The 1947 Royal Commission on Capital Punishment recommended
that this practice be discontinued and that the person be removed from the rope
once the prison doctor had certified death which normally took place some 20
minutes after the drop had fallen. It is not precisely clear when this practice
started but it is thought to be in the later 1950’s. It was also the practice up to 1955 to
determine the amount by which the prisoner’s neck had been stretched by
measuring the distance from their heels to the top of the platform and
comparing this with the drop given. At
the end of the hour the pinioning straps were removed and a rope was placed
around the person’s body, under the arms and they were drawn up to enable the
removal of the noose and hood. The body
was then undressed, washed if necessary and lowered onto a stretcher or trolley
for autopsy. The autopsy typically took
place in the room adjacent to the drop.
Gibbeting.
Prior to 1834, where the courts wished to make a particular example of a
criminal, e.g. a highwayman, mail robber or murderer, they could order the
additional punishment of gibbeting (also known as hanging in chains). After the
hanging, the prisoner would be stripped and their body dipped into molten pitch
or tar and then, when it had cooled, be placed into an iron cage that
surrounded the head, torso and upper legs. The cage was riveted together and
then suspended from either the original gallows or a purpose built gibbet. The
body was left as a grim reminder to local people and could stay on the gibbet
for a year or more until it rotted away or was eaten by birds, etc. Gibbets
were typically erected either in prominent places such as crossroads or hill
tops at or near the site of the crime. One of the earliest recorded instances
of gibbeting took place in August 1381. Gibbeting and hanging in chains became
increasingly used in the 17th and 18th centuries. The first recorded hanging in
chains in Scotland was in March 1637 when a man called McGregor, who was a
robber and murderer, was ordered to stay on "the gallowlee
till his corpse rot". Gibbeting was formally legalised in Britain by the
Murder Act of 1752 and was regularly used up to 1834.
William Jobling was gibbeted after his execution at
Durham on the 3rd of August 1832, for the murder of a policeman during a riot.
His gibbet was erected at the place of the crime at Jarrow Slake and is
described as being formed from a square piece of oak, 21 feet long and about 3
feet in diameter with strong bars of iron up each side. The post was fixed into
a 1-1/2 ton stone base, sunk into the slake. Jobling's
body was hoisted up to the top of the post and left as a warning to the
populace. Twenty one year old James Cook became the last man to suffer this
fate when he was gibbeted at Leicester on the 10th of August 1832 for the
murder of John Paas. From the prisoner’s point
of view although their death would be no worse, being gibbeted was a major
additional punishment as it was believed that one could not go to heaven
without a body at this time.
Dissection.
The 1752 "Act for the better preventing the horrid Crime of Murder",
usually known as the "Murder Act", mandated the dissection of the
bodies of executed murderers (including females ones) or gibbeting for male
murderers in particularly heinous cases. Seventeen year old Thomas Wilford, who had stabbed to death his wife of just one
week, was the first to suffer dissection under this Act on the 22nd of June
1752, having been first hanged at Tyburn. The words of his sentence were as
follows : "Thomas Wilford, you stand convicted
of the horrid and unnatural crime of murdering Sarah, your wife. This Court
doth adjudge that you be taken back to the place from whence you came, and
there to be fed on bread and water till Wednesday next, when you are to be
taken to the common place of execution, and there hanged by the neck until you
are dead; after which your body is to be publicly dissected and anatomised,
agreeable to an Act of Parliament in that case made and provided; and may God
Almighty have mercy on your soul."
Fights often broke out beneath the gallows between the dissectionists and the
prisoners’ relatives over custody of the body. In London, from 1752 to 1809,
the bodies were taken to Surgeon's Hall in the Old Bailey where they were
publicly anatomised in the lecture theatre, often before a large number of
spectators. Women were not exempted from this and the remains of the infamous
murderer Elizabeth Brownrigg, who had been hanged at
Tyburn on the 14th of September 1767, were kept on display in Surgeon's Hall
for many years after her execution. The skeleton of Mary Bateman, “the
Yorkshire Witch” hanged at York in 1807, is still preserved. Click here for more
details on this case. A drawing of a dissection at
Burial.
Up to 1832, except in a case of murderer where the court had ordered dissection
or gibbeting (see above), it was usual for the criminal's body to be claimed by
friends or relatives for burial. This burial could take place in
consecrated ground provided that the person had not committed murder. In
earlier times (pre 1752) it was not unusual for murderers to be buried under
the gallows on which they had suffered.
Dissection
was removed from the statute book on the 1st of August 1832, by the Anatomy
Act. The same act directed that the bodies of executed criminals belonged to
the Crown and were now to be buried in the prison grounds in unmarked graves,
often several to a grave to save space. Typically the person was placed into a
cheap pine coffin, or even a sack and covered with quicklime which was thought
to hasten the process of decomposition of the body. This practice was
later abandoned, as the quicklime was found to have a preserving effect.
The Capital Punishment Amendment Act of 1868 required that a formal inquest be
held after an execution and that the prisoner be buried within the grounds of
the prison unless directed otherwise by the sheriff of the county. This
practice continued up to abolition. After the inquest the body was placed
into the coffin which had large holes bored in the sides and ends. The
burial normally took place at lunchtime and was carried out by prison officers
and overseen by the chaplain who conducted a simple burial service. The
position of the grave was recorded in the Burial Register for the prison.
Prisons in major cities soon had quite large graveyard areas. Where prisons
were demolished for redevelopment the bodies were removed and buried elsewhere,
normally in consecrated ground.
Trace the
progress of execution by hanging in Britain in the typical examples below and
also by looking at the cases of those executed and the histories of prisons in
which their hangings took place.
A typical execution in the mid 1750's at Tyburn.
Criminals
were tried and then sentenced to death in groups at the Old Bailey Sessions
before being returned to Newgate prison to await their fate. A few weeks later
after the Recorder’s Report had been considered by the King and Privy Council,
there would be a “hanging day” when all those sentenced to death for crimes
other than murder and not reprieved would be executed. The execution process
began at around 7 o'clock in the morning when the condemned men and women would
be led in fetters (handcuffs and leg-irons) into the Press Yard in Newgate. Here
the blacksmith would remove the fetters and the Yeoman of the Halter would tie
the criminals' hands in front of them (so that they were able to pray when they
reached Tyburn) and place the rope (or halter, as it was known) round their
necks, coiling the free end round their bodies. They might typically be seven
men, not one convicted of murder or rape, but of crimes such as highway
robbery, theft or burglary and uttering, and perhaps one woman convicted of
privately stealing, highway robbery or theft from a dwelling house. When the
pinioning was completed, they were placed in open horse drawn carts sitting on
their coffins and the procession consisting of the Under Sheriff, the Ordinary
(Newgate's prison chaplain), the hangman and his assistants, and a troop of
javelin men started out for Tyburn about two miles away. The streets would be
lined with crowds, especially if the criminals were particularly notorious, and
there would often be insults and more solid objects hurled at them and their
escorts on the way. A stop was often made at St. Sepulchre's Church and two
public houses along the way where the criminals were customarily given a drink.
If the prisoner was wealthy, they might be permitted to be driven to Tyburn in
a morning coach, as happened with Earl Ferrers and Jenny Diver, thus sparing
them from the insults of the crowds. It was normal for better off criminals to
wear their best clothes for their execution.
On arrival at Tyburn, often some three hours later, the condemned were greeted
by a large unruly crowd who had come to watch the spectacle - it was considered
an excellent day out. The carts were each backed under one of the three beams
of the gallows and the prisoners were positioned at the tail of the cart and
tied up to the beam with only a small amount of slack left in the rope. The
Ordinary would pray with them and when he had finished, the hangman pulled
white night caps over their faces.
When everything was ready, the horses were whipped away leaving the prisoners
suspended. They would only have a few inches of drop and thus many of them
would writhe in agony for some moments. The hangman, his assistants and
sometimes the prisoners' relatives might pull on the prisoners' legs to hasten
their end. After half an hour or so, the bodies were cut down and claimed by
friends and relatives or in the case of murderers, sent for dissection at
Surgeons' Hall. For more detail on execution at Tyburn, read about the case of Jenny Diver who was hanged there with 19 others on
Multiple
executions at Newgate in 1820.
In
1820, there were 42 hangings at Newgate, all carried out by James Foxen. Not
one of these was for murder. Twelve were for "uttering" forged notes,
12 for robbery or burglary, and 5 for highway robbery. At this time, murderers,
rapists, arsonists, forgers, coiners and highwaymen were virtually always
executed and were seldom offered transportation. The largest multiple execution
in this year was that of 8 men on the 11th of December and the smallest was of
3 men on the 24th of October. Sarah Price was the only woman to suffer in 1820,
alongside 6 men, for "uttering" forged bank notes or coins on the 5th
of December.
On the eve of a hanging, the gallows was brought out by a team of horses and
placed in front of the Debtor's Door of Newgate. Large crowds gathered around
it and it was guarded by soldiers with pikes. Wealthy people could pay as much
as £10 for a seat in a window overlooking the gallows at the hanging of a
notorious criminal. At around 7.30 a.m., the condemned prisoners were led from
their cells into the Press Yard where the Sheriff and the Ordinary (prison
chaplain) would meet them. The hangman and his assistant bound their wrists in
front of them with cord and also placed a cord round their body and arms at the
elbows. The bell of St. Sepulchre’s church began tolling at 7.45 a.m. The
prisoners were led across the Yard to the Lodge and then out through the
Debtor's Door where they climbed the steps up to the platform. There would be
shouts of "hats off" in the crowd. This was not out of respect for
those about to die, but rather because the people further back demanded those
at the front remove their hats so as not to obscure their view.
Once assembled on the drop, the hangman would put the nooses round their necks
while they prayed with the Ordinary and when they had finished he placed the
white hoods over them. Female prisoners would have their dress bound around
their legs for the sake of decency but the men's legs were left free. When the
prayers had finished, the Under Sheriff gave the signal and Foxen moved the
lever which was connected to a drawbar under the trap and caused it to fall
with a loud crash, the prisoners dropping 12-18 inches and usually writhing and
struggling for some seconds before relaxing and becoming still. If their bodies
continued to struggle, Foxen unseen by the crowd within the box below the drop,
would grasp their legs and swing on them so adding his weight to theirs and
thus ending their sufferings sooner. The dangling bodies were left to hang for
an hour.
Execution Broadsides were sold among the crowd, purporting to give the last
confessions of the condemned. These were like tabloid newspapers of the day and
were often total fabrication. As they were printed prior to the execution, they
could be unused if a reprieve was granted after printing, not an uncommon
occurrence at this time. They would show a stylised wood cut picture of the
hanging and details of the crime and the confession of the criminal. Click the
link for further information on Newgate prison.
A typical execution in the 1850's at Lancaster Castle.
By
this time, executions were conducted with more ceremony so as to produce a grim
and solemn reminder of the punishment for the most seriou
