|
The
history of judicial hanging in |
|
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
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
|
Country |
|
|
|
|
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 all of
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
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
The last hangings of all in
Abolition.
On
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
"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
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
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, 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
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
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, many of them being less than satisfactory. In 1885, the Prison
Commission Home Office commissioned Major Alten Beamish of the Royal Engineers
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 up to four prisoners side by side and at Newgate 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 1 1/2 inch thick oak and were released by a metal
lever on the platform. The gallows now
stood permanently in an execution chamber and was not dismantled after each
execution as it was neither visible nor subject to weather damage. 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. (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 plank bridge
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!
As a result of the recommendations of the Aberdare Committee, the single beam
was replaced by two beams of 8 inch x 3 inch section oak, running parallel to
each other about 2 inches apart. Straddling the centre of the beams, was a
metal brackets 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’ to 2’ 6” 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.
In the
period after the First World War (1918 on) 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. (Click here for a list
of 20th century "hanging prisons") 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 in the three
London prisons 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. It is now on display at the
Galleries of Justice in Nottingham. 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. The trap doors measure 9 feet
long x 5 feet wide overall. An execution
box is also on display.
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.
From 1856 on the legs of all prisoners were bound, usually at the ankles, after
the problems that William Calcraft encountered with the hanging of William
Bousfield at Newgate on the 31st of March of that year. 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! Later prisoner's of both sexes had their legs pinioned with a
leather strap around the ankles to prevent them moving on the trap doors or
getting their feet onto the sides of the trap when the doors fell.
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 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 failure of a rope supplied by
the hangman in 1878, the Prison Commission of the Home Office decided that it
would provide future execution ropes which were required to be returned to it
afterwards to avoid them being sold as souvenirs. A contract was duly
entered into with John Edgington & Co of the Old Kent Road in London to
manufacture and supply the ropes. These became known as “Government ropes” and
were formed from a 12’ 6” (3.8m) length of 3/4" diameter 4 strand white
Italian hemp. (see picture). Early versions had no covering and a plain ¼” thick
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 rope is for
the block and tackle and is not the hanging rope, which is pictured here.
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 themselves,
if they could afford it. 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 1872. 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. Very much longer drops had been in use there by the 1850's,
but the short drop was universal in the rest of
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. If the eyelet is
positioned under the left angle of the jaw it rotates the head backwards, 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. It
is only in the last 6 inches or so of the drop that the physical damage to the
neck and vertebrae occur as the rope constricts the neck and the force is
applied to the vertebrae. The duration
of this part of the process is between 0.02 and 0.03 of a second depending upon
the length of drop given. Generally the diameter
of the noose is found to have reduced some five to seven inches after the drop.
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.
The drops given by Marwood were usually between 4 and 10 feet, depending on the
weight and strength of the prisoner. 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
several unfortunate experiences. The
hanging of Robert Goodale at Norwich on the 30th of November 1885, resulted in
his complete decapitation by the force of the drop. Moses Shrimpton was very nearly decapitated
at Worcester in 1885. Where the drop was
inadequate, the prisoner still died of asphyxia and after Goodale, James Berry
reduced the drops in two or three subsequent hangings thus failing to break the
prisoner’s neck.
Drop tables.
In
1886, Lord Aberdare was commissioned to report into hanging in Britain after
various unfortunate incidents. Part of
his remit was to devise a standard table of drops. The Committee’s provisional table provided a
length of drop to produce a final "striking" force of approximately
1,260 foot pounds of 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 ft/lbs divided by
the body weight of the prisoner in pounds = drop in feet. For prisoners under 8
stone (112lbs) in weight a reduction in striking force to 1120 foot pounds was
recommended.
After further consideration and experimentation the Home Office issued another
table of drops in 1892 which were considerably shorter than Aberdare’s
provisional ones and resulted in a force of 840 ft/lbs being developed.
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 spinal cord 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. Thus a revised table was issued in 1913, designed to produce a striking
force of 1000 ft/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 inch (see below) to ensure the
desired outcome.
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 2.5cm.
|
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
of the length of drop to be used.
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 inquest. In London it was normal in
the 20th century for there to be an autopsy which 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 re-dressed and 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 widely 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 London’s Surgeon Hall is
shown here.
Burial.
From 1752 the bodies of executed murderers were not returned to their relatives
for burial. Murder was considered to be
a specially heinous crime and the government did not want the bodies of
murderers to have a full funeral or to "lay in state". Nor I suspect
did they really want families to know what had really happened to their loved
ones once executions became private.
On balance it was probably
the sensible decision not to release the bodies. Many families would have
felt a great sense of shame about one their number being executed for
committing murder, many would have also been too poor to afford a funeral and
perhaps a few would have sought to profit from the situation by selling the
body or involving the press in some way. Also, particularly where a full
autopsy had been carried out (in 20th century London executions) the body would
hardly have been a pretty sight.
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 the 18th of
March 1741.
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 serious crimes (almost all
those hanged by now were murderers).
The gallows at Lancaster was of the balcony pattern and was erected for each
hanging outside the French windows on the first floor of what was known as the
"Hanging corner". Across on the bank of what was originally the
Castle moat would be anything up to 6,000 people who had come to watch,
including organised school parties! Between 1799 and 1865, a total of 215
people were executed here. 131 of these hangings were carried out by
Lancaster's own hangman, "Old Ned" Barlow.
A little before 8 o'clock the prison bell would start tolling and the criminal
would be led up from the cells into the "Drop Room" (preparation
room) where the Governor, the Sheriff, the chaplain, the hangman (usually
Calcraft at this time) and several warders would be waiting for him. Calcraft
pinioned the prisoner’s wrists and allowed him a few moments to pray with the
chaplain before the window was opened to reveal the gallows onto which he would
now be led by the warders.
Once on the drop, Calcraft placed a white hood over the condemned's head and a
simple noose around the neck (one of Calcraft's nooses is on show within the
castle (see picture.) The warders, standing on boards positioned across
the drop, held the prisoner whilst Calcraft went downstairs and withdraw the
bolt to release the trapdoors. Calcraft used very short drops so the prisoner
could take several minutes to go limp. It would have been reported in the press
that they "died hard".
A black flag was hoisted over the Castle and the body left to hang for a full
hour before being taken down and bought in through a first floor window beneath
the trap for burial within the prison grounds. In some cases, a plaster cast
would be made of the criminal's head for use in phrenological experiments. Some
of these still survive. Here
is a picture of the death mask of William Corder who was hanged at Bury St.
Edmonds in Suffolk on May 18th, 1827 for the murder of Maria Marten.
Stephen Burke became the last person to suffer in public at Lancaster, on March
the 25th, 1865, when he was hanged for the murder of his wife.
Execution by the “long drop” at Wandsworth in 1879.
Kate
Webster became the first and only woman to be executed at Wandsworth prison in
London. She was hanged by William Marwood on the morning of Tuesday, the
29th of July 1879. At 8.45 a.m., the prison bell started to toll and a few
minutes before 9.00 a.m. the Under Sheriff, the prison governor, Captain
Colville, the prison doctor, two male warders and Marwood formed up outside her
cell. Inside Kate was being ministered to by Father McEnrey and attended by two
female wardresses. The governor entered her cell and told her that it was time
and she was led out between the two male warders, accompanied by Father McEnrey,
across the yard to the purpose built execution shed, which was nicknamed the
"Cold Meat Shed". As Kate entered the shed, she would have been able
to see the large white painted gallows with the rope dangling in front of her
with its simple noose laying on the trapdoors. Marwood stopped her on the chalk
mark on the double trapdoors and placed a leather body belt round her waist to
which he secured her wrists, while probably one of the warders would have
strapped her ankles with a leather strap. She was not pinioned in her cell, as
became the normal practice later. She was supported on the trap by the two male
warders standing on planks, set across it. This had been the normal practice
for some years, in case the prisoner fainted or struggled at the last moment.
Marwood placed the white hood over her head and adjusted the noose, leaving the
free rope running down her back. Her last words were, "Lord, have mercy
upon me". He quickly stepped to the side and pulled the lever, Kate
plummeting down some 8 feet into the brick lined pit below. Kate's body was
left to hang for the usual hour before being taken down and prepared for
burial. It is probable that two newspaper reporters would have been allowed to
attend - it was usual at this time for the press to be admitted. They would
have been expected to report that the execution had been carried out
"expeditiously". The whole process would have taken around two to
three minutes in those days and was considered vastly more humane than
Calcraft's executions.
The black flag was hoisted on the flag pole above the main gate, where a small
crowd of people had gathered. They would have seen and heard nothing and yet
these rather pointless gatherings continued outside prisons during executions
until abolition. Later in the day, her body was buried in an unmarked grave in
one of the exercise yards. Click here for a
detailed account of Kate’s story
A typical execution in the early 1900's at Durham.
The
press were still generally permitted to attend male executions up to around the
beginning of World War One in most prisons. Thus we have the report of the
hanging of Abel Atherton at Durham on the 8th of December 1909. Henry
Pierrepoint was the executioner. At 7.50 a.m. that Wednesday morning, the Under
Sheriff entered the prison with three newspaper reporters who were stationed in
front of the execution shed. Atherton was brought to the doctor's room by two
warders where his hands were pinioned and then led forward to the gallows in a
procession consisting of the Chief Warder, the Chaplain, Atherton, held by a
warder on either side, Pierrepoint and his assistant, William Willis, the
Principal Warder, the governor, the prison surgeon and finally another warder.
All but the Chaplain entered the shed and once Atherton was on the drop, Willis
dropped to his knees behind him to pinion his legs while Pierrepoint placed the
noose over his head and adjusted it before pulling the white hood over him.
(Pierrepoint was unusual in this - all other 20th century hangmen put the hood
on first followed by the noose.) As the nearby Assize Courts clock began
striking the hour Pierrepoint released the trap giving Atherton a drop of 7
feet 3 inches. The execution was over before the clock finished striking and
the press men who looked down into the pit reported that Atherton's death was
instantaneous and that he was hanging perfectly still. The prison bell
began tolling (from which comes the expression "for whom the bell tolls")
and the execution shed was locked up leaving Atherton suspended on the rope for
the customary hour. The official notice of the execution was posted on the
prison gate and an inquest carried out later in the morning. Click here for a history of Durham prison.
A typical execution in the 1950's in a British county prison.
Executions
were normally carried out at 9 a.m. in London and 8 a.m. in the rest of the
country and followed a standard set of rules laid down by the Home Office. A
small number of people were required by law to be present, notably the Governor
of the prison, the Sheriff or Under Sheriff of the county, the prison doctor,
the chaplain or a priest of the prisoner’s religion, two or more warders plus,
of course, the hangman and his assistant.
Not all prisons had a permanent gallows beam so, where required, this would be
sent by train from Pentonville prison in London and erected in the execution
room. An execution box containing two ropes (1 new and 1 used), a white hood,
pinioning straps, etc. was also sent.
The prisoner was weighed and their height measured the day before the execution
and the hangman would secretly view the person to enable him to calculate the
correct drop from their weight and physical appearance.
The length of the drop was carefully set and the gallows tested, whilst the
prisoner was out of their cell, using a bag of sand, of approximately the same
weight as them, which would be left on the rope overnight to remove any stretch.
Around 7 a.m., the executioners would re-set the trapdoors and make a final
adjustment to the length of the drop. The rope was coiled up and secured with a
piece of thread so that the noose dangled at chest level to prevent the inmate
falling over it.
The prisoner was given his or her own clothes to wear and would be attended by
a priest and if necessary, the prison doctor. If the condemned person appeared
to need it, the doctor would give them a glass of brandy to help them cope but
they were not given tranquillisers.
Just before the appointed hour the execution team formed up outside the
condemned cell and, on the signal from the Governor, the hangman entered the
cell and strapped the prisoner's hands behind their back with a leather strap.
The hangman went straight to the gallows and the prisoner followed, supported
by a warder on each side. They typically went through a second door in the
condemned cell which was normally hidden by a wardrobe and straight into the
execution room. The prisoner was led onto the trapdoors which had a
"T" chalked on them to position their feet exactly over the middle of
the trap. In case they fainted at the last moment, they were supported by the
two prison officers standing on boards across the trap and holding onto ropes
attached to the gallows beam with their free hands. The hangman pulled the
white hood over the prisoner's head and positioned the noose round the neck
whilst the assistant strapped their ankles. As soon as all was ready, the
hangman removed the safety pin from the base of the operating lever and pushed
it to release the trapdoors. The prisoner dropped through the trap and would be
left hanging motionless in the cell below, unconscious, and with their neck
broken. The whole process would have occupied about the same length of time as
it has taken you to read this paragraph - somewhere between 15 and 20 seconds.
(Click here to see a photo of a man about to be hanged - this is
what you would have seen had you been in the execution chamber, as the
officials stood at the back just inside the door). Everything was done to make
the execution as speedy and humane as possible so as to spare both the prisoner
and the staff, who had to witness it, from any unnecessary distress. Once the
signal had been given by the governor to enter the condemned cell, the hangman
was in total charge of the proceedings and did not have to wait for a further
signal from the governor before the releasing the trap, thus the prisoner did
not to have to wait a moment longer than was necessary, hooded and noosed.
When the
prisoner was suspended, the prison doctor listened to their chest with a
stethoscope and would expect to hear an unusual rhythm and progressively
weakening heartbeat for a few minutes. When he was satisfied that the person
was dead, the execution cell was locked up for an hour before the executioners
returned to remove the body and prepare it for the autopsy. Up to 1955, the
executioners had to measure how much the neck had been stretched by the
hanging. It was often 1- 2 inches, 25-50 mm. . An execution report (Form LPC4)
was prepared which recorded this detail together with drop given and other
details of the prisoner. Click here to see one.
The body would show marks of suspension, elongation of the neck and
occasionally traces of urine and faeces and semen.
There was usually a crowd outside the prison on the morning of a hanging and a
notice of execution was posted on the main gate of the prison once death had
been certified. (See
photo). The autopsy would be carried out after the body was removed from
the rope and the formal inquest usually took place later that morning. Click here to see
the autopsy report of Ruth Ellis. This is the inquest report on her "Thirteenth July 1955 at H. M. Prison,
Holloway N7": Ruth Ellis, Female, 28 years, a Club Manageress of Egerton
Gardens, Kensington, London - Cause of Death - "Injuries to the central
nervous system consequent upon judicial hanging." Her death was registered
on the14th of July 1955 (the day after the execution) on the basis of a
Certificate issued by J. Milner Helme, the then Coroner for the City of London,
following an Inquest held by him on the 13th of July 1955. Her death was
registered in the Registration District of Islington, Sub-district of Tufnell
as entry No. 25 for the September Quarter 1955. After the autopsy and inquest,
the prisoner was buried within the walls of the prison, usually at lunchtime on
the day of execution.
Capital crimes.
At
the beginning of the 19th century, there were no fewer than 222 capital crimes,
including such terrible offences as impersonating a Chelsea pensioner and
damaging London Bridge! One reason why the number of capital crimes was so high
was due to the way that particular offences were broken down into specific
crimes. For instance stealing in a shop, a dwelling house, a warehouse and a
brothel was each a separate offence. Similarly with arson, burning down a house
was distinguished from burning a hayrick. It should be noted that in
practice, there were only about seventeen general offences for which a death
sentence was generally carried out in the 18th and early 19th centuries. These
included murder, attempted murder, arson, rape, sodomy, forgery, uttering
(passing forged or counterfeit monies or bills) coining, robbery, highway
robbery (in many cases, this was the offence of street robbery, that we would
now call mugging), housebreaking, robbery in a dwelling house, returning from
transportation, cutting and maiming (grievous bodily harm) and horse, cattle or
sheep stealing. For all the other capital offences, transportation to America
or Australia was generally substituted for execution.
From the
1820’s, the number of capital crimes began to be rapidly reduced and were down
to sixteen by 1837. Post 1837 only five people were to hang for a crime
other than murder, they had been convicted of attempted murder. The
Criminal Law Consolidation Act of 1861 reduced the number of capital crimes to
four, viz., murder, High Treason, arson in a Royal Dockyard, and piracy.
In reality all executions from September 1861 were for murder, except in time
of war. This situation continued until 1957 when the Homicide Act of that
year divided murder into two offences - capital and non-capital.
The role of the judges.
The
judiciary were sent out on the six Court Circuits in England and the Great
Sessions in Wales and presided over the Sessions of the Old Bailey for those
persons sent there for trial from the City of London and the County of
Middlesex. Where a person was convicted of a capital crime (see above) it
was their duty to pass sentence of death. They were not given any
alternative in sentencing but they could make recommendations to the King and
Privy Council or after 1837 to the Home Office if they felt a reprieve was
justified for a particular individual. In earlier times, they often did
so leading to the very high reprieve rate prior to 1837. When they were
out on the circuits they had the power to stay an execution to ensure the
person was not hanged if they might be pregnant or if there was some reason to
expect a reprieve.
You may have heard the term “Hanging Judges” but this is really rather
misplaced - the law simply did not allow judges the option of passing a lesser
sentence. We have never had discretionary death sentences in British law.
It is possible that some judges were less likely to recommend a reprieve than
others but that is about all. However they never had the final say – it
was always left to others.
The sentence of death.
For crimes for which the
death sentence was mandatory e.g. for the huge number of capital crimes prior
to 1838 and for persons found guilty of murder up from 1861 to 1957, the
prisoner would be asked if they had anything to say why sentence of death
should not be pronounced upon them. A woman might "plead her belly,"
i.e. that she was pregnant and up to 1827, men could demand "benefit of
clergy" which was a wonderful excuse cooked up by the church to ensure
that clerics could not be executed for most offences. However, if neither of
these excuses were available, the judge (or his chaplain) would place the
"black cap" a nine inch square of black silk, on his head and proceed
to pronounce sentence. Click
here for a picture of a judge wearing the "black cap".
Up to 1948 the judge would say "(full name of prisoner) you will be taken
hence to the prison in which you were last confined and from there to a place
of execution where you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead and
thereafter your body buried within the precincts of the prison and may the Lord
have mercy upon your soul". Listen to these unique
words here. Thereafter the judiciary decided that the sentence be modified
by the substitution of the words "suffer death by hanging" for
"be hanged by the neck until dead" and this sentence continued to be
used for those convicted of capital murder up to 1956. Here is the modified
version being pronounced. One can hardly imagine what the prisoner must
have felt hearing these dread words.
The wording was further modified after 1957 to substitute “suffer death in the
manner authorized by law” and the reference to burial was removed. Note that
the sentence did not change with the ending of public execution or the
introduction of the measured drop. The requirement for burial within the precincts of the prison
was introduced by the Criminal Law Consolidation Act of 1861. Prior to that the bodies of non murderers
could be returned to their families for burial.
The Murder Act of 1752 specified that execution take place two days after
sentence, unless the third day was a Sunday in which case it would be held over
until the Monday. From 1834, a minimum of two Sundays had to elapse before the
sentence was carried out, and from 1868 onwards, three Sundays. From 1902, this
was reinforced by the Home Office, which suggested Tuesday as the day for
execution. In some cases, 20th century prisoners spent longer in the condemned
cell due awaiting their appeal hearing, but many condemned chose not to appeal
and their execution was frequently carried out within the three week period.
The role of the King and Privy Council.
Once
a death sentence had been passed the trial judge had to notify the Privy
Council by letter. In this letter he was able to make his private
recommendations as to whether the person should hang or not. The King
presided over what were known as “hanging cabinets” where together with members
of the Privy Council, the fate of each condemned person was decided. They
could be offered a conditional pardon (reprieve) on condition of transportation
to America or Australia as an alternative to execution. In London &
Middlesex the Recorder of the Old Bailey made his report to the Privy Council
in person at the end of each Sessions.
The Home Office takes over.
When Queen Victoria ascended to the throne in 1837 it was not considered
acceptable for a 19 year old girl to preside over “hanging cabinets” and so the
duty was delegated to the Home Secretary who administered the Royal Prerogative
of Mercy on her behalf. This situation continued until abolition. The trial
judge continued to submit his report on each capital case and this was
considered by Home Office officials and was available to the Home Secretary.
The Home Secretary was advised by his permanent officials but was allowed to
read the case papers for himself and had the final say. It is notable
that reprieves were very rare in cases of murder by poisoning or
shooting. If there was to be no reprieve the Home Secretary would endorse
the prisoner’s file with the words “The law must take it course”. There
was no formal death warrant issued post 1837, the judge’s sentence being deemed
sufficient. Where there was no
reprieve the prison governor had to
communicate the news to the prisoner verbally. In the 20th century, 1,485
death sentences were passed in England and Wales of which 755 were carried out.
The ratio of death sentences to executions was therefore 1.95:1. Those who were
reprieved had their sentences commuted to "life in prison" although
this normally did not mean that they served the rest of their lives behind
bars. In reality few served more than 12 years in practice but were subject to
supervision upon release for the rest of their lives.
The Home Office exercised increasing control over the conduct of executions
after the passing of The Prison Act of 1877 and regularly circulated
instructions to prison governors on all aspects of the subject. The
Prison Commissioners were responsible for providing the execution equipment
from 1891 on for maintaining the list of approved executioners and assistants
from which the Sheriff of the county was able to choose.
Where there was a question as to the prisoner’s sanity the Home Secretary was
required by the Criminal Lunatics Act of 1884. to order a medical examination
of the person by two qualified medical practitioners and this was frequently
done in the 20th century and could include the taking of an
electro-encephalograph if necessary.
Places of execution.
Please
click here for
a full listing of execution sites and prisons.
Here is a
list of 20th century the places of execution used in the 20th century
The Condemned Cell.
Once
a person had been sentenced to death they were housed in the condemned cell of
the prison they had been previously remanded to. Here is a drawing of the condemned cell in Newgate prison in the late
1800's. One can see that it comprises two standard cells knocked into one and
has fairly minimal facilities. The average time a prisoner would have spent
here was three weeks, and they would have been looked after round the clock by
teams of two or three warders. In some prisons the Victorian condemned cell
would be the largest and most comfortable call and often the only one with a
fireplace.
The drawing of the later 20th century “condemned suite” at Holloway shows the
arrangement of the prisoner's living quarters, visitor's area and proximity to
the gallows. (Click here)
The living area was normally two or three standard cells knocked into one and
was usually no more than 15 feet from the gallows itself. Having the condemned
cell on the first floor obviated the need for the pinioned prisoner to climb
steps to the gallows. The wardrobe concealed the door to the execution chamber
and was pushed out of the way by a warder at the last moment. Not all British
prisons had the condemned cell in such close proximity to the gallows, however.
Oxford for instance required the prisoner to walk some distance down a corridor
to it.
The warders did their best to look after the prisoner during their time in the
condemned cell and would play cards and games such as dominos with them to pass
the time. Condemned inmates were allowed
cigarettes or tobacco and even a small ration of beer. They were also allowed reading materials
although any reference to their case was removed.
The role of the sheriff of the county.
Each
county had a High Sheriff who was appointed for a year and who had the
responsibility, amongst other things of carrying out the punishments ordered by
the courts. In capital cases it was the sheriff’s responsibility to
organise the execution and appoint the hangman. He also had to pay the
hangman and later the assistant(s) and then claim the money back through
“sheriff’s pleadings” from the Home Office. The sheriff would proceed
with the foregoing, irrespective of the fact that there may be a reprieve, even
at the last minute.
The Capital Punishment (Amendment) Act of 1868 required that the High Sheriff
or the Under Sheriff be present at the execution. From 1891 the sheriff
appointed the hangman from the Home Office list. Prior to that the
hangman for London was generally used, i.e. James Berry, William Marwood and
William Calcraft. Before Calcraft most counties still had their own
hangman. The sheriff had the authority to admit witnesses and newspaper
reporters to executions after they became private in 1868. This practice
had ceased in most places by the early 1900’s. After the execution it was
the sheriff’s duty to notify the Home Secretary that the execution had taken
place.
The role of the prison doctor.
The
Capital Punishment (Amendment) Act of 1868 required that the prison doctor be
present at the hanging and examine the body of the prisoner after execution to
determine death had occurred and then sign a certificate to that effect.
He would look after the prisoner’s physical wellbeing up to the time of
execution and could also have a say on the length of drop to be given to a
particular prisoner. He might prescribe them a special diet in the condemned
cell and also a glass of brandy immediately before the hanging.
The role of the prison governor and prison officers.
The
governor of the prison had responsibility for the security of the prisoner
between sentence and execution and for preventing their suicide as far as
possible by ensuring that there were adequate officers to look after the
condemned person round the clock. Typically from 1847 teams of two or
three warders would guard the prisoner in three eight hour shifts. It was
normally the governor’s painful duty to tell the person that there had not been
a reprieve and thus the execution was to take place on such and such a
day. He had to be present at this and not all governors found this an
easy task. The governor of Bristol Gaol fainted during the execution of
17 year old Sarah Thomas on the 20th of April 1849. The governor was also
responsible for ensuring that the apparatus for the execution was set up in an
appropriate place and that the execution was carried out in an efficient and
humane manner. He would appoint two or more prison officers to accompany
the prisoner to the gallows and support them if required. It may have
been that these officers also acted as assistants to the hangman prior to 1900,
although this cannot be confirmed. Prison officers received an extra payment
for assisting at executions and for helping with subsequent burial. In
the 20th century, at least, the governor would send a report to the Home Office
as to the conduct of the executioner and his assistant(s). This report
had also to be signed by the prison doctor.
The role of the chaplain or Ordinary of Newgate.
Certainly
by the 16th century it was normal for the church to play a part in executions.
It was the practice, at least from the 18th century, that when a person was
sentenced to death, the judge would finish the sentence with the words,
"May the Lord have mercy upon your soul" to which the chaplain would
add "Amen".
Whereas the prison doctor looked after the prisoners physical health it was for
the chaplain to look after their spiritual health and prepare them to meet
their Maker. Confession and repentance was seen as vitally important for
their spiritual well being in the next world, as they could still go to Heaven
if they genuinely repented. The prison chaplain, or in the case of
Newgate, the Ordinary as the chaplain was known, would spend time ministering
to the person’s spiritual needs in the condemned cell and trying to extract a
confession. Sometimes the chaplain would make persistent efforts to obtain a
confession right up to the last moment.
In the centre of the chapel in Newgate was the Condemned Pew, a large black
painted enclosure with seats for the prisoners, just in front of the pulpit. On
the Sunday preceding their execution, prisoners under sentence of death had to
endure the "Condemned Sermon" and hear the burial service read to
them. Wealthy visitors could come and attend this service. Several Lords were
present at the service held in 1840 for Francis Courvoisier, a Swiss valet, who
had murdered his employer, Lord William Russell. It is unclear when this
practice died out.
Religious tracts were often given to prisoners by well meaning people in the
19th century.
Old drawings of 19th and early 20th century executions often show a robed
chaplain reading from a prayer book. They would read the words of the burial
service during the procession to the gallows and continue to pray with the prisoner(s)
until the drop fell.
In the 20th century, the prisoner could request a minister of their own
religion to visit them in the condemned cell and pray with them and also to be
present at the execution. The priest’s were often the only words spoken
during a modern private British hanging. The executioner and officials
typically said nothing at all on the gallows and the prisoner was not invited
to speak.
Up till the 1950's, the Anglican church largely supported capital punishment
and saw a role for themselves in the administration of it. It was not
unusual for the prisoner to take up religion in their last weeks on this earth
and it is probable that many prisoners valued the support of a priest through
their ordeal, as someone who was "on their side". Charlotte Bryant was said to be much comforted by the
ministrations of Father Barney during her period in
The role of the hangman and his assistants.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the hangman was often a condemned
criminal themselves who had been reprieved on condition that they executed the
others condemned at that assize. Thus the names of very few provincial
hangmen are known for this period.
Prior to the resignation of James Berry in 1892, anyone could apply to a prison
governor to carry out at an execution. Thus, for instance, William
Marwood simply applied to the governor of Lincoln Gaol to hang Frederick Horry.
Prior to Marwood there was very little science applied to hanging and it was
really a question of the hangman having the stomach for the job rather than any
specific skill. When Berry resigned the Home Office decided that would be
hangmen should attend for interviews with prison governors. Several were
interviewed at London’s Millbank prison to be Berry’s successor. The
Aberdare Committee had recommended that there be a qualified assistant at every
execution who could take over if required. This didn’t really get
implemented until the beginning of the 20th century, however.
Up to 1888 the hangman supplied his own rope and pinioning straps and after the
execution was also allowed to take the prisoner’s clothes and retain the
rope. In notorious murder cases these items could be sold for a
considerable sum to Madame Tussauds wax works or to morbid members of the
public.
From 1892
proper training was given to applicants, firstly at Newgate and then later at
Pentonville prison. This lasted a week and taught the correct procedures
for working out the drop and conducting a hanging. At the same time the
officials were also able to assess the applicants personality and their motives
for wanting the job. Once qualified they would be added to the official
list and work initially in the role of assistant until they had amassed
sufficient experience to take over as principal. Not all assistants ever
did graduate to principals however, perhaps they had no wish to.
Those who did were solely responsible for setting up the drop, pinioning the
prisoner and carrying out the hanging. They were required to be at the
prison by 4.00 p.m. on the day prior to the execution. Once there they
would arrange to take a look at the prisoner to assess their physical features
and obtain their weight and height from the prison doctor to enable them to
calculate the drop. The assistant’s duties were to help the hangman set
up the equipment and the drop and to strap the prisoner’s legs. The hangmen did
everything else and was in full charge from the moment he entered the condemned
cell. After the execution the hangman and assistant were responsible for
taking the body down and preparing it for autopsy. Having tidied the
gallows and packed the rest of the equipment back into the execution boxes they
were then free to leave the prison. They had to sign the Official Secrets
Act and were not allowed to divulge any details of the execution to the public
or the press. For more details on the individual hangmen click here.
For a detailed account of the processes and
physiology of judicial hanging go to The process of judicial hanging
Back to Contents page British Hangmen Timeline of capital punishment in Britain.
