|
Overview of executions at
Tyburn 1735 - 1783 |
The
population of
Tyburn was the normal place of execution for those convicted in the City of
Over the 69
years from 1715 to December 1783 (when Tyburn ceased to be used as the
principal place of execution), some 2,168 people were put to death there, an
average of 31.43 a year. Some 4,240
people were condemned at the Sessions of the Old Bailey during the same period.
The level
of certainty for these statistics is better than 99%. However, one should be
careful interpreting them for several reasons.
Some people
who were executed at Tyburn were not tried or sentenced at the Old Bailey,
(e.g. The Earl Ferrers and some of those condemned for High Treason other than
coining offences). Some of those
condemned at the Old Bailey were not executed at Tyburn but rather at or near
the scene of the crime (notably the Gordon rioters and those condemned for
particularly horrible murders). All
these exceptions are detailed in the text of the individual decade in which
they occurred. Due to the paucity of the
records, it is not always possible to be certain whether an individual was
executed or reprieved.
People
often spent several weeks and even up to 4 months in the Condemned Hold at
Newgate, as there was no great rush to execution for ordinary criminals (not
murderers), and executions could not take place until the Recorder had given
his report to the King and Privy Council.
Some of the
crimes listed may be unfamiliar to the modern reader.
At large, means that the person was at large in the Kingdom before the expiry
of a sentence of transportation to the colonies. They might have been
sentenced to 7 years but have returned before the end of that period.
Alternatively, they may have escaped from prison whilst awaiting transport or
execution.
Coining, which could be clipping coins, filing them to obtain the precious
metal or even colouring lower denomination coins to make them look like higher
denominations, was a form of High Treason (H/T) punishable by burning in the
case of women and by ordinary hanging for men.
Petty
Treason (P/T) was the murder by a woman of her
husband or mistress (her superiors in law) and carried a mandatory sentence of
burning at the stake up to 1789. Men could also be guilty of this crime
if they murdered their master, although as with coining, conviction only
resulted in a sentence of ordinary hanging.
In all cases of treason, the prisoners were drawn to the place of
execution on a hurdle.
Highway robbery was the most common capital crime accounting for 37% of all
executions. In many cases, the actual
crime was what we call street crime or mugging today. In other words, the
criminal had robbed a person on the King’s highway, using force or the threat
of force to obtain their valuables. A few of those listed will conform to
the traditional view of the highwayman on his horse holding a brace of pistols,
a few were members of organised gangs, many were just opportunist muggers. Some of the real highwaymen were hanged in
chains after execution.
Privately stealing from a person is basically picking pockets, and by
definition does not involve the use of force, but rather the employment of
stealth and nimble fingers.
Robbery in a dwelling house (or shop or brothel) implies the use of violence or
threat of it, whilst stealing in a dwelling house or shop is carried out
without either forcible entry or violence towards the occupants. Scams
were often used to gain entry and then to distract attention, whilst the
criminal(s) pocketed valuables. Stealing in a shop is the equivalent of
shoplifting today.
Housebreaking implies forcible entry to the premises.
Personating
is the crime of impersonating another person to gain pecuniary advantage.
Uttering is the crime of passing forged bank notes or coins, wills, Letters of
Attorney, etc.
One gets
the impression that governments of the period liked to have “crack downs” on
certain types of crime from time to time, much like our present government
does. You will see from the table below
that executions for some crimes seem to go in and out of fashion. It is not clear at this remove exactly why
this should be so, although in some cases one can trace the introduction of new
laws to account for it.
Analysis by crime.
|
Crime |
1715-1724 |
1725-1734 |
1735-1744 |
1745-1754 |
1755-1764 |
1765-1774 |
1775-1783 |
Total |
% |
|
Murder |
25 |
24 |
20 |
32 |
21 |
22 |
16 |
160 |
7.38 |
|
Murder bastard child |
1 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
11 |
0.28 |
|
P/T murder |
0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
0.28 |
|
Highway robbery |
104 |
165 |
128 |
166 |
59 |
85 |
96 |
804 |
37.07 |
|
Housebreaking |
89 |
41 |
27 |
10 |
10 |
25 |
15 |
217 |
10.00 |
|
Burglary |
21 |
26 |
33 |
41 |
13 |
62 |
75 |
271 |
12.49 |
|
Horse theft |
12 |
11 |
12 |
10 |
10 |
3 |
0 |
58 |
2.67 |
|
Sheep & cattle stealing |
2 |
20 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
29 |
1.34 |
|
Stealing in a dwelling house |
24 |
5 |
15 |
19 |
14 |
25 |
31 |
133 |
6.13 |
|
Rape/sodomy |
1 |
9 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
25 |
1.15 |
|
H/T and H/T coining offences |
11 |
1 |
7 |
5 |
3 |
7 |
29 |
63 |
2.90 |
|
Forgery |
3 |
1 |
3 |
15 |
8 |
25 |
9 |
64 |
2.95 |
|
Uttering |
0 |
0 |
10 |
12 |
15 |
2 |
3 |
42 |
1.94 |
|
Arson |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0.14 |
|
Robbery in a dwelling house |
6 |
7 |
7 |
2 |
6 |
7 |
14 |
49 |
2.26 |
|
Privately stealing from a person |
15 |
0 |
10 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
29 |
1.34 |
|
Stealing in a shop/warehouse |
15 |
9 |
5 |
4 |
10 |
3 |
2 |
48 |
2.21 |
|
At large |
16 |
7 |
4 |
11 |
4 |
5 |
9 |
56 |
2.58 |
|
Riot |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0.09 |
|
Smuggling |
0 |
0 |
0 |
30 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
30 |
1.38 |
|
Other crimes |
6 |
14 |
4 |
3 |
12 |
17 |
13 |
69 |
3.42 |
|
Total executions |
351 |
344 |
302 |
366 |
190 |
294 |
318 |
2168 |
|
Analysis by sentence.
|
Period |
All |
Male |
Female |
||||||
|
Condemned |
Executed |
Reprieved |
Condemned |
Executed |
Reprieved |
Condemned |
Executed |
Reprieved |
|
|
1715-1724 |
751 |
351 |
424 |
587 |
327 |
272 |
164 |
24 |
140 |
|
1725-1734 |
582 |
344 |
238 |
496 |
319 |
177 |
88 |
25 |
63 |
|
1735-1744 |
516 |
302 |
214 |
430 |
271 |
159 |
86 |
31 |
55 |
|
1745-1754 |
521 |
369 |
152 |
466 |
341 |
125 |
55 |
28 |
27 |
|
1755-1764 |
329 |
190 |
139 |
295 |
175 |
120 |
34 |
15 |
19 |
|
1765-1774 |
686 |
294 |
392 |
630 |
282 |
348 |
56 |
12 |
44 |
|
1775-1783 |
856 |
318 |
538 |
760 |
306 |
454 |
96 |
12 |
84 |
|
|
4241 |
2168 |
2097 |
3664 |
2021 |
1655 |
579 |
147 |
432 |