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Executions at Tyburn 1745 – 1754. |
With special thanks to Mr. Dave Mossop for allowing me to publish the results of his years of painstaking research, thus enabling this unique insight into 18th century crime and punishment. If you would like more detail on some of these cases or wish to view the trial transcripts, have a look at the Old Bailey on-line website at http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/
342 men and 28 women were hanged at Tyburn during this 10
year period after trials at the
The average execution rate per year was 37.0, up from 30.3 in the previous decade. It is not clear why there was a substantial increase in the rate during the 1749–1751 period.
Analysis by Year.
|
|
Death sentences |
Executions |
||
|
Year |
Male |
Female |
Male |
Female |
|
1745 |
23 |
10 |
13 |
5 |
|
1746 |
31 |
2 |
16 |
2 |
|
1747 |
23 |
10 |
24 |
2 |
|
1748 |
31 |
4 |
20 |
1 |
|
1749 |
63 |
4 |
42 |
2 |
|
1750 |
88 |
4 |
70 |
4 |
|
1751 |
69 |
4 |
46 |
2 |
|
1752 |
48 |
3 |
43 |
3 |
|
1753 |
51 |
9 |
37 |
4 |
|
1754 |
39 |
5 |
30 |
3 |
|
Sub totals |
466 |
55 |
341 |
28 |
|
Total death sentences 521 |
Total executions 369 |
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Analysis of executions by crime.
|
Crime |
No. of executions |
|
Murder (including of wife) |
32 |
|
Murder of bastard child |
0 |
|
Petty Treason murder |
0 |
|
Highway robbery |
166 |
|
Housebreaking |
10 |
|
Burglary |
41 |
|
Horse theft |
10 |
|
Stealing in a dwelling house |
19 |
|
Rape |
1 |
|
High Treason - coining offences |
5 |
|
Arson |
0 |
|
Forgery |
15 |
|
Robbery in a dwelling house |
2 |
|
Privately stealing from person |
4 |
|
Uttering |
12 |
|
Stealing in a shop |
4 |
|
At large |
11 |
|
Riot |
1 |
|
Sheep stealing |
3 |
|
Smuggling |
30 |
|
Other |
3 |
|
Total |
369 |
Ordinary murders had risen quite considerably during this decade. The Murder Act of 1752 was specifically passed to reduce this by increasing the punishment to execution within 2 working days followed by dissection of the body. This act also accounts for the increase in “hanging days” after 1752. No one was to die for the murder of a bastard child or Petty Treason murders however
No one had been executed for smuggling in the previous decade, although some 30 men were to hang for it in this one.
Highway robbery remained the most common capital offence and accounted for 45.67% of all executions.
The “other” category comprises one offence each of Perjury as a debtor, procuring men to enlist in foreign service and shooting at.
1745
There were 4 “hanging days” at Tyburn with 13 men and 5 women being hanged.
A total of 33 people (23 men and 10 women) were sentenced to death in this year of which 23 were hanged and the rest reprieved, typically to transportation.
The 16th of January Sessions saw just 1 woman, Mary Stracey, condemned. The February Sessions that began on the 27th and led to 2 further death sentences, one of which was carried out. Both executions took place on the 15th of March.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 15th March |
Mary Stracey (or Martha Tracey) |
Highway robbery |
|
James Stansbury |
Burglary |
5 men and 3 women were sentenced to death at the April Sessions and only 1 woman reprieved.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Friday 7th June |
Mary “cut & come again” White |
Highway robbery |
|
Stephen Parson |
Stealing in a dwelling house |
|
|
Edward Ryan |
Stealing in a dwelling house |
|
|
Edmund Gilbert |
Murder |
|
|
Samuel Keep |
Sheep stealing |
|
|
Lettuce Lyon |
Housebreaking |
|
|
George Norton |
Stealing in a dwelling house |
6 men and 2 women were condemned at the May Sessions on the 30th of that month, with only 1 man reprieved. Additionally, Jeremiah Burton may have been hanged for privately stealing in a dwelling house but this cannot be absolutely confirmed.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Tuesday 9th July |
Benjamin Stevens |
Murder of wife |
|
John Jeffs |
Highway robbery |
|
|
Joseph Lucas |
Highway robbery |
|
|
John Simmons |
At large |
|
|
Margaret Greenaway |
Highway robbery |
|
|
Ann Rush |
Highway robbery |
The Sessions on the 10th of July saw 4 men get the death sentence, of whom 3 were hanged.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Friday 26th July |
William Kelly |
Highway robbery |
|
Thomas St. Leger |
Highway robbery |
|
|
John Rigleton |
Murder of wife |
The next Sessions began on the 11th of September and resulted in 5 men and 4 women being sentenced to death. 2 men and 3 women were reprieved.
Only 1 death sentence was passed at the October Sessions on the 16th of that month.
There were no death sentences at the December Sessions. All 5 of those condemned and not reprieved from September, October and November were held over for execution until April 1746.
1746
There were 4 “hanging days” this year with 31 men and 2 women sentenced to death. 16 men and 2 women were hanged at Tyburn and another man hanged near the scene of his murder.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Friday 4th April (All sentenced in 1745) |
Judith Tilly |
Highway robbery |
|
John Moor |
Highway robbery |
|
|
Thomas Morgan |
Murder |
|
|
Edward Lloyd |
H/T Coining |
|
|
James Woolfe (or Webb) |
Uttering |
The first Sessions of 1746 were held on the 17th of January and resulted in 2 male death sentences, of which one was carried out.
5 men and 2 women were condemned at the February Sessions. 3 men and a woman were later reprieved.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Friday 4th April (Sentenced in 1746) |
John Webb |
Murder |
|
Abijah Burk |
Highway robbery |
|
|
John Wareham |
Highway robbery |
|
|
Catherine Howell |
Stealing in a dwelling house |
1 man was condemned at the April Sessions.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Friday 25th April at New Bond Street |
Matthew Henderson |
Murder |
Henderson was afterwards hanged in chains on the Edgeware Road.
The next Sessions opened on Thursday, the 15th of May and resulted in 3 death sentences, of which 1 was commuted.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Friday 20th of June |
William Russell |
Highway robbery |
|
Samuel Priggs |
Murder |
8 men were condemned at the July Sessions and just one was reprieved.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Friday 1st August |
John Short |
Highway robbery |
|
George Thomas |
Highway robbery |
|
|
Thomas Bird |
Highway robbery |
|
|
John Humphreys |
Highway robbery |
|
|
John Stevens |
Highway robbery |
|
|
John Jennings |
Highway robbery |
|
|
William Bruce |
Highway robbery |
4 men were condemned at the September Sessions and all were executed, 3 in the following January and 1, John Pidgeon, in the following June.
A further 4 received death sentences at the October Sessions which opened on the 15th. One man was reprieved and the others executed in January.
The December Sessions resulted in a further 4 death sentences, of which 1 was commuted.
1747
23 men and 10 women were sentenced to death during this year.
There were 5 “hanging days” at Tyburn this year with 26 executions, comprising of 24 men and 2 women.
Carried over from 1746 were :
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Wednesday 21st
January |
Barny Lindsay |
Highway robbery |
|
Felix Matthews |
Highway robbery |
|
|
Anthony Matthews |
Highway robbery |
|
|
Samuel Mecum |
Burglary |
|
|
Phillip Jewell |
Stealing in a shop |
|
|
Robert Fitzgerald |
Uttering |
|
|
John Wilkins |
Highway robbery |
|
|
Richard Clay |
Burglary |
|
|
John Matthews |
Burglary |
2 women were condemned at the January Sessions, of whom 1 was reprieved. A further man was condemned at the February Sessions and subsequently hanged.
4 men and 1 woman received death sentences at the April Sessions. One man and the woman were reprieved and 1 man died in prison.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Wednesday 17th June |
Mary Allen (Smith) |
Stealing in a shop |
|
Henry Simms |
Highway robbery |
|
|
John Hudson |
Burglary |
|
|
John Exelby |
Burglary |
|
|
John Pidgeon |
Privately stealing in a dwelling house |
There was a crackdown on smuggling in 1747, due to an Act of 1746, allowing for the proclamation of the names of smugglers. If the person was subsequently caught and identified, the death sentence was mandatory.
4 men and a woman were sentenced to hang at the June Sessions. 2 of these had been convicted of smuggling with 1 reprieved. A further smuggler was condemned at the July Sessions.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Wednesday 29th July |
Richard Ashcroft |
Smuggling |
|
John Cook |
Smuggling |
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Friday 31st July |
Samuel Hurlock |
Murder |
|
Elizabeth Dennis |
Highway robbery |
|
|
John Riley |
Highway robbery |
3 men were sentenced to die at the September Sessions of whom 2 were reprieved. A further 4 were condemned at the 14th of October Sessions and 1 of these was reprieved.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 16th of November |
Thomas Puryour |
Smuggling |
|
Thomas Fuller |
Smuggling |
|
|
Hosea Youell |
Murder |
|
|
George Lancaster |
Uttering |
3 men and a woman were condemned at the December Sessions on the 9th of that month, the woman being spared.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 21st December |
Samuel Austin |
Smuggling |
Hanged in chains at Shepherd’s Bush after execution.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Wednesday 23rd of December |
William Wardlow |
Highway robbery |