|
Executions at Tyburn 1755 – 1764. |
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, go to
the Old Bailey on-line website at http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/
329 death
sentences were passed during the decade on 295 men and 34 women. Of
these, 175 men and 15 women were duly executed. The
period from 1759 to 1762 being remarkable for the low number of executions.
Overall reprieve rate : 42.25%, Male reprieves :
40.68%, Female reprieves : 55.89%.
1755
There were
7 “hanging days” at Tyburn with 21 or 22 men and 2 women being hanged.
A total of
38 men and 4 women were sentenced to death at the Old Bailey during the year of
which 20 men and 1 woman were reprieved.
The
Sessions held on the 16th of January resulted in 9 men and 1 woman being
sentenced to death, of whom 6 man and the woman were
reprieved. The February Sessions that began on the 24th resulted in a
further 4 men being sentenced to death, of whom 3 were hanged.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Wednesday 17th
March |
John Preston |
Housebreaking |
|
John Dyson |
Housebreaking |
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Wednesday 17th March (sentenced in 1755) |
Joseph Gill |
Highway robbery |
|
Edward Merrill |
Highway robbery |
|
|
Thomas Travis |
Burglary |
|
|
John Burton |
Burglary |
|
|
Edward Haynes |
Stealing in a workhouse |
|
|
William Burk |
Highway robbery |
6 men were
sentenced to death at the April Sessions of whom 5 were hanged.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 12th May |
Francis Prior |
Stealing in a dwelling house |
|
John West |
Stealing in a dwelling house |
|
|
William Powell |
Horse theft |
|
|
William George |
Horse theft |
|
|
Joseph Gold |
Stealing in a shop |
3 men
received death sentences at the 15th of May Sessions. Two resulted in reprieves
but William Bowyer may have been hanged as there is no record of a reprieve for
him.
The
Sessions on the 2nd of July saw 5 men and 1 woman get the death sentence, of whom 2 or 3 men were hanged.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 28th July |
John Sibthorp |
Horse theft |
|
William Bowyer and/or James Bignall |
Privately stealing
from person |
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 4th August |
Procuring men to enlist in foreign service |
The next
Sessions began on the 10th of September and resulted in 4 men and 1 woman being
sentenced to death. The woman was executed alone on the 15th of September
and 3 of the men in November.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 15th September |
Mabel Hughes |
Murder |
2 men were
condemned at the October Sessions on the 23rd of that month, of whom 1, Rowley
Harrison, was hanged.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 12th November |
John Benson |
Highway robbery |
|
Jonathan Wigmore |
Shot at |
|
|
Samuel Dibble (Dipple) |
Burglary |
|
|
Rowley Hanson |
Highway robbery |
The
December Sessions opened on the 4th and 5 men and a woman received death
sentences, of whom 2 men were reprieved and 2 men were left for execution in
1746.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 8th December |
Richard Jeffreys |
Murder of Jeffey’s wife |
|
Elizabeth Barnes |
1756
29 men were
sentenced to death during this year and 15 men were hanged at Tyburn on 6
“hanging days”.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 23rd February (sentenced in 1755) |
Thomas Broadhurst |
Burglary |
|
Christopher Wade |
Highway robbery |
The first
Sessions of 1736 were held on the 15th of January and resulted in 3 death
sentences, of which one was commuted.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 23rd February (sentenced in 1756) |
Alexander Thompson |
Bankrupt, concealing assets |
|
John Boswell |
Highway robbery |
The next
Sessions opened on the 25th of February and resulted in 2 death sentences, of
which 1 was commuted.
6 men were
condemned at the 28th April Sessions, with 1 hanged. There were no death
sentences at the June Sessions.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 28th June |
John Parkin |
Uttering |
|
Charles Cane |
Stealing in a shop |
The
Sessions on 14th of July resulted in 2 men being condemned, of whom 1 was
reprieved.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 19th July |
John Girle |
Murder |
The
September Sessions on the 15th saw 6 men condemned, of whom 4 were
reprieved. One was hanged the following
Monday for murder whilst the other was held over for execution in December
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 20th September |
William Cannicut |
Murder of wife |
5 men were
sentenced to death at the October Sessions on the 20th of that month, with 3
reprieves.
A further 5
men were condemned at the December Sessions on the 8th with just 1 reprieve.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 20th December |
John Cartwright |
Stealing in a dwelling house |
|
Jonathan Hirst |
Highway robbery |
|
|
Francis Mugford |
At large |
|
|
Bartholomew Ball |
Stealing in a dwelling house |
|
|
Edward McAllister |
Highway robbery |
|
|
John Millward |
Uttering |
|
|
John Jolly |
Highway robbery |
1757
32 men and
4 women were sentenced to death during this year, of whom 20 men and 2 women
were hanged in 1757 and 3 left for execution in 1758. There were 4
“hanging days” at Tyburn this year.
No death
sentences were passed at the January Sessions. 5 men were sentenced to death at
the 23rd of February Sessions, of whom 3 were hanged.
7 men and 2
women were condemned at the 20th of April Sessions and 5 of the men
hanged. The May Sessions led to 2 men and a woman being condemned, the 2
men being reprieved.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Wednesday 18th of May |
Richard Hughes |
Uttering |
|
William Harris |
Highway robbery |
|
|
Thomas Marsh |
Highway robbery |
|
|
Benjamin Search |
Highway robbery |
|
|
John Edwards |
Highway robbery |
|
|
William Adam |
Uttering |
|
|
John Macleary |
Procuring men to enlist in foreign service |
|
|
Michael Sullivan |
Procuring men to enlist in foreign service |
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 30h May |
Mary Mussen |
Murder of her bastard child |
The July
Sessions saw 4 men and 1 woman condemned. One of the men was
reprieved.
A further 9
men were sentenced to die at the September Sessions, of whom only 1 was
reprieved.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Wednesday 5th October |
William Hadley |
Housebreaking |
|
Stephen Harding |
Housebreaking |
|
|
John Pritchard |
At large |
|
|
Eleanor Eddows |
Uttering |
|
|
Andrew Smith |
Uttering |
|
|
John Bradbury |
Highway robbery |
|
|
Brent Coleman |
Robbery in a dwelling house |
|
|
Richard Gregory |
Robbery in a dwelling house |
|
|
John Roberts |
Highway robbery |
|
|
Thomas Price |
Highway robbery |
|
|
Bartholomew Goodfield |
Stealing in a dwelling house |
|
|
John Long |
Horse theft |
Just 1 man
was condemned at the October Sessions on the 26th of that month.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Wednesday 23rd November |
Henry Clark |
Highway robbery |
The
Sessions held on the 7th of December resulted in 4 death sentences being
passed, 1 man being reprieved. The others were
hanged in 1758.
1758
There were
5 hanging days at Tyburn in 1758 with 18 men and 2 women being executed. 23 men
and 6 women were condemned during this year. It is not clear whether the
2 women executed for H/T coining were burnt or hanged.
|
Date |
Name |
Crime |
|
Friday 31st March (sentenced in 1757) |
William Green |
Highway robbery |
|
Jeremiah Bailey |
Highway robbery |
|
|
Joseph Wood * |
H/T Coining |
*Joseph
Wood committed suicide in Newgate on the day of or day before execution but his
dead body was hanged at Tyburn.
The first
Sessions of the New Year were held on the 13th of January resulting in 4 men
and 4 women being condemned, of whom 1 man and 1 woman were reprieved. One
woman was respited until October as she was “quick with child”.
Just 1 man
was sentenced to hang at the February Sessions on the 22nd and he was
reprieved.
|
Date |
Name |
Crime |
|
Friday 31st March (sentenced in 1758) |
Joseph Wheely |
Stealing in a dwelling house |
|
Alice Davis |
H/T Coining |
|
|
Samuel Ong |
Highway robbery |
|
|
John Davis |
Highway robbery |
|
|
John Allen |
Highway robbery |
6 men were
condemned at the April Sessions, of whom 2 were reprieved.
|
Date |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 1st May |
William Stevens |
Stealing in a warehouse |
|
Richard Vaughan |
Uttering |
|
|
William Boadger |
Uttering |
|
|
James Cotes |
Highway robbery |
No death
sentences were passed at the May Sessions.
2 men were
condemned at the June Sessions on the 28th and both hanged.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 1st July |
Jacob Romert |
Murder |
4 men and a
woman were condemned at the September Sessions which opened on the 13th. The woman and one of the men being subsequently reprieved.
|
Date of execution |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 2nd October |
Mary Larney |
H/T Coining |
|
John Currier |
Uttering |
|
|
Richard Pensome |
Highway robbery |
|
|
John Downes |
Burglary |
|
|
Thomas Head |
Stealing in a dwelling house |
5 men were
condemned at the October Sessions, of whom 3 were reprieved. The final Sessions
of 1758 took place on the 6th of December with a man and a woman being
sentenced to die, both being reprieved.
|
Date |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 18th December |
Robert Nowlan |
Shot at |
|
William Green |
Horse theft |
1759
There were
3 hanging days at Tyburn this year with 5 men and a woman being executed.
15 men and one woman were condemned during this year.
There were no death sentences passed at the 17th of January
Sessions. 2 men were condemned at the February Sessions on the 28th of
that month of whom 1 was reprieved and there is no record of the fate of the
other. 2 men and a woman were sentenced to hang at the April Sessions, the men
being reprieved and the woman becoming the last to hang from the old “Triple
Tree” gallows.
No death
sentences were passed at the May Sessions on the 30th of that month.
|
Date |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 18th June |
Catherine Knowland |
Highway robbery |
Only one
death sentence was passed at the Sessions on the 11th of July.
The
September Sessions resulted in 4 men being condemned. One man was probably
reprieved. Those hanged were executed on the new portable gallows.
|
Date |
Name |
Crime |
|
Wednesday 3rd October
|
Edward Norman |
Highway robbery |
|
James Innes |
Shot at |
|
|
John Rice |
Horse theft |
|
|
Richard Lamb |
Murder |
The October
Sessions resulted in 3 male death sentences, of whom 2
were reprieved.
|
Date |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 19th November |
John Ayliffe |
Utter |
3 men were
condemned at the December Sessions, of whom 2 were reprieved and the other held
over for execution until 1760.
1760
There were
5 hanging days at Tyburn in this year with 9 men and a woman being
executed. 10 men and 2 women were condemned during this year.
The January Sessions on the 16th of that month resulted in just 1 death
sentence (on Peter Hopewood.)
|
Date |
Name |
Crime |
|
Monday 11th February (sentenced in 1759) |
Thomas Hartshorn |