With special thanks to Traugott Vitz for his help with this article.
The concept of the “long drop” form of hanging developed in Ireland.
Early Experiments in Ireland: John Hurley at Galway (1853)
One of the first recorded long drop hangings was that of John Hurley, who was executed outside Galway Gaol on the 27th of August 1853 for the murder of sixteen-year-old Catherine Kendrigan.
Twenty-two-year-old Hurley stood 5 feet 7 inches high and weighed 147 lbs.
He was given a drop of 7 feet 6 inches, which produced a striking force of 1,103 ft. lbs.
The Morning Post recorded that Hurley became still after “a few spasmodic convulsions” and was taken down after twenty minutes.
Dr. Charles Croker King, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at Queen’s College Galway, witnessed the hanging and examined the body afterwards.
He described the execution as follows:
The rope used was ten lines in diameter, which most probably equates to 10/12ths of an inch (21.2 mm), fitted with a large three-coiled knot placed at the back of the neck.
When the drop fell, Hurley’s body:
“oscillated for a few minutes, the arms and legs became rigid, the forearms flexed on the arms, the fingers flexed into the palms of the hands and the thighs abducted and slightly drawn up towards the abdomen.
After a short time the limbs relaxed and the legs approached each other, the toes pointing downwards. The hands became pale and the fingers relaxed.”
Dr. King was able to carry out a post-mortem and recorded the following findings:
The eyes were not protruding, there was lividity in the lips, but the face was pale.
There was a slight rope mark and some bloody mucus in the hood.
There had been no effusion of urine or faeces, but Hurley had experienced an erection and ejaculated. Dr. King took a sample of the “thin transparent fluid” staining Hurley’s shirt and found on microscopic analysis that it contained spermatozoa.
The following day, Dr. King dissected Hurley’s neck and found that there had been no fracture of the spinal column or damage to the spinal cord.
Patrick Lydon at Galway Gaol (1858)
Dr. King witnessed the next execution at Galway: that of Patrick Lydon on the 11th of May 1858 for the murder of his wife.
Lydon was 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 133 lbs.
He was given a drop of 11 feet, which produced a force of 1,463 ft. lbs using the exact same rope that had been used for Hurley.
Dr. King recorded that:
“the loop of the rope ran in an oblique direction from the side of the neck upwards toward the left ear, immediately below which the knot was placed.”
This was the sub-aural position that would later be standardized by English executioner James Berry.
Except for a bounce at the end of the rope, Lydon made no movement, and death was recorded as “instantaneous”. He was taken down after just a few minutes.
Dr. King immediately carried out a post-mortem examination.
He found that the left wing of the thyroid cartilage was driven in and fractured, and that there was a complete separation of the second and third cervical vertebrae (C2 and C3) with an internal gap of one-eighth of an inch.
The face was pale and not congested, and there was no blood, urine, or semen on the body.
Dr. King noted that with the longer drop, there was considerably more damage to Lydon’s neck than there had been to Hurley’s.
It is interesting that the positioning of the knot was not recognized as an important factor at this time.
The drop given to Hurley and the force it produced were in line with 20th-century practice, but the placement of the knot at the back of the neck was the likely reason his neck was not broken.
The Mathematical Theories of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Haughton
The Rev. Dr. Samuel Haughton was a polymath: a mathematician, a doctor of medicine, a priest, and a professor of geology who attempted to formulate a precise mathematical calculation for judicial hanging, ensuring the prisoner’s neck was broken by the force of a calculated drop.
His treatise, “On Hanging Considered from a Mechanical and Physiological Point of View,” was published in the London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science (Vol. 32, No. 213) in July 1866.
He concluded that one should:
“divide the weight of the patient in pounds into 2240, and the quotient will give the length of the long drop in feet.”
He further recommended that if the required drop could not be produced because the height of the gallows platform from the ground would not allow it, lead shot should be strapped to the prisoner’s feet to ensure a striking force of 2,240 lbs.
The Execution of Patrick Kilkenny (1865)
Patrick Kilkenny was hanged on the 20th of July 1865 at Dublin’s Kilmainham Gaol.
Dr. Haughton was permitted to carry out a post-mortem examination alongside fellow physician Dr. Arthur Foote.
Kilkenny weighed 160 lbs and was given the very long drop of 14 feet 6 inches, producing an energy of 2,320 ft. lbs.
The knot was placed at the back of the neck, and all the soft parts of the neck under the skin were completely divided.
The transverse processes of the second cervical vertebra were broken and the spinal cord separated.
Death was recorded as “instantaneous”. Dr. Haughton concluded that a few more inches of drop would have decapitated Kilkenny.
The Decapitation of Andrew Carr at Dublin (1870)
Andrew Carr became the first man to be hanged inside Dublin’s Richmond Bridewell on the 28th of July 1870 using Haughton’s formula, and he was completely decapitated by the drop.
The Freeman’s Journal of the 29th of July 1870 published a report on the inquest with an almost verbatim account of the evidence given by prison surgeon Dr. Humphrey Minchin:
“Dr. Humphrey Minchin sworn and examined.
I am surgeon to the Richmond Bridewell, and, in compliance with the act relating to the carrying out of capital punishment within prisons, I was present at the execution of Andrew Carr on the morning of the 28th July, 1870. I have since made a post-mortem examination of the body, the head was completely severed from the trunk, all the parts being divided evenly across; the second cervical vertebrae was fractured, which alone would cause instantaneous death.
The fall is a matter simply of figures; death by strangulation is caused by a short rope with all the attendant horrors of kicking and struggling, whereas the long rope insures a sudden, instantaneous, and painless death by fracturing or dislocating one of the bones in the neck; a portion of the force of the fall is usually expended in tightening the elaborate noose usually employed, whereas in the present case I fear that the noose was tightened beforehand, and thus an additional force was reserved which resulted in the accident; the usual formula is 2,240 lbs., divided by the weight of the offender in pounds; in this case 159 will give a quotient representing the number required to break the neck, namely – fourteen; in my opinion the immediate cause of death was a transverse fracture through the second cervical vertebra and a displacement of the second from the third; the drop is 22 feet from the ground, and the man fell 14 feet; I do not think the thinness of the rope contributed to the accident; I suggested 14 feet as a proper fall in accordance with the opinions founded on published scientific data, and with a view of avoiding a lingering and torturing mode of death; the rope did not give way.
Were you ever present at an execution before? No; this was the first I was officially connected with.”
Carr’s hanging was also described by an unnamed press eyewitness:
“The first private execution in Dublin was marked by an appalling casualty, which, by favour of the Sheriff, was witnessed by some representatives of the press, of whom I happened to be one. It was many years ago, but the memory of that hanging haunts me still.
The condemned man was an Army pensioner, who, in the frenzy of delirium tremens, killed a woman of the unfortunate class by almost cutting off her head with a razor. When he fell through the temporary scaffold, erected in a corner of the prison-yard, the head came away absolutely from the trunk, from which a jet of blood of considerable volume was shot in the air.
Strong men fainted that day, and one person present was so affected by the horrid sight that his mind never wholly recovered from the shock, and he died from a lingering ailment growing out of it. At the inquest, which was held on the headless body, it was shown that the rope used on this occasion was not thicker than the finger of a man’s hand. The convict was a heavy man, and this thin rope literally beheaded him.”
The Rev. Dr. Samuel Haughton gave an address to the Surgical Society in Dublin on the 10th of December 1875, attended by several prison surgeons who had witnessed hangings.
He claimed that Carr’s decapitation was the result of the rope used being too stiff.
In fact, his theory regarding the striking force required to break the neck was the primary flaw: his target of 2,240 ft. lbs was double what was later established as optimal.
The rope used for Carr’s hanging was two inches in circumference, which equates to 5/8 of an inch in diameter—thinner than the 3/4-inch rope that later became standard.
Dr. Haughton advocated that the knot should be placed under the chin, and that the drop should be ten feet as a general rule. Ten years later, when recalling this meeting, he had reduced his recommended drop to eight feet.
Haughton further suggested that a short iron bar, about an inch in diameter and six inches long, should be placed under the chin and the knot fastened into it. The chin would rest upon the iron bar.
The knot was to be fastened around this bar, brought around the back of the neck, and woven through a loop at the opposite end of the bar. By this means, the rope would be positioned in direct opposition to the spine, producing death in the most rapid possible manner. There is no historical evidence that this iron bar device was ever tested on a scaffold.
Observations at Galway Gaol: Dr. R. J. Kinkead (1880–1885)
Dr. R. J. Kinkead provided clinical insight into six hangings at Galway Gaol, published in The Lancet on the 11th of April 1885.
As medical officer, he both witnessed the executions and conducted the post-mortem dissections.
The first case was Martin M’Hugo, who was hanged at Galway on the 16th of January 1880 by William Marwood.
Kinkead described him as a tall, powerfully built man. Together with Dr. Pye, he autopsied M’Hugo about ninety minutes after the drop fell.
He noted that there had been no evacuation of faeces, but M’Hugo had ejaculated.
Dissection of the neck revealed that most of the deep tissues were torn through and the third cervical vertebra was shattered.
The fractured parts were separated by at least two inches, and the spinal cord was completely divided. The head remained attached to the torso by the outer skin alone.
Marwood was administering considerably longer drops during this period than would later become standard, which came dangerously close to decapitation.
The same severe trauma occurred with Patrick Higgins at Galway in January 1883, and Dr. Kinkead again attributed the near-severing of the neck to an excessive drop.
William Marwood Introduces the Long Drop to England
Fifty-four-year-old William Marwood, a shoemaker from Horncastle in Lincolnshire, had taken an interest in judicial executions over many years.
He recognized that he could dramatically improve upon the short drop system operated by London executioner William Calcraft.
Marwood had never hanged anyone, nor had he ever assisted at or witnessed an execution.
However, he had given extensive thought to the physics of the scaffold and concluded that a measured long drop would be far more humane.
He was convinced that if an accurately calculated drop related to the prisoner’s weight was administered, their neck would be broken instantly, resulting in a rapid and painless death.
In 1872, Marwood persuaded the authorities at Lincoln Castle to let him conduct the hanging of William Frederick Horry on the 1st of April 1872 for the murder of his wife.
Following the execution of Priscilla Biggadyke—the previous hanging at Lincoln in 1868, where the short drop caused a distressing struggle—the prison governor, Mr. Foster, was willing to give Marwood an opportunity to demonstrate his system.
At that time, county sheriffs and prison governors selected their executioners independently, as the Home Office had not yet established a central approved list.
Marwood calculated a drop of several feet for Horry, and the hanging was carried out smoothly, producing immediate unconsciousness via cervical fracture.
Marwood introduced two vital mechanical improvements:
- The Sub-Aural Positioning: He positioned the noose knot directly beneath the angle of the left jaw, which caused the head to snap sharply backward upon suspension, forcing the odontoid process into the spinal cord.
- The Metal Eyelet: He replaced rough spliced loops with a smooth copper thimble or brass eyelet, enabling the rope to pull tight without friction.
Marwood was subsequently engaged across England, taking over executions at Newgate Prison from Calcraft in 1874.
James Berry and the Aberdare Committee (1886–1888)
Following Marwood’s death in 1883, Bradford native James Berry was appointed executioner.
Berry attempted to codify Marwood’s calculations, publishing his own table of drops designed to deliver a striking energy of roughly 1,120 foot-pounds.
However, Berry’s tenure suffered from several scaffold miscalculations:
- At Norwich Castle on the 30th of November 1885, Berry gave 189 lb Robert Goodale a drop of 5 feet 9 inches, which completely decapitated him.
- At Cardiff Gaol in February 1886, David Roberts suffered severe laceration of the throat when given an excessive fall.
- In February 1885 at Exeter Gaol, the trapdoor mechanism failed three times during the attempted hanging of John Lee.
These crises prompted Home Secretary Sir William Harcourt to appoint a departmental committee in 1886 under the chairmanship of Lord Aberdare.
The Aberdare Committee interviewed hangmen, prison governors, and medical experts, publishing its report in 1888.
The committee established the official Home Office Table of Drops, standardizing terminal impact energy between 840 and 1,000 foot-pounds, mandating standard 3/4-inch Italian hemp ropes, and institutionalizing the sub-aural knot position.
This scientific framework remained the basis of execution in Britain, used by The Billingtons and Albert Pierrepoint, until the final executions in 1964 and The Abolition of Capital Punishment in Britain in 1965.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the long drop method of hanging?
The long drop was a scientific hanging technique developed in the mid-19th century where a prisoner fell a calculated distance based on their body weight, using kinetic energy to fracture the cervical vertebrae and sever the spinal cord for instantaneous unconsciousness.
How did the long drop originate in Ireland?
The long drop was pioneered in Irish county gaols during the 1850s and 1860s. Anatomist Dr. Charles Croker King examined the post-mortems of John Hurley (1853) and Patrick Lydon (1858) at Galway, while the Rev. Dr. Samuel Haughton formulated mathematical calculations to determine drop lengths in 1866.
Why was Andrew Carr decapitated at Richmond Prison in 1870?
Prison surgeon Dr. Humphrey Minchin applied Dr. Samuel Haughton’s formula ($2,240 \div \text{weight}$), giving 159 lb Carr an excessive drop of 14 feet. The combination of a 2,240 ft. lb striking force and a thin rope severed Carr’s head upon suspension.
Who introduced the long drop to England?
William Marwood, a shoemaker from Horncastle, introduced the long drop to England on 1 April 1872 at Lincoln Castle during the execution of William Frederick Horry, replacing William Calcraft’s short drop across the country.
What was the Aberdare Committee of 1886?
The Aberdare Committee was an official British inquiry established following several execution decapitations and failures. Its 1888 report created the Home Office Official Table of Drops, standardizing drop energy to between 840 and 1,000 ft. lbs to ensure rapid dislocation without tearing tissues.
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