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Albert Pierrepoint was an English hangman who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father Henry and uncle Thomas were official hangmen before him.
Harry Bernard Allen was one of Britain's last official executioners, officiating between 1941 and 1964. He was chief executioner at 41 executions and acted as assistant executioner at 53 others, at various prisons in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and Cyprus. He acted as assistant executioner for 14 years, mostly to Albert Pierrepoint from 1941 to 1955.
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom was used from ancient times until the second half of the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom were by hanging, and took place in 1964, before capital punishment was suspended for murder in 1965 and finally abolished for murder in 1969. Although unused, the death penalty remained a legally defined punishment for certain offences such as treason until it was completely abolished in 1998. In 2004 the 13th Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights became binding on the United Kingdom, prohibiting the restoration of the death penalty for as long as the UK is a party to the convention.
Michael Manning was an Irish rapist and murderer who was executed in 1954. He was the 29th and last person to be executed in the Republic of Ireland, as capital punishment was gradually abolished in the decades following Manning's execution.
The Old Melbourne Gaol is a former jail and current museum on Russell Street, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It consists of a bluestone building and courtyard, and is located next to the old City Police Watch House and City Courts buildings. It was first constructed starting in 1839, and during its operation as a prison between 1842 and 1929, it held and executed some of Australia's most notorious criminals, including bushranger Ned Kelly and serial killer Frederick Bailey Deeming. In total, 135 people were executed by hanging. Though it was used briefly during World War II, it formally ceased operating as a prison in 1924; with parts of the jail being incorporated into the RMIT University, and the rest becoming a museum.
HM Prison Leicester is a local men's prison, located on Welford Road in the centre of Leicester, Leicestershire, England. The term 'local' means that the prison holds people on remand to the local courts, as well as sentenced prisoners. Leicester Prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service, and is situated immediately north of Nelson Mandela Park.
Horsemonger Lane Gaol was a prison close to present-day Newington Causeway in Southwark, south London. Built at the end of the 18th century, it was in use until 1878.
HM Prison Swansea is a Category B/C men's prison, located in the Sandfields area of Swansea, Wales. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service, and is colloquially known as 'Cox's farm', after a former governor.
HM Prison Leeds is a Category B men's prison, located at Gloucester Terrace in the Armley area of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England, which opened in 1847. Leeds Prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service, and is still known locally as Armley Gaol, the historical name for the prison.
William Calcraft was a 19th-century English hangman, one of the most prolific of British executioners. It is estimated in his 45-year career he carried out 450 executions. A cobbler by trade, Calcraft was initially recruited to flog juvenile offenders held in Newgate Prison. While selling meat pies on streets around the prison, Calcraft met the City of London's hangman, John Foxton.
James Billington was a hangman for the British government from 1884 until 1901. He is the patriarch of the Billington family. Billington died at home from bronchitis in the early hours of 13 December 1901, ten days after having executed Patrick McKenna, a man he knew well.
Bartholomew Binns (1839–1911) was an English executioner from November 1883 to March 1884. When William Marwood died on 4 September 1883 after a brief illness, Binns was appointed to the position of Executioner for the City of London and Middlesex. Before becoming hangman, Binns was employed as foreman platelayer at Dewsbury by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, but after he got the post he no longer worked anywhere.
Thomas Henry Scott was an English executioner from 1889 to 1901. He was from Huddersfield in Yorkshire. A ropemaker by trade, he acted as executioner on seventeen occasions. He was on the Home Office list of approved executioners from 1892 to 1895.
Thomas George Tattersall was an English plasterer who was convicted of murdering his wife.
William Billington was an English executioner. He was on the Home Office list from 1902 to 1905 and had participated in hangings from 1899.
Robert Orridge Baxter was an English executioner from Hertfordshire. His career lasted from 1915 to 1935, during which he carried out 44 hangings and assisted at 53 others.
Alfred Allen was an English executioner from Wolverhampton. His career lasted from 1928 to 1937, during which he carried out 3 hangings as a chief executioner and assisted at 14 others.
Stanley William Cross was an English executioner from Wormwood Scrubs. His career lasted from 1932 to 1941, during which he carried out four hangings as a chief executioner and assisted at 20 others.
George Smith (1805–1874), popularly known as Throttler Smith, was an English hangman from 1840 until 1872. He was born in Rowley Regis in the English West Midlands, where he performed the majority of his executions. Although from a good family he became involved with gangs and petty crime in his early life, and was imprisoned in Stafford Gaol on several occasions for theft.
The Billington family is a British family of English nationality which has had a long history in England as state employed executioners as well as several members who ventured into the world of combat sports and professional wrestling. Men of the family have been noted for their rather short height. Two of the family's sports oriented members would go on to marry into the Canadian Hart wrestling family.
References
- ↑ David N. Thomas (2003). Dylan Remembered: 1914-1934. Seren. p. 230. ISBN 978-1-85411-342-9.
- ↑ "The English hangmen 1850 - 1964". capitalpunishmentuk.org. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
- ↑ "Gloucester Gaol". capitalpunishmentuk.org. Retrieved 2010-11-15.