Horrific History | History of capital punishment in Britain

As the 13^th August marks the 60^th anniversary of the last hanging in Britain, we thought we would delve into the dark history of capital punishment.

Before we get on to the last hanging in Britain, let’s take a step back and find out more about our history with capital punishment.

Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the execution of a criminal sentenced to death after being convicted of a crime following a trial. In the UK, capital punishment predates the formation of the UK and was used throughout the British Isles from around the Anglo-Saxon era up until 1969 when it was officially abolished – though it remained in place for certain offences, like treason, until 1998. Today, capital punishment is prohibited by the European Convention of Human Rights, which the UK is a part of.

Throughout the UK’s history, the preferred method of execution was hanging, which was brought to Britain by the Anglo-Saxons. Initially, this involved placing a noose around someone’s neck and suspending them from a tree. Later this morphed into ‘drawing, hanging and quartering’ – the severest punishment for those who committed treason. This involved dragging the condemned person to the place of the execution, hanging them until almost dead, then cutting them down and disembowelling, beheading, burning and then quartering of the limbs. Heads and hands were then publicly displayed at prominent places around the area.

By the 10^th century, hanging was the most common form of execution across the British Isles. The death penalty was actually abolished under William the Conqueror for everything except war crimes, but his sons, William II  and Henry I reintroduced it.

Almost all cities and towns in the UK had at least one execution spot that was used for public displays, usually with a scaffold. In London, the majority of criminals were hung at Tyburn, which is near where Marble Arch stands today. Prisoners were often dragged there from Newgate prison. Most prisoners were taken on the back of a cart, through crowded streets, where members of the public would throw things at them, before being compelled to repent by a local holy man, they would then be hanged. Sometimes, their relatives would be allowed to pull on their feet to get it over with quickly. In Cardiff, convicts would have to walk from the castle to the gallows which was located in an area called Roath, which is still locally known as Death Junction.

It wasn’t just hanging which was prevalent as a capital punishment. Women were often burned at the stake and the nobility were beheaded. Burning at the stake was the most common punishment for heresy, though this hasn’t been used since 1789, it was abolished the following year. If you were in the military, it is more likely you were executed by firing squad.
During Henry VIII’s reign, as many as 72,000 people were executed and during his daughter Elizabeth’s reign, 75% of hangings were due to theft. In London, the courts condemned more people to death than the rest of the country, with the first recorded execution at Tyburn taking place in 1196 and the last public execution in the city taking place in 1896. In fact, if you take a trip to central London, you’re always around 5km away from a known execution site.

Throughout history, different areas of London were synonymous with various execution methods. For instance, the area of Smithfield near Farringdon was the place for the burning of heretics, while those condemned for piracy were executed at Execution Dock near Wapping. Traitors were generally beheaded on Tower Hill and their heads displayed at Traitor’s Gate. For special occasions, temporary gallows were erected in public spaces or near the scene of the crime, so that members of the public could come and watch.

At one time, around 220 crimes were punishable by death. This was known as the Bloody Code and didn’t distinguish between adults and children. Some of the crimes which carried the death penalty included:

Damaging Westminster Bridge
Impersonating a Chelsea Pensioner
Concealing a stillborn child if you were unwed
Pickpocketing goods worth a shilling
Stealing from a shipwreck
Writing a threatening letter
Begging without a licence if you were a soldier or sailor
Evidence of malice in children aged between 7 and 14 years
Arson
Cutting down trees
Returning to Britain after being transported to the colonies
Stealing rabbits from a warren
Vandalising a fishpond
Forgery
Stealing horses or sheep

These were on top of a variety of other minor offences and bigger ones including murder, assault, sexual offences and treason. This huge list of offences remained in place until 1861 when the number of capital crimes were reduced to four: murder, arson in a royal dockyard, treason and piracy. Further reform took place, which saw executions move from public spaces to inside of prisons.

Prior to WWII, there was an attempt to abolish the death penalty, however the outbreak of war and the need to punish those convicted of espionage meant it was abandoned. In the 1950s, there were further calls for abolishment following high profile cases like Timothy Evans, this led to the Homicide Act, which reduced the categories of murder that could be punishable by death.

Beheading was abolished as a method of execution in 1973. The death penalty was completely abolished in 1998, replacing the punishment for treason and piracy with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The last executions to take place in England and the UK were:

Peter Allen at Walton Prison and Gwynne Jones (aka John Welby) at Stangeways Prison in August 1964, while Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be hanged in Britain.  Harry Burton was the last person executed in Scotland, while Robert McGladdery was the last execution in Northern Ireland and Vivian Teed, the last person in Wales.

The last people to receive a death sentence, but were not executed are: Liam Holden in Northern Ireland, David Chapman in England, Patrick McCarron in Scotland and Edgar Black in Wales.

Notable Executions

With Henry VIII executing around 72,000 people, we can’t mention everyone but here are some of the most notable people to have been sentenced to death in the UK.

Sir Thomas More
Beheaded for treason on 6^th July 1535

Anne Boleyn
Beheaded for treason, adultery and incest on 19^th May 1536.
Her brother and several co-conspirators were also executed.

Thomas Cromwell
Beheaded for treason on 28^th July 1540

Catherine Howard
Beheaded for treason and adultery on 13^th February 1542.
Several co-conspirators were also executed.

Alice Glaston
Hanged for an unknown charge, but believed to have been murder. She was only 11 years old and is the youngest known girl to have been legally executed in England.

John Dean
Hanged for arson, was only 9 years old and is thought to be the youngest child legally executed in England.

Robert Kett
Hanged from the walls of Norwich Castle for leading Kett’s Rebellion, he was charged with treason on 7^th December 1549.

Lady Jane Grey and Lord Guildford Dudley
The nine days queen and her husband were both beheaded on the charge of treason by Mary I, Jane’s cousin on 12^th February 1554 following a long period of imprisonment.

The infant son of Perotine Massey
This execution was presided over by the church so isn’t necessarily deemed legal – the child was less than a day old and was burned to death on a charge of inheriting a mortal stain from his mother on 18^th July 1556.

Mary Queen of Scots
Beheaded by her cousin, Elizabeth I for charges of treason after being implicated in a plot to steal the English throne on 8^th February 1587.

The Gunpowder plotters
Guy Fawkes narrowly avoided execution by jumping off the gallows. The others were hung, drawn and quartered.

Sir Walter Raleigh
He was charged with violating the terms of the Treaty of London and attacking Spanish ships in peace time, leading to his execution by beheading on 29^th October 1618.

King Charles I
Charles I was found guilty of high treason following the English Civil War and was beheaded outside Banqueting Hall in London. The execution was carefully monitored to limit the amount of people attending and it was made illegal to speak, preach or write against the execution so the king did not become a martyr.

Dick Turpin
The highway man was hanged on 7^th April 1739, though not for highway robbery or murder, he was initially captured and sentenced for horse theft.

Thomas Kingsmill
A gang leader in the 1700s, Kingsmill was charged with smuggling and murder and was sentenced to gibbetting. This is when the dead or dying bodies of criminals were hung publicly and then left to die of exposure, thirst or starvation. It’s also known as hanging in chains.

John Byng
The only British Admiral to be executed by firing squad by the Royal Navy for failing to do his utmost at the Battle of Minorca.

Laurence Shirley (4^th Earl Ferrers)
The last peer to be hanged and the only one to be so after being charged with murder. He was convicted of murdering a servant on 5^th May 1760.

Catherine Murphy
Charged for counterfeiting, Murphy was the last woman in England to be burned at the stake, however she was strangled beforehand, so technically was already deceased.

John Bellingham
Bellingham assassinated Spencer Perceval the prime minister and was hanged on 18^th May 1812.

The Cato Street Conspirators
Found guilty of a plot to murder the entire cabinet and prime minister, they were hanged and decapitated.

William Burke
Half of the murderous duo Burke and Hare. He was hanged on 28^th January 1829 and then his body was publicly dissected.

Catherine Frary and Frances Billing
Convicted of poisoning, they were the last women featured in a double public execution.  They were hanged at the gates of Norwich Castle.

James Pratt and John Smith
These were the last two men to be executed for sodomy in England.

Sarah Chesham
The last woman to be hanged for attempted murder, there is some debate about her being wrongly convicted.

Elizabeth Martha Brown
The last woman to be hung in public in Dorset, which served as inspiration for Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy was in the audience.

Fenian Michael Barret
A participant in the Clerkenwell Explosion, was the last person publicly hanged in the UK in May 1868.

William Horry
Executed at Lincoln Castle, Horry was the first person hanged using the Long Drop method.

Albert and Alfred Stratton
The first British murderers to be convicted using fingerprint evidence.

Private Thomas Highgate
The first British soldier to be executed for desertion during WWI, executed by firing squad.

Roger Casement
Former Government official, was charged with conspiring with the enemy during WWI and inciting insurrection in Ireland, leading to a conviction for treason.

Victor Betts
His case established that a person need not be present when a crime is committed to be considered an accessory after the fact. He was sentenced following a murder committed during a robbery.

Josef Jakobs
A German spy convicted of treason was executed by firing squad and is the last person to have been executed at the Tower of London.

Theodore Schurch
The last person to be executed for an offence other than murder in 1946. He was convicted of treachery.

Timothy Evans
Charged with a murder he didn’t commit and hanged, it was later revealed that the actual culprit was John Christie and despite this being acknowledged, he has never been posthumously acquitted.

Ruth Ellis
The last woman to be hung in Britain on 13^th July 1955.

On 9^th November 1965, the Murder Act suspended the death penalty for murder for five years in the UK and then on 16^th December 1969, it was abolished for all crimes except treason. The ratification of the European Convention on Human Rights on 20^th May 1999 meant that the death penalty was abolished and prohibited in the UK. Which brings us back to the last execution to take place in the UK – the executions of Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans. The pair were both career criminals with a history of petty crime and were convicted of murdering John West during a plan to rob him.

During the trial, they blamed each other and at the conclusion, the judge asked the jury to consider whether one man was responsible, or both. After deliberating for just three hours, both were found guilty and sentenced to death.

Despite being incarcerated at separate institutions, both were executed at the same time on the same day. At 8 am on 13^th August 1964, Evans at Strangeways Prison and Allen at Walton Prison were hanged. Several years later, it was discovered that Evans had serious psychological problems, which would have led to his sentence being commuted because of diminished responsibility. This along with other miscarriages of justice, like the execution of Timothy Evans, are among the arguments why the death penalty remains in the past.

Learn more about Britain dark history:
Asylums and mental health care
Botched executions
British witch trials