Public Executions: From Ancient Rome to the Present Day by Nigel Cawthorne Page A
Book: Public Executions: From Ancient Rome to the Present Day by Nigel Cawthorne
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Authors: Nigel Cawthorne
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Posts pub at the Southampton Buildings, Holborn, and charged with being one of the ringleaders. Dennis was sentenced to death even though he broke down at his trial and begged for mercy. As his death would have plunged his family into penury, he asked that his son be allowed to succeed him as executioner. The newspapers made much of the story of a son hanging his own father. In the event, the authorities had a problem of their own: fifty-nine rioters had been condemned but there was nowhere to hold them prisoner because Newgate Prison had burned down. Ned Dennis's talents were much needed at this moment and he was reprieved so that he could help hang his fellow rioters!
Now that the gallows were mobile, Dennis could carry out his work in the city: at Bishopsgate in Bow Street and in Bloomsbury Square, as well as at Whitechapel, Oxford Road, and Old Street. It is thought he officiated at the hanging of three rioters (William M'Donald, Mary Roberts, and Charlotte Gardiner) on Tower Hill, making them the last people to be executed there.
The Decline of Tyburn
By the end of the eighteenth century, the area around Tyburn was beginning to flourish. In 1771, the Dowager Lady Waldegrave began building a grand house nearby and the newspapers reported that 'through the particular interest of her ladyship, the place of execution will be moved to another spot'. There were moral objections to public executions as they attracted too many spectators. 'Sir, executions are intended to draw spectators,' said Dr Johnson. 'If they do not draw spectators, they don't answer their purpose.'
The Marble Arch end of Oxford Street, early nineteenth century, formerly known as the Tyburn Turnpike. Although executions ceased in the area in 1783, it retained a poor reputation for a long time afterwards
On 7 November 1783, John Austin became the last man to be hanged at Tyburn. Convicted of robbing and injuring a man, he was despatched by the old horse-and-cart method. Again, the execution was bungled. The knot slipped around the back of Austin's neck, prolonging his death.
Tyburn Lane became Park Lane, Tyburn Road became part of Oxford Street, and Tyburn Gate became Cumberland Gate. Meanwhile the home of public hanging in London became the street outside the newly rebuilt Newgate Prison at the Old Bailey. Edward Dennis and William Brunskill, his assistant, performed their first executions on 9 December 1783. They kept a new mobile gallows in a shed at Newgate and hauled it out whenever it was needed.
Debtor's Door at Newgate Prison. Executions were carried out here after Tyburn was abandoned
Hanging at Newgate
Eight feet wide and ten feet long, with two parallel crossbeams that could carry ten criminals, there was even room on the moveable gallows for city officials to sit down. It featured a trap system which had not developed much further from the one that had been used unsuccessfully on earl Ferrers. The ten individuals despatched that day had to be strangled slowly because the ropes were much too short – a technical problem that was not rectified for another ninety years! The bodyweight-to-rope length ratio that was required to snap the neck cleanly was finally worked out behind closed doors. Until then, it was considered better for a felon to strangle slowly at the end of a short rope rather than have his head torn off by a longer one.
The local residents were not pleased with the new venue. A newspaper reported that 'the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, having petitioned the sheriffs to remove the scene of the execution to the old place, were told that the plan had been well considered, and would be persevered in'. The truth was that the residents of the well-to-do houses being erected around Hyde Park simply held more sway. The regular processions from Newgate to Tyburn disrupted trade in the newly built-up shopping area and the wild'Tyburn fairs' that were held along one of the main thoroughfares into the city gave visitors a bad
Now that the gallows were mobile, Dennis could carry out his work in the city: at Bishopsgate in Bow Street and in Bloomsbury Square, as well as at Whitechapel, Oxford Road, and Old Street. It is thought he officiated at the hanging of three rioters (William M'Donald, Mary Roberts, and Charlotte Gardiner) on Tower Hill, making them the last people to be executed there.
The Decline of Tyburn
By the end of the eighteenth century, the area around Tyburn was beginning to flourish. In 1771, the Dowager Lady Waldegrave began building a grand house nearby and the newspapers reported that 'through the particular interest of her ladyship, the place of execution will be moved to another spot'. There were moral objections to public executions as they attracted too many spectators. 'Sir, executions are intended to draw spectators,' said Dr Johnson. 'If they do not draw spectators, they don't answer their purpose.'
The Marble Arch end of Oxford Street, early nineteenth century, formerly known as the Tyburn Turnpike. Although executions ceased in the area in 1783, it retained a poor reputation for a long time afterwards
On 7 November 1783, John Austin became the last man to be hanged at Tyburn. Convicted of robbing and injuring a man, he was despatched by the old horse-and-cart method. Again, the execution was bungled. The knot slipped around the back of Austin's neck, prolonging his death.
Tyburn Lane became Park Lane, Tyburn Road became part of Oxford Street, and Tyburn Gate became Cumberland Gate. Meanwhile the home of public hanging in London became the street outside the newly rebuilt Newgate Prison at the Old Bailey. Edward Dennis and William Brunskill, his assistant, performed their first executions on 9 December 1783. They kept a new mobile gallows in a shed at Newgate and hauled it out whenever it was needed.
Debtor's Door at Newgate Prison. Executions were carried out here after Tyburn was abandoned
Hanging at Newgate
Eight feet wide and ten feet long, with two parallel crossbeams that could carry ten criminals, there was even room on the moveable gallows for city officials to sit down. It featured a trap system which had not developed much further from the one that had been used unsuccessfully on earl Ferrers. The ten individuals despatched that day had to be strangled slowly because the ropes were much too short – a technical problem that was not rectified for another ninety years! The bodyweight-to-rope length ratio that was required to snap the neck cleanly was finally worked out behind closed doors. Until then, it was considered better for a felon to strangle slowly at the end of a short rope rather than have his head torn off by a longer one.
The local residents were not pleased with the new venue. A newspaper reported that 'the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, having petitioned the sheriffs to remove the scene of the execution to the old place, were told that the plan had been well considered, and would be persevered in'. The truth was that the residents of the well-to-do houses being erected around Hyde Park simply held more sway. The regular processions from Newgate to Tyburn disrupted trade in the newly built-up shopping area and the wild'Tyburn fairs' that were held along one of the main thoroughfares into the city gave visitors a bad
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