CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

 

 

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

 

 

'Off with his, or indeed her,head' was well and truly attribted to Henry V111,and indeed the Halifax Gibbet,  but death by hanging has long been the favoured method of execution in this country

 

The most famous gallows were at Tyburn in Middlesex, situated somewhere near to where Marble Arch now stands. Known as Tyburn Tree as far back as the 12^th century and taking its name from a nearby stream, it was a permanent structure of three uprights joined at the top by three beams, forming an equilateral triangle.   The last footing was a ladder which was pulled away to leave the victims hanging and they were left for half an hour to ensure death by strangulation.   The first hanging at Tyburn was in 1196 and the last was in 1783 when forger John Austin was executed, after which the gallows were moved to a position opposite Newgate Prison.

Most towns had a place for the gallows often on the outskirts of the town and mostly just remembered by the word ' gallows' in a street name. Gallows Hill at Dornoch in Scotland is well remembered with a sign and a stone which marks the spot of the gallows.

 

 

Quite often victims were left hanging on a 'gibbet', usually situated near to the scene of their crime, as a deterrent to others.

A good example of a conventional gibbet can be seen at the village of Caxton in Cambridgeshire, standing starkly alongside a pub called The Caxton Gibbet.   This gibbet was last used after the execution of the son of a landlord of the premises, who murdered three guests at the inn and hid their bodies in a well under the stairs.

 



 

CAXTON GIBBET

 

 

 

Situated on the A37 some two miles south of Shepton Mallet in Somerset, the curiously named Cannard’s Grave Inn, displays a sign depicting a man hanging from a gibbet and is liberally decorated with what appear to be sheep.   A simple story surrounding this is that the 18^th century landlord of a previous inn on the site, Giles Cannard, was hanged for sheep stealing and buried in front of the inn.   However, there is another story that Cannard in fact hanged himself.  Either way, Cannard was undoubtedly a rogue who was involved in a variety of illegal activities, and his pub was frequented by rogues and vagabonds.   It seems to be a well known fact that several travellers who spent the night at Cannard’s pub failed to reach their destinations, whilst other guests were often persuaded to part with their possessions.  In the end it seems that Cannard became closely involved with a plan to defraud the town of its common land and when the news leaked out the furious townsfolk marched to his pub and, one way or another, Giles Cannard ended up having his neck stretched.



 

A gibbet was not required when in the mid 16th century, the Rev. Welch, vicar of St Thomas’ Church in Cowick Street, Exeter, was hanged for treason. During the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549, the vicar supported the rebels against reformation and supported the Latin mass.

 Dressed in full ecclesiastical vestments, he was left hanging from the church tower for four years as ‘ a salutary warning’

 

 

 

 



 

St Thomas' Church

 

Oliver Cromwell didn’t need a gallows in 1642 when two of his soldiers were found guilty of murder and hanged on the spot in Romsey in Hampshire.  They were hanged on a fine wrought iron bracket which displayed the sign of the Swan Inn in the town.  The bracket, a good example of old Hampshire wrought iron work has withstood the centuries of time and can still be seen on the wall outside the building which is now Romsey Working Mens; Conservative Club.

 

 

 

 

 

 Useful bracket for hanging purposes

A memorial on the outside wall of St Mary's Church at Beverley recalls a time when Danish soldiers were passing through the town.

It reads :

'Here two young Danish Soldiers lye
The one in quarrell chanc'd to die
The others Head by their own Law
With sword was sever'd at one Blow.
December the 25d
1689'

 

 

 

 

A pair of 19^th century handcuffs to be seen in Overbecks Museum at Salcombe in South Devon,  the last use of which are a reminder of an amazing escape from the gallows.   In November 1884, John Henry George Lee was charged with the murder of his employer, Miss Emma Keyse, a former lady-in- waiting to Queen Victoria, at her home The Glen in Babbacombe near Torquay.   Despite his protestations of innocence, Lee was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to death.

Lee went to the gallows still protesting his innocence.  The noose was placed round his neck and the trap door lever was pulled, but nothing happened!  The lever was pulled a second time,  and indeed a third time but the trap failed to open!   Three times the trap failed to open and as the law said that any man who survived three hanging attempts, must have his sentence commuted, Lee ended up serving 22 years in prison.   He was finally released in 1907 and died in America 26 years later.

 

 

 

 

‘Half  Hanged  Smith,’ a native of Malton in North Yorkshire, and convicted burglar, earned his sobriquet in 1705 when he was about to be publicly hanged at York Knavesmire.  A crowd of some 40,000 people watched him drop and when, some minutes later a messenger arrived with a reprieve, Smith was cut down and restored to consciousness.   He was soon in trouble again but released due to lack of evidence; and even one more time he was fortunate, for the prosecutor died before Smith could be brought to trial.

The battlemented clock tower situated in the main street of Dufftown in the Moray District of Scotland, was completed in 1839.   It was originally the town jail, later the Burgh Chambers and now the tourist information office and museum.   The clock, originally from Banff, is known locally as  ‘The clock that hanged MacPherson.’

Hailing from nearby Kingussie, James MacPherson was a Robin Hood type of villain and fiddler who was sentenced to death at Banff in 1700 for ‘robbing the rich and giving to the poor.’   The local people secured a reprieve for MacPherson but, before the pardon arrived, Lord Braco, Sheriff of Banff, put the clock forward by one hour and MacPherson was hung.   Before going to the gallows, MacPherson offered his fiddle to the crowd.   The Biggar Fountain in Banff now occupies the site of the former gallows.

 

 





DUFFTOWN CLOCK TOWER

 

 

 

Early in the 18^th century,  Thomas Busby married Elizabeth Auty, despite strong opposition by the girl’s wealthy father, Daniel Auty, who knew that Busby was a drunkard and ne’er do well.    One day Busby returned home and found his father-in-law sitting in his favourite chair and an argument ensued.   Later on Busby got drunk and went to Auty’s house where a further argument took place, with the result that Busby strangled Auty.   Busby was subsequently hanged on gallows erected at the cross-roads at Carlton Miniott near Thirsk in North Yorkshire, outside the local inn.   Before he died, Busby is said to have put a curse on his chair which had been specially made for him.

The name of the inn was changed to The Busby Stoop and the landlord acquired Busby’s chair which stood in the bar for many years.   The chair soon acquired a sinister reputation and people would sit in it for a dare, and it is said that several people died from accidents after doing so.  The chair is now preserved in Thirsk museum.

 

 

 

 THE BUSBY STOOP

 

 

 

 

The infamous chair is depicted on the inn sign

 

 

 

 

It was not only murderer’s who were hanged.  a weathered gravestone under the old yew tree in the churchyard at Itchin Abbas in Hampshire, commemorates the last man to be hanged in this country for horse stealing.   The epitaph reads :

‘ In memory of John Hughes, who died March 19^th 1825, aged 26 years.

A faithful friend, a father dear, an unfortunate husband lieth here.

The Lord removed his earthly body into the realms of everlasting day.’

The church register reads :

‘ John Smith alias Hughes, a gypsy, a wanderer, aged 26, March 20^th 1825.

But why should an executed man be so commemorated?   It appears that the rector of Itchin Abbas, the Rev. Robert Wright, befriended Hughes and it was he who was responsible for the gravestone.

Hughes had been convicted of horse stealing at Winchester Assizes under the alias of Smith.   The judge, Sir James Burrough, Recorder of Portsmouth, had addressed him as follows:

‘ John Smith, you have been convicted of a crime which from its frequent occurrence it has been highly necessary to put a stop to.  The crime of horse stealing prevails to such an extent that it is absolutely necessary the severest punishment should be inflicted to deter other persons from the commission of such offences.   I myself have tried 30 or 40 horse stealers and others have been tried by my  brother judges and those convicted have been sent abroad for life.  But this has been found insufficient to check it.   An example is necessary to repress the crime and your case in one of that description, which merits the severest penalty of law.  You break open a stable from which you take a horse and saddle and at no greater distance of time after you are found with another horse in your possession, which produces a capital charge against you in the county of Surrey.  How the other horse was disposed of does not appear.  I cannot therefore hold out to you the slightest hope of mercy.’  

He was sentenced to death and was subsequently hanged.

The Rev. Wright had tried to save his life and failing this he had visited Hughes in prison, promising the young man that he would bury him alongside his infant daughter under the churchyard yew, and indeed carried out his promise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



THE SCARBOROUGH WARNING

THE SCARBOROUGH WARNING

 

The seaside town of Scarborough in the North Riding of Yorkshire was also gaining quite a reputation for its firm implementation of the law back in the thirteenth century, when the town’s judicial privileges and immunities were confirmed and enlarged by Henry 111’s charters.  Scarborough’s justices were given broader rights and soon gained notoriety for dealing with offenders, giving rise to the saying, ‘Scarborough warning,’ meaning a blow delivered without warning.   The result was that offenders soon found themselves severely punished and the town gallows were in constant use.  The borough’s own magistrates had been given wide-ranging powers to deal with offenders, amongst which were infangthief meaning jurisdiction over thieves caught in the act;  gallows, the power to pass and carry out the death sentence; pillory, the right to punish offenders by exposing them to public ridicule; and tumbril, the right to have offenders whipped through the streets, and used them well.

 

 



SCARBOROUGH



HALIFAX GIBBET

HALIFAX GIBBET

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

‘From Hull, From Halifax, from Hell, ‘tis thus, from all these three,  good Lord, deliver us.’  What does this old beggar’s litany mean?   Hull,  a port, refers to the ‘press gang,’  Hell is self explanatory,  whilst Halifax refers to ‘The Gibbet.’    Actually,  Gibbet is a misnomer –  it was actually a guillotine!   This fiendish instrument of death fell into disuse in the mid-17^th century, but the original base can be seen in Gibbet Street at Halifax in West Yorkshire, whilst the original blade can be seen in Bankfield Museum.

Gibbet Law meant harsh punishment for relatively minor offences in this area of the West Yorkshire Woollen District.   The rules were simple :

‘ If a felon be taken within the Liberty of Halifax, either handabend  ( with stolen goods in hand);  backharend  (with stolen goods on his back);  confessand  (admitted theft); to the value of thirteen and a half pence, he shall, after three markets, be taken to the gibbet and there have his head cut off from his body.’

This related especially to cloth which was the life-blood of the town.   When the cloth had been woven and then washed, it was hung outside on ‘tenterhooks’ and so was particularly vulnerable to theft.   The gibbet was first used in Halifax in 1286.

The last two men to be executed on the gibbet were Anthony Mitchell and John Wilkinson of Sowerby.  They were found guilty of stealing sixteen yards of russet coloured kersey cloth, value 9s from Luddenden Dean, and two colts value £5.8s from Durkar Green.   They were introduced to the gibbet on 30^th April 1650, making a total of fifty recorded victims..    After the gibbet fell into disuse, the ground on which it stood gradually became a rubbish dump.  In 1839, workmen clearing the site found the base of the gibbet still intact and nearby they found the skeletons of two men with severed heads!

It was actually possible to escape from the gibbet!  If the accused could remove his head before the blade fell and then escape over Hebble Brook half a mile away, he was free, provided he never returned to the Liberty of Halifax.   The Running Man pub recalls that one man, John Lacy, managed to do just that but he made the mistake of returning to  The Liberty after seven years and was duly executed.

The Running Man pub at Halifax
 



 

 

 

 

 

Only the base of the gibbet remains in Gibbet Street.

 

 

The gibbet blade can be seen in  Bankfield Museum

SETTING THE WATCH

The tiny cathedral city of Ripon in North Yorkshire had long been responsible for its own law and order until Ripon City Police were taken over by the West Riding Constabulary in 1887, but The Watch is still set every evening in the Market Place as has been the custom for more than 1100 years.



RIPON HORNBLOWER

From the middles ages The Wakeman and his constables were responsible for law and order in Ripon during the hours of darkness.   The ‘watch’ was set each evening by the sounding of the town horn, at each corner of the Market Cross and thus the inhabitants of Ripon were under the care of The Wakeman.   If any theft was committed after the watch was set, then it was the responsibility of The Wakeman, not only to apprehend the offender, but also to compensate the injured party.    Each householder in the city paid 2d annually for each door of their home for this service.  The Wakeman’s House, built in the 13^th century, is still preserved at one corner of the Market Place.  In 1604, The Wakeman became the Lord Mayor.   The Town Hall along one side of the Market Place was built in 1801 as a town house and became Town Hall in the late 18^th century when it was presented to the city.  It bears the inscription – ‘ Except Ye Lord Keep Ye Cittie Ye Wakeman Waketh In Vain.’  
The old custom of Setting the Watch is continued to this day and at 9.0pm each evening the City Hornblower sounds the horn at each corner of the obelisk, which replaced the old Market Cross in 1702, and then three times outside the Mayor’s residence.   The present horn (dating from 1865) is about 3ft in length and produces a long bellowing sound which can be heard up to a mile away.

The Wakeman's house still stands in a corner of Ripon Market Place.

 

 

 

THE TOWN HALL

The horn on top of the obelisk

 

 

 

 

 

THE RIGHT TO SANCTUARY

THE FRITH STOOL

This curious stone chair to be seen near to the altar in Beverley Minster, is more that 1000 years old dating back to Saxon time.  The Frith stool or Sanctuary chair was used by the Sanctuary inquisitor and is one of very few remaining.

 

The delightful East Riding of Yorkshire market town of Beverley was granted the Right to Sanctuary in 938 by King Althelstan and lasted for more that 600 years before being abolished by Henry V111.   Penalties for most crimes were extremely severe in those times and miscreants could escape to places like Beverley to claim the Right of Sanctuary.   This meant that they could live in the town free from punishment for the rest of their lives, provided they gave up their property to the Crown and swore to become a servant of the church. There were sanctuary crosses at the various approaches to the town and once the claimant had reached one of the crosses he or she was entitled to claim sanctuary.

 

ADEL CHURCH SANCTUARY RING

 

The church of St John the Baptist at Adel on the north western outskirts of Leeds, is one of the finest Norman churches in Yorkshire and is renowned for its carved doorway illustrating St John’s vision in the Book of Revelations.   The huge bronze ring on the door is a Sanctuary Ring some 700 years old.   It is made up of a circular plaque on which the head of a beast has a moveable ring through its mouth.   Once a miscreant had grasped this handle he had the right to demand sanctuary. A similar ring can be seen on the doorway at Durham Cathedral.

 

 

 



 

 

                                          DURHAM CATHEDRAL SANCTUARY RING

 

 

Durham Cathedral offered St Cuthbert's protection to fugitives and those claiming sanctuary held onto the ring until a monk admitted them into the Cathedral. They were given a black robe to wear and offered 37 days of sanctuary in the cathedral, after which they could choose to stand trial or be sent in to exile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SHAROW CROSS, RIPON

 

 

 

 The tiny City of Ripon in North Yorkshire was granted a charter in 886 by King Alfred the Great and became a sanctuary town known as The Liberty of Ripon.  In the 13^th century there were five Sanctuary Crosses around the town, each one placed just 1 mile from the cathedral.  The last remaining of these crosses, Sharow Cross, can be seen at the junction of Sharow Lane and Dishforth Road in the village of Sharow just one mile from the cathedral, marking the southern limits of the sanctuary.  This cross is now in the care of the National Trust.

 

 

 



 

 

ODDITIES AND INTERESTING STORIES RELATING TO LAW AND ORDER

Having more or less completed the posts on village lock-ups, I am now turning my attention towards oddities and interesting stories relating to law and order over the centuries. Punishment was harsh in the middle ages and transportation to the Colony's was common right up until the mid 19th century, whilst execution for capital crimes remained until well into the 20th century.

A dire warning



 

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