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Execution: A History of Capital Punishment in Britain
Judicial hanging is regarded by many as being the quintessential British execution. However, many other methods of capital punishment have been used in this country; ranging from burning, beheading, and shooting to crushing and boiling to death. Execution explores these types of executions in detail. Readers may be surprised to learn that a means of mechanical decapitation, the Halifax Gibbet, was being used in England five hundred years before the guillotine was invented. Boiling to death was a prescribed means of execution in this country during the Tudor period. From the public death by starvation of those gibbeted alive, to the burning of women for petit treason, this book examines some of the most gruesome passages of British history. This carefully researched, well-illustrated, and enthralling text will appeal to those interested in the history of British executions.
160 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2011
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October 5, 2016
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BEHEADING
Here’s one you don’t read in the Guinness Book of World Records:
The eleven blows needed to remove the Countess of Salisbury’s head might be a British record but it pales into insignificance beside some continental executions. In 1626 Count Henri de Chalais became involved in a plot to assassinate King Louis XIII of France. He was sentenced to be beheaded using a sword. It took an almost unbelievable 29 strokes to remove the Count’s head, and witnesses were certain that it was not until the twentieth blow that he stopped showing any signs of life.
Simon Webb rapidly assures us that “the great majority of beheadings took only one blow of the axe”, but then recounts the ghastly end of the Duke of Monmouth in 1685. The Duke himself checked the sharpness of the blade on the scaffold and expressed a fear that it was not sharp enough. Nevertheless, he handed over the standard tip of seven guineas to the executioner and Jack Ketch (for it was he) assured the Duke everything would come off all right, so to speak.
The first blow of the axe glanced off the back of his head and he turned around to glare reproachfully at the executioner. After another two strokes the Duke’s head was still attached to his body, and Jack Ketch threw down his axe, declaring that he could not continue with the job. What the Duke was feeling during all this can only be imagined.
Mr Ketch was prevailed upon to finish what he started and after three more strokes the Duke was no more.
LET'S TALK ABOUT HEADS
In those days probably because they didn’t have television notable heads of traitors and murderers were displayed on London Bridge. Viewing the heads was a Sunday afternoon entertainment for many poor people. The newly installed head of a prominent person would always bring the crowds out to admire it.
The last heads to be placed on show in this way were those of men who had taken part in the 1745 rebellion…the heads of Townley and Fletcher went up above Temple Gate on 12 August 1746. Incredibly they remained there for a quarter of a century, so securely attached were they to the iron rods holding them aloft. They finally fell down during a thunderstorm in 1772.
Surprisingly, it turns out that the guillotine was a British invention, first used way back in 1286 and discontinued for reasons unknown in 1650. It was known in Britain as the Halifax gibbet and was only used in a couple of localities. Mr Webb queasily informs us :
There is reason to suppose that heads removed by this method were more squashed off at the neck, rather than being cleanly cut, as was the case with the guillotine.
(The French may therefore take comfort in their vastly improved version.)
HANGING
So the first executions in Britain were beheading to the nobility and hanging for commoners. The hangings took place wherever convenient, and as a tree was required for the proceeding, it would usually be a rural spot. Later, hangings were moved to the outskirts of the towns so that justice could be seen to be done. (There would have been no room for the great crowds of spectators in the centre of medieval towns.) Hangings then turned into rowdy carnivals.
BURNING ALIVE
Surely the most terrible of deaths, this was reserved for the most terrible of crimes, which was treason and heresy. Here are the figures for the Tudors, who prosecuted the majority of heretics:
BURNINGS PER MONARCH
Elizabeth – 5 in 45 years (0.11 per year)
Henry VII – 10 in 24 years (0.41 per year)
Henry VIII – 81 in 38 years (2.3 per year)
Mary – 295 in 4 years (74 per year)
She wasn’t called Bloody Mary for nothing. The last burning (for forgery, which was considered to be treason) was in 1789.
But here’s the thing about being burned alive for heresy – IT WAS COMPLETELY VOLUNTARY!! Pardons from the monarch would be available to any of the accused who admitted they were wrong and accepted, say, Queen Elizabeth as the head of the Church. If you said yes, okay, I accept – you didn’t get burnt alive!
I have to say that from my atheist point of view the idea that people would be so obsessed with the idea that to speak certain words with their mouths would so put them in danger of infinite torture after their death that they would willingly accept the agony of being burned to death in this world indicates that there is a pathological and almost insane aspect to some religious belief.
BEFORE THERE WAS ANY KIND OF POLICE FORCE
In Britain in 1660 there were 50 capital crimes. By 1815 this had risen to 220 capital crimes. Why did parliament keep making crimes, right down to the most trivial, punishable by hanging? Because there weren’t any police. If a criminal wasn’t apprehended by fellow citizens in the act, they would get away with it. Only the most unlucky were ever caught. So the deterrence of the criminal code was the only weapon the authorities had.
It was a capital crime to black one’s face or to wear a disguise in a forest. Other hanging offences were as varied as associating with Gypsies, sending threatening letters, felling someone else’s trees, engaging in acts of male homosexuality, stealing from a rabbit warren and shoplifting.
It all sounds draconian, and it was, but these laws were useless. They provided no deterrence and were mostly scrapped by 1820. One reason they had to go was that even when a hapless shoplifter was caught, juries would not find them guilty.
OTHER FORMS OF EXECUTION : DRAWING, QUARTERING, BREAKING ON THE WHEEL, BOILING AND PRESSING TO DEATH
The gruesome ultimate execution called hanging, drawing and quartering involved the following. The condemned (always for the crime of high treason and always a man) was tied to a wooden frame and dragged by horse to the gallows where they were hanged for a short amount of time, then cut down alive and stretched out on a table, where their genitals were cut off and they were disemboweled. Their remains were burnt in front of them. At some point during this, merciful death would occur.
I am happy to report that boiling people to death (it took around two hours for them to die – the water was cold to begin with) and breaking people on a wheel were only very rarely done. (The latter involves strapping the prisoner to a cart wheel and smashing both arms and legs. The prisoner is then left all night and if still alive in the morning is strangled.) However, being squashed, or pressed, to death was fairly common. This one is curious. The method of death is just as it sounds – the prisoner is tied down and a large board is secured over their chest. Then rocks are piled up onto the board until the prisoner suffocates or the chest caves in. A horrible way to go, but as in the case of being burned alive, this was ENTIRELY VOLUNTARY. This punishment was only handed down if a prisoner refused to make a plea of guilty or not guilty. The pressing was supposed not to kill them but to force them to make a plea.
Why did this matter so much to the prisoner? If they pleaded guilty to or were found guilty of a capital offence by the jury their entire estate was forfeited to the Crown. If they refused a plea, the Crown could not touch their estate, so their wife or children would still inherit.
THE STOCKS AND THE PILLORY
Modern people sometimes mix up the stocks and the pillory but there is a crucial difference – the pillory was sometimes fatal, and the stocks were not. Here are the stocks
Here is the pillory
As you see, if you are locked into the stocks your arms are free and you can defend your head if anyone throws a missile at it. Not so with the pillory.
An anecdote will explain the crucial difference. In the 1730s a certain Mother Needham ran a well-known brothel. Her speciality was very young, pretty girls, and to obtain these she would meet coaches coming to London and lure away young female newcomers with the promise of a decent job – exactly the same technique that people traffickers use now, and with the same result – the girls became sex slaves. When she was busted in 1731 and sentenced to a day in the pillory, the London crowd became so repulsed at her crime (which in itself was not a hanging or imprisonment offence) that they stoned her to death. The authorities were not around to prevent it.
Compare this with the famous example of Daniel Defoe, sentenced to the pillory for insulting the government in one of his many pamphlets. In that case the crowd threw flowers at him.
THE END OF JUDICIAL MURDER
In Britain the end came in 1964, when hanging was suspended, and completely abolished some years later. But Simon Webb states that
This was not because there was any great desire on the part of the public for its abolition.
He says that at any time in the past 100 years if you surveyed the British public you would have found a majority – say 60-70% - in favour of the death penalty for some crimes. But the liberal elite were of a different, more progressive, opinion and they were able to pass an act of parliament in the teeth of public opinion. Is that democratic? Well, if you believe that members of the British parliament are representatives, not delegates, then yes. But that is a whole big debate.
WHAT AN EXCELLENT LITTLE BOOK
If you want to know all about British executions that is! If you want to cherish your notions of the British as a genteel and thoroughly decent set of men and women, then I should stick to Mary Poppins and avoid this like the plague.
BEHEADING
Here’s one you don’t read in the Guinness Book of World Records:
The eleven blows needed to remove the Countess of Salisbury’s head might be a British record but it pales into insignificance beside some continental executions. In 1626 Count Henri de Chalais became involved in a plot to assassinate King Louis XIII of France. He was sentenced to be beheaded using a sword. It took an almost unbelievable 29 strokes to remove the Count’s head, and witnesses were certain that it was not until the twentieth blow that he stopped showing any signs of life.
Simon Webb rapidly assures us that “the great majority of beheadings took only one blow of the axe”, but then recounts the ghastly end of the Duke of Monmouth in 1685. The Duke himself checked the sharpness of the blade on the scaffold and expressed a fear that it was not sharp enough. Nevertheless, he handed over the standard tip of seven guineas to the executioner and Jack Ketch (for it was he) assured the Duke everything would come off all right, so to speak.
The first blow of the axe glanced off the back of his head and he turned around to glare reproachfully at the executioner. After another two strokes the Duke’s head was still attached to his body, and Jack Ketch threw down his axe, declaring that he could not continue with the job. What the Duke was feeling during all this can only be imagined.
Mr Ketch was prevailed upon to finish what he started and after three more strokes the Duke was no more.
LET'S TALK ABOUT HEADS
In those days probably because they didn’t have television notable heads of traitors and murderers were displayed on London Bridge. Viewing the heads was a Sunday afternoon entertainment for many poor people. The newly installed head of a prominent person would always bring the crowds out to admire it.
The last heads to be placed on show in this way were those of men who had taken part in the 1745 rebellion…the heads of Townley and Fletcher went up above Temple Gate on 12 August 1746. Incredibly they remained there for a quarter of a century, so securely attached were they to the iron rods holding them aloft. They finally fell down during a thunderstorm in 1772.
Surprisingly, it turns out that the guillotine was a British invention, first used way back in 1286 and discontinued for reasons unknown in 1650. It was known in Britain as the Halifax gibbet and was only used in a couple of localities. Mr Webb queasily informs us :
There is reason to suppose that heads removed by this method were more squashed off at the neck, rather than being cleanly cut, as was the case with the guillotine.
(The French may therefore take comfort in their vastly improved version.)
HANGING
So the first executions in Britain were beheading to the nobility and hanging for commoners. The hangings took place wherever convenient, and as a tree was required for the proceeding, it would usually be a rural spot. Later, hangings were moved to the outskirts of the towns so that justice could be seen to be done. (There would have been no room for the great crowds of spectators in the centre of medieval towns.) Hangings then turned into rowdy carnivals.
BURNING ALIVE
Surely the most terrible of deaths, this was reserved for the most terrible of crimes, which was treason and heresy. Here are the figures for the Tudors, who prosecuted the majority of heretics:
BURNINGS PER MONARCH
Elizabeth – 5 in 45 years (0.11 per year)
Henry VII – 10 in 24 years (0.41 per year)
Henry VIII – 81 in 38 years (2.3 per year)
Mary – 295 in 4 years (74 per year)
She wasn’t called Bloody Mary for nothing. The last burning (for forgery, which was considered to be treason) was in 1789.
But here’s the thing about being burned alive for heresy – IT WAS COMPLETELY VOLUNTARY!! Pardons from the monarch would be available to any of the accused who admitted they were wrong and accepted, say, Queen Elizabeth as the head of the Church. If you said yes, okay, I accept – you didn’t get burnt alive!
I have to say that from my atheist point of view the idea that people would be so obsessed with the idea that to speak certain words with their mouths would so put them in danger of infinite torture after their death that they would willingly accept the agony of being burned to death in this world indicates that there is a pathological and almost insane aspect to some religious belief.
BEFORE THERE WAS ANY KIND OF POLICE FORCE
In Britain in 1660 there were 50 capital crimes. By 1815 this had risen to 220 capital crimes. Why did parliament keep making crimes, right down to the most trivial, punishable by hanging? Because there weren’t any police. If a criminal wasn’t apprehended by fellow citizens in the act, they would get away with it. Only the most unlucky were ever caught. So the deterrence of the criminal code was the only weapon the authorities had.
It was a capital crime to black one’s face or to wear a disguise in a forest. Other hanging offences were as varied as associating with Gypsies, sending threatening letters, felling someone else’s trees, engaging in acts of male homosexuality, stealing from a rabbit warren and shoplifting.
It all sounds draconian, and it was, but these laws were useless. They provided no deterrence and were mostly scrapped by 1820. One reason they had to go was that even when a hapless shoplifter was caught, juries would not find them guilty.
OTHER FORMS OF EXECUTION : DRAWING, QUARTERING, BREAKING ON THE WHEEL, BOILING AND PRESSING TO DEATH
The gruesome ultimate execution called hanging, drawing and quartering involved the following. The condemned (always for the crime of high treason and always a man) was tied to a wooden frame and dragged by horse to the gallows where they were hanged for a short amount of time, then cut down alive and stretched out on a table, where their genitals were cut off and they were disemboweled. Their remains were burnt in front of them. At some point during this, merciful death would occur.
I am happy to report that boiling people to death (it took around two hours for them to die – the water was cold to begin with) and breaking people on a wheel were only very rarely done. (The latter involves strapping the prisoner to a cart wheel and smashing both arms and legs. The prisoner is then left all night and if still alive in the morning is strangled.) However, being squashed, or pressed, to death was fairly common. This one is curious. The method of death is just as it sounds – the prisoner is tied down and a large board is secured over their chest. Then rocks are piled up onto the board until the prisoner suffocates or the chest caves in. A horrible way to go, but as in the case of being burned alive, this was ENTIRELY VOLUNTARY. This punishment was only handed down if a prisoner refused to make a plea of guilty or not guilty. The pressing was supposed not to kill them but to force them to make a plea.
Why did this matter so much to the prisoner? If they pleaded guilty to or were found guilty of a capital offence by the jury their entire estate was forfeited to the Crown. If they refused a plea, the Crown could not touch their estate, so their wife or children would still inherit.
THE STOCKS AND THE PILLORY
Modern people sometimes mix up the stocks and the pillory but there is a crucial difference – the pillory was sometimes fatal, and the stocks were not. Here are the stocks
Here is the pillory
As you see, if you are locked into the stocks your arms are free and you can defend your head if anyone throws a missile at it. Not so with the pillory.
An anecdote will explain the crucial difference. In the 1730s a certain Mother Needham ran a well-known brothel. Her speciality was very young, pretty girls, and to obtain these she would meet coaches coming to London and lure away young female newcomers with the promise of a decent job – exactly the same technique that people traffickers use now, and with the same result – the girls became sex slaves. When she was busted in 1731 and sentenced to a day in the pillory, the London crowd became so repulsed at her crime (which in itself was not a hanging or imprisonment offence) that they stoned her to death. The authorities were not around to prevent it.
Compare this with the famous example of Daniel Defoe, sentenced to the pillory for insulting the government in one of his many pamphlets. In that case the crowd threw flowers at him.
THE END OF JUDICIAL MURDER
In Britain the end came in 1964, when hanging was suspended, and completely abolished some years later. But Simon Webb states that
This was not because there was any great desire on the part of the public for its abolition.
He says that at any time in the past 100 years if you surveyed the British public you would have found a majority – say 60-70% - in favour of the death penalty for some crimes. But the liberal elite were of a different, more progressive, opinion and they were able to pass an act of parliament in the teeth of public opinion. Is that democratic? Well, if you believe that members of the British parliament are representatives, not delegates, then yes. But that is a whole big debate.
WHAT AN EXCELLENT LITTLE BOOK
If you want to know all about British executions that is! If you want to cherish your notions of the British as a genteel and thoroughly decent set of men and women, then I should stick to Mary Poppins and avoid this like the plague.
January 14, 2016
At first glance, this looks a rather forbidding and gruesome title. However, it is one of the most informative, fascinating and, dare I say, in places humorous, books I have ever read.
Simon Webb does a great job of bringing history to life, recounting all the different methods of execution employed in Britain from the Roman occupation until the abolition of the death penalty. The first named victims of capital punishment died by decapitation and, as the author states, the problem with this method is that it requires a certain amount of cooperation from the victim. I was interested to learn that the first recorded beheading was that of a young man called Alban, on the site of which became St Alban's Abbey - a place I know well.
In fact, this book is full of wonderful anecdotes and stories, with interesting knowledge thrown in. Who knew that the phrase "putting pressure on you" relates to the practice of crushing those who refused to plead either guilty or not guilty in court, or that "pulling your leg" came from helping those hanging to die quicker? Well, perhaps you knew, but I didn't, and this book is packed full of such nuggets.
The author looks at many methods of execution - including decapitation, firing squad, burning at the stake (not used for witches apparently), boiling to death, etc. The method most widely associated with Britain is hanging and many famous executioners are looked at, such as Jack Ketch, William Calcraft and the Pierrepoints, as well as well known cases which shaped laws. The country has changed from one in which in 1815 you could be hung for any of 220 offences, including "looking like you were going poaching" to shoplifting or sending threatening letters, to one in which it was recognised that capital punishment did not deter criminals and gradually declined in use. Hangings were not solemn, but often seen as raucous entertainment, with pickpockets and thieves operating literally underneath the gallows. With juries increasingly reluctant to convict women or young people, the laws were simply not enforced.
There are many stories in this book which are unbearably moving and others which made me laugh out loud. I think this is a fantastic book and would be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in this fascinating aspect of British history.
Simon Webb does a great job of bringing history to life, recounting all the different methods of execution employed in Britain from the Roman occupation until the abolition of the death penalty. The first named victims of capital punishment died by decapitation and, as the author states, the problem with this method is that it requires a certain amount of cooperation from the victim. I was interested to learn that the first recorded beheading was that of a young man called Alban, on the site of which became St Alban's Abbey - a place I know well.
In fact, this book is full of wonderful anecdotes and stories, with interesting knowledge thrown in. Who knew that the phrase "putting pressure on you" relates to the practice of crushing those who refused to plead either guilty or not guilty in court, or that "pulling your leg" came from helping those hanging to die quicker? Well, perhaps you knew, but I didn't, and this book is packed full of such nuggets.
The author looks at many methods of execution - including decapitation, firing squad, burning at the stake (not used for witches apparently), boiling to death, etc. The method most widely associated with Britain is hanging and many famous executioners are looked at, such as Jack Ketch, William Calcraft and the Pierrepoints, as well as well known cases which shaped laws. The country has changed from one in which in 1815 you could be hung for any of 220 offences, including "looking like you were going poaching" to shoplifting or sending threatening letters, to one in which it was recognised that capital punishment did not deter criminals and gradually declined in use. Hangings were not solemn, but often seen as raucous entertainment, with pickpockets and thieves operating literally underneath the gallows. With juries increasingly reluctant to convict women or young people, the laws were simply not enforced.
There are many stories in this book which are unbearably moving and others which made me laugh out loud. I think this is a fantastic book and would be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in this fascinating aspect of British history.
October 18, 2015
Very interesting read - it misses a few things, and refers to something that will be covered later....but isn't (no John Ellis profile, just mentions in the pierrepoint bit) and a limited bibliography.
There is also a bit of repetition, but otherwise pretty well written and I learned about a few things I did not know.
There is also a bit of repetition, but otherwise pretty well written and I learned about a few things I did not know.
April 21, 2019
Informative but not too graphic
Good informative read! Easy to read but does repeat details quite often. Interesting details on a gruesome topic!! Very enjoyable
Good informative read! Easy to read but does repeat details quite often. Interesting details on a gruesome topic!! Very enjoyable
November 23, 2022
Why did Capital Punishment exist in Britain? How was it conducted? What methods were used? Who were the executioners? These are the main questions this book seeks to answer.
The author is quite up front and frank straight away with his analysis on the efficacy of Capital Punishment in Britain. By his assessment the best deterrent of crime was having an organised police force in Britain (which came about in the mid 19th century), which is far younger than the existence of Capital Punishment. Indeed, many crimes went undetected in the times before such forces were organised, to the point where pickpocketing was often most common in the crowds witnessing hangings.
However, by the standards of the rest of Europe with some exceptions, our Capital Punishment methods were less sadistic than many. In a weird quirk of history some of the harshest such punishments originated from Scotland such as the punishment called Breaking on the Wheel. Beheading was once seen as the most efficient and more dignified of Capital Punishment methods, being reserved for punishing criminals from a higher class. Public mass hangings was where the rest often ended up.
The author made interesting attempts to get readers into the mindset of when such punishments were seen as normal. While Capital Punishment was not unheard of in Anglo-Saxon times, the Norman Conquest brought a method of governance that made it more important to society. From the perspective of Norman barons, they had no wish for paying to keep prisoners alive as well as paying their dues to the monarch. Deterring many crimes, not considered capital crimes in terms of modern views, made sense to shock the populace into behaving. Even petty thefts were considered hanging offences for a time, especially with the introduction of the infamous Bloody Code.
But the history of British Capital Punishment does have it’s own collection of barbarity. The chapters about burning at the stake and boiling prisoners to death (a Tudor punishment) were particularly hard to read. The punishment of long, drawing and quartering (which involve disembowelment) sounds almost too horrific to have even been in the Old Testament, never mind have actually been something the state sanctioned.
This book mainly seems to focus on describing how different Capital Punishments were carried out and why they changed or were dispensed with in favour of others. But one can read some interesting history running along it. In the Victorian era in particular we see concerns with morals and how a civilised society should behave. Public executions started to be seen as uncivilised, leading to them becoming more and more private affairs. Arguably, this preoccupation about how a civilised society should behave paved the way to abolition.
The author makes the interesting and perhaps controversial point that Capital Punishment in Britain was not abolished by an explicit show of public opinion. According to the author it was still overwhelmingly popular. Abolition didn’t even take place all at once. Capital Punishment could still technically be applied for certain offences committed by military personnel up until 1998. On the contrary, the author makes a compelling if slightly worry case, that abolition came about through parliamentary machinations, lobbying and hard campaigning by certain MPs over many years.
On one level this is reassuring, since a few individual MPs managed to build up the political momentum over years to slow down and the stop these barbaric punishments. But then the question is left open; could the British public will re-impose Capital Punishment again? One thing is clear though; after rigorous Parliamentary investigation there has never been conclusive and verifiable evidence that Capital Punishment has ever deterred crime in this country.
Overall, this was a very odd but informative book. It definitely took me out of my comfort zone, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it gratuitous in describing what happened during executions. On some level I agree that anyone who would consider re-imposing Capital Punishment needs to read this book. The state sanctioned those deaths, so in many ways we have a connection to that legacy, so we have a duty to know the grim reality of them. Much of the book is mainly an explanation of how the various methods worked, but historical background and social context is filtered in at just the right rate and at the right moments. The author cleverly and frankly lays out the mindsets that made the contexts in which theses punishments existed more understandable to the reader. Whether such punishment was just is left for the reader to decicde.
We live in times where strong feelings about many issues are everywhere. But if I had to get arrested for anything, it would be to stop Capital Punishment being brought back to my country.
The author is quite up front and frank straight away with his analysis on the efficacy of Capital Punishment in Britain. By his assessment the best deterrent of crime was having an organised police force in Britain (which came about in the mid 19th century), which is far younger than the existence of Capital Punishment. Indeed, many crimes went undetected in the times before such forces were organised, to the point where pickpocketing was often most common in the crowds witnessing hangings.
However, by the standards of the rest of Europe with some exceptions, our Capital Punishment methods were less sadistic than many. In a weird quirk of history some of the harshest such punishments originated from Scotland such as the punishment called Breaking on the Wheel. Beheading was once seen as the most efficient and more dignified of Capital Punishment methods, being reserved for punishing criminals from a higher class. Public mass hangings was where the rest often ended up.
The author made interesting attempts to get readers into the mindset of when such punishments were seen as normal. While Capital Punishment was not unheard of in Anglo-Saxon times, the Norman Conquest brought a method of governance that made it more important to society. From the perspective of Norman barons, they had no wish for paying to keep prisoners alive as well as paying their dues to the monarch. Deterring many crimes, not considered capital crimes in terms of modern views, made sense to shock the populace into behaving. Even petty thefts were considered hanging offences for a time, especially with the introduction of the infamous Bloody Code.
But the history of British Capital Punishment does have it’s own collection of barbarity. The chapters about burning at the stake and boiling prisoners to death (a Tudor punishment) were particularly hard to read. The punishment of long, drawing and quartering (which involve disembowelment) sounds almost too horrific to have even been in the Old Testament, never mind have actually been something the state sanctioned.
This book mainly seems to focus on describing how different Capital Punishments were carried out and why they changed or were dispensed with in favour of others. But one can read some interesting history running along it. In the Victorian era in particular we see concerns with morals and how a civilised society should behave. Public executions started to be seen as uncivilised, leading to them becoming more and more private affairs. Arguably, this preoccupation about how a civilised society should behave paved the way to abolition.
The author makes the interesting and perhaps controversial point that Capital Punishment in Britain was not abolished by an explicit show of public opinion. According to the author it was still overwhelmingly popular. Abolition didn’t even take place all at once. Capital Punishment could still technically be applied for certain offences committed by military personnel up until 1998. On the contrary, the author makes a compelling if slightly worry case, that abolition came about through parliamentary machinations, lobbying and hard campaigning by certain MPs over many years.
On one level this is reassuring, since a few individual MPs managed to build up the political momentum over years to slow down and the stop these barbaric punishments. But then the question is left open; could the British public will re-impose Capital Punishment again? One thing is clear though; after rigorous Parliamentary investigation there has never been conclusive and verifiable evidence that Capital Punishment has ever deterred crime in this country.
Overall, this was a very odd but informative book. It definitely took me out of my comfort zone, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it gratuitous in describing what happened during executions. On some level I agree that anyone who would consider re-imposing Capital Punishment needs to read this book. The state sanctioned those deaths, so in many ways we have a connection to that legacy, so we have a duty to know the grim reality of them. Much of the book is mainly an explanation of how the various methods worked, but historical background and social context is filtered in at just the right rate and at the right moments. The author cleverly and frankly lays out the mindsets that made the contexts in which theses punishments existed more understandable to the reader. Whether such punishment was just is left for the reader to decicde.
We live in times where strong feelings about many issues are everywhere. But if I had to get arrested for anything, it would be to stop Capital Punishment being brought back to my country.
November 27, 2022
3.5/5 rounding up for goodreads. Worth reading if you want a quick book about historical law and order.
Well written and enjoyable to read despite the subject. Very short at 160 pages, and the bibliography is only 1 page. Each chapter covers a different kind of execution including the main ones, beheadings and hangings (there are several chapters on the different types of hanging) as well as the more unusual ones like boiling or crushing. There is also a chapter on things that weren't intended to kill but could be deadly, like the stocks and pillories or flogging. And a final chapter on the decline and abolition of the death penalty plus a short extra biographical section of all the main executioners/hangmen. Lots of interesting info and trivia despite the short length as the crimes of the executed are also mentioned.
Well written and enjoyable to read despite the subject. Very short at 160 pages, and the bibliography is only 1 page. Each chapter covers a different kind of execution including the main ones, beheadings and hangings (there are several chapters on the different types of hanging) as well as the more unusual ones like boiling or crushing. There is also a chapter on things that weren't intended to kill but could be deadly, like the stocks and pillories or flogging. And a final chapter on the decline and abolition of the death penalty plus a short extra biographical section of all the main executioners/hangmen. Lots of interesting info and trivia despite the short length as the crimes of the executed are also mentioned.
December 19, 2021
A concise discussion of the history of capital punishment in Britain that provides pretty of gruesome details that should be considered by those in favour of the practice; it has never been a clean process i the slightest. No illustrations or photos, but the book honestly doesn't need them and if you want to see gruesome pictures of what is essentially state-sanctioned murder, then you can easily find them online.
Definitely worth reading.
Definitely worth reading.
April 17, 2021
I really enjoyed this look at British executions and execution methods throughout history. The author writes in an easy to read yet comprehensive style that takes the reader from beheadings to the last executions on British soil.
The changing attitudes towards capital punishment is also looked at. Highly recommended for dark history fans.
The changing attitudes towards capital punishment is also looked at. Highly recommended for dark history fans.
October 7, 2025
A great read. Plenty of anecdotes of both successful and botched executions, descriptions of events taken from historical writings, details of crimes, and technical information regarding different forms of killing. This is no dry academic thesis, though. It is absolutely fascinating, deeply entertaining, and predictably gruesome.
June 14, 2019
I enjoyed this. It's not overly lengthy or long winded. Author is to the point and does well to cite real stories frequently to backup the subject being covered or point being made. At times the history of execution in Britain is told through stories. I recommend this as an entertaining read.
April 23, 2021
Had there been some drawings and sketches of the arrangements made to the gallows, gibbets, cells and prisons where the executions took place, or even portraits of the people who carried them out, I would have given this book 5 shining stars.
September 23, 2021
this will leave you hanging for more
A very interesting and informed read, highly recommend this. A good history of death by execution, what a bloody lot we were.
Up next is Albert Pierrepoint biography.
Just to add i am totally against capital punishment.
A very interesting and informed read, highly recommend this. A good history of death by execution, what a bloody lot we were.
Up next is Albert Pierrepoint biography.
Just to add i am totally against capital punishment.
March 10, 2019
read for my EPQ
November 30, 2020
Good factual read
This book although a little gruesome in places lays out the facts relating to executions in Britain. It clearly demonstrates the futility of the death sentence.
This book although a little gruesome in places lays out the facts relating to executions in Britain. It clearly demonstrates the futility of the death sentence.
October 17, 2022
Interesting read. Offered a lot of new details of different methods and historical facts. Recommendable.
September 19, 2012
Interesting book which deals with various forms of execution used in the UK in the past. Have to admit that some cases which have appeared since the death penalty was abolished make me think it should be bought back.
October 5, 2014
Very good and a real page turner, considering the morbid subject matter! A good reference guide for essays too...
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