Billington: Victorian Executioner

by Alison Bruce

This is the first fully comprehensive biography on the hangman James Billington, a former pub entertainer and barber who secured the post of executioner for London and the Home Counties. The reader is introduced to the real Billington, illuminating the dark side of a man who held the mandate to kill. Three of his sons followed in his footsteps and together the family were responsible for 218 executions in Great Britain between 1884 and 1905. The stories behind all of Billington’s executions are also included.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

There is more than one author with this name

Alison Bruce was born in Surrey, United Kingdom, and now lives in Cambridge.

Reviews

[Geoff Boxell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sold as a biography this is in fact more a tale of Victorian murderers and their execution by Billington.
We think we live in a time of vicious crime: read this book and see that, as King Solomon said "there is nothing new under the sun".
A good read for the unsqueamish. A one day read.