Capital punishment in the United Kingdom predates the formation of the UK, having been used within the British Isles from ancient times until the second half of the 20th century. The last executions in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
were by
hanging
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...
, and took place in 1964;
:capital punishment for murder was suspended in 1965 and finally abolished in 1969 (1973 in Northern Ireland). Although unused, the death penalty remained a legally defined punishment for certain offences such as
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
until it was completely abolished in 1998; the last execution for treason took place in 1946. In 2004 the 13th Protocol to the
European Convention on Human Rights
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by t ...
became binding on the United Kingdom; it prohibits the restoration of the death penalty as long as the UK is a party to the convention (regardless of the UK’s status in relation to the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
).
Background
Capital punishment was historically used to punish inherently innocent things such as
unemployment
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...
. In 16th-century England, no distinction was made between
vagrants
Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...
and the jobless; both were simply categorized as "
sturdy beggars", who were to be punished and moved on. In 1547, a bill was passed that subjected vagrants to death for the second offense. During the reign of Henry VIII, as many as 72,000 people are estimated to have been executed.
Sir
Samuel Romilly
Sir Samuel Romilly (1 March 1757 – 2 November 1818), was a British lawyer, politician and legal reformer. From a background in the commercial world, he became well-connected, and rose to public office and a prominent position in Parliament. A ...
, speaking to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
on capital punishment in 1810, declared that "
here is
Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to:
Software
* Here Technologies, a mapping company
* Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here
Television
* Here TV (formerly "here!"), a TV ...
no country on the face of the earth in which there
ave
''Alta Velocidad Española'' (''AVE'') is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . As of December 2021, the Spanish high-speed rail network, on part of which the AVE s ...
been so many different offences according to law to be punished with death as in England". Known as the "
Bloody Code
The "Bloody Code" was a series of laws in England, Wales and Ireland in the 18th and early 19th centuries which mandated the death penalty for a wide range of crimes. It was not referred to as such in its own time, but the name was given later ...
", at its height the criminal law included some 220 crimes punishable by death, including "being in the company of Gypsies for one month", "strong evidence of malice in a child aged 7–14 years of age" and "blacking the face or using a disguise whilst committing a crime". Many of these offences had been introduced by the
Whig Oligarchy
Whig or Whigs may refer to:
Parties and factions
In the British Isles
* Whigs (British political party), one of two political parties in England, Great Britain, Ireland, and later the United Kingdom, from the 17th to 19th centuries
** Whiggism ...
to protect the property of the wealthy classes that emerged during the first half of the 18th century, a notable example being the
Black Act
The Act 9 Geo 1 c 22, commonly known as the Black Act, or the Waltham Black Act, and sometimes called the Black Act 1722, the Black Act 1723, the Waltham Black Act 1722, the Criminal Law Act 1722, or the Criminal Law Act 1723, was an Act of t ...
of 1723, which created 50 capital offences for various acts of theft and poaching. Crimes eligible for the death penalty included shoplifting and stealing sheep, cattle, and horses, and before abolition of the death penalty for theft in 1832, "English law was notorious for prescribing the death penalty for a vast range of offences as slight as the theft of goods valued at twelve pence."
Whilst executions for murder, burglary and robbery were common, the death sentences for minor offenders were often not carried out. A sentence of death could be commuted or respited (permanently postponed) for reasons such as
benefit of clergy
In English law, the benefit of clergy (Law Latin: ''privilegium clericale'') was originally a provision by which clergy
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, ...
, official pardons, pregnancy of the offender or performance of military or naval duty. Between 1770 and 1830, an estimated 35,000 death sentences were handed down in England and Wales, of which 7,000 executions were carried out.
Reform
In 1808, Romilly had the death penalty removed for pickpockets and lesser offenders, starting a process of reform that continued over the next 50 years. The death penalty was mandatory (although it was frequently
commuted by the government) until the
Judgement of Death Act 1823
The Judgment of Death Act 1823 (c.48; repealed) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (although it did not apply to Scotland). Passed at a time when there were over 200 offences in English law which carried a mandatory sentence o ...
gave judges the official power to commute the death penalty except for
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
and murder. The Punishment of Death, etc. Act 1832 reduced the number of capital crimes by two-thirds. In 1832, the death penalty was abolished for theft, counterfeiting, and forgery except for the forgery of
wills Wills may refer to:
* Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal document that expresses a person's (testator) wishes as to how their property ( estate) is to be distributed after their death and as to which person (executor) is to manage the pr ...
and certain
powers of attorney.
[ ]Gibbeting
A gibbet is any instrument of public execution (including guillotine, executioner's block, impalement stake, hanging gallows, or related scaffold). Gibbeting is the use of a gallows-type structure from which the dead or dying bodies of crimi ...
was abolished in 1832 and hanging in chains was abolished in 1834. In 1837, the death penalty for forging wills and powers of attorney was abolished. The death penalty for rape and some other offences was abolished by the Substitution of Punishments of Death Act in 1841. In 1861, several acts of Parliament (24 & 25 Vict; c. 94 to c. 100) further reduced the number of civilian capital crimes to five: murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...
, treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
, espionage
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...
, arson in royal dockyards
Arson in royal dockyards was a criminal offence in the United Kingdom and the British Empire. It was among the last offences that were punishable by execution in the United Kingdom. The crime was created by the Dockyards etc. Protection Act 1772 ...
, and piracy with violence
The Piracy Act 1837 (7 Will 4 & 1 Vict c 88) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It abolished the death penalty for most offences of piracy, but created a new offence often known as piracy with violence, which was punishable with ...
; there were other offences under military law
Military justice (also military law) is the legal system (bodies of law and procedure) that governs the conduct of the active-duty personnel of the armed forces of a country. In some nation-states, civil law and military law are distinct bodie ...
. The death penalty remained mandatory
Mandate most often refers to:
* League of Nations mandates, quasi-colonial territories established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, 28 June 1919
* Mandate (politics)
In representative democracies, a mandate (or seat) ...
for treason and murder unless commuted by the monarch.
The Royal Commission on Capital Punishment 1864–66
The Royal Commission on Capital Punishment was a royal commission on capital punishment in the United Kingdom which worked from 1864 to 1866. It was chaired by Charles Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond. Commissioners disagreed on the question ...
concluded (with dissenting Commissioners) that there was not a case for abolition but recommended an end to public executions. This proposal was included in the Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868
The Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c.24) received Royal Assent on 29 May 1868, putting an end to public executions for murder in the United Kingdom. The act required that all prisoners sentenced to death for murder be execute ...
. From that date executions in Great Britain were carried out only in prisons. The punishment of beheading and quartering those executed for treason was abolished in 1870. The last application of that punishment had been in 1820 and the last sentence to the punishment had been in 1839.
20th century
In 1908, the Children Act 1908
The Children Act 1908, also known as the Children and Young Persons Act 1908, passed by the Liberal government, as part of the British Liberal Party's liberal reforms package. The Act was informally known as the Children's Charter and largely su ...
banned the execution of juveniles under the age of 16. In 1922 a new offence of infanticide
Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose is the prevention of reso ...
was introduced to replace the charge of murder for mothers killing their children in the first year of life. In 1930 a parliamentary select committee Select committee may refer to:
*Select committee (parliamentary system), a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues
*Select or special committee (United States Congress)
*Select ...
recommended that capital punishment be suspended for a trial period of five years, but no action was taken. From 1931 pregnant women could no longer be hanged (following the birth of their child) although in practice since the 18th century their sentences had always been commuted.
In 1933 the minimum age for capital punishment was raised to 18 under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933
The Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (23 & 24 Geo.5 c.12) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It consolidated all existing child protection legislation for England and Wales i ...
. The last known execution by the civilian courts of a person under 18 was that of Charles Dobell, 17, hanged at Maidstone
Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...
together with his accomplice William Gower, 18, in January 1889. Harold Wilkins, at 16 years old, was the last juvenile sentenced to the death penalty in the United Kingdom, in 1932 for a sexually related murder, but he was reprieved due to age.
In 1938 the issue of the abolition of capital punishment was brought before parliament. A clause within the Criminal Justice Bill called for an experimental five-year suspension of the death penalty. When war broke out in 1939 the bill was postponed. It was revived after the war and to much surprise was adopted by a majority in the House of Commons (245 to 222). In the House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
the abolition clause was defeated but the remainder of the bill was passed as the Criminal Justice Act 1948
The Criminal Justice Act 1948 () is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Overview
It is "one of the most important measures relating to the reform of the criminal law and its administration".
It abolished:
* penal servitude, har ...
. Popular support for abolition was absent and the government decided that it would be inappropriate for it to assert its supremacy by invoking the Parliament Act 1911
The Parliament Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5 c. 13) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is constitutionally important and partly governs the relationship between the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two Houses of Parlia ...
over such an unpopular issue.
Postwar
Instead, then Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...
, James Chuter Ede
James Chuter Ede, Baron Chuter-Ede of Epsom, (11 September 1882 – 11 November 1965), was a British teacher, trade unionist and Labour Party politician. He served as Home Secretary under Prime Minister Clement Attlee from 1945 to 1951, becomi ...
, set up a new Royal Commission (the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment, 1949–1953) with instructions to determine "whether the liability to suffer capital punishment should be limited or modified". The commission's report discussed a number of alternatives to execution by hanging (including the electric chair
An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...
, gas inhalation, lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...
, shooting
Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...
, and the guillotine
A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with stocks at th ...
), but rejected them. It had more difficulty with the principle of capital punishment. Popular opinion believed that the death penalty acted as a deterrent to criminals, but the statistics within the report were inconclusive. Whilst the report recommended abolition from an ethical standpoint, it made no mention of possible miscarriages of justice
A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Inno ...
. The public had by then expressed great dissatisfaction with the verdict in the case of Timothy Evans
Timothy John Evans (20 November 1924 – 9 March 1950) was a Welshman who was wrongly accused of murdering his wife (Beryl) and infant daughter (Geraldine) at their residence in Notting Hill, London. In January 1950, Evans was tried, and was c ...
, who was tried and hanged in 1950 for murdering his infant daughter. It later transpired in 1953 that John Christie had strangled at least six women in the same house; he also confessed to killing Timothy's wife. If the jury in Evans's trial had known this, Evans might have been acquitted. There were other cases in the same period where doubts arose over convictions and subsequent hangings, such as the notorious case of Derek Bentley
Derek William Bentley (30 June 1933 – 28 January 1953) was a British man who was hanged for the murder of a policeman during a burglary attempt. Christopher Craig, then aged 16, a friend and accomplice of Bentley, was accused of the murde ...
.
The commission concluded that unless there was overwhelming public support in favour of abolition, the death penalty should be retained.
Between 1900 and 1949, 621 men and 11 women were executed in England and Wales. Ten German agents were executed during the First World War under the Defence of the Realm Act 1914
The Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) was passed in the United Kingdom on 8 August 1914, four days after it entered the First World War and was added to as the war progressed. It gave the government wide-ranging powers during the war, such as the p ...
, and 16 spies were executed during the Second World War under the Treachery Act 1940
The Treachery Act 1940 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom effective during World War II to facilitate the prosecution and execution of enemy spies, suspended afterwards, and repealed in 1968 or 1973, territory depending. The law ...
.
By 1957 a number of controversial cases highlighted the issue of capital punishment again. Campaigners for abolition were partially rewarded with the Homicide Act 1957
The Homicide Act 1957 (5 & 6 Eliz.2 c.11) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was enacted as a partial reform of the common law offence of murder in English law by abolishing the doctrine of constructive malice (except in limi ...
. The Act brought in a distinction between capital and non-capital murder.
=1957 Homicide Act Offences punishable by death
=
Only six categories of murder were now punishable by execution:
* in the course or furtherance of theft
* by shooting or causing an explosion
* while resisting arrest or during an escape
* of a police officer
* of a prison officer by a prisoner
* the second of two murders committed on different occasions (if both done in Great Britain).
The police and the government were of the opinion that the death penalty deterred offenders from carrying firearms and it was for this reason that such offences remained punishable by death.
Abolition
In 1965 the Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
MP Sydney Silverman
Samuel Sydney Silverman (8 October 1895 – 9 February 1968) was a British Labour politician and vocal opponent of capital punishment.
Early life
Silverman was born in poverty to a migrant Jewish parents from Jassy, Romania. His father was a d ...
, who had committed himself to the cause of abolition for longer than 20 years, introduced a Private Member's Bill
A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...
to suspend the death penalty for murder. It was passed on a free vote
A conscience vote or free vote is a type of vote in a legislative body where legislators are allowed to vote according to their own personal conscience rather than according to an official line set down by their political party. In a parliamenta ...
in the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
by 200 votes to 98. The bill was subsequently passed by the House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
by 204 votes to 104. Silverman was opposed in the General Election 1966 in the Nelson and Colne constituency by Patrick Downey, the uncle of Lesley Anne Downey, a victim in the Moors murders
The Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around Manchester, England. The victims were five children—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey, and Edward E ...
case, who stood on an explicitly pro-hanging platform. Downey polled over 5,000 votes, 13.7%, then the largest vote for a genuinely independent candidate since 1945.
The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965
The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It abolished the death penalty for murder in Great Britain (the death penalty for murder survived in Northern Ireland until 1973). The act replac ...
suspended the death penalty in Great Britain (but not in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
) for murder for a period of five years, and substituted a mandatory sentence
Mandatory sentencing requires that offenders serve a predefined term for certain crimes, commonly serious and violent offenses. Judges are bound by law; these sentences are produced through the legislature, not the judicial system. They are inst ...
of life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
; it further provided that if, before the expiry of the five-year suspension, each House of Parliament passed a resolution to make the effect of the Act permanent, then it would become permanent. In 1969 the Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...
, James Callaghan
Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005), commonly known as Jim Callaghan, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980. Callaghan is ...
, proposed a motion to make the Act permanent, which was carried in the Commons on 16 December 1969, and a similar motion was carried in the Lords on 18 December. The death penalty for murder was abolished in Northern Ireland on 25 July 1973 under the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973
The Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which abolished the death penalty for murder in Northern Ireland, and established the Diplock courts in which terrorist offences were tried by ...
.
Following the abolition of the death penalty for murder, the House of Commons held a vote during each subsequent parliament until 1997 to restore the death penalty. This motion was always defeated, but the death penalty remained for other crimes until the dates mentioned below:
# causing a fire or explosion in a naval dockyard, ship, magazine or warehouse (until 1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6).
The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history.
Events
Ja ...
);
# espionage (until 1981);
# piracy with violence
The Piracy Act 1837 (7 Will 4 & 1 Vict c 88) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It abolished the death penalty for most offences of piracy, but created a new offence often known as piracy with violence, which was punishable with ...
(until September 1998);
# treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
(until September 1998);
and certain purely military offences under the jurisdiction of the armed forces
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
, such as mutiny
Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among member ...
(until November 1998). Prior to its complete abolition in 1998, it was available for six offences:
## serious misconduct in action;
## assisting the enemy;
## obstructing operations;
## giving false air signals;
## mutiny
Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among member ...
or incitement to mutiny; and
## failure to suppress a mutiny with intent to assist the enemy.
However, no executions were carried out in the United Kingdom for any of these offences after the abolition of the death penalty for murder.
Nevertheless, there remained a working gallows at HMP Wandsworth, London, until 1994, which was tested every six months until 1992. This gallows is now housed in the National Justice Museum
The National Justice Museum (formerly known as the Galleries of Justice Museum and, historically, the Shire Hall and County Gaol) is an independent museum on High Pavement in the Lace Market area of Nottingham, England.
The museum is housed i ...
in Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
.
Last executions
England and in the United Kingdom: on 13 August 1964, Peter Anthony Allen
The murder of John Alan West on 7 April 1964 was the crime which led to the last Capital punishment, death sentences being carried out in the United Kingdom. West, a 53-year-old van driver for a laundry company, was beaten and stabbed to death b ...
, at Walton Prison in Liverpool, and Gwynne Owen Evans
The murder of John Alan West on 7 April 1964 was the crime which led to the last death sentences being carried out in the United Kingdom. West, a 53-year-old van driver for a laundry company, was beaten and stabbed to death by Gwynne Evans and P ...
, at Strangeways Prison
HM Prison Manchester is a Category A and B men's prison in Manchester, England, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. It is still commonly referred to as Strangeways, which was its former official name derived from the area in which it is ...
in Manchester, were executed for the murder of John Alan West
The murder of John Alan West on 7 April 1964 was the crime which led to the last death sentences being carried out in the United Kingdom. West, a 53-year-old van driver for a laundry company, was beaten and stabbed to death by Gwynne Evans and P ...
on 7 April that year.
In 1955 Ruth Ellis
Ruth Ellis ( née Neilson; 9 October 1926 – 13 July 1955) was a British nightclub hostess and convicted murderer who became the last woman to be hanged in the United Kingdom following the fatal shooting of her lover, David Blakely.
In her t ...
was the last woman to be hanged in Britain; for the murder of her lover David Blakely.
Scotland: Henry John Burnett
Henry John Burnett (5 January 1942 – 15 August 1963) was the last man to be hanged in Scotland, and the first in Aberdeen since 1891. He was tried at the high court in Aberdeen from 23 to 25 July 1963 for the murder of merchant seaman Thomas G ...
, 21, on 15 August 1963 in Craiginches Prison
HM Prison Aberdeen (formerly known as Craiginches) was a medium-security prison, located in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. The prison was managed by the Scottish Prison Service. Known as one of the most overcrowded prisons in Scotland, it had ...
, Aberdeen, for the murder of seaman Thomas Guyan.
Northern Ireland: Robert McGladdery
Robert Andrew McGladdery (18 October 193520 December 1961) was the last person to be executed in Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland.
He was convicted of the murder of Pearl Gamble, aged 19, whom he had battered, strangled and stabbed ...
, 26, on 20 December 1961 in Crumlin Road Gaol
HMP Belfast, also known as Crumlin Road Gaol, is a former prison situated on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. Since 1996 it is the only remaining Victorian era former prison in Northern Ireland. It is colloquially known as ' ...
, Belfast, for the murder of Pearl Gamble.
Wales: Vivian Teed, 24, in Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
on 6 May 1958, for the murder of William Williams, sub-postmaster of Fforestfach
Fforestfach is a suburban district of Swansea, Wales which developed during the Victorian era as part of the expansion of Swansea, and to service several collieries in the area. It lies within the Cockett ward, between the districts of Waunarl ...
Post Office.
Last death sentences
Northern Ireland: Liam Holden
Liam Holden (1953 – 15 September 2022) was an Irish man who, in 1973 at the age of 19, was sentenced to death by hanging following his conviction for killing a British soldier in Northern Ireland. He was the last person sentenced to death in ...
in 1973 in Northern Ireland, for the capital murder of a British soldier during the Troubles
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...
. Holden was removed from the death cell in May 1973. In 2012 his conviction was quashed on appeal on the grounds that his confession was obtained by torture.
England: David Chapman, who was sentenced to hang in November 1965 for the murder of a swimming pool nightwatchman in Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, su ...
. He was released from prison in 1979 and later died in a car accident.
Scotland: Patrick McCarron in 1964 for shooting his wife. He killed himself in prison in 1970.
Wales: Edgar Black, who was reprieved on 6 November 1963. He had shot his wife's lover in Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
.
Final abolition
The Criminal Damage Act 1971
Criminal damage in English law was originally a common law offence. The offence was largely concerned with the protection of dwellings and the food supply, and few sanctions were imposed for damaging personal property. Liability was originally ...
abolished the offence of arson in royal dockyards
Arson in royal dockyards was a criminal offence in the United Kingdom and the British Empire. It was among the last offences that were punishable by execution in the United Kingdom. The crime was created by the Dockyards etc. Protection Act 1772 ...
.
The Naval Discipline Act 1957
The Naval Discipline Act 1957 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom governing discipline in the Royal Navy. It governed courts-martial and criminal penalties for crimes committed by officers and ratings of the Royal Navy. It was sub ...
reduced the scope of capital espionage from "all spies for the enemy" to spies on naval ships or bases. Later, the Armed Forces Act 1981
Armed (May, 1941–1964) was an American Thoroughbred gelding race horse who was the American Horse of the Year in 1947 and Champion Older Male Horse in both 1946 and 1947. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in ...
abolished the death penalty for espionage. (The Official Secrets Act 1911
The Official Secrets Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo 5 c 28) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It replaces the Official Secrets Act 1889.
The Act was introduced in response to public alarm at reports of wide-scale espionage, some of them ...
had created another offence of espionage which carried a maximum sentence of fourteen years.)
Beheading
Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...
was abolished as a method of execution for treason in 1973. Hanging, however, remained available until 30 September 1998 when, under a House of Lords amendment to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (c.37) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act was published on 2 December 1997 and received Royal Assent in July 1998. Its key areas were the introduction of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, Sex ...
, proposed by Lord Archer of Sandwell, the death penalty was abolished for treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
and piracy with violence
The Piracy Act 1837 (7 Will 4 & 1 Vict c 88) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It abolished the death penalty for most offences of piracy, but created a new offence often known as piracy with violence, which was punishable with ...
, replacing it with a discretionary maximum sentence of life imprisonment. These were the last civilian offences punishable by death.
On 20 May 1998 the House of Commons voted to ratify the 6th Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by t ...
prohibiting capital punishment except "in time of war or imminent threat of war". The last remaining provisions for the death penalty under military jurisdiction (including in wartime) were removed when section 21(5) of the Human Rights Act 1998
The Human Rights Act 1998 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received royal assent on 9 November 1998, and came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim was to incorporate into UK law the rights contained in the European Con ...
came into force on 9 November 1998. On 10 October 2003, effective from 1 February 2004, the UK acceded to the 13th Protocol, which prohibits the death penalty in all circumstances.
As a legacy from colonial times, several states in the West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
still had the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Augus ...
as the court of final appeal; although the death penalty has been retained in these states, the Privy Council would sometimes delay or deny executions. Some of these states severed links with the British court system in 2001 by transferring the responsibilities of the Privy Council to the Caribbean Court of Justice
The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ; nl, Caribisch Hof van Justitie; french: Cour Caribéenne de Justice) is the judicial institution of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Established in 2005, it is based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
...
, to speed up executions.
Crown dependencies
Although not part of the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
and the bailiwicks of Guernsey
Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency.
It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...
and Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
are British Crown dependencies.
In the Channel Islands, the last death sentence was passed in 1984; the last execution in the Channel Islands was in Jersey on 9 October 1959, when Francis Joseph Huchet was hanged for murder. The Human Rights (Amendment) (Jersey) Order 2006 amends the Human Rights (Jersey) Law 2000 to give effect to the 13th Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by t ...
providing for the total abolition of the death penalty. Both of these laws came into effect on 10 December 2006. Capital punishment was abolished in Guernsey in 2003, and the 13th Protocol was extended to Guernsey in April 2004. Sark
Sark (french: link=no, Sercq, ; Sercquiais: or ) is a part of the Channel Islands in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, France. It is a royal fief, which forms part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of l ...
(which is part of Guernsey but has its own laws) formally retained it until January 2004, when the Chief Pleas in a 14–9 vote removed it from the statutes.
The last execution on the Isle of Man took place in 1872, when John Kewish was hanged for patricide
Patricide is (i) the act of killing one's own father, or (ii) a person who kills their own father or stepfather. The word ''patricide'' derives from the Greek word ''pater'' (father) and the Latin suffix ''-cida'' (cutter or killer). Patricide ...
. Capital punishment was not formally abolished by Tynwald
Tynwald ( gv, Tinvaal), or more formally, the High Court of Tynwald ( gv, Ard-whaiyl Tinvaal) or Tynwald Court, is the legislature of the Isle of Man. It consists of two chambers, known as the branches of Tynwald: the directly elected House of ...
(the island's parliament) until 1993. Five persons were sentenced to death (for murder) on the Isle of Man between 1973 and 1992, although all sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. The last person to be sentenced to death in the UK or its dependencies was Anthony Teare
There is a long history of capital punishment in the Isle of Man. Until the 17th century, many convicted prisoners were executed at Hango Hill.
Capital punishment in the Isle of Man was formally abolished in 1993. The Isle of Man is a British Cr ...
, who was convicted at the Manx Court of General Gaol Delivery
The High Court of Justice of the Isle of Man is governed by the High Court Act 1991. There are four permanent judges of the High Court:
*the Deemster, First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls
*the Deemster, Second Deemster
*a full-time additional ...
in Douglas
Douglas may refer to:
People
* Douglas (given name)
* Douglas (surname)
Animals
*Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking
*Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...
for contract murder in 1992; he was subsequently retried and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1994. In 2004 the 13th Protocol was adopted, with an effective date of 1 November 2006.
Overseas territories
Like the Crown dependencies, the British overseas territories
The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ...
are constitutionally not part of the United Kingdom. However, the British government's ultimate responsibility for good governance of the territories has led it over recent years to pursue a policy of revoking all statutory provision for the death penalty in those territories where it had up until recently been legal.
The last executions in an overseas territory, and indeed the last on British soil, took place in Bermuda
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = " Hail to Bermuda"
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, mapsize2 =
, map_caption2 =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name =
, e ...
in 1977, when two men, Larry Tacklyn and Erskine Burrows, were hanged for the 1973 murder of the territory's then Governor Sir Richard Sharples
Sir Richard Christopher Sharples, (6 August 1916 – 10 March 1973) was a British politician and Governor of Bermuda who was shot dead by assassins linked to a small militant Bermudian Black Power group called the Black Beret Cadre. The for ...
.
In 1991, the British government extended an Order in Council
An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council ('' Ki ...
to its Caribbean territories the effect of which was to abolish capital punishment for murder in Anguilla
Anguilla ( ) is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The territo ...
, the British Virgin Islands
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = Territorial song
, song = "Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands"
, image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg
, map_caption =
, mapsize = 290px
, image_map2 = Brit ...
, the Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...
, Montserrat
Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...
and the Turks and Caicos Islands
The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and n ...
.
The British government was unable to extend the abolition via Order in Council to Bermuda, the UK's most autonomous overseas territory with powers of almost total self-governance—but warned that if voluntary abolition was not forthcoming it would be forced to consider the unprecedented step of "whether to impose abolition by means of an Act of Parliament". As a result, the Bermudian government introduced its own domestic legislation in 1999 to rectify the problem.
Further measures were subsequently adopted to revoke technicalities in British overseas territories' domestic legislation as regards use of the death penalty for crimes of treason and piracy. In October 2002 the British government abolished the death penalty for treason and piracy in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Since then, the death penalty has been outlawed under all circumstances in all the UK's overseas territories.
Policy regarding foreign capital punishment
Under section 94 of the Extradition Act 2003
The Extradition Act 2003 ( c.41) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which regulates extradition requests by and to the United Kingdom. The Act came into force on 1 January 2004. It transposed the European Arrest Warrant framework ...
, it is unlawful for an extradition of an individual to take place if the individual is accused of a capital crime, unless the Home Secretary has received assurances that the death penalty would not be applied in that case. Regardless of this, in July 2018, the Government said it will not object to the United States seeking the death penalty for two suspected British members of ISIS
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...
captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces
, war = the Syrian Civil War
, image = Flag of Syrian Democratic Forces.svgborder
, caption = Flag
, active = 10 October 2015 – present
, ideology = DemocracyDecentralizationSecularism ...
. Although not strictly an extradition case, in response to an urgent question in Parliament on the matter, the Government stated that they still held the policy "to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle".
Public support for reintroduction of capital punishment
Since the death penalty's suspension in 1965, there have been continued public and media calls for its reintroduction, particularly prompted by high-profile murder cases.
At the same time, there have been a number of miscarriages of justice since 1965 where persons convicted of murder have later had their convictions quashed on appeal and been released from prison, strengthening the argument of those who oppose the death penalty's reintroduction. These include the Birmingham Six
The Birmingham Six were six Irishmen who were each sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 following their false convictions for the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory and quashed by the Cou ...
(cleared in 1991 of planting an IRA
Ira or IRA may refer to:
*Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name
*Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name
*Iran, UNDP code IRA
Law
*Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...
bomb which killed 21 people in 1974), the Guildford Four
Guildford ()
is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildfo ...
(cleared in 1989 of murdering five people in another 1974 IRA bombing), Stephen Downing (a Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
man who was freed in 2001 after serving 27 years for the murder of a woman in a churchyard) and Barry George
Barry Michael George (born 15 April 1960) is an Englishman who was found guilty of the murder of English television presenter Jill Dando and whose conviction was overturned on appeal.
Dando's profile and popularity ensured high public interes ...
(who was freed in 2007 when his conviction for the 1999 murder of TV presenter Jill Dando
Jill Wendy Dando (9 November 1961 – 26 April 1999) was an English journalist, television presenter and newsreader. She spent most of her career at the BBC and was the corporation's Personality of the Year in 1997. At the time of her death, her ...
was quashed on appeal).
Perhaps the first high-profile murder case which sparked widespread calls for a return of the death penalty was the Moors murders
The Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around Manchester, England. The victims were five children—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey, and Edward E ...
trial in 1966, the year after the death penalty's suspension, in which Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
for the murders of two children and a teenager in the Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
area (they later confessed to a further two murders). Later in 1966, the murder of three policemen in West London
West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary.
The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North London ...
also attracted widespread public support for the death penalty's return. Other subsequent high-profile cases to have sparked widespread media and public calls for the death penalty's return include "Yorkshire Ripper" Peter Sutcliffe
Peter William Sutcliffe (2 June 1946 – 13 November 2020) was an English serial killer who was dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper (an allusion to Jack the Ripper) by the press. Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting t ...
, convicted in 1981 of murdering 13 women and attacking seven others in the north of England; Roy Whiting
Sarah Evelyn Isobel Payne (13 October 1991 – c. 1 July 2000), was the victim of a high-profile abduction and murder in West Sussex, England in July 2000.
Her disappearance and the subsequent investigation into her murder became a prominent c ...
, who murdered a seven-year-old girl in West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...
in 2000; and Ian Huntley
The Soham murders were a double child murder committed in Soham, Cambridgeshire, England on 4 August 2002. The victims were two 10-year-old girls, Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman, who were lured into the home of a local resident and ...
, a Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...
school caretaker who killed two 10-year-old girls in 2002.
A November 2009 television survey showed that 70% favoured reinstating the death penalty for at least one of the following crimes: armed robbery, rape, crimes related to paedophilia, terrorism, adult murder, child murder
Pedicide, child murder, child manslaughter, or child homicide is the homicide of an individual who is a minor.
Punishment by jurisdiction
United States
In 2008, there were 1,494 child homicides in the United States. Of those killed, 1,03 ...
, child rape, treason, child abuse or kidnapping. However, respondents only favoured capital punishment for adult murder, the polling question asked by other organisations such as Gallup, by small majorities or pluralities: overall, 51% favoured the death penalty for adult murder, while 56% in Wales did, 55% in Scotland, and only 49% in England.
In August 2011, the Internet blogger Paul Staines
Paul De Laire Staines (born 11 February 1967) is a British-Irish right-wing political blogger who publishes the Guido Fawkes website, which was described by ''The Daily Telegraph'' as "one of Britain's leading political blogsites" in 2007.Graeme ...
—who writes the political blog ''Guido Fawkes
Guido Fawkes is a right-wing political website published by British-Irish political blogger Paul Staines.
History
In September 2004, Staines began writing an anonymous blog about British politics under the name of Guido Fawkes, an alternative ...
'' and heads the Restore Justice Campaign—launched an e-petition on the Downing Street
Downing Street is a street in Westminster in London that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Situated off Whitehall, it is long, and a few minutes' walk ...
website calling for the restoration of the death penalty for those convicted of the murder of children and police officers. The petition was one of several in support or opposition of capital punishment to be published by the government with the launch of its e-petitions website. Petitions attracting 100,000 signatures would prompt a parliamentary debate on a particular topic, but not necessarily lead to any Parliamentary Bills being put forward. When the petition closed on 4 February 2012 it had received 26,351 signatures in support of restoring capital punishment, but a counter-petition calling to retain the ban on capital punishment received 33,455 signatures during the same time period.
Also in August 2011, a representative survey conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion
Angus Reid (born December 17, 1947) is a Canadian entrepreneur, pollster, and Sociology, sociologist. He is the chairman of the #Angus Reid Institute, Angus Reid Institute and CEO and founder of Angus Reid Global. He is director of the Reid Campb ...
showed that 65% of Britons support reinstating the death penalty for murder in Great Britain, while 28% oppose this course of action. Men and respondents aged over 35 are more likely to endorse the change.
In March 2015 a survey by the NatCen British Social Attitudes Report showed that public support for the death penalty had dropped to 48%.
In April 2021 a poll found that 54% of Britons said they would support reinstating the death penalty for those convicted of terrorism in the UK. About a quarter (23%) of respondents said they would be opposed.
Parliamentary debates on reintroduction
After Royal Assent for the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965
The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It abolished the death penalty for murder in Great Britain (the death penalty for murder survived in Northern Ireland until 1973). The act replac ...
, supporters in Parliament have made several attempts to reintroduce capital punishment. On 23 November 1966, Duncan Sandys
Edwin Duncan Sandys, Baron Duncan-Sandys (; 24 January 1908 – 26 November 1987), was a British politician and minister in successive Conservative governments in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a son-in-law of Winston Churchill and played a key ro ...
was refused leave to bring in a Bill to restore capital punishment for the murder of police or prison officers, by a vote of 170 to 292. Motions to make the five-year suspension of capital punishment under the 1965 Act permanent were opposed, but agreed by 343 to 185 in the House of Commons; in the House of Lords, an amendment to continue with a temporary suspension of capital punishment until 31 July 1973 was rejected by 174 to 220. In April 1973, the House of Commons voted against reintroduction.
The deaths of civilians in several IRA bombings in 1974 prompted a renewed debate. On 11 December 1974 Brian Walden
Alastair Brian Walden (8 July 1932 – 9 May 2019) was a British journalist and broadcaster who spent over a decade as a Labour politician and Member of Parliament (MP). He was considered one of the finest political interviewers in the history ...
moved a motion declaring that "the death penalty would neither deter terrorists nor increase the safety of the public"; Jill Knight
Joan Christabel Jill Knight, Baroness Knight of Collingtree, (; 9 July 1923 – 6 April 2022) was a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Edgbaston from 1966 to 1997. S ...
moved an amendment calling instead for introduction of legislation providing for death to be the penalty for acts of terrorism causing death. Her amendment was rejected by 217 to 369. A year later, Ivan Lawrence
Sir Ivan John Lawrence (born 24 December 1936) is a former British Conservative Member of Parliament and criminal barrister.
Early life and legal career
Born in Brighton, Lawrence was the only child of parents of Russian-Romanian Jewish descen ...
's motion "That this House demands capital punishment for terrorist offences causing death" was rejected by 232 to 361.
After the Conservatives' victory in the 1979 general election, Eldon Griffiths
Sir Eldon Wylie Griffiths (25 May 1925 – 3 June 2014) was a British Conservative politician and journalist.
Early life
Griffiths was born on 25 May 1925 in Wigan, Lancashire. His Welsh father was a police sergeant. He attended Ashton Grammar ...
(Parliamentary adviser to the Police Federation of England and Wales
The Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) is the statutory staff association for police constables, sergeants, inspectors, chief inspectors and special constables in the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales. Under UK lab ...
) moved a motion "that the sentence of capital punishment should again be available to the courts" on 19 July 1979. While the motion was not expected to pass, the margin of its defeat (243 to 362) was much wider than expected. Later in the same Parliament, the Criminal Justice Bill provided an opportunity on 11 May 1982 for several new clauses to be proposed which would have reinstated capital punishment. The first, which simply declared that "A person convicted of murder shall be liable to capital punishment", was tabled by Edward Gardner Edward Gardner may refer to:
* Edward W. Gardner (1867–1932), American balkline and straight rail billiards champion
* Edward Joseph Gardner (1898–1950), U.S. Representative from Ohio
* Ed Gardner (1901–1963), American actor, director and wr ...
, and rejected by 195 to 357. It was followed by an alternative under which capital punishment would be available "as the penalty for an act of terrorism involving the loss of human life"; this new clause was rejected by 176 to 332. A further new clause proposing capital punishment "as the penalty for murder by means of firearms or explosives" was rejected by 176 to 343. Then a new clause allowing for capital punishment "as the penalty for murder of a police or prison officer" was rejected by 208 to 332. Finally a new clause allowing capital punishment "as the penalty for murder in the course of robbery and burglary which involves the use of offensive weapons" was rejected by 151 to 331.
The new Parliament in 1983 again prompted supporters of capital punishment to put their case. Sir Edward Gardner's motion "That this House favours the restoration of the death penalty for murder" was debated on 13 July 1983, with several amendments moved to restrict capital punishment to certain categories of murder. The amendments were voted on first: capital punishment for murder "resulting from acts of terrorism" was rejected by 245 to 361, for murder "of a police officer during the course of his duties" by 263 to 344, for murder "of a prison officer during the course of his duties" by 252 to 348, for murder "by shooting or causing an explosion" by 204 to 374, and for murder "in the course or furtherance of theft" by 194 to 369. The main motion was then defeated by 223 to 368. Towards the end of the Parliament, a new clause proposed to the Criminal Justice Bill proposed to return the death penalty for "A person convicted by the unanimous verdict of a jury of the premeditated killing of another person or of knowingly and intentionally killing another person in a manner, or for a reason, or in circumstances which a reasonable person would consider to be evil" was rejected by 230 to 342 on 1 April 1987.
The Criminal Justice Bill
Criminal Justice Act (with its many variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Canada, Malaysia, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom relating to the criminal law (including both substantive and procedural aspects of that ...
in 1988 provided a further opportunity for a debate; the new clause proposed by Roger Gale
Sir Roger James Gale (born 20th August 1943) is a British politician who has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for North Thanet since 1983. He had a career in journalism and broadcasting from 1964, around the same time as he joined the C ...
allowed for the jury in a murder case to "have the power, upon reaching a verdict of guilt of murder, to recommend ... death in the manner authorised by law". It was rejected by 218 to 341.
The aforementioned bills were rejected despite support from then Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
.
On 17 December 1990 a new Criminal Justice Bill again saw amendments designed to reintroduce capital punishment. The first covered anyone over 18 "convicted of the murder of a police officer acting in the execution of his duty" and was rejected by 215 to 350; a general reintroduction of death as the penalty for murder (with special provision for the Court of Appeal to decide whether to substitute a life sentence) was then rejected by 182 to 367. Capital punishment for "murder committed by means of firearms, explosives or an offensive weapon, or for the murder of a police or prison officer" was rejected by 186 to 349.
A Parliamentary debate on a question proposing reintroduction of capital punishment came on 21 February 1994 when new clauses to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill were moved. The first, providing for death as the sentence for "the murder of a police officer acting in the execution of his duty", was rejected by 186 to 383; A new clause providing for general reintroduction with power for the Court of Appeal to substitute life imprisonment was rejected by 159 to 403. This would have been aimed at terrorists in the Northern Ireland conflict
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...
.
In June 2013 a new bill for capital punishment in England and Wales was introduced, sponsored by Conservative MP Philip Hollobone
Philip Thomas Hollobone (born 7 November 1964) is a British Conservative Party politician and former investment banker. He has been the Member of Parliament for Kettering since the 2005 general election.
Early life
Hollobone was born on 7 Novem ...
. This Bill was withdrawn.
Notable executions
Before 1707
*6 July 1535: Sir Thomas More
Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...
was beheaded
Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the ...
for treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
for refusing to acknowledge Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
as the head of the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
.
*6 October 1536: William Tyndale
William Tyndale (; sometimes spelled ''Tynsdale'', ''Tindall'', ''Tindill'', ''Tyndall''; – ) was an English biblical scholar and linguist who became a leading figure in the Protestant Reformation in the years leading up to his executi ...
was strangled before being burned at the stake
Death by burning (also known as immolation) is an execution and murder method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment f ...
for heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
after translating the Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
into English, which was seen as an affront to God.
*17 May 1536: George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford
George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford (c. 1504 – 17 May 1536) was an English courtier and nobleman who played a prominent role in the politics of the early 1530s. He was the brother of Anne Boleyn, from 1533 the second wife of King Hen ...
was beheaded on false charges of committing adultery
Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...
and incest
Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adoption ...
with his sister Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...
.
*19 May 1536: Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...
, second wife of Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
and queen of England, was beheaded at the Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
on false charges of adultery, incest and treason so that Henry could marry Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour (c. 150824 October 1537) was List of English consorts, Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII of England from their Wives of Henry VIII, marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen followi ...
.
*2 June 1537: Francis Bigod
Sir Francis Bigod (4 October 1507 – 2 June 1537) was an English nobleman who was the leader of Bigod's Rebellion.
Family
Francis Bigod was descended from the Bigod Earls of Norfolk and from the Barons Mauley of Mulgrave Castle near Whitby, Yo ...
was hanged
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in ...
for treason.
*12 July 1537: Robert Aske was hanged in chains
A gibbet is any instrument of public execution (including guillotine, executioner's block, impalement stake, hanging gallows, or related scaffold). Gibbeting is the use of a gallows-type structure from which the dead or dying bodies of crimi ...
for treason.
*28 July 1540: Thomas Cromwell
Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charge ...
was beheaded on false charges of treason as punishment for arranging Henry VIII's ill-fated marriage to Anne of Cleves
Anne of Cleves (german: Anna von Kleve; 1515 – 16 July 1557) was Queen of England from 6 January to 12 July 1540 as the fourth wife of King Henry VIII. Not much is known about Anne before 1527, when she became betrothed to Francis, Duke of ...
.
*10 December 1541: Thomas Culpeper
Thomas Culpeper ( – 10 December 1541) was an English courtier and close friend of Henry VIII, and related to two of his queens, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. He is known to have had many private meetings with Catherine after her mar ...
and Francis Dereham
Francis Dereham (c. 1506/09 – executed ) was a Tudor courtier whose involvement with Henry VIII's fifth Queen, Catherine Howard, in her youth, prior to engagement with the king was eventually found out and led to his arrest. The information ...
were executed for adultery for having affairs with queen of England Catherine Howard
Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542), also spelled Katheryn Howard, was Queen of England from 1540 until 1542 as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn (the s ...
. Both were sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered
To be hanged, drawn and quartered became a statutory penalty for men convicted of high treason in the Kingdom of England from 1352 under Edward III of England, King Edward III (1327–1377), although similar rituals are recorded during the rei ...
, but Culpeper's sentence was commuted to beheading.
*13 February 1542: Catherine Howard
Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542), also spelled Katheryn Howard, was Queen of England from 1540 until 1542 as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn (the s ...
, fifth wife of Henry VIII and queen of England, was beheaded for adultery after having an affair with her cousin Thomas Culpeper
Thomas Culpeper ( – 10 December 1541) was an English courtier and close friend of Henry VIII, and related to two of his queens, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. He is known to have had many private meetings with Catherine after her mar ...
. Her lady-in-waiting Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford
Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford (''née'' Jane Parker; c. 1505 – 13 February 1542), was an English noblewoman. Her husband, George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, was the brother of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII. Jane had been ...
was beheaded the same day for facilitating her adultery.
* 13 April 1546: Alice Glaston
Alice Glaston ( – 13 April 1546) was an 11-year-old English girl from Little Wenlock who was hanged in Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England under the reign of Henry VIII. She is likely the youngest girl ever to be legally executed in England, thou ...
became the youngest known girl legally executed in England, at age 11 for an unknown offence.
*7 December 1549: Robert Kett
Robert Kett (c. 1492 – 7 December 1549) was the leader of Kett's Rebellion.
Kett was the fourth son of Thomas Kett, of Forncett, Norfolk and his wife Margery. He is thought to have been a tanner, but he certainly held the manor of Wymondha ...
was hanged from the walls of Norwich Castle
Norwich Castle is a medieval royal fortification in the city of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk. William the Conqueror (1066–1087) ordered its construction in the aftermath of the Norman conquest of England. The castle was used as a ...
for treason after he was found guilty of leading Kett's Rebellion
Kett's Rebellion was a revolt in Norfolk, England during the reign of Edward VI, largely in response to the enclosure of land. It began at Wymondham on 8 July 1549 with a group of rebels destroying fences that had been put up by wealthy landowners ...
against Edward VI
Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...
. His brother William was executed the same day by being hanged from the walls of Wymondham Abbey
Wymondham Abbey (pronounced ''Windum'') is the Anglican parish church for the town of Wymondham in Norfolk, England.
History
The monastery was founded in 1107 by William d'Aubigny, Butler (Pincerna) to King Henry I. William was a prominent Nor ...
.
*22 August 1553: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland
John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1504Loades 2008 – 22 August 1553) was an English general, admiral, and politician, who led the government of the young King Edward VI from 1550 until 1553, and unsuccessfully tried to install Lady Ja ...
, was beheaded for treason.
*12 February 1554: Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey ( 1537 – 12 February 1554), later known as Lady Jane Dudley (after her marriage) and as the "Nine Days' Queen", was an English noblewoman who claimed the throne of England and Ireland from 10 July until 19 July 1553.
Jane was ...
, queen of England, and her husband Lord Guildford Dudley
Lord Guildford Dudley (also spelt Guilford) ( 1535 – 12 February 1554) was an English nobleman who was married to Lady Jane Grey. King Edward VI had declared her his heir, and she occupied the English throne from 10 July until 19 Ju ...
were beheaded for treason by Jane's successor Mary I
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...
.
*11 April 1554: Thomas Wyatt the Younger
Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger (152111 April 1554) was an English politician and rebel leader during the reign of Queen Mary I; his rising is traditionally called " Wyatt's rebellion". He was the son of the English poet and ambassador Sir Thomas ...
was beheaded for treason for leading the Wyatt Rebellion against Mary I
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...
.
* On or around 18 July 1556 on the island of Guernsey
Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency.
It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...
, the infant son of Perotine Massey, less than one day old, was ordered to be burned by Bailiff Hellier Gosselin, with the advice of Roman Catholic priests nearby who said the boy should burn due to having inherited moral stain from his mother.
*21 March 1556: Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry' ...
was burned at the stake for heresy, despite recanting his Protestant beliefs multiple times.
*2 June 1572: Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, (Kenninghall, Norfolk, 10 March 1536Tower Hill, London, 2 June 1572) was an English nobleman and politician. Although from a family with strong Roman Catholic leanings, he was raised a Protestant. He was a ...
was beheaded for his involvement in the Ridolfi plot
The Ridolfi plot was a Roman Catholic plot in 1571 to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots. The plot was hatched and planned by Roberto Ridolfi, an international banker who was able to travel betwee ...
.
*22 August 1572: Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland
Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, 1st Baron Percy, KG (152822 August 1572), led the Rising of the North and was executed for treason. He was later beatified by the Catholic Church.
Early life
Percy was the eldest son of Sir Thomas ...
was beheaded for leading the Rising of the North
The Rising of the North of 1569, also called the Revolt of the Northern Earls or Northern Rebellion, was an unsuccessful attempt by Catholic nobles from Northern England to depose Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of ...
.
*July 1584: Sir Francis Throckmorton
Sir Francis Throckmorton (155410 July 1584) was a conspirator against Queen Elizabeth I of England in the Throckmorton Plot.
Life
He was the son of Sir John Throckmorton, who was the seventh out of eight sons of Sir George Throckmorton of C ...
was executed for plotting to assassinate Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
in order to pave the way for a Spanish invasion.
*20–21 December 1586: Anthony Babington
Anthony Babington (24 October 156120 September 1586) was an English gentleman convicted of plotting the assassination of Elizabeth I of England and conspiring with the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots, for which he was hanged, drawn and quartere ...
, John Ballard and eleven others were hanged, drawn and quartered for conspiring to kill Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
.
* 8 February 1587: Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
was beheaded.
*25 February 1601: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG, PC (; 10 November 1565 – 25 February 1601) was an English nobleman and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a ...
was beheaded for treason after he attempted to start a rebellion against Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
.
*30 January 1606: Robert Wintour
Robert Wintour (1568 – 30 January 1606) and Thomas Wintour (1571 or 1572 – 31 January 1606), also spelt Winter, were members of the Gunpowder Plot, a failed conspiracy to assassinate King James I. Brothers, they were related to other consp ...
, Thomas Bates
Thomas Bates (1567 – 30 January 1606) was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
Bates was born at Lapworth in Warwickshire, and became a retainer to Robert Catesby, who from 160 ...
and John Grant were hanged, drawn and quartered for their involvement in the Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who sought ...
, a conspiracy to blow up the House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
in order to kill King James I
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...
.
*31 January 1606: Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes (; 13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He was born and educated ...
, Sir Everard Digby
Sir Everard Digby (c. 1578 – 30 January 1606) was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Although he was raised in a Protestant household, and married a Protestant, Digby and his ...
, Robert Keyes
Robert Keyes (1565 -1606) was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a conspiracy to assassinate King James I by blowing up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament ...
, Ambrose Rookwood
Ambrose Rookwood (c. 1578 – 31 January 1606) was a member of the failed 1605 Gunpowder Plot, a conspiracy to replace the Protestant King James I with a Catholic sovereign. Rookwood was born into a wealthy family of Catholic recusants, and edu ...
and Thomas Wintour
Robert Wintour (1568 – 30 January 1606) and Thomas Wintour (1571 or 1572 – 31 January 1606), also spelt Winter, were members of the Gunpowder Plot, a failed conspiracy to assassinate King James I. Brothers, they were related to other consp ...
were hanged, drawn and quartered for their involvement in the Gunpowder Plot, the day after the execution of their fellow conspirators.
*21 May 1613: John Maxwell, 9th Lord Maxwell
John Maxwell, 9th Lord Maxwell ( – 21 May 1613) was a Scottish Catholic nobleman. He escaped from Edinburgh Castle in 1607, and in 1608 shot the Laird of Johnstone. For these crimes, he was executed and his titles were forfeit.
Biography
The n ...
was beheaded for the murder of the Laird of Johnstone and the killings of several other members of Clan Johnstone during a feud between Clan Johnstone and Clan Maxwell.
*29 October 1618: Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion ...
was beheaded at the Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...
for violating the 1604 Treaty of London by attacking a Spanish outpost during peacetime.
* 23 February 1629: John Dean
John Wesley Dean III (born October 14, 1938) is an American former attorney who served as White House Counsel for U.S. President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. Dean is known for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal ...
became the youngest known person legally executed in England, at age 8 or 9 for arson
Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...
.
* 30 January 1649: King Charles I was found guilty of high treason by 59 commissioners and was beheaded
Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the ...
.
*15 July 1685: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth
James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, 1st Duke of Buccleuch, KG, PC (9 April 1649 – 15 July 1685) was a Dutch-born English nobleman and military officer. Originally called James Crofts or James Fitzroy, he was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlan ...
was beheaded at the Tower of London for leading the Monmouth Rebellion
The Monmouth Rebellion, also known as the Pitchfork Rebellion, the Revolt of the West or the West Country rebellion, was an attempt to depose James II, who in February 1685 succeeded his brother Charles II as king of England, Scotland and Ir ...
against King James II of England
James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Gloriou ...
.
Kingdom of Great Britain, 1707–1801
*11 November 1724: Joseph "Blueskin" Blake was hanged at Tyburn for burglary. His partner-in-crime, Jack Sheppard
Jack Sheppard (4 March 1702 – 16 November 1724), or "Honest Jack", was a notorious English thief and prison escapee of early 18th-century London.
Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter but took to theft and burglary in ...
, was executed for the same burglary five days later.
*16 November 1724: Jack Sheppard
Jack Sheppard (4 March 1702 – 16 November 1724), or "Honest Jack", was a notorious English thief and prison escapee of early 18th-century London.
Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter but took to theft and burglary in ...
, housebreaker
Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murder ...
, was hanged at Tyburn for burglary after four successful escape attempts from jail.
*24 May 1725: Jonathan Wild
Jonathan Wild, also spelled Wilde (1682 or 1683 – 24 May 1725), was a London underworld figure notable for operating on both sides of the law, posing as a public-spirited vigilante entitled the "'' Thief-Taker General''". He simultaneously ran ...
, criminal overlord and fraudulent "Thief Taker General", was hanged at Tyburn for receiving stolen goods
Possession of stolen goods is a crime in which an individual has bought, been given, or acquired stolen goods.
In many jurisdictions, if an individual has accepted possession of goods (or property) and knew they were stolen, then the individua ...
and thus aiding criminals.
*7 April 1739: Dick Turpin
Richard Turpin (bapt. 21 September 1705 – 7 April 1739) was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's trade as a butcher ear ...
, infamous highwayman
A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to footp ...
, was hanged at Knavesmire.
*30 July 1746: nine Catholic members of the Manchester Regiment, Jacobites, were hanged, drawn and quartered for treason at Kennington Common (now Kennington Park
Kennington Park is a public park in Kennington, south London and lies between Kennington Park Road and St. Agnes Place. It was opened in 1854 on the site of what had been Kennington Common, where the Chartists gathered for their biggest "mons ...
).
*9 April 1747: Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat
Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat (c. 1667 – 9 April 1747, London), nicknamed the Fox, was a Scottish Jacobitism, Jacobite and Scottish clan chief, Chief of Clan Fraser of Lovat, known for his feuding and changes of allegiance. In 1715, he ...
, Jacobite leader and Scottish Clan chief, was the last man to be publicly beheaded in Britain, at Tower Hill.
*26 April 1748: Thomas Kingsmill, one of the leaders of the Hawkhurst Gang
The Hawkhurst Gang was a notorious criminal organisation involved in smuggling throughout southeast England from 1735 until 1749. One of the more infamous gangs of the early 18th century, they extended their influence from Hawkhurst, their base i ...
, was hanged at Tyburn and then gibbeted for smuggling
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.
There are various ...
*11 May 1748: Arthur Gray, leader of the Hawkhurst Gang, was hanged at Tyburn and then gibbeted for smuggling and the murder of a customs officer.
*3 October 1750: James MacLaine
"Captain" James Maclaine (occasionally "Maclean", "MacLean", or "Maclane") (1724 – 3 October 1750) was an Irish man of a respectable presbyterian family who had a brief but notorious career as a mounted highwayman in London with his accompli ...
, 'The Gentleman Highwayman', was hanged at Tyburn, London
Tyburn was a manor (estate) in the county of Middlesex, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone.
The parish, probably therefore also the manor, was bounded by Roman roads to the west (modern Edgware Road) and south (modern Ox ...
.
*21 June 1751: Alexander Geddes
Alexander Geddes (14 September 1737 – 26 February 1802) was a Scottish theologian and scholar. He translated a major part of the Old Testament of the Catholic Bible into English.
Translations and commentaries
Geddes was born at Rathven, B ...
was hanged at Gallows Hill in Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
for bestiality, the last known execution for bestiality in Scotland.
*14 March 1757: John Byng
Admiral John Byng (baptised 29 October 1704 – 14 March 1757) was a British Royal Navy officer who was court-martialled and executed by firing squad. After joining the navy at the age of thirteen, he participated at the Battle of Cape Passa ...
became the only British admiral executed, by firing squad by the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
. His crime was having failed to "do his utmost" at the Battle of Minorca
The island of Menorca in the Mediterranean Sea has been invaded on numerous occasions. The first recorded invasion occurred in 252 BC, when the Carthaginians arrived. The name of the island's chief city, Mahón (now Maó), appears to derive from t ...
during the Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
.
*5 May 1760: Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers
Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers (18 August 1720 – 5 May 1760) was an English nobleman, notable for being the last peer to be hanged, following his conviction for murdering his steward.
Biography
Shirley was the eldest son of Laurenc ...
was executed at Tyburn for the murder of a servant. He was the last peer to be hanged (reputedly by a silken rope) and is the only peer to have been hanged for murder.
*3 April 1783: Highwayman John Austin John Austin may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* John P. Austin (1906–1997), American set decorator
*Johnny Austin (1910–1983), American musician
* John Austin (author) (fl. 1940s), British novelist
Military
*John Austin (soldier) (1801 ...
was the last person to be hanged at Tyburn
Tyburn was a manor (estate) in the county of Middlesex, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone.
The parish, probably therefore also the manor, was bounded by Roman roads to the west (modern Edgware Road) and south (modern Ox ...
.
*18 March 1789: Catherine Murphy, a counterfeiter, was the last woman in England to be burned at the stake
Death by burning (also known as immolation) is an execution and murder method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment f ...
(though she was in fact strangled before the fire was lit, and thus not literally burned to death). The penalty of burning at the stake, which at the time applied to women and not to men, was abolished the next year.
*24 October 1795: Four Irishmen were convicted of the murder of William Marriott. James Cully, Thomas Markin and the two brothers Michael and Thomas Quin were all hanged in Wisbech
Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland Port of Wisbech, port and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bord ...
. Cully and Michael Quinn's bodies were placed in gibbets. One gibbet is now in the Wisbech & Fenland Museum
The Wisbech & Fenland Museum, located in the town of Wisbech in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, is one of the oldest purpose-built museums in the United Kingdom. The museum logo is W&F.
History
Initially a member-based organisation ...
.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1801–1922
*21 February 1803: Edward Despard
Edward Marcus Despard (175121 February 1803), an Kingdom of Ireland, Irish officer in the service of the The Crown, British Crown, gained notoriety as a colonial administrator for refusing to recognise racial distinctions in law and, following his ...
and six others in the Despard Plot
The Despard Plot was a failed 1802 conspiracy by British revolutionaries led by Colonel Edward Marcus Despard, a former army officer and colonial official. Evidence presented in court suggested that Despard planned to assassinate the monarch Ge ...
were hanged and decapitated on the roof of the gatehouse at Horsemonger Lane Gaol
Horsemonger Lane Gaol (also known as the Surrey County Gaol or the New Gaol) was a prison close to present-day Newington Causeway in Southwark, south London. Built at the end of the 18th century, it was in use until 1878.
History
The gaol was bu ...
for allegedly plotting to assassinate King George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
and launch an uprising.
*13 November 1805: Richard Harding was hanged for uttering
Uttering is a crime involving a person with the intent to defraud that knowingly sells, publishes or passes a forged or counterfeited document. More specifically, forgery creates a falsified document and uttering is the act of knowingly passing o ...
playing cards with a forged ace of spades
The Ace of Spades (also known as the Spadille and Death Card) is traditionally the highest and most valued card in the deck of playing cards in English-speaking countries. The actual value of the card varies from game to game.
Design
The orn ...
. The attorney general in charge of the prosecution was Spencer Perceval
Spencer Perceval (1 November 1762 – 11 May 1812) was a British statesman and barrister who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1809 until his assassination in May 1812. Perceval is the only British prime minister to ...
.
*18 May 1812: John Bellingham
John Bellingham (176918 May 1812) was an English merchant and perpetrator of the 1812 murder of Spencer Perceval, the only British prime minister to be assassinated.
Early life
Bellingham's early life is largely unknown, and most post-assass ...
was hanged for the murder of Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.
*1 May 1820: Five conspirators of the Cato Street Conspiracy
The Cato Street Conspiracy was a plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister Lord Liverpool in 1820. The name comes from the meeting place near Edgware Road in London. The police had an informer; the plotters fell into ...
were hanged and decapitated for planning to murder all the British cabinet ministers
A cabinet is a body of high-ranking state officials, typically consisting of the executive branch's top leaders. Members of a cabinet are usually called cabinet ministers or secretaries. The function of a cabinet varies: in some countries ...
and the Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Lord Liverpool
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, (7 June 1770 – 4 December 1828) was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. He held many important cabinet offices such as Foreign Secret ...
. Five other conspirators were transported to Australia
Between 1788 and 1868, about 162,000 convicts were transported from Britain and Ireland to various penal colonies in Australia.
The British Government began transporting convicts overseas to American colonies in the early 18th century. When ...
.
*8 September 1820: Andrew Hardie and John Baird were hanged and behead
Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...
ed at Stirling
Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...
after being tried for their part in the Radical War
The Radical War, also known as the Scottish Insurrection of 1820, was a week of strikes and unrest in Scotland, a culmination of Radical demands for reform in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which had become prominent in the earl ...
in Scotland.
*11 August 1828: William Corder was hanged at Bury St Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...
for the murder of Maria Marten at the Red Barn a year before.
*28 January 1829: William Burke, one of Britain's first recorded serial killers, was hanged at Edinburgh Gaol for his participation in the Burke and Hare murders
The Burke and Hare murders were a series of sixteen killings committed over a period of about ten months in 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were undertaken by William Burke and William Hare, who sold the corpses to Robert Knox for dissectio ...
.
*8 September 1830: William Wall, John Rowley and Richard Clarke were hanged at Kenn, Somerset
Kenn is a small village and civil parish in the county of Somerset, England. It falls within the area of the North Somerset unitary authority. It lies on the B3133 road near Clevedon in the North Somerset Levels. The parish has a population of 43 ...
, for the arson of three hay ricks. This was the last public execution in England to be held at the scene of the crime.
*13 August 1831: Dic Penderyn
Richard Lewis (1807/8 – 13 August 1831), known as Dic Penderyn, was a Welsh labourer and coal miner who lived in Merthyr Tydfil and was involved with the Merthyr Rising of 3 June 1831. In the course of the riot he was arrested alongside Lewis ...
was hanged on the gallows at St. Mary's Street, Cardiff for allegedly participating in the Merthyr Rising
The Merthyr Rising, also referred to as the Merthyr Riots, of 1831 was the violent climax to many years of simmering unrest among the large working class population of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales and the surrounding area. The Rising marked the fir ...
.
*21 March 1834: George Capel
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Preside ...
was hanged in Aylesbury
Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...
for bestiality, the last known execution for bestiality in England.
*27 November 1835: James Pratt and John Smith
James Pratt (1805–1835), also known as John Pratt, and John Smith (1795–1835) were two London men who, in November 1835, became the last two to be executed for sodomy in England.Cook ''et al'' (2007), p. 109. Pratt and Smith were arrested in ...
were hanged in front of Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, t ...
for sodomy, the last known execution for sodomy in England.
*14 June 1856: William Palmer, now believed to have been a serial killer, was hanged at HM Prison Stafford
HM Prison Stafford is a Category C men's prison, located in Stafford, Staffordshire, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. In 2014 it became a sex offender-only jail.
History
His Majesty's Prison at Stafford was orig ...
for the murder of John Cook.
*9 August 1856: Elizabeth Martha Brown
Elizabeth Martha Brown (c. 1811 – 9 August 1856), née Clark, was the last woman to be publicly hanged in Dorset, England. She was executed outside Dorchester Prison after being convicted of the murder of her second husband, John Brown, on 5 ...
was the last woman to be hanged in public in the English county of Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
; her hanging is notable in part because it influenced Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...
, an eyewitness, in his portrayal of the execution of the fictional heroine of '' Tess of the D'Urbervilles''.
*27 August 1861: Martin Doyle was the last person to be hanged for attempted murder, at Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
.
*29 April 1862: Mary Timney
Mary Timney (died 29 April 1862) was the last woman publicly executed in Scotland. She had been convicted of the murder of her landlady Ann Hannah.
Timney lived in Carsphad (now New Galloway) in a stone cottage adjacent to Hannah's house. The tw ...
's hanging was the last public execution of a woman in Scotland.
*14 November 1864: Franz Muller Franz may refer to:
People
* Franz (given name)
* Franz (surname)
Places
* Franz (crater), a lunar crater
* Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada
* Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see ...
was hanged for the murder of Thomas Briggs, the first murder committed on a British train.
*28 July 1865: Edward William Pritchard
Edward William Pritchard (6 December 1825 – 28 July 1865) was an English doctor who was convicted of murdering his wife and mother-in-law by poisoning them. He was also suspected of murdering a servant girl, but was never tried for this crime.
...
was hanged on Glasgow Green
Glasgow Green is a park in the east end of Glasgow, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde. Established in the 15th century, it is the oldest park in the city. It connects to the south via the St Andrew's Suspension Bridge.
History
In ...
, the last public execution in Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
.
*12 May 1867: Robert Smith was hanged at Buccleuch Street Prison for the robbery, rape and murder of nine-year-old Thomasina Scott, the last public execution in Scotland.
*2 April 1868: Frances Kidder
Frances Kidder (c. 1843 – 2 April 1868) was the last woman to be publicly hanged in Britain. She was convicted of murdering her stepdaughter, Louisa Kidder-Staples.
Crime
In 1865 Frances Turner married William Kidder, the father of her illegiti ...
was the last woman to be hanged in public in Britain.
*26 May 1868: Fenian
The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...
Michael Barrett was executed at Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, t ...
for mass murder. He had participated in the Clerkenwell explosion
The Clerkenwell explosion, also known as the Clerkenwell Outrage, was a bombing in London on 13 December 1867. The Irish Republican Brotherhood, nicknamed the "Fenians", exploded a bomb to try to free one of their members being held on remand a ...
, which had killed 12 people. His execution was the last public hanging in the UK.
*1 April 1872: William Frederick Horry
William Frederick Horry, also known as Fred Horry (December 1843 – 1 April 1872), was the first person to be hanged by Victorian hangman William Marwood, and the first to fall using the long drop method. He was hanged at Lincoln Castle, Linco ...
was hanged at Lincoln Castle
Lincoln Castle is a major medieval castle constructed in Lincoln, England, during the late 11th century by William the Conqueror on the site of a pre-existing Roman fortress. The castle is unusual in that it has two mottes. It is one of only ...
. This was the first execution in history to use the long drop method of hanging.
*24 March 1873: Serial killer Mary Ann Cotton
Mary Ann Cotton (' Robson; 31 October 1832 – 24 March 1873) was an English convicted murderer who was executed for poisoning her stepson. Despite her sole conviction for murder, she is believed to have been a serial killer who killed many o ...
was hanged at Durham Gaol for the murder of her stepson.
*10 June 1896: Amelia Dyer
Amelia Elizabeth Dyer (née Hobley; 1836 – 10 June 1896) was an English serial killer who murdered infants in her care over a thirty-year period during the Victorian era of the United Kingdom. was hanged at Newgate for the murder of 6 babies. It is now believed that she may have killed over 400 infants.
*7 July 1896: Charles Thomas Wooldridge
Charles Thomas Wooldridge (1864 – 7 July 1896) was a Trooper in the Royal Horse Guards who was executed in Reading Gaol for uxoricide and who, as 'C.T.W', was the dedicatee of Oscar Wilde's ''The Ballad of Reading Gaol''.
Biography
The s ...
was hanged at Reading Gaol
HM Prison Reading, popularly known as Reading Gaol, is a former prison located in Reading, Berkshire, England. The prison was operated by His Majesty's Prison Service until its closure at the start of 2014. It is a Grade II listed building and ...
for the murder of his wife. The execution inspired Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
's ''The Ballad of Reading Gaol
''The Ballad of Reading Gaol'' is a poem by Oscar Wilde, written in exile in Berneval-le-Grand, after his release from Reading Gaol () on 19 May 1897. Wilde had been incarcerated in Reading after being convicted of gross indecency with other ...
''.
*19 July 1899: Mary Ansell was hanged at St Albans, for poisoning her sister. At 22, she was the youngest woman to be hanged in the post-1868 'modern era' (non-public, and by the 'long drop' method).
*7 and 9 January 1903: Joseph Taylor and Mary Daly
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
, who had been having an affair, were executed for the murder of Mary's husband, John Daly, in June 1902. Joseph Taylor, aged 26, was hanged in Kilkenny Prison on 7 January 1903, and Mary Daly, aged 36, was hanged in Tullamore Prison on 9 January 1903, the last woman executed before Ireland was partitioned.
*3 February 1903: Amelia Sach and Annie Walters
Amelia Sach (1873 – 3 February 1903) and Annie Walters (1869 – 3 February 1903) were two British murderers better known as ''the Finchley baby farmers''.
Background
Little is known about Annie Walters, but Sach's background is well-documen ...
at HM Prison Holloway
HM Prison Holloway was a closed category prison for adult women and young offenders in Holloway, London, England, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. It was the largest women's prison in western Europe, until its closure in 2016.
Hist ...
for the murder of an unknown amount of babies, the only double hanging of women in British history.
*23 May 1905: Albert and Alfred Stratton, the first British murderers convicted based on fingerprint
A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfac ...
evidence, were hanged at HMP Wandsworth.
*14 August 1907: Rhoda Willis
Rhoda Willis, alias Leslie James, (14 August 1867 – 14 August 1907) was an English baby farmer convicted of murder. She was the last woman to be executed in Wales.
She was born in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, Sunderland in 1867.
She was sentence ...
was hanged at Cardiff Prison, the last baby farmer to be executed in Britain and the last woman to be executed in Wales.
*23 November 1910: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Hawley Harvey Crippen (September 11, 1862 – November 23, 1910), usually known as Dr. Crippen, was an American homeopath, ear and eye specialist and medicine dispenser. He was hanged in Pentonville Prison in London for the murder of his wife Co ...
was hanged in London's Pentonville Prison
HM Prison Pentonville (informally "The Ville") is an English Category B men's prison, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Pentonville Prison is not in Pentonville, but is located further north, on the Caledonian Road in the Barnsbury ar ...
for poisoning his wife.
*8 September 1914: Private Thomas Highgate
Private Thomas James Highgate (13 May 1895 – 8 September 1914) was a British soldier during World War I and the first British soldier to be convicted of desertion and executed by firing squad. He was born in Shoreham and worked as a farm la ...
was executed by firing squad, the first British soldier to be executed for desertion
Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ar ...
during World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
*13 August 1915: George Joseph Smith
George Joseph Smith (11 January 1872 – 13 August 1915) was an English serial killer and bigamist who was convicted and subsequently hanged for the murders of three women in 1915, the case becoming known as the Brides in the Bath Murders. As we ...
was hanged in Maidstone Prison for the pattern of serial killings known as the "Brides in the Bath Murders".
*3–12 May 1916: Patrick Pearse
Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Pádraic Pearse; ga, Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist, republican political activist and revolutionary who ...
, Thomas Clarke, Joseph Plunkett
Joseph Mary Plunkett (Irish: ''Seosamh Máire Pluincéid''; 21 November 1887 – 4 May 1916) was an Irish nationalist, republican, poet, journalist, revolutionary and a leader of the 1916 Easter Rising. Joseph Mary Plunkett married Grace Giffo ...
, Éamonn Ceannt
Éamonn Ceannt (21 September 1881 – 8 May 1916), born Edward Thomas Kent, was an Irish republican, mostly known for his role in the Easter Rising of 1916.
Background
Ceannt was born in the little village of Ballymoe, overlooking the River Su ...
, James Connolly
James Connolly ( ga, Séamas Ó Conghaile; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. Born to Irish parents in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, Connolly left school for working life at the a ...
, Seán Mac Diarmada
Seán Mac Diarmada (27 January 1883 – 12 May 1916), also known as Seán MacDermott, was an Irish republican political activist and revolutionary leader. He was one of the seven leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916, which he helped to organi ...
and several others were shot at Kilmainham Gaol
Kilmainham Gaol ( ga, Príosún Chill Mhaighneann) is a former prison in Kilmainham, Dublin, Ireland. It is now a museum run by the Office of Public Works, an agency of the Government of Ireland. Many Irish revolutionaries, including the leade ...
, Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, for high treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
and instigating violent insurrection.
*3 August 1916: Roger Casement
Roger David Casement ( ga, Ruairí Dáithí Mac Easmainn; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during Worl ...
, a former government official, was hanged at Pentonville for high treason. He was convicted of conspiring with Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, then at war with the United Kingdom, to incite insurrection in Ireland and to incite Irish soldiers serving in the British Army to mutiny.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1922–1964
*9 January 1923: Edith Thompson and Frederick Bywaters
Edith Jessie Thompson (25 December 1893 – 9 January 1923) and Frederick Edward Francis Bywaters (27 June 1902 – 9 January 1923) were a British couple executed for the murder of Thompson's husband Percy. Their case became a ''cause c ...
, in London's Holloway and Pentonville Prison
HM Prison Pentonville (informally "The Ville") is an English Category B men's prison, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Pentonville Prison is not in Pentonville, but is located further north, on the Caledonian Road in the Barnsbury ar ...
s respectively, for the murder of Thompson's husband. The case was controversial because, although in letters Thompson had fantasised about the possible elimination of her husband, there was no firm evidence that she was in any way connected with the murder for which she was hanged.
*10 October 1923: Susan Newell was hanged at Duke Street Prison for the murder of John Johnston, the last woman executed in Scotland.
*3 January 1931: Victor Betts was hanged for his part in a murder committed during the course of a robbery. The case had established that a person need not be present when a crime is committed to be regarded as an accessory after the fact.
*16 April 1936: Dorothea Waddingham
Dorothea Nancy Waddingham (1899 – 16 April 1936) was an English nursing home matron who was convicted of murder in the United Kingdom.
Life
Dorothea Waddingham was born Dorothy Nancie Merelina Allan Chandler, with her parents marrying a year ...
, a nurse, was hanged at Winson Green Prison
HM Prison Birmingham is a Prison security categories in the United Kingdom, Category B men's prison, located in the Winson Green area of Birmingham, England. The prison was operated by G4S from 2011, before it was returned to HM Prison and Probat ...
. She was convicted of murdering two of her patients, Mrs Baguley (89) and her daughter Ada (50) by administering morphine.
*31 July 1940: Udham Singh
Udham Singh (born Sher Singh; 26 December 1899 — 31 July 1940) was an Indian revolutionary belonging to Ghadar Party and HSRA, best known for assassinating Michael O'Dwyer, the former lieutenant governor of the Punjab in India, on 13 Mar ...
, an Indian independence activist, was hanged at Pentonville Prison
HM Prison Pentonville (informally "The Ville") is an English Category B men's prison, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Pentonville Prison is not in Pentonville, but is located further north, on the Caledonian Road in the Barnsbury ar ...
. He had assassinated the Indian administrator Sir Michael O'Dwyer.
*15 August 1941: Josef Jakobs
Josef Jakobs (30 June 1898 – 15 August 1941) was a German spy and the last person to be executed at the Tower of London. He was captured shortly after parachuting into the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Convicted of espionage unde ...
, a German spy, was executed by firing squad, the last execution in the Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
.
* 25 June 1942: Gordon Cummins
Gordon Frederick Cummins (18 February 1914 – 25 June 1942) was a British serial killer known as the Blackout Killer, the Blackout Ripper and the Wartime Ripper, who murdered four women and attempted to murder two others over a six-day period i ...
, the "Blackout Ripper", was hanged at Wandsworth Prison
HM Prison Wandsworth is a Prison security categories in the United Kingdom, Category B men's prison at Wandsworth in the London Borough of Wandsworth, South West (London sub region), South West London, England. It is operated by His Majesty's Pri ...
. He had murdered four women in a 6-day period in February 1942.
*2 September 1942: Tom Williams was hanged in the Crumlin Road Gaol
HMP Belfast, also known as Crumlin Road Gaol, is a former prison situated on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. Since 1996 it is the only remaining Victorian era former prison in Northern Ireland. It is colloquially known as ' ...
for his involvement in the killing of Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...
(RUC) police officer
A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...
Patrick Murphy during the Northern Campaign.
*3 November 1942: Duncan Scott-Ford
Duncan Alexander Croall Scott-Ford (4 September 1921 – 3 November 1942) was a British merchant seaman who was hanged for treachery after giving information to an enemy agent during the Second World War.
Early life
Scott-Ford was born i ...
was hanged at Wandsworth Prison for treachery.
*19 December 1945: John Amery
John Amery (14 March 1912 – 19 December 1945) was a British fascist and Nazi collaborator during World War II. He was the originator of the British Free Corps, a volunteer Waffen-SS unit composed of former British and Dominion prisoners-o ...
, a British fascist and Nazi collaborator, pleaded guilty to eight charges of treason and was hanged at Wandsworth Prison
HM Prison Wandsworth is a Prison security categories in the United Kingdom, Category B men's prison at Wandsworth in the London Borough of Wandsworth, South West (London sub region), South West London, England. It is operated by His Majesty's Pri ...
in London.
*3 January 1946: William Joyce
William Brooke Joyce (24 April 1906 – 3 January 1946), nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an American-born fascist and Nazi propaganda broadcaster during the Second World War. After moving from New York to Ireland and subsequently to England, J ...
, better known as "Lord Haw-Haw
Lord Haw-Haw was a nickname applied to William Joyce, who broadcast Nazi propaganda to the UK from Germany during the Second World War. The broadcasts opened with "Germany calling, Germany calling", spoken in an affected upper-class English acc ...
", was hanged for treason in London's Wandsworth Prison. He was an American citizen, but was convicted of treason because, as the holder of a British passport
A British passport is a travel document issued by the United Kingdom or other British dependencies and territories to individuals holding any form of British nationality. It grants the bearer international passage in accordance with visa requ ...
(albeit fraudulently obtained), he was held to have owed allegiance to the British sovereign.
*4 January 1946: Theodore Schurch
Theodore William John Schurch (5 May 1918 – 4 January 1946) was a British soldier who was executed under the Treachery Act 1940 after the end of the Second World War. He was the last person to be executed in Britain for an offence other than m ...
was hanged at Pentonville Prison for treachery, the last person executed for an offence other than murder.
*16 October 1946: Neville Heath
Neville George Clevely Heath (6 June 1917 – 16 October 1946) was an English murderer who killed two young women in the summer of 1946. He was executed in Pentonville Prison, London, in October 1946.
Early life and career
Neville Heath was born ...
was hanged at Pentonville Prison for the rape and murder of two women.
*27 February 1947: Walter Rowland was hanged in Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
for the murder of Olive Balchin despite maintaining his innocence. While he had been awaiting execution, another man, David Ware, confessed to the crime. A Home Office report dismissed the latter's confession as a fake, but in 1951 he attacked another woman and was found guilty but insane
The Trial of Lunatics Act 1883 is an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, allowing the jury to return a verdict that the defendant was guilty, but insane at the time, and should be kept in custody as a "criminal lunatic" ...
and committed to Broadmoor Hospital
Broadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. It is the oldest of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth Hospital near Liverpool and Rampton Secure ...
.
*12 January 1949: Margaret Allen, aged 43, was hanged for killing a 70-year-old woman in the course of a robbery, the first woman to be hanged in Britain for 12 years.
*10 August 1949: John George Haigh
John George Haigh (; 24 July 1909 – 10 August 1949), commonly known as the Acid Bath Murderer, was an English serial killer convicted for the murder of six people, although he claimed to have killed nine. Haigh battered to death or shot his ...
, the "acid-bath murderer", was hanged at Wandsworth.
*9 March 1950: Timothy Evans
Timothy John Evans (20 November 1924 – 9 March 1950) was a Welshman who was wrongly accused of murdering his wife (Beryl) and infant daughter (Geraldine) at their residence in Notting Hill, London. In January 1950, Evans was tried, and was c ...
was hanged at Pentonville for the murder of his wife and daughter at 10 Rillington Place, North West London
The NW (North Western) postcode area, also known as the London NW postcode area, is a group of 13 postcode districts covering around 13,895 live postcodes within part of northwest London, England. It is the successor of the NW sector, originally ...
. He initially claimed his wife died after drinking an abortion drug he gave her, but later withdrew the claim. Evan's downstairs neighbour, John Christie (whom Evans accused of committing the murder), later found to be a sexual serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
*
* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
, gave key evidence against Evans, but ultimately confessed to murdering Evans' wife himself shortly before he was executed in 1953. Evans received a posthumous
Posthumous may refer to:
* Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death
* Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death
* Posthumous (album), ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987
* ...
pardon in 1966 after an investigation concluded that Christie also murdered Evans' daughter. In 2004 the Court of Appeal
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
refused to consider overturning the conviction due to the costs and resources that would be involved, but acknowledged that Evans did not murder his wife or his daughter.
*28 March 1950: George Kelly was hanged at Walton Prison, Liverpool, for murder, but had his conviction quashed posthumously by the Court of Appeal
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
in June 2003.
*25 April 1952: Edward Devlin and Alfred Burns were hanged for killing a woman during a robbery in Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
. They claimed that they had been doing a different burglary in Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, and others involved in the crime supported this. A Home Office report rejected this evidence. Huge crowds gathered outside Liverpool's Walton Prison as they were executed.
*3 September 1952: Mahmood Hussein Mattan
Mahmood Hussein Mattan (1923 – 3 September 1952) was a British Somali former merchant seaman who was wrongfully convicted of the murder of Lily Volpert on 6 March 1952. The murder took place in the Docklands area of Cardiff, Wales, and Mat ...
, a Somali seaman, was hanged in Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
for murder. The Court of Appeal quashed his conviction posthumously in 1998 after hearing that crucial evidence implicating another Somali was withheld at his trial.
*28 January 1953: Derek Bentley
Derek William Bentley (30 June 1933 – 28 January 1953) was a British man who was hanged for the murder of a policeman during a burglary attempt. Christopher Craig, then aged 16, a friend and accomplice of Bentley, was accused of the murde ...
was hanged at Wandsworth Prison
HM Prison Wandsworth is a Prison security categories in the United Kingdom, Category B men's prison at Wandsworth in the London Borough of Wandsworth, South West (London sub region), South West London, England. It is operated by His Majesty's Pri ...
as an accomplice to the murder of a police officer by his 16-year-old friend Christopher Craig
Derek William Bentley (30 June 1933 – 28 January 1953) was a British man who was hanged for the murder of a police officer, policeman during a burglary attempt. Christopher Craig, then aged 16, a friend and accomplice of Bentley, was accu ...
. Craig, a minor, was not executed and instead served 10 years in prison. Bentley was granted a partial posthumous pardon on 29 July 1993, and the Court of Appeal fully overturned his conviction on 30 July 1998.
*15 July 1953: John Christie was hanged at Pentonville for the murder of his wife Ethel. Christie was a serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
*
* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
and had murdered at least six other women (see also entry on Timothy Evans
Timothy John Evans (20 November 1924 – 9 March 1950) was a Welshman who was wrongly accused of murdering his wife (Beryl) and infant daughter (Geraldine) at their residence in Notting Hill, London. In January 1950, Evans was tried, and was c ...
above).
*13 December 1954: Styllou Christofi
Styllou Pantopiou Christofi ( el, Στυλλού Χριστοφή; 1900 – 15 December 1954) was a Greek Cypriot woman hanged in Britain for murdering her daughter-in-law. She was the penultimate woman to be executed in Britain, followed in 1955 ...
was hanged aged 53, the penultimate woman executed in Britain.
*13 July 1955: Ruth Ellis
Ruth Ellis ( née Neilson; 9 October 1926 – 13 July 1955) was a British nightclub hostess and convicted murderer who became the last woman to be hanged in the United Kingdom following the fatal shooting of her lover, David Blakely.
In her t ...
, aged 28, was the last woman to be hanged in Britain. She was the 15th and youngest woman hanged in the 20th century.
*6 May 1958: Vivian Teed
Vivian Frederick Teed (1934 - 6 May 1958) was the last person to be hanged in Wales. He was charged with the murder of 73-year-old William Williams on 15 November 1957. The case was controversial at the time due to Teed's claims of mental illness ...
, 24, was hanged in Swansea for the murder of William Williams, the last person to be executed in Wales.
*11 July 1958: Peter Manuel
Peter Thomas Anthony Manuel (13 March 1927 – 11 July 1958) was a Scottish-American serial killer who was convicted of murdering seven people across Lanarkshire and southern Scotland between 1956 and his arrest in January 1958, and is believed ...
was hanged aged 31, the second to last person to be hanged in HM Prison Barlinnie
HM Prison Barlinnie is the largest prison in Scotland. It is operated by the Scottish Prison Service and is located in the residential suburb of Riddrie, in the north east of Glasgow, Scotland. It is informally known locally as The Big Hoose, ...
and the third to last to be hanged in Scotland.
*5 November 1959: Guenther Podola
Guenther Fritz Erwin Podola (8 February 1929 – 5 November 1959, alias Mike Colato) was a German-born petty thief, and the last man to be hanged in Britain for killing a police officer.
His trial was notable and controversial because of his ...
was the last person to be hanged for the murder of a policeman.
*10 November 1960: Francis Forsyth was hanged at Wandsworth Prison for the murder of Alan John Jee, the last 18-year-old to be executed in Britain. His accomplice James Harris was hanged at Pentonville the same day.
*22 December 1960: Anthony Miller, 19, was hanged in Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
's Barlinnie Prison
HM Prison Barlinnie is the largest prison in Scotland. It is operated by the Scottish Prison Service and is located in the residential suburb of Riddrie, in the north east of Glasgow, Scotland. It is informally known locally as The Big Hoose, ...
for the murder of John Cremin. He was the last teenager to be executed in Britain and the penultimate person executed in Scotland.
*20 December 1961: Robert McGladdery
Robert Andrew McGladdery (18 October 193520 December 1961) was the last person to be executed in Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland.
He was convicted of the murder of Pearl Gamble, aged 19, whom he had battered, strangled and stabbed ...
, 25, was hanged in Crumlin Road Gaol
HMP Belfast, also known as Crumlin Road Gaol, is a former prison situated on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. Since 1996 it is the only remaining Victorian era former prison in Northern Ireland. It is colloquially known as ' ...
in Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
. He was the last person to be executed in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, for the murder of Pearl Gamble in Newry
Newry (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Clanrye river in counties Armagh and Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011.
Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, althoug ...
.
*4 April 1962: James Hanratty
James Hanratty (4 October 1936 – 4 April 1962), also known as the A6 Murderer, was a British criminal who was one of the final eight people in the UK to be executed before capital punishment was effectively abolished. He was hanged at Bedfo ...
was hanged at Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
after a controversial rape–murder trial. In 2002, Hanratty's body was exhumed and the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction after Hanratty's DNA was linked to crime scene samples.
*15 August 1963: Henry Burnett was hanged aged 21 at Craiginches Prison
HM Prison Aberdeen (formerly known as Craiginches) was a medium-security prison, located in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. The prison was managed by the Scottish Prison Service. Known as one of the most overcrowded prisons in Scotland, it had ...
in Aberdeen for the murder of seaman Thomas Guyan, the last hanging in Scotland.
*13 August 1964: Peter Anthony Allen
The murder of John Alan West on 7 April 1964 was the crime which led to the last Capital punishment, death sentences being carried out in the United Kingdom. West, a 53-year-old van driver for a laundry company, was beaten and stabbed to death b ...
was hanged at Walton Prison in Liverpool, and Gwynne Owen Evans
The murder of John Alan West on 7 April 1964 was the crime which led to the last death sentences being carried out in the United Kingdom. West, a 53-year-old van driver for a laundry company, was beaten and stabbed to death by Gwynne Evans and P ...
at Strangeways Prison
HM Prison Manchester is a Category A and B men's prison in Manchester, England, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. It is still commonly referred to as Strangeways, which was its former official name derived from the area in which it is ...
in Manchester, for the murder of John Alan West
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
. They were the last people executed in Britain.[Block & Hostettler (1997) pp.11–17]
See also
* Black cap
The black cap is a plain black fabric square formerly worn as symbolic headgear by English, Welsh, Irish and Northern Irish judges in criminal cases when passing a sentence of death. When worn, the square was placed on top of the judicial wig, ...
* Capital punishment in Hong Kong
Capital punishment in Hong Kong was formally abolished on 23 April 1993 by virtue of the Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance 1993. Before then, capital punishment was the usual sentence given since the establishment of the Crown Colony of Hong Kong for o ...
* Capital punishment in Singapore
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Singapore. Executions are carried out by long drop hanging, and usually take place at dawn. 33 offences— including murder, drug trafficking, terrorism, use of firearms and kidnapping — warrant the ...
* Courts of the United Kingdom
A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance w ...
* English criminal law
English criminal law concerns offences, their prevention and the consequences, in England and Wales. Criminal conduct is considered to be a wrong against the whole of a community, rather than just the private individuals affected. The state, in ...
* Execution by firing squad in the United Kingdom
* List of executioners
This is a list of people who have acted as official executioners.
Algeria
Alger
Monsieur d'Alger: The Executioners of the French Republic
In 1870 the Republic of France abolished all local executioners and named the executioner of Algiers, ...
* ''Murder, Mystery and My Family
''Murder, Mystery and My Family'' is a BBC One series featuring Sasha Wass KC and Jeremy Dein KC., which examines historic criminal convictions sentenced to the death penalty in order to determine if any of them resulted in a miscarriage of ...
''
* Shot at Dawn Memorial
The Shot at Dawn Memorial is a monument at the National Memorial Arboretum near Alrewas, in Staffordshire, UK. It commemorates the 306 British Army and Commonwealth soldiers executed after courts-martial for desertion and other capital offenc ...
* Christopher Simcox
Christopher Simcox (10 December 1909 – 23 January 1981) was an English double murderer, notable and perhaps unique in being twice sentenced to death, and twice reprieved.
Simcox, a maintenance fitter by trade, lived in Smethwick, Staffordshire, ...
* Use of capital punishment by country
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is a state-sanctioned practice of killing a person as a punishment for a crime. Historically, capital punishment has been used in almost every part of the world. Currently, the large majority ...
* Wrongful execution
Wrongful execution is a miscarriage of justice occurring when an innocent person is put to death by capital punishment. Cases of wrongful execution are cited as an argument by opponents of capital punishment, while proponents say that the argum ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
*Harry Potter (1993), ''Hanging in Judgment: Religion and the Death Penalty in England from the Bloody Code to Abolition'', London, SCM Press
*
Further reading
Hansard
''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official print ...
notes (Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
):
*
DEATH PENALTY (ABOLITION) BILL HC Deb 12 March 1956 vol 550 cc36-151
"
*
DEATH PENALTY (ABOLITION) BILL HL Deb 10 July 1956 vol 198 cc679-843
"
*
MURDER (ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY) BILL HC Deb 21 December 1964 vol 704 cc870-1010
"
*
MURDER (ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY) BILL HL Deb 19 July 1965 vol 268 cc480-582
"
*
MURDER (ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY) HC Deb 16 December 1969 vol 793 cc1148-297
"
Journal articles:
*
*
*
* – University of Richmond
The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...
, Paper 882
External links
A comprehensive site about capital punishment in the UK
'Hanging With Frank' (video showing UK execution protocol at the old gallows in Barlinnie Prison)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Capital Punishment In The United Kingdom
Legal history of the United Kingdom
English criminal law