executioner
An executioner, also known as a hangman or headsman, is an official who executes a sentence of capital punishment on a legally condemned person.
Scope and job
The executioner was usually presented with a warrant authorising or order ...
. He was on the Home Office list from 1902 to 1905 and had participated in hangings from 1899.
Career
Billington, second son of executioner James Billington, carried out his first hanging in July 1899. He assisted his father in several more commissions throughout the rest of the year, and underwent formal training in early 1900. He was also an assistant executioner in 1900.
After his father died in December 1901, William became the principal executioner for England. He was at first assisted by his older brother
Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the Ap ...
and then by his younger brother
John
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 ...
,"The English hangmen 1850 - 1964" ''capitalpunishmentuk.org''. Retrieved 2010-11-16. along with
Henry Pierrepoint
Henry Albert Pierrepoint (30 November 1877 – 14 December 1922) was an English executioner from 1901 until 1910. He was the father of Albert Pierrepoint and brother of Thomas William Pierrepoint.Preston, Nigel "Billington: Victorian Executioner" ''crimetime.co.uk''. Retrieved 2010-11-16. Billington carried out the vast majority of executions from 1902 to 1904. He carried out the last one to take place 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 ...
on 2 May 1902 and the first at
Pentonville
Pentonville is an area on the northern fringe of Central London, in the London Borough of Islington. It is located north-northeast of Charing Cross on the Inner Ring Road. Pentonville developed in the northwestern edge of the ancient parish o ...
on 30 September 1902. He also performed a few executions in Ireland.
Billington was married with two children, but he also had problems with
alcohol
Alcohol most commonly refers to:
* Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom
* Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks
Alcohol may also refer to:
Chemicals
* Ethanol, one of sev ...
. In the summer of 1905, he served a one-month prison sentence for failing to pay money to his wife in compliance with a separation order. While he was in prison, his brother and execution partner, John, died. William's last execution was on 25 April 1905. All in all, he carried out 58 hangings as the chief executioner and assisted at 14 more."The Anatomy of a Hanging" 27 September 2007. ''executions.justsickshit.com''. Retrieved 2010-11-16. In his later years, he apparently tried to shun his past as an executioner. He died in 1952.
See also
*
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, ...
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...