swuklink: EXECUTION

For much of the history of our legal system, being brought to trial was almost inevitably followed by conviction and frequently punishment by sentence of death, even for minor offences - as late as 1833, a nine-year-old boy was condemned by the court to be hanged for stealing ink worth only 2d.

The nobility were privileged to be executed quickly by beheading, commoners were strangulated by hanging and frequently their dead bodies were drawn and quartered. Woman were frequently burned alive instead.

Many accused chosed a horrendous death by "Peine Forte et Dure" rather than suffer almost the inevitable execution and dispossession of their dependents which followed trial.

HANGING
The last prisoner to be hanged, drawn and quartered in England was executed in 1810 (the quartering of the dead bodies of criminals continued until 1870). Hanging by strangulation was practiced until about 1830 when the more humane method of hanging by dropping through a trap door (which process snapped the neck) became the norm. The hanging of criminals was public until 1868.

It was estimated that just short of 13,000 converged on Maumbury Rings in Dorchester to witness the execution of the 19-year-old Mary Channings for the murder of her husband by poisoning.

This time-line has been generated for this page from our general time-line
which you can view by clicking here or on the dates in the left-hand column.

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1312.Jun.19		Beheading of the favourite of Edward II, Piers gaveston, Earl of Cornwall (c.1284-) by the barons
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1649.Jan.30		Execution of Charles I for treason outside the Banqueting House, Whitehall - beheaded by the hangman Richard Brandon Cromwell allowed the head to be sown back onto the body for the sake of the royal family
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1736		Parliament repealed the law, already obsolete in practice, condemning a convicted witch to death. While being a witch was not illegal, pretenses to such arts and powers were made illegal The measure caused considerable indignation amongst the uneducated majority of the population. The Act was repealed in 1951
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1783.Dec.09		First public hangings take place at London s Newgate Prison (moved from Tyburn prison) The public hangings are held on Mondays outside the prison (-1868), with a seat costing up to �10
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1793		Louis XVI of France beheaded
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1793.Oct.16		Marie Antoinette beheaded in France
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1833		Nine-year-old boy was condemned by a court in England to be hanged for stealing ink worth only 2d
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1868		Public hangings outside Londons Newgate Prison (1783-) moved inside the prison (-1901)
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1901		public hangings at Londons Newgate Prison (1793-) abolished
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Links to Other Pages on this Site
ESCHEAT
PRIMITIVE METHODS OF TRIAL
TRIAL BY ORDEAL
"Peine Forte et Dure"
TRIAL BY JURY
TREASON
THE BLOODY ASSIZES
JUDGE GEORGE JEFFREYS (1648-1689)
WITCHCRAFT

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DORSET
In his later years, Dorset's famous writer Thomas Hardy recalled how in hhis youth he had witnessed a labourer of his own age who was hanged - his friends tying weights to his legs so that he might die quickly as he was so thin.

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