THE county has of late years been almost wholly spared the painful
spectacle of justice proceeding to its direst extremity of taking away
human life, though formerly capital punishments were but too common, and
inflicted for what we should now esteem very inadequate causes of
offence. Their policy and propriety in any case are now allowed to be
fit matters for discussion; and it is probable that public opinion may,
in a few years hence, demand their entire abolition.
1800—At the Lent Assizes this year, ten persons were sentenced to death,
but seven of them were reprieved before the judges left the town.
Richard and John Lane, brothel’s, were convicted of the murder of Thomas
Goode, of Redmarley, in October, 1799. They were impatient to possess
some property which would be theirs at his death, and having waylaid him,
both shot him—one with a gun, the other with a pistol. They were
executed on the 10th of March, and each died uttering execrations on the
other.
1800—At the Summer Assizes, thirteen persons were sentenced to death, and
three of them executed—one for burglary, and two for sheep stealing.
They are said to have died “with the utmost resignation, and
acknowledging the justice of their sentences.”
1801—At the Lent Assizes, five persons were sentenced to death for
burglary, a woman for stealing two £10 notes, five men for highway
robbery, three for horse stealing, one for stealing a cow, another for
stealing two calves, four for sheep stealing, and two for escaping from
prison after sentence of transportation—twenty-two in all! Six of these
were left for execution; but great interest being made for some of them,
only one was actually hung.
1803—MARCH—Richard Colledge executed for horse stealing.
1803—JUNE—Thomas Beach executed for uttering a forged £5 note.
1805—MARCH 22—John Sanky, _alias_ Young, convicted at the Assizes just
concluded of uttering a forged bill of exchange, with intent to defraud
Messrs. Knapp and Lee, glovers, of Worcester, was executed on a temporary
gallows erected in Salt Lane. He addressed the spectators for a full
half hour, acknowledging the justice of his sentence, and expressing his
confident hope of pardon through the righteousness and atonement of our
Saviour. He had attempted, in the interval between his sentence and
condemnation, to escape from the gaol, but he now declared that he never
entertained any idea of doing the gaoler or turnkey any personal injury.
_He then gave out three verses of a hymn_, _and was joined in singing
them by many of the persons who surrounded the fatal tree_; after this he
prayed aloud in a very solemn manner for himself and the spectators.
Several distressing mistakes were made by the executioner, but the
unhappy sufferer retained his composure amidst all these blunders, and
appeared to die with absolute cheerfulness. This young man was evidently
possessed of considerable talents, but they had been miserably
misapplied.
1805—AUGUST 16—W. Dalton, convicted before Lord Ellenborough at the
Summer Assizes of two burglaries, one at Astley and the other at
Kidderminster—executed at Red Hill. His demeanour was becoming.
1806—MARCH 19—John Davenport and William Lashford hung at Red Hill for a
burglary at Bellbroughton. They confessed their crime, and behaved in a
becoming manner.
1812—MARCH 20—William Scale was executed in the field of the New Gaol for
committing a rape at Norton, near Worcester. He is described as
“penitent, resigned, and met his fate with the fortitude becoming his
deplorable situation.”
1815—JULY 21—William White was executed on a gallows erected “in the
outer circle of the County Gaol,” for a rape on Ann Davis of Beoley. He
is declared to have died, “as since his condemnation he had lived, full
of contrition and piety.”
1816—MARCH 22—William Clements and John Batty executed at the County
Prison for breaking into the dwelling house of Mr. Martin of Paxford, and
stealing a large sum of money; and John Rowen for forging and uttering a
bill of exchange for £315 on Messrs. Cox, Merle, and Co., bankers,
London, with intent to defraud Messrs. Attwood and Co., bankers,
Worcester.
1818—JULY 31—William Corfield sentenced to death for a burglary at the
house of George Jukes of Tenbury, was executed at the new drop erected
over the entrance to the County Gaol. He had conducted himself after his
trial in a very refractory manner, and could not be brought to
acknowledge the justice of his sentence. Shortly before his execution he
wrote an exceedingly sensible and properly worded letter to his wife.
1819—MARCH 19—John Harris convicted of uttering forged Bank of England
notes at Bromsgrove, hung in front of the County Gaol. He died
“sincerely penitent.”
1820—MARCH 17—Robert Hollick, convicted of robbing Thomas Gittins and
Thomas Hawker on the highway at Claines, and cruelly ill-treating the
latter, was this day executed. As he was being led out of his cell, his
mother, sister, wife, and child, came to see him, not having visited him
previously. The execution was delayed awhile to grant them an
interview—which, as may be supposed, was a most distressing one. It did
not, however, unnerve the culprit, who died with great firmness, though
fully admitting the justice of his sentence.
1821—MARCH 23—Thomas Dyer, capitally convicted of horse stealing, was
executed at the County Gaol, but died protesting his entire innocence of
the crime laid to his charge. He left a paper behind him, stating the
names of the parties from whom he bought the horses, and the sums of
money he had given for them; but it does not appear that anybody thought
it worth while to make further inquiries about the matter.
1821—AUGUST 24—William Mantle and William Bird were executed at the
County Gaol; the former convicted of stealing sheep, the property of Mr.
Henry Hyde of Little Kyre; and the latter of breaking into the house of
Mr. John Bird of Bromsgrove, and stealing wearing apparel, &c. The ropes
were nearly extended to their full length when tied round the unhappy
culprits’ necks, so that scarcely any fall took place, and they died in
great agony, especially Bird. Their remains were interred in St.
Andrew’s churchyard.
1823—MARCH 24—James Davis and Joseph Rutter, two young men convicted at
the Lent Assizes—the former of horse stealing and the latter of sheep
stealing—were executed at the County Gaol. Davis was a deserter from the
army, and appeared to have stolen from sheer want. Rutter’s had been a
long course of crime. Davis began to address the crowd when brought upon
the scaffolding, warning them to avoid Sabbath breaking and vicious
practices; when Rutter said, impatiently, “Come, let’s have no more of
that;” and they were immediately hurried into eternity. He literally
preferred hanging to a homily.
1826—JULY 21—John Hobday, a young man only twenty-one years of age,
having been convicted at the Midsummer Assizes of a burglary at the Bell
Inn, Kidderminster, and a savage assault upon the officers who
apprehended him at Birmingham, was executed at the County Gaol this day.
He was reported to be very penitent, and prepared for death.
1830—MARCH 11—Michael Toll, convicted of the wilful murder of Ann Cook, a
woman with whom he lived, by knocking her into a pit at Oldswinford, was
executed this day in front of the County Gaol. His body was given to the
surgeons to anatomise, and afterwards exposed to public gaze at the
Infirmary. In his stomach were found a number of pieces of blanket,
which he had swallowed in order to produce suffocation.
1830—JULY 30—Charles Wall, convicted at the Summer Assizes of the murder
of Sally Chance, at Oldswinford, was executed in front of the County
Prison at six o’clock p.m., the execution having been deferred to that
unusual hour in consequence of the election taking place that day. His
body was delivered to a surgeon at Stourbridge, and afterwards exposed to
view to great crowds who came from all the surrounding parts to see it.
The party murdered was a little girl, whose mother the prisoner was about
to marry, and he killed her by throwing her into a lime pit.
1830—AUGUST 13—Thomas Turner, a lad only seventeen years of age,
convicted at the same Assizes of a rape upon Louisa Blissett, a child
under ten years of age, at New Wood, about three miles from
Kidderminster, was executed this day.
1831—MARCH 25—Thomas Slaughter, _a lad not eighteen years of age_, was
executed for setting fire to a large wheat rick, the property of Mrs.
Rebecca Tomlinson, of Elmley Lovett. The poor fellow was wholly
uneducated, and evidently of weak intellect.
1832—MARCH 22—James and Joseph Carter, two brothers, aged twenty and
twenty-two respectively, and condemned at the Lent Assizes for two cases
of highway robbery at night, with violence, in the neighbourhood of
Bewdley, this morning underwent the extreme penalty of the law in front
of the County Gaol. Both men met death with firmness, but without
bravado; and Joseph Carter addressed the populace from the scaffolding,
warning them to avoid Sabbath breaking, drunkenness, and bad women. The
crowd on this occasion behaved with unusual decorum, and seem really to
have been impressed with a feeling of sadness at seeing two persons
hurried out of life so early.
1834—MARCH 12—Robert Lilly, convicted at the Lent Assizes of the murder
of Jonathan Wall, at Bromsgrove, was executed in front of the County
Gaol. Wall had interfered to prevent his ill-using his wife, and Lilly
stabbed him in the abdomen with a clasp-knife. There was a large
concourse of spectators at the execution—principally females, but the
culprit did not address them, and he died without a struggle.
1837—MARCH 23—William Lightband, executed in front of the County Gaol for
the murder of Joseph Hawkins, shopkeeper, of Areley Kings, on the 8th
September, 1836. He was a carpenter, entirely without education, and had
pursued a sottish and irregular mode of life. However, the instruction
he received when in prison seemed to have had effect upon his mind, and
he met death in becoming manner. Though it snowed during the whole
morning there was a great concourse of spectators, and the Rev. Mr. Dodd,
assistant minister at the Lady Huntingdon’s Chapel, afterwards addressed
them. Their behaviour was more decent than usual on such occasions.
1849—MARCH 26—The last execution which took place in Worcester was that
of Robert Pulley, who was condemned to death for the barbarous murder of
a poor girl, named Mary Ann Staight, at Broughton, on the 5th of
December, 1843. The manners of the prisoner were so brutish and careless
as to induce a doubt in his sanity; and at the expense of the High
Sheriff, Mr. John Dent, counsel was provided at his trial to defend him
on this ground. It was also made the plea for a memorial to the Home
Secretary on his behalf, which was signed by many benevolent persons, and
by those opposed to all capital punishments. His conduct after trial,
however, was such as to convince all who conversed with him of his
perfect rationality. He was lamentably ignorant; but listened with much
attention to the exhortations of the ministers who visited him. He
displayed great firmness in his last moments. The execution took place
at noon on the roof of the County Gaol, in the presence of a large crowd
of spectators, who behaved with much propriety.
The excitement occasioned by this execution produced much discussion as
to the expediency of capital punishments. A public meeting was held in
the Guildhall, Worcester, by those who wished their abolition, at which
Mr. Charles Gilpin attended and spoke. Mr. George Grove attempted to
show that Scripture contained a command which was conclusive on the
subject, and required us to shed the blood of the man who took away the
life of another; but a resolution, declaring capital punishments to be
opposed to the spirit of Christianity and inexpedient, was carried almost
unanimously. The Rev. W. H. Havergal and Dr. Redford also preached upon
the subject—the former in favour of, and the latter against, death
punishments.