The untold story of Joseph Harris.

With special thanks to guest author David Muss for researching this case.

On Friday the 27th of June 1777 there was to be a double hanging at Tyburn. One of the prisoners was and still is a well known name. He was Dr. Dodd, but with him on the cart was a fifteen year old boy named Joseph Harris who was most probably forgotten by everyone except his loved ones, almost the minute he was “turned off”.

I read this several years ago and being the father of two young sons myself, of all of the tales of events in history they got to me the most. That such a young life was considered so worthless to provide a public spectacle by the event of killing him. The vision of a father with his young son in amongst crowds of people who had turned out to see his boy die.

Dr Dodd was also known as the “Macaroni Parson” and condemned for the crime of forging a bond for £4,200 in the name the Earl of Chesterfield, in order to clear his debts.

The story of Dr Dodd is famous and his life well recorded but what of the young boy who went to eternity with him that day. And there is a twist, someone who was to join them that day, but was missing, James Lucas.

Using easily accessible public documents it is only possible to learn of Joseph's last few weeks, his first few years go unrecorded as far as I can find out like most of his contemporaries. It may be possible to find out more by using sites that have access to more documents but at present they are not freely available to me.

Joseph Harris appears in the records of the May Sessions of the Old Bailey on 14th May 1777.

His was the second case for Sir Richard Aston that day but it was far from the last. Justice was swift and society took a dim view of robbery on the highways.

“Joseph Harris and James Lucas were indicted for that they in the King's highway in and upon Robert Hughes feloniously did make an assault, putting him in corporal fear and danger of his life, and stealing from his person two half guineas and seven shilling in monies numbered, the property of the said Robert, April 21st.” The transcript of Joseph’s trial can be found here

In the record there follows a short report on what was said by whom. Joseph was caught when people pursued a highwayman across a field. He claims he was caught up in the pursuit and was arrested in error. He also claimed he was the victim of a conspiracy to obtain reward money, stating “This man has been advised by Justice Wilmot's thief-catchers; when he came into Wilmot's office, he asked if I should be cast for death, whether he would have 40 l. all the court laughed at him; he swore falsely; the thief-catcher took him backwards, and told him, he should have the money if I was cast, and then he said he would swear that I was the person”.

Joseph was accused with James Lucas in this matter and both were quickly convicted and condemned to death. They were also accused of a further offence that they were acquitted of and a further offence that James was found not guilty of, but Joseph was also convicted of.

The Old Bailey Punishment Summary confirms their sentence as can be seen in this document. The trials being ended, the Court proceeded to give judgement, as follows:

Received sentence of death, 3.

Dr. William Dodd, Joseph Harris, and James Lucas .'

The Ordinary’s Account previously would have given an insight to their time awaiting execution in Newgate but by this time they are harder to access. The Ordinary (chaplain) of Newgate at this time was The Rev John Villette.

We know James did not join Joseph at Tyburn so there is an assumption he was granted a reprieve, but without having access to Villette’s account this is not clear.

Unlike the rest of his life, Joseph's last day is by chance very well recorded as he happened to share it with Dr William Dodd. There is an account in The Gentleman's Gazette Volume 47:

“On this occasion there was perhaps the greatest concourse of people ever drawn together by a like spectacle. From Newgate to the place of execution the streets were thronged, and never were seen so many weeping eyes.”

Dr Dodd’s entry in The Newgate Calendar also gives us more information as to the situation Joseph was in. It includes upsetting details of how Joseph had tried to prevent the ordeal of being a main attraction at the Tyburn Fair.

"As we went from his room, in our way to the chapel, we were joined by his friend, who had spent the foregoing evening with him, and also by another clergyman. When we were in the vestry adjoining the chapel, he exhorted his fellow-sufferer, who had attempted to destroy himself, but had been prevented by the vigilance of the keeper. He spoke to him with great tenderness and emotion of heart, entreating him to consider that he had but a short time to live, and that it was highly necessary that he, as well as himself, made good use of their time, implored pardon of God under a deep sense of sin, and looked to that Lord by Whose merits alone sinners can he saved. He desired me to call in the other gentlemen, who likewise assisted him to move the heart of the poor youth; but the Doctor's words were the most pathetic and effectual. He lifted up his hands, and cried out 'Oh Lord Jesus, have mercy upon us! and give, oh! give unto him, my fellow sinner, that, as we suffer together, we may go together to Heaven!' His conversation to this poor youth was so moving, that tears flowed from the eyes of all present.

An account of his journey to Tyburn can be found here,

“Dodd travelled to Tyburn in a carriage while Joseph Harris, a teenage highwayman who had previously attempted suicide, travelled in a cart along with his grieving father, a circumstance which excited the pity of the spectators, according to an eyewitness.”

Dodd suffered at Tyburn with some dignity, attempting to console a fellow sufferer himself and cutting out the Newgate ordinary who tried to interfere. He was driven to the place of execution in a coach, his head resting in the lap of his elderly father, who came to help sustain him in the great agony he now had to undergo”.

The execution process began at around 7 o'clock in the morning when they were led in fetters (handcuffs and leg-irons) into the Press Yard in Newgate. Here the blacksmith removed the fetters and the Yeoman of the Halter tied their hands in front of them with a cord around the body and elbows (so that they were able to pray when they reached Tyburn) and placed the rope (or halter, as it was known) round their necks, coiling the free end round their bodies. The noose was just a slip knot like the halter used on cattle and not the coiled type typically shown in films.

The procession consisting of the City Marshall (a court officer responsible for prisoners), the Ordinary, the hangman and his assistants, and a troop of javelin men started out for Tyburn about two and a half miles away. The procession made its slow and bumpy passage along Holborn, St. Giles, and the Tyburn Road (now called Oxford Street) to Tyburn itself near what is now Marble Arch. A stop was usually made at St. Sepulchre's Church where the bell would be tolled and the minister would chant, "You that are condemned to die, repent with lamentable tears; ask mercy of the Lord for the salvation of your souls." As the procession passed on, the minister would tell the audience, "All good people, pray heartily unto God for these poor sinners who are now going to their death, for whom the great bell tolls." Stops were made at two public houses along the way, probably the Bowl Inn at St Giles and the Mason's Arms in Seymour Place, where the condemned would be allowed an alcoholic drink. Once they left the second pub, it was a short journey to the gallows.
The cart was each backed under the beam of the gallows. Edward Dennis, the hangman, uncoiled the free end of the rope from each prisoner and threw over the beam above. He tied the rope to the beam leaving very little slack. The Ordinary prayed with the prisoners and when he had finished, the hangman pulled nightcaps over their faces. When everything was ready, the horses were whipped away, pulling the prisoners off the cart and leaving them suspended. They would only have a few inches of drop at most and thus would writhe in convulsive agony for some moments, their legs paddling the air - “dancing the Tyburn jig” as it was known, until unconsciousness overtook them. Joseph’s and Dodd’s struggles were not recorded so it is reasonable to presume that they were not overly protracted. One commentator reported as follows:

“Dodd was dead, as was the young Joseph Harris, the fifteen year old boy hanged with him.”

Click here for a contemporary picture of the execution. Note that the famous “Triple Tree” gallows had been replaced with a portable structure in 1759.

Footnote : James Lucas, Joseph’s co-defendant and Sir Richard Aston.

There is a record of James Lucas being sentenced to imprisonment on “The Hulks” (old ships moored in the Thames) for five years. There is also a record of a person of the same name being sentenced to be transported several years later for stealing four geese but being too drunk to make an effective getaway. Could this be the same person to evaded the noose in 1777?

Sir Richard Aston who was the judge in both James and Joseph’s cases was only to survive until 1st of March the following year. One wonders how many people were waiting to greet him on the other side.

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