William Griffith hanged for attempted murder

Only two hangings took place at Beaumaris Gaol on Anglesey. The first was that of William Griffith, at 10.00 a.m. on the 15th of September 1830. The new gaol had opened the year before.

Griffith had been separated from his wife, Mary, but on the night of the 2nd of April 1830, he went to the house in Newborough where she resided with her daughter. He became violent and his daughter ran out to summon a neighbour’s help. When she returned to the house Griffith had left but his wife was found with her head beneath the fire grate covered with the hot coals. He had also tried to strangle her and force a stick down her throat. She was very severely burned and injured, but amazingly still alive. She made a recovery.

After his trial, at the Anglesey Great Sessions, where he was found guilty, he was taken to the new prison at Beaumaris. Here his wife visited him. Other visitors were the Rev. H.D. Owen the Gaol’s Chaplain and the Rev. Mr Hughes of Beaumaris. All their efforts to bring Griffith to God were in vain however, as “he died as he had lived, without any manifestation of Christian feeling or even of manly firmness”.

While he was incarcerated, he was observed to be mentally disturbed and on the morning of his execution, having been left alone for a few minutes, he smashed the wooden bench on which his bed was placed and used it to jam the door of his cell shut. This gave him a little time until the door was at length forced open and he was secured. Uttering the most agonising cries and groans he continued to struggle and attacked the executioner until he was pinioned and brought to out through the door in the outer wall above the street onto the gallows, where he again put up resistance and tried to loosen the noose. When the drop fell death was reportedly instantaneous. After hanging for the usual hour his body was taken down and was buried later in the day.

An immense crowd had gathered in the narrow street to watch Griffith die, many believing that the death sentence should not have been passed since he had not actually killed his wife. Local men would not work on the scaffold, so labour was brought in from Liverpool. He was hanged by Samuel Burrows from Chester. The execution cost a total of £61.12.0 (£61.60).

Beaumaris Gaol is now a museum and is well worth a visit if you are in North Wales.

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