Armley prison opened in Leeds in the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1847
and was constructed on the then modern Panopticon principal with four wings radiating
from a central tower. It was a grim and forbidding building in line with the
Victorian ideas of prison and was responsible for housing prisoners sentenced
in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It also took over duty of carrying out West
Riding executions from York
Castle. Ninety three men
and one woman were to suffer the death penalty at Armley between 1864 and 1961.
An average of almost exactly one per annum.
Armley in the
late 19th century
Executions at Armley.
There was to be only one public execution outside the jail - a double
hanging on the 10th of
September 1864. It was of murderers James Sargisson
and Joseph Myers. Myers had tried to cheat the hangman by cutting his throat
while in prison but was saved by the surgeon. The hangings were reported in
detail by The Leeds Mercury newspaper which claimed that between 80,000
to 100,000 people had come to watch the event on that Saturday morning. At five
minutes to nine, the prison bell began to toll and inside the two men were
being pinioned by Thomas Askern of York.
They were led out onto the gallows supported on each side by warders and
preceded by the Under Sheriff and the Chaplain. Askern pulled down the white
caps over their faces but both men continued to speak, Sargisson's
last words to Myers were reportedly "Art thou happy lad?" to which
Myers responded “Indeed I am."
Askern then operated the drop which fell with a thud, their bodies being
almost completely hidden from the crowd. Myers seemed to die almost
immediately, but Sargisson struggled for some
minutes. As feared the wound in Myers' throat had re-opened and there was an
amount of blood on his shirt. After hanging the customary hour, they were
removed from the gallows and buried within the prison.
Botched executions were not uncommon at this time and "a shocking
scene" was reported by the Yorkshire Post newspaper following the
hanging of 37 year old John Henry Johnson on Wednesday the 3rd of April 1877. Johnson had
been condemned for the murder of Amos Waite who had been showing interest in
Johnson's wife Amelia on Boxing Day 1876. After a drunken quarrel in the pub
where they were all drinking, Johnson went home, returning a little while later
with a gun and shot Waite in the chest. Thomas Askern was called to Leeds to dispatch Johnson and had made the usual
preparations on the Tuesday afternoon, but when he pulled the lever the rope
broke and Johnson plummeted through the trap. He was immediately rescued by the
warders who removed his straps and hood and sat him on a chair. It took Askern
10 minutes to rig a new rope and reset the trap before Johnson could again be
led up onto it. This time the rope held but it was reported that Johnson
"died hard" struggling for some four minutes on the rope. His death
was formally recorded as being from asphyxia but no official mention was made
of the failure of first attempt to hang him. It was to be Askern's last
execution at Armley.
The most infamous Victorian criminal to die at Armley was Charles Peace
who was hanged by William Marwood on Monday, February 25th, 1879 "For that
I don but never intended" as Peace said. Peace was a violent career
criminal who had murdered two people, one of them a police constable and was
serving life in prison for armed robbery and the attempted murder of another
policeman who was trying to arrest him. Peace was born in Sheffield
in May 1832 to non criminal parents. By the age of 14, he was working in a
steel works where he was badly injured in the leg by a piece of red hot steel.
After this, he turned to crime with his first recorded conviction being for
house burglary in 1851, for which he was given a month in prison. His next
conviction for the same offence came in October 1854, when he was sentenced to
four year’s penal servitude at Doncaster Sessions. This was followed by a six
year sentence in 1859 and an eight year sentence in 1866. He tried to escape
during this term of imprisonment but was recaptured and was to spend the next
six years in various prisons up to 1872, after which he returned to Sheffield. In 1875, Peace moved out of Sheffield
into the suburb of Darnall where he met a Mr. and Mrs. Dyson. Peace was a
womaniser and began having an affair with Mrs. Dyson, or at least so he claimed
and she denied. She had certainly gone out with him to music halls and pubs but
it seems that she had rejected his sexual advances and this was something he
was not happy about. Peace threatened to kill Mr. Dyson and he, in turn, took
out an injunction against Peace in the hope of him leaving the couple alone.
Peace did for a time, moving to Hull
and opening a café. His burglaries continued and one night he went to Manchester, armed as usual
with his revolver. Peace was spotted by two policemen in the grounds of a house
at Whalley Range, around midnight on the 1st of August 1876. Constable Cock tried
to arrest him but Peace took out the revolver and warned Cock to stand back,
firing a warning shot at the officer. Cock took out his truncheon and advanced
towards Peace, who fired a second time, killing him. Peace was able to escape
and get back to Hull
and two local villains, brothers John and William Habron, were arrested for the
crime. William was convicted and sentenced to death but fortunately reprieved
and later pardoned.
Peace's second murder was to be that of Mr. Arthur Dyson on the 29th of November 1876,
whose wife he still desired. He went to the Dyson's home and during an argument
shot Mr. Dyson through the head, killing him instantly. Once again, he was able
to escape back to Hull
where he was nearly arrested as Mrs. Dyson had been able to identify him as her
husband's killer. A reward was offered for his capture and he was now the
nation's most wanted man moving constantly from one town to another, eventually
ending up in London,
where he was to evade capture for over two years. Peace had always had a love
of music and musical instruments and set up as a dealer in them, partially as a
front to his usual business of house burglary. He sometimes carried his
burglary tools in a violin case when he went out on a job. He was able to live
in some style from the proceeds of these activities, with a "Mrs.
Thompson" as his mistress. This married lady's real name was Susan Bailey
and she was eventually the one who betrayed him. His career as a burglar in London lasted from the
beginning of the year 1877 until October the 10th, 1878, when he was finally caught red
handed by three policemen in Blackheath trying to rob a house. Peace fired
several shots at one officer before he was overpowered. When he was questioned
he gave his name as John Ward and was tried under this name. Susan Thompson was
also arrested for trying to sell stolen property and identified Ward as Peace
for whom there was a reward out, which she hoped to obtain. An officer was sent
down from Yorkshire and was able to positively
identify Peace in Newgate prison. Peace stood trial at the Old Bailey in
November 1878 on the charges of burglary and attempted murder and was sentenced
to life in prison. However, he had now to answer to the charge of the murder of
Mr. Dyson and so was moved by train to Sheffield,
where he was charged with the murder of Arthur Dyson on January 18th, 1879. During the
journey north, he attempted to escape by throwing himself out of the train but
was quickly recaptured. His trial before Mr. Justice Lopes began on the 4th of February 1879.
Mr. Campbell Foster, Q.C., led for the prosecution. Peace was defended by Mr.
Frank Lockwood. Mrs. Dyson was to be the principal witness for the Crown and
described the murder of her husband to the court. Forensic evidence was able to
show that the bullet which killed Mr. Dyson was fired from the revolver
recovered from Peace when he was arrested in London. Late in the afternoon the jury
retired and took just 10 minutes to convict Peace, who was then sentenced to
death. The Times newspaper reported that since Franz Muller murdered Mr.
Briggs on the North London Railway and the poisonings of William Palmer, no
criminal case had created such excitement in the public mind as that of Charles
Peace. Peace confessed in the condemned cell to the murder of PC Cock and thus
William Habron was given a pardon. His hanging was scheduled for Tuesday the
25th of February and, although in private by this time, was attended by four
newspaper reporters. As Marwood attempted to place the white hood over Peace's
head, he asked for a glass of water (which was refused) and spoke to the
journalists, which he was allowed to do before Marwood pulled the lever. His
last words were reported to be "My last thoughts are for children and
their mother, a wonderful woman, they mustn't worry about me I know where I am
going. I am going to Heaven." No
doubt every detail of the hanging was lapped up by the public the following
morning. A large tableau of Peace and Marwood soon appeared in Madame Tussauds
waxworks, depicting the execution scene.
James Billington’s first execution was at Armley Gaol in Leeds on the 26th of August 1884
when he hanged a hawker from Sheffield named Joseph Laycock, for the murder of
his wife and four children. Laycock was to have said just before being hanged
"You will not hurt me?" to which James Billington replied, "No, thaal nivver feel it, for thaal be out of existence i' two minutes."
On Tuesday the 29th
of December 1903, Emily Swann, the only woman to be executed at
Armley, was hanged by William Billington and John Ellis, beside her 30 year old
lover John Gallagher, for the murder of Swann's husband William. Hooded and
noosed on the trap doors, Emily said "Good morning John" to which he
replied "Good morning love."
Emily replied "Goodbye, God bless you" before the drop fell
ending any more conversation. Click here for a full description of
this famous case.
Twenty eight year old Edwin Sowerby, a miner from Crofton near Wakefield, was hanged on Thursday, December 31st, 1920,
for the murder of his former girlfriend,19 year old Jane Darwell. He had taken
the break up of the relationship very hard and when he saw Jane at the village
dance in the schoolroom at Crofton on the night of October 25th, he walked over
to her and cut her throat in front of several witnesses. His defence at the
trial was one of insanity due to injuries in World War I, but this was not
accepted by the jury who found him guilty after just 20 minutes. Sowerby was
visited in prison several times by his parents and on the day before execution,
his brother and sister had their last interview with him. He handed over to his
sister the whole of his personal belongings except for a photograph, believed
to be that of Jane, which he took to the gallows. This was the 50th execution
at Armley and was carried out by Tom Pierrepoint. An inquest was held after it
by the City Coroner, Mr. W. H. Clarke, and the prison doctor certified that
death was due to dislocation of the vertebrae caused by hanging, duly and
properly carried out.
On the 3rd of
September 1925, Tom Pierrepoint carried out a double hanging at
Armley and on the following day a further single execution. The first two
prisoners were Alfred Bostock who had killed his mistress, Elizabeth Sherratt
and 23 year old Wilfred Fowler, who was a Sheffield gangster who had taken part
in the murder of an ex-boxer called William Plommer
in a street ambush. Fowler's brother and leader of their gang, Lawrence, was to
die the following day for the same crime.
Alfred Bostock and Elizabeth Sherratt both worked for the Parkgate Ironworks in
Rotherham and had fallen for each other
virtually on sight. Albert was married but had a passionate affair with Elizabeth which went along
very well until Elizabeth
announced that she was pregnant, a setback that Alfred could simply not accept.
On May 3rd, 1925,
her body was found floating in the river at Rawmarsh - she had been battered to
death. Bostock was the prime suspect and quickly arrested for the murder. He
presented a weak alibi in his defence and although the evidence against him was
circumstantial, it only took the jury 15 minutes to convict him. It is unclear
why he was hanged alongside Wilfred Fowler and not alone. One surmises that the
prison authorities thought there would be trouble between the Fowler brothers
so had decided to hang them separately. Lawrence and Wilfred Fowler were
leaders of a Sheffield gang that had been
terrorising the city for some time and who considered themselves beyond the
law. One of the gang's members, Trimmer Welsh, had got into a fight with
William Plommer over his treatment of the barmaid in the
pub where they were both drinking, and Plommer gave
the man a good hiding. Plommer was ambushed by
another two members of the gang, including young Wilfred Fowler, but they were
no match for this powerfully built and courageous ex fighter either. Two defeats
for the gang were more than its pride and arrogance could stomach so a mob of a
dozen or so went to Plommer's house and when he came
out to face them, they beat, stabbed and kicked him to death. They were soon
rounded up, some getting prison sentences and Lawrence and Wilfred, being convicted of
murder, sentenced to hang. Their executions brought to an end the gang terror
in Sheffield in the 1920's.
The last double execution at Armley was that of Thomas Riley and John
Roberts on the 29th April
1932. It was carried out by Tom Pierrepoint, assisted by Thomas
Phillips and Alfred Allen and took a reported 90 seconds to complete. Riley was
hanged for the murder of 52 year old Elizabeth Castle who had befriended him
whilst Roberts was executed for the unrelated murder of greengrocer Alfred Gill
whom he had battered to death. Double executions ceased in 1954 and were
outlawed by the 1957 Homicide Act, as it was felt that the extra time they took
subjected the prisoners to greater emotional suffering.
Arthur Osborne's case was unusual, in that he was hanged on his
birthday. Osborne had been found guilty of the murder of 70 year old Ernest
Westwood on 25th September
1948. He had stabbed Mr. Westwood and robbed him in his own home.
After the murder, Osborne fled to Chichester
in Sussex
where he was going to marry Dorothy Ball. He was already married but his wife
was in a mental hospital. At the end of his three day trial at Leeds Assizes,
the jury recommended mercy, but the Home Secretary saw no justification for
this and Osborne was duly hanged by Steve Wade and Harry Allen on his 28th
birthday, the 30th of
December 1948. The last
execution in the old facility on “A” Wing was that of 19 year old Walter Sharpe
on the 30th of March 1950. Sharpe had been convicted of the
robbery/murder of jeweller, Abraham Harry Levine in November 1949.
The last person to be hanged at Armley was 31 year old Hungarian born,
Zsiga Pankotia, on the 29th June 1961 by Harry Allen. Pankotia had stabbed to death a wealthy market stall holder
called Eli Myers, while trying to rob him in his home.
Under the name of Her Majesty's Prison Leeds, Armley continues in
service to this day.
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