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Earl Ferrers |
Background.
Lawrence
Shirley, the 4th Earl Ferrers, was born on
He
inherited the title in 1745, at the age of 25, and with it the family estates
in Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire. The main residence was at
Staunton Harold Hall about two miles from Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire.
From
1743, he had been having a relationship with Margaret Clifford with whom he had
4 illegitimate daughters between 1744 and 1749. Like most people in his
position he needed at least one male heir to inherit the title and the estates,
so in 1752, he married Mary, the 16 year old sister of Sir William Meredith of Henbury in Cheshire.
It was not a happy marriage, Mary living in fear of the Earl’s constant
drunken rages and violent outbursts and also his womanising (it seems that the
relationship with Margaret Clifford continued during the marriage and she went
to live with him after the dissolution of it).
In the end, things got so bad that Mary obtained a separation from him
by an Act of Parliament in 1758. This
was a most unusual step for that time and she would have had to show very
strong grounds to obtain the separation.
As part of the separation arrangements, it was agreed that Mary should
receive an income from the rents from some of the properties on the
estate. As a result, control of the
estate was vested in trustees, one of whom was an old family steward, John
Johnson, who reluctantly became the receiver of these rents. Unsurprisingly,
Mr. Johnson was disliked by Ferrers, particularly after he had found out that
Johnson had paid his wife £50 without his approval and presumably also because
he hated the fact Johnson had power over the estate. It has also been suggested that the Earl
suspected that John Johnson and Mary were having an affair. Mary later re-married - to Lord Frederick
Campbell, dying in a fire at her house in 1807.
Five days before the murder, on Sunday, the 13th of January1760, Ferrers paid a
visit to Johnson and invited him to visit the Hall on Friday, the 18th. Before John Johnson arrived, Ferrers sent
away his mistress, Margaret Clifford, the children and the male servants. When Johnson arrived at the Hall, he was
shown into the Earl’s study and a discussion of business matters took place. A
heated argument soon erupted and around 3 in the afternoon Ferrers shot
Johnson. He was not fatally injured by
the bullet and was given some treatment at the Hall for his wound and put to
bed there. Dr. Kirkland from
Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Johnson’s daughter, Sarah, were also sent for. The Earl continued to abuse and threaten
Johnson through the evening before finally falling into a drunken stupor, thus
allowing Dr. Kirkland to remove him back to his own house where he died the
following morning. Ferrers had
apparently told Sarah Johnson that he would take care of her family should her
father die, on condition that they did not bring a prosecution against him.
Arrest
and trial.
It was
Dr. Kirkland, assisted by a number local men, notably a collier named Curtis,
who disarmed and arrested the Earl the following day. The inquest on Mr. Johnson brought in a
verdict of death by wilful murder and so Ferrers was remanded to Leicester
prison. As a peer, he could not be tried at the Leicester Assizes so he was transferred
to the
The trial
opened at Westminster Hall on
Ferrers
conducted his own defence, as all defendants had to in those days. He had been
dissuaded by his family from trying to claim that the shooting of John Johnson
was justified. He, therefore, attempted
a defence of insanity, a condition for which he was able to offer considerable
evidence - just about everyone who knew him thought he was mad. He later maintained however, that he had only
done this at the insistence of his family, and that he had himself always been
ashamed of such a defence. It is easy to understand why the family were so
concerned at the prospect of the damage to their reputation and the shame of
having a prominent member of it hanged as a felon.
One witness, Peter Williams, gave an account of what happened when the Earl
came to collect a mare that he had left in the care of the Williams family.
Ferrers was unhappy with the way that the horse had been cared for and hit Mrs.
Williams and seriously injured Peter Williams with a sword. The Solicitor
General pointed out that this was no proof of insanity or eccentric behaviour.
He went so far as to say that if a man couldn't take such action against a
negligent servant, then everyone present would be in the dock! This gives you an idea of the way the
nobility of the time saw life - they were above the law, Ferrers clearly
thought he was. He did not really seem
capable of understanding that it was wrong for a man in his position to shoot
Mr. Johnson.
At the end of the trial, his fellow peers decided that Ferrers was legally
sane. Although he had presented a strong defence in an articulate manner, it
was difficult to see that there was any other verdict open to them. They had each, individually, to find him
guilty of murder, which they did and therefore there could only be one sentence
- hanging by the neck until dead followed by dissection, to be carried out on
Monday, the 21st of April in pursuance
with the conditions of the Murder Act 1752. This Act specified that execution
was to take place within two days of sentence unless that would fall on a
Sunday. In view of the importance of the
prisoner and to allow time for suitable arrangements to be made, the hanging
was stayed until Monday, the 5th of May.
The thought of a public hanging at Tyburn appalled Ferrers - it was the
death of a common criminal and he petitioned the king to be allowed to be
beheaded instead - the death of a nobleman.
Beheading was not a legally available punishment for murder, only for
treason committed by a peer. Thus, the
sentence had to stand and he remained in the
It is said that on the night he was sentenced to death he played picquet with the warders.
He led a very good life style in the Tower - effectively if you could
afford it you could get whatever you wanted in prison at that time. The only
privilege he was not permitted was visits from Margaret Clifford. He made his will, leaving £16,000 to his 4
daughters by Margaret, and £200 to Sarah Johnson. The king, George II, duly signed the Writ of
Execution on the 2nd of May.
Execution.
The
hanging of a nobleman was a major public spectacle as well as a wholly unusual
event. A special new gallows was
constructed at Tyburn for the occasion.
It comprised of a scaffold covered in black baize reached by a short
flight of stairs. Two uprights rose from the scaffold, topped with a cross
beam. Directly under the beam there was
a small box like structure, some 3 feet square and 18 inches high, which was
designed to sink down into the scaffold and thus leave the criminal
suspended. There were even black
cushions for the Earl and the chaplain to kneel on to pray before the
hanging. Every seat in Mother Proctor’s
Pews was taken and there was a huge crowd around the gallows, held back by the
customary Javelin men.
Click here for a
picture of the scene.
For the
hanging, Ferrers wore his wedding suit, a light coloured satin one embroidered
with silver, saying “he thought this at least as good an occasion for putting
them on as that for which they were first made”. As we have seen before, it was
considered important to look one’s best at one’s execution.
At nine
o'clock on the Monday morning, Ferrers’ body was demanded of the keeper of the
Tower, by the sheriffs of London and Middlesex.
It had been agreed that Ferrers could make the trip to Tyburn in his own
landau drawn by six horses. He was accompanied in this carriage by Mr
Humphries, the Chaplain of the Tower and Mr Vaillant
the sheriff. Ferrers said he "was
much obliged to him, and took it kindly that he accompanied him."
The
procession to Tyburn was led by a troop of cavalry, with Ferrer’s
landau behind them, guarded on both sides, followed by the carriage of Mr Errington, the other sheriff, a mourning-coach-and-six,
containing some of his lordship's friends, a hearse for the conveyance of his
body to Surgeons' Hall after execution, and another contingent of
soldiers. Huge numbers of people had
turned out to watch the spectacle and it took 2-3/4 hours to complete the journey
to Tyburn. Ferrers remarked that he thought
“so large a mob had collected because the people had never seen a lord hanged
before.” (The last execution of a lord
was that of Simon Lord Lovatt who was beheaded on
Tower Hill for treason on April 9th 1747)
Mr
Humphries, the chaplain, told Ferrers "that some prayer should be offered
on the scaffold, and asked his leave to repeat at least the Lord's
Prayer;" to which Ferrers replied, "I always thought it a good
prayer, you may use it if you please."
When they
finally got to Tyburn, Ferrers told Mr. Humphries "I perceive we are
almost arrived; it is time to do what little more I have to do." He gave
Sheriff Vaillant his watch, and presented 5 guineas
to the chaplain. He had also brought the same sum to give to the hangman,
Thomas Turlis, however, he handed it to the wrong
man, and there was nearly a fight between Turlis and
his assistant.
Ferrers
and Mr. Humphries then kneeled together on the two black cushions and said the
Lord’s prayer. Ferrers concluded by saying
“Lord have mercy upon me, and forgive me my errors." He then mounted the “drop” where his arms
were tied with a black silk sash, and the rope placed around his neck. He final
words were to ask Turlis: "Am I right?" A
white nightcap which Ferrers had brought with him, was pulled down over his
head. He had declined to give the signal
to the hangman himself so this was done by the sheriff. So some time around noon, the platform sank
down leaving the Earl suspended. The
mechanism had not functioned properly and Ferrers’ feet were still virtually in
contact with the platform. He writhed
slightly for a short period before becoming still. Horace Walpole reported that it took 4
minutes for him to die. The body was
left to hang for the customary hour before being taken down and placed in the
coffin for transport to Surgeon’s Hall and dissection. A woodcut was made of the body in its coffin.
Click here for a
picture of his body in it. After being
dissected and the body put on display until the evening of Thursday, the 8th of
May, when it was returned to his family for burial in St. Pancras church.
Twenty two years later, the body was taken back to Staunton Harold to be
re-interred in the family vault.
It has
been said that Earl Ferrers was hanged with a silken rope, but this is a myth.
Conclusion.
It was
generally accepted that there was mental instability in Lawrence Ferrers, but
it was greatly exacerbated by his extremely heavy drinking. He could behave quite normally when sober but
was totally out of control when drunk.
(Compare this behaviour with that of some youths on Friday and Saturday
nights nowadays, the peak nights for woundings and
killings.)
It would seem that Ferrers’ drinking was also the principal cause of the
breakdown of his marriage.
There was
clear evidence of premeditation and planning in the murder and of normal “sane”
behaviour before and after it. He had
invited Mr. Johnson to the Hall and sent out his mistress and children and his
man servants - perhaps because they may have tried to stop him.
There is
also his supreme arrogance, probably resulting from his position and the power
it gave him as a feudal employer and landowner.
It seems hard to understand today, but Peers really still did think they
were above the law in the mid 18th century.
Physically and verbally abusing servants was deemed perfectly normal and
acceptable. (See the Solicitor General’s
comments in court above). Tennants fared little better as they had no security of
tenure.
It was
expected of nobleman that he would know “how to die” and how to put on a good
show for the public and in this Earl Ferrers did not disappoint. Nor did the Sheriffs of London, as they had
to obtain funding for and have designed and built the new gallows and arrange
for the cavalry etc. to provide what was perceived by many at the time as a
great day out. Compare the treatment of
Ferrers with that of the common felons who was hanged at Tyburn.
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