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A history of |
It is not possible to determine when Newgate first became a prison
or when exactly the new gatehouse itself was originally built. Newgate was to
be
A new prison at Newgate was begun in 1770 and proceeded slowly. Before it could
be finished, the building was badly damaged by fire during the Gordon riots of
1780 and it was not finally completed until 1785. This building was then used
in that form until 1856 when it was remodelled internally to reflect the new
perceptions of what a prison should be like.
Newgate closed for good in late May 1902 so that the new Central Criminal Court
which opened in 1907 (always known as the Old Bailey) could be built on the
site. Here is a picture of Newgate just
before demolition. The Debtor's door through which the condemned prisoners
exited in the days of public hangings and the site of the gallows at that time
are marked.
Up to 1877, in its several incarnations, Newgate was the principal prison for
When Newgate closed, its male prisoners and indeed its gallows were transferred
to Pentonville while the female prisoners were moved to Holloway prison, which
had been recently renovated and turned into London's first women's prison.
Conditions in Newgate in the early part of the 19th century were
appalling and led to great efforts by early prison reformers such as John
Howard and Elizabeth Fry to improve things. Elizabeth Fry was deeply shocked by
the conditions that women were detained under, in the Female Quarter as the
women's area was known, when she visited the prison in 1816. She found the
place crowded with half naked women and their children. The women were
typically waiting for transfer to the prison ships that would take them to the
Colonies. Women were brought to Newgate from county prisons in the south of
As
Public executions were carried outside Newgate in the lane known as
the Old Bailey from
Three women were burned at the stake in the Old
Bailey, for the crime of coining which was deemed to be high treason. They were
Phoebe Harris, Margaret Sullivan and Catherine Murphy. In all three cases, they
were first hanged until they were dead and then their bodies burnt. Similarly,
the Cato Street conspirators who had also been convicted of high treason were
sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered there
(the male punishment for high treason), but in fact were hanged and then
beheaded (see later).
There were to be 567 public hangings, including those of 25 women,
between January 1800 and May 1868. These drew huge crowds, especially if one of
the prisoners was notorious. From 1752 to 1832, the bodies of those executed
for murder were taken to Surgeon's Hall in the Old Bailey where they were
publicly anatomised. Up to 1834, the bodies of persons executed for crimes
other than murder could be returned to relatives for a fee. There were only two
confirmed executions at Newgate in the years 1834-1836, those of John Smith and
James Pratt, who were hanged for buggery on
Executions and executioners at Newgate.
From around 1771 to September 1786, when he died,
Edward Dennis was the official executioner and carried out 201 hangings and the
three burnings at Newgate. He had previously officiated at Tyburn from 1771. On
Tuesday, the 9th of December 1783, he and William Brunskill
hanged nine men and one woman (Frances Warren) side by side on the "New
Drop" at Newgate’s first execution (see picture). Note that they all have
white nightcaps drawn over their heads.
Sessions, as trials at the Old Bailey were known at that time, were held eight
times a year by then and it was normal to sentence those found guilty of crimes
other than murder in groups at the end of the trial day. Murderers were sentenced at the end of their
individual trials. Those sentenced to death for felony and not “respited” (commuted to transportation) were also hanged in
groups - men and women together. Multiple executions were the norm at this time
and took place normally around six weeks after the Sessions finished and the
Recorder of the Old Bailey had prepared and presented his report indicating
which prisoners were recommended for reprieve and which were to be executed.
From July 1752 onwards, murderers had to be hanged within two days of their
sentence, unless this would have been a Sunday, which meant that they were
typically hanged on a Monday and therefore usually separately from ordinary
felons, this day continuing to be used at Newgate for murderers up to 1880.
Ordinary criminals could be hanged on any day of the week, Wednesdays being the
most common one. Prisoners were led from the "Condemned hold" into
the Press yard where their leg irons were removed and their wrists and arms
tied. They were attended by the Ordinary and when they had all been prepared,
were led across the yard to the Lodge and out through the Debtor's Door and up
a flight of steps onto the gallows.
Dennis hanged 95 men and one woman (Elizabeth Taylor for
burglary) between February and December of 1785 at Newgate, with 20 men being
hanged on one day alone (Wednesday, the 2nd of February 1785). Dennis was often
assisted at these marathons by the man who was to become his successor, William
Brunskill, who went on to hang an amazing 537 people
outside Newgate as principal hangman. He also executed a further 68 at Horsemonger Lane Gaol in the
John Langley took over from him in 1814 and hanged 37 men and three women in his three years in office, including Eliza Fenning. Click here for her story. He died in April 1817 and was succeeded by James Botting who was known as “Jemmy”. Botting hanged 42 men and two women during his two year tenure, during which in 1818, shoplifting was removed from the list of capital crimes at the instigation of Sir Samuel Romilly.
The gallows used by Dennis, Brunskill and Botting had two parallel beams from which a maximum of a dozen criminals could be hanged at once. (see picture) The platform was 10 feet long by 8 feet wide and was released by moving the lever or "pin" acting on a drawbar under the drop. The condemned were given a drop of between one and two feet so death was hardly ever "instantaneous." On one occasion, presumably because the mechanism had failed a simple beam and cart was used to get the prisoners suspended, as had been done at Tyburn. This was for the execution of Ann Hurle and Methuselah Spalding in February 1804. This lapse attracted severe criticism in the press.
In July 1819, James Foxen assumed the
position having previously assisted Botting, and
hanged 207 men and six women over the next 11 years. The
Thomas Cheshire, or Old Cheese as he was known, officiated as principal at a
quadruple hanging on
In 1820,
there were 42 executions on seven “hanging days” at Newgate, all carried out by
James Foxen. Not one of these was for murder. Twelve
were for "uttering" forged notes, 12 for robbery or burglary, and
five for highway robbery. At this time, murderers, rapists, arsonists, forgers,
coiners and highwaymen were virtually always executed and were seldom offered
transportation. The largest multiple execution in 1820 was that of eight men on
the 11th of December and the smallest was of three men on the 24th of
October. Sarah Price was the only woman to suffer in 1820, alongside six
men, for "uttering" forged bank notes or coins on the 5th of
December.
On the eve of a hanging, the portable New Drop gallows was brought out by a
team of horses and placed in front of the Debtor's Door of Newgate. Large
crowds gathered around it and it would be guarded by soldiers with pikes.
Wealthy people could pay as much as £10 for a seat in a window overlooking the
gallows at the hanging of a notorious criminal. At around
Execution Broadsides were usually sold among the crowd, purporting to give the
last confessions of the condemned. These were like tabloid newspapers of the
day and were often total fabrication. As they were printed prior to the
execution, they were quite often unused if a reprieve was granted after
printing, not an uncommon occurrence at that time. They would show a stylised
woodcut picture of the hanging and had details of the crime. Ordinary
newspapers were very few in number at this time and relatively very expensive
so were only read by the wealthy.
William Calcraft took over from Foxen in
March of 1829 and carried out 86 executions here, his first job being the
hanging of the hated child murderer, Ester Hibner, on
the 13th of that month. Prior to taking up the position, he had sold pies at
hangings and had got to know Foxen and
Like his predecessors, Calcraft was also responsible for carrying out floggings
at Newgate and was paid a salary with additional monies for hangings and
floggings. With the advent of a comprehensive railway network, he was able to
work over most of the country in his later years and became
William Marwood was
Bartholomew Bins carried out one hanging after Marwood, that of
Patrick O'Donnell, before handing it over to James Berry who performed 12
executions here between 1884 and 1890.
He was replaced by James Billington who hanged 24 men and three women up to
1901, including Louisa Masset, the first person to be
executed in
The last hanging at Newgate was carried out by Billington's
son, William, on
A grand juror recounts his
visit to Newgate in the early 1880’s.
It is customary for the Grand Jury of Middlesex to
inspect Newgate Prison, and this we proceeded to do. First we were shown casts
of the heads of murderers, taken after execution, and in some instances bearing
a terrible tell-tale depression in the neck. Next we examined the complicated
fastenings by which ancient hangmen pinioned the doomed man, till Calcraft and
Marwood introduced simpler adjustments. Here, too, were the irons in which
prisoners were formerly confined, including a ponderous set once worn by Jack
Sheppard, but in spite of which he managed to escape (but who was re-captured
and hanged at Tyburn). We then inspected the cells, and visited a room since
used as a kitchen, through which, in the days of public executions, the prisoner
passed to the gallows. Then we were taken to the chapel, so contrived that the
prisoners see only the clergyman, and to the condemned cell, dim and dreary
enough to appal the stoutest heart. We passed through the bleak passage, paved
with flag-stones, beneath which the bodies of murderers are buried in quicklime
and where their initials are rudely scratched upon the wall. Lastly we saw the place of execution, where
everything is in such readiness that, as the warder informed us, in five
minutes from receiving the order a man could be hanged. A strong chair, of a
severe aesthetic shape, attracted our attention. This, we were told, was used
when the convict was too faint to stand, and as the bolt was drawn the chair
and its occupants crashed down together into the pit below. We gladly left this
dismal scene; and after our foreman had entered the usual expression of
approval in the visitors' book, we departed from the sunless prison of Newgate,
having fulfilled the last duty of the grand jury of Middlesex.
Analysis of executions between 1783 and 1902
and the crimes for which people were put to death.
1783-1799
559 people were put to death in this short period of just over 16 years, an
average of 35 per year. 539 men and 17 women were hanged for a wide variety of
crimes and three women were burnt for coining. (Women accounting for 3.6% of
the executions) (A small number of these executions took place at or near where
the crime was committed.)
1800-1899.
In all there were 622 hangings at Newgate of which 30 were of women (4.8%), 568
were in public including those of 24 women. (See breakdown
below)
1800-1833.
There were 521 executions, all in public, comprising of 499 men and 22 women.
Only 44 of these were for murder, the rest being for various other felonies, particularly
burglary and forgery. See analysis below.
1835
Just two executions took place at Newgate when John Smith and John Pratt became
the last to hang for sodomy in
1834, 1836 & 1838.
No executions at all at Newgate, as the number of capital crimes had reduced
dramatically in the previous two to three years.
1837-1868 (public hangings).
A further 42 men and three women were hanged in public up to the 25th of May
1868, all for murder (including five men who were executed for murder and
piracy – “The Flowery Land” pirates.)
1868-1899 (private hangings).
51 men and three women were executed for murder, including four men for murder
and mutiny on a merchant ship called the “Lennie”
(the “Lennie Mutineers”).
1900-1902.
Seven men and two women were hanged for murder in the 20th century prior to the
closure of Newgate.
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Analysis of the
principal crimes for which people were executed for |
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|
Arson |
Attempted
murder |
Burglary |
Coining |
Forgery |
Highway
Robbery |
High
Treason |
Horse
Stealing |
Murder |
Rape |
Robbery |
|
4 |
5 |
100 |
6 |
87 |
66 |
5 |
34 |
44 |
7 |
32 |
|
0.80% |
1% |
20% |
1.20% |
17.50% |
13.20% |
1% |
6.80% |
8.30% |
1.40% |
6.40% |
|
Sheep
Stealing |
Sodomy |
Theft
* |
Uttering
** |
Other
crimes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 |
14 |
41 |
32 |
18 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1.40% |
2.80% |
8.20% |
6.40% |
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* including from letters, on the river and
from dwelling houses.
** Uttering is the crime of passing forgeries, e.g. counterfeit coins and
notes.
Detailed information on many of the cases can be found by searching the Old Bailey on line at http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/
