Although after 1868 the law required that executions be carried out within prisons, early non-public executions were by no means private and some forty to fifty people were present in the prison yard at Gloucester on the morning of Monday the 12th of January 1874 to witness the execution of two men and one woman. They were Charles Edward Butt, … Read more
With special thanks to Monty Dart for providing contemporary newspaper reports from which to research this case. 28 year old Fred Horry made history when he became the first man in England to be hanged by the measured drop method. William Frederick Horry was born on the 17th of December 1843 at Boston in Lincolnshire and was generally known as Fred. He met Jane who … Read more
Mary Ann Cotton has the dubious distinction of being Britain’s worst female serial killer and her probable tally of killings would remain unequalled by either sex until the 1980’s. She is strongly suspected of 14 or 15 murders, either for gain or to enable her to marry or both, and 21 people who were close to her died … Read more
Irish born Mary Williams lived in Raleigh Street, Bootle with her husband and seven children. The couple had been married ten years, but it was not a happy relationship. She was regularly in trouble with the law and in 1872 was sentenced to seven days imprisonment for non payment of a fine. Raleigh Street was a rough area of Bootle and there was plenty … Read more
Introduction Fanny Stewart, as she was known, was the first woman in England to be hanged by the newly introduced “long drop” method when she was put to death at London’s Newgate Prison on Monday, the 29th of June, 1874, by William Marwood, who had succeeded William Calcraft. It should be noted that her Christian … Read more
