Background
Lawrence Shirley, the 4th Earl Ferrers, was born on the 18th of August 1720 and has the dubious distinction of becoming the last peer of the realm to be hanged as a common criminal. (Note: his Christian name is also given as Laurence.)
He inherited the title in 1745, at the age of 25, along with 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.
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From 1743, he had been in a relationship with Margaret Clifford, with whom he had four illegitimate daughters between 1744 and 1749. Like most men in his position, he needed at least one male heir to inherit the title and estates. 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 lived in fear of the Earl’s constant drunken rages, violent outbursts, and womanising. (It seems the relationship with Margaret Clifford continued during the marriage, and she went to live with him after the dissolution of it.) Eventually, things deteriorated to the point that Mary obtained a separation by an Act of Parliament in 1758—an extremely unusual step at the time, which would have required very strong grounds.
As part of the separation arrangements, it was agreed that Mary would receive an income from the rents of certain estate properties. Control of the estate was vested in trustees, one of whom was the old family steward, John Johnson, who reluctantly became the receiver of these rents.
Unsurprisingly, Mr. Johnson was disliked by Ferrers, especially after Ferrers discovered that Johnson had paid his wife £50 without his approval. Ferrers also likely resented Johnson’s power over the estate and may have suspected an affair between Johnson and Mary. (Mary later remarried—to Lord Frederick Campbell—and died in a fire at her house in 1807.)
The Murder of John Johnson
Five days before the murder, on Sunday the 13th of January 1760, Ferrers visited Johnson and invited him to the Hall on Friday the 18th. Before Johnson arrived, Ferrers sent away his mistress Margaret Clifford, their children, and all the male servants.
When Johnson arrived, he was shown into the Earl’s study, and a discussion of business matters followed. A heated argument soon erupted, and around 3 in the afternoon, Ferrers shot Johnson. He was not fatally injured by the bullet, was treated for his wound at the Hall, and put to bed there. Dr. Kirkland from Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Johnson’s daughter Sarah were summoned.
Throughout the evening, the Earl continued to abuse and threaten Johnson before eventually falling into a drunken stupor. Dr. Kirkland was then able to remove Johnson back to his home, where he died the following morning.
Ferrers reportedly told Sarah Johnson that he would take care of her family should her father die—on condition that they did not prosecute him.
Arrest and Trial
It was Dr. Kirkland, assisted by several local men—most 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 Ferrers was remanded to Leicester Prison.
As a peer, he could not be tried at the Leicester Assizes. He was transferred to the Tower of London and committed to the custody of Black Rod on the 14th of February to await trial.
The trial opened at Westminster Hall on the 16th of April 1760 before the Lord High Steward, Lord Henley, and lasted two days. The Attorney General, Sir Charles Pratt, and the Solicitor General, Sir Charles Yorke, led the prosecution. Witnesses included Dr. Kirkland, Sarah Johnson, and three women servants who were present at the Hall at the time of the murder.
Ferrers conducted his own defence, as all defendants had to at the time. His family had dissuaded him from claiming that the shooting was justified, so he attempted a defence of insanity—a condition for which he was able to provide substantial anecdotal evidence. Just about everyone who knew him thought he was mad.
He later claimed he had only used this defence at the insistence of his family and was ashamed of it. The family was understandably concerned about their reputation and the disgrace of having a peer hanged as a felon.
One witness, Peter Williams, described how Ferrers came to collect a mare he had left in the Williams family’s care. Dissatisfied with the horse’s condition, Ferrers struck Mrs. Williams and seriously injured Peter with a sword. The Solicitor General countered that this was not proof of insanity or eccentricity. In fact, he joked that if a man couldn’t take such action against a negligent servant, then everyone present would be in the dock. This gives a strong sense of the entitled worldview of the nobility at the time—Ferrers clearly believed he was above the law.
Ultimately, his fellow peers decided that Ferrers was legally sane. Despite a strong and articulate defence, there was no real alternative verdict. Each peer individually found him guilty of murder, meaning only one sentence was possible: death by hanging followed by dissection, in accordance with the Murder Act 1752.
This Act specified that execution should occur within two days of sentencing unless that would fall on a Sunday. Due to Ferrers’ status and the need for suitable arrangements, the execution was stayed until Monday, the 5th of May.
Ferrers was horrified by the idea of a public hanging at Tyburn, considering it a death fit only for common criminals. He petitioned the king to be beheaded instead—a nobleman’s death—but beheading was not a legal punishment for murder, only for treason. Thus, the sentence stood, and Ferrers remained in the Round Tower awaiting his trip to Tyburn.
Life in the Tower and Preparations for Death
On the night he was sentenced to death, Ferrers reportedly played piquet with the warders. He enjoyed a comfortable life in the Tower—as was common for wealthier prisoners—though visits from Margaret Clifford were not permitted.
He made a will, leaving £16,000 to his four daughters by Margaret and £200 to Sarah Johnson. The king, George II, signed the writ of execution on the 2nd of May.
Execution
The execution of a nobleman was an unprecedented public spectacle. A new gallows was specially constructed at Tyburn for the occasion. It consisted of a scaffold covered in black baize, reached by a short flight of stairs, with two uprights topped by a crossbeam. Beneath the beam stood a small box-like platform, designed to drop and leave the condemned suspended.
Even black cushions were provided for Ferrers and the chaplain to kneel on in prayer. Every seat in Mother Proctor’s Pews was filled, and a massive crowd gathered, held back by javelin men.
For the occasion, Ferrers wore his wedding suit—a light-coloured satin ensemble 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.” It was, after all, important to look one’s best for an execution.
At 9 a.m. on Monday, the sheriffs of London and Middlesex formally demanded Ferrers’ body from the keeper of the Tower. He was allowed to make the journey to Tyburn in his own landau, drawn by six horses, accompanied by Mr. Humphries, the Tower chaplain, and Mr. Vaillant, the sheriff.
The procession was led by a troop of cavalry, followed by Ferrers’ landau, then Mr. Errington’s carriage, a mourning coach with friends, a hearse for the body, and another contingent of soldiers. Huge crowds lined the route, and the journey took nearly three hours. Ferrers wryly noted, “so large a mob had collected because the people had never seen a lord hanged before.”
Mr. Humphries asked if he could offer the Lord’s Prayer on the scaffold, to which Ferrers replied, “I always thought it a good prayer, you may use it if you please.”
Upon arrival, Ferrers gave his watch to Sheriff Vaillant and five guineas to the chaplain. He had also brought the same for the hangman, Thomas Turlis, but mistakenly gave it to the wrong man, nearly causing a fight between Turlis and his assistant.
Ferrers and the chaplain then knelt on the cushions and recited the Lord’s Prayer. Ferrers concluded with, “Lord have mercy upon me, and forgive me my errors.” He mounted the drop, had his arms tied with a black silk sash, and the rope placed around his neck. His final words were to Turlis: “Am I right?” A white nightcap was pulled over his head.
He had declined to give the execution signal himself, so the sheriff did so. Around noon, the drop fell—but the mechanism failed, leaving Ferrers’ feet nearly in contact with the platform. He writhed slightly before becoming still. Horace Walpole reported that it took four minutes for him to die.
The body was left hanging for the customary hour, then taken down, placed in a coffin, and transported to Surgeon’s Hall for dissection. A woodcut was made of the body in its coffin. It was displayed until the evening of Thursday, the 8th of May, then returned to his family for burial in St. Pancras Church. Twenty-two years later, the body was moved to Staunton Harold and 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 Lawrence Ferrers had some mental instability, exacerbated by chronic heavy drinking. He could behave normally when sober but was completely out of control when drunk. (Compare this with modern Friday and Saturday night behaviour, the peak time for woundings and killings.)
Ferrers’ alcoholism appears to have been the principal cause of his failed marriage. There was also clear evidence of premeditation in the murder—he invited Johnson to the Hall and sent away those who might have stopped him.
His supreme arrogance, likely born of his social position, made him believe he was above the law. In the mid-18th century, peers truly thought themselves untouchable. Physical and verbal abuse of servants was considered entirely acceptable. (See the Solicitor General’s comments in court.) Tenants had no legal protection or security of tenure.
It was expected of a nobleman to “know how to die” and to make a dignified public show of it. In this, Earl Ferrers did not disappoint. Nor did the Sheriffs of London, who arranged a spectacle befitting the gravity of the event—complete with a custom-built gallows, cavalry escort, and national attention.
Compare this to the treatment of common felons hanged at Tyburn, and the unique nature of Ferrers’ fate becomes all the more striking.
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