Origins and Early History
Like some other cities, Oxford found itself with a redundant castle, which it turned into a prison in the 14th century, when the military need for castles had passed. After the Civil War, the remains of the castle continued to be used as a prison and also as an administrative and judicial centre.
Christ Church College owned the castle at this period and rented it out to jailers who made their living by charging prisoners for their keep.
18th and 19th Century Developments
Control passed to the Oxford County Justices and, as with most counties in the late 18th century, a new prison was constructed to the design of William Blackburn. This was started in 1786 and gradually expanded during the 19th century.
Originally, the new building had two wings—one for debtors and the other for felons. The keeper’s house was in the centre of the site. A Wing formed the core of the new prison, being a four-story structure with large windows.
In 1788, two new wings were added—one each for male and female prisoners. The total capacity was 133 inmates. The prison was further enlarged between 1848 and 1856, bringing the capacity up to 218 male and 24 female felons, and 133 male and 25 female debtors. A new Governor’s House was built outside the walls in 1848. Female inmates ceased to be housed at Oxford after 1924.
The prison closed in 1996, and ownership passed to Oxford County Council. The prison was redeveloped into the Malmaison Hotel, which opened in 2004.
The Gallows at Oxford
Early Executions
In the 18th century, hangings could take place in the Castle Yard, and it is not known whether there was a permanent gallows prior to 1790. It is known that Mary Blandy was hanged from a beam set between two trees in the Castle Yard in 1752.
County executions took place on the Castle Green and on a mound just outside the West Gate of the City.
The New Drop Gallows
From 1790 until the ending of public hangings, the New Drop gallows was erected above the main gate, as was common practice in British prisons.
After 1868, when public hanging had been abolished, it was set up in one of the prison’s yards just under St. George’s Tower. This location was reportedly used for the hanging of Edward Roberts, the first private hanging here, which took place on the 18th of March 1872. William Calcraft was the hangman.
Hangings by William Marwood
Henry Rowles was hanged by William Marwood on the 1st of April 1878, and it was recorded that a pit had been dug beneath the gallows, which had been reduced in height to bring the platform nearer to ground level. This enabled Marwood to give a drop of 7 feet 6 inches. The gallows was set up near the Deputy Governor’s garden, some 40–50 yards from the condemned cell, and the platform was reached by a short flight of stairs.
Charles Smith’s Execution
A new gallows was erected in 1885 for the execution of one Mr. Bodkin, who was later reprieved. This was then sent to Worcester, and another new one was constructed in a wing of the prison—presumably C Wing—for the execution of Charles Smith on Monday the 9th of May 1887 by James Berry. This was close to the condemned cell but not visible from it.
The beam was set in the walls at each end and painted black. It had an iron band with a ring for attachment of the rope. Beneath were the trap doors that opened into a pit 10–12 feet in depth. The details of this gallows were reported in Jackson’s Oxford Journal newspaper of Saturday the 14th of May. The condemned cell was some 12 yards (36 feet) from the gallows.
Smith, aged 63, and his wife and family were gypsies, living in a tent at Open Brasenose near Cowley. On the night of Saturday the 19th of February 1887, Smith beat his wife, Lucy, to death with a hammer whilst the children slept. Just as Berry went to operate the trap, Smith fainted. He had intended to give Smith a drop of four feet.
Joseph Walker and Robert Upton
The next hanging at Oxford was that of Joseph Walker on Tuesday the 15th of November 1887. Walker was a saddle maker from Chipping Norton and had also murdered his wife.
Berry noted that he was a heavy man at 16 stone (224 lbs.) and gave him a drop of 2 feet 10 inches, the shortest he had ever used. Death was reported as instantaneous.
Berry’s last execution here was that of Robert Upton on Tuesday the 17th of July 1887. Like Smith, Upton had beaten his wife to death. He had attacked Emma with an iron bar on the 23rd of May 1887 at Milton-under-Wychwood. Upton was nearly decapitated by the drop, and his clothes were saturated with blood.
Berry claimed to have given Upton a drop of five feet, but the medical officer, Henry Banks Spencer, thought the drop was nearer seven feet. Sixty-one-year-old Upton weighed 147 lbs. and was 5 feet 10½ inches tall with a thin neck. Berry told the subsequent inquest that he had only realised on the gallows that Upton had a degenerative condition of the neck, but it was too late at that point to alter the drop length. He had not been able to observe Upton prior to the hanging.
The Double Execution of 1892
James Billington carried out the double execution of 31-year-old Charles Raynor and 35-year-old Frederick Eggleton on Thursday the 17th of March 1892. They had murdered Joseph Crawley and William Puddiphatt, two gamekeepers, in a wood at Aldbury near Aylesbury.
Billington gave Eggleton, who weighed 167 lbs., a drop of six feet nine inches, and Raynor, who weighed 157 lbs., a drop of seven feet. In both cases, the LPC4 forms recorded that there was fracture dislocation of the vertebrae. Billington worked without an assistant at this hanging.
Jackson’s Oxford Journal newspaper of the 19th of March 1892 reported the executions in detail and stated that the gallows was situated just 15 yards from the condemned cells.
Later Execution Arrangements
Sometime in the 1920s, a new condemned cell was built on A Wing at the junction with C Wing (see sketch). The gallows was in C Wing and at a distance of 40 feet—an unusually long way from the condemned cell.
The prisoner was led through a doorway that had been concealed by a wardrobe into the corridor in C Wing to the gallows chamber, formed from three cells on the left-hand side of the corridor. This was reached via a large square opening (the width of the original central cell of the three knocked together), that replaced the original cell doorway, and was later filled in with an expanse of brick.
The gallows were permanent. The beam ran square across the chamber from wall to wall but at 90 degrees to the corridor alignment (i.e., from the inside of the corridor wall above the doorway across to the inside of the external wall above the window, along the long axis of the former cell). Presumably, the entry to the execution area was usually closed by shutters (similar to Wandsworth, although not as wide).
A door in the outer wall of the two ground floor cells, which had been demolished to form the drop room, led out to the yard where burial took place, in the shadow of the Norman St. George’s Tower.
Executions at Oxford
A total of 100 confirmed executions were carried out at Oxford between 1735 and 1952, with an additional three possible ones in 1742 for which no reprieve records have been found. Four women were hanged here between 1735 and 1766—plus one possible in 1742. These were the only women executed at Oxford. Mary Blandy is the most well-known among them. A detailed article on her case appears on the Contents Page, accompanied by a woodcut of her hanging.
List of Executions: 1735–1799
240 death sentences led to 59 confirmed executions and 3 possible ones. These took place on a mound outside the West Gate or on the Castle Green.
| Year Range | Executions |
|---|---|
| 1735–1737 | No executions |
| 1738 | W 1 March – William Clifford (Burglary) → Execution: M 20 March |
| 1739 | W 7 March – John Martin (Highway robbery) → Execution: M 26 March |
| 1740–1741 | No executions |
| 1742 | No confirmed executions; 3 possible: Francis Battin (Highway robbery), Elizabeth Cox (Sheep theft), William Harding (Sheep theft) – execution dates unknown |
| 1743 | W 2 March – John Gale (Highway robbery), Milly Gray (Horse theft) → Executions: F 25 March |
| 1744–1745 | No executions |
| 1746 | W 5 March – Rose Hurle (Murder of her son William Hurle); W 6 August – Robert Rowlwright (Murder of Rose Rowlwright Fuller) → Execution: W 20 August |
| 1747–1748 | No executions |
| 1749 | W 12 July – Paul Wells Jr. (Forgery) → Execution: F 1 September |
| 1750 | W 7 March – James Smith (Housebreaking); John Walker (Highway robbery) → Executions: M 2 April |
| 1751 | No executions |
| 1752 | S 29 February – Mary Blandy (Murder of her father Francis) → Execution: M 6 April |
| 1753 | W 7 March – William Grindy (At large) – execution date unknown |
| 1754 | W 6 March – Richard Baylis & Adam Brice (Highway robbery); James Till (17) (Stole in dwelling house) → Executions: F 22 March & F 26 April |
| 1755 | W 5 March – Richard Mansfield & Richard Dancer (Highway robbery); Robert Randell (Sheep theft) → Executions: F 21 March & M 28 April |
| 1756–1757 | No executions |
| 1758 | Th 2 March – William Hardiman (Highway robbery) → Execution: M 20 March |
| 1759–1760 | No executions |
| 1761 | W 4 March – Isaac Dorking (Highway robbery) → Execution: M 23 March |
| 1762 | W 3 March – Shadrack Smith (Highway robbery); W 21 July – Susannah Harris & James Costard (Murder of her child; murder of his mother Sarah) → Executions: S 24 July |
| 1763–1764 | No executions |
| 1765 | W 13 March – Parker Hall (Burglary) → Execution: M 22 April |
| 1766 | W 5 March – Mary Lamphrey (Murder of her daughter’s bastard); W 9 July – John Williams & John Brown (Highway robbery) → Executions: M 10 March & M 28 July |
| 1767–1770 | No executions |
| 1771 | Tu 9 July – Martin Reader (Burglary); William Crooke (Cook) (Burglary) → Executions: M 29 July & F 16 August |
| 1772 | W 4 March – Richard Gardner (Burglary) → Execution: M 23 March |
| 1773–1774 | No executions |
| 1775 | W 8 March – George Strapp (Murder of Edward Bowden); W 26 July – James Corbett (Burglary) → Executions: M 13 March & M 14 August |
| 1776 | Richard Churn (Highway robbery) → Execution: M 25 March |
| 1777 | No executions |
| 1778 | W 4 March – Robert Hitchcock (Murder of his father Edward) → Execution: M 9 March |
| 1779 | W 3 March – William Hide (Burglary) → Execution: M 22 March |
| 1780 | W 26 July – Richard Wells (Horse theft) → Execution: W 30 August |
| 1781–1783 | No executions |
| 1784 | W 3 March – Daniel Cato (Murder of Thomas Rossen); Benjamin Webb & George Ward (Housebreaking); Giles Freeman (Highway robbery) → Executions: M 8 March, M 22 March, Tu 30 March |
| 1785 | W 2 March – John Price (Highway robbery) → Execution: M 7 March |
| 1786 | W 8 March – John Cox & Richard Cox (Killing a sheep); John Grace (Sheep theft); Miles Ward (Stealing in a College) → Executions: M 27 March |
| 1787 | W 18 July – Thomas White (Stole in dwelling house); Charles Wyatt (Stole from a letter) → Executions: M 6 August |
| 1788 | W 5 March – Charles Smith (Horse theft) → Execution: M 24 March |
| 1789 | No executions |
| 1790 | W 3 March – Thomas Davis (Horse theft); W 14 July – Charles Evans Shury & John Castle (Murder of David Charteris); James Williams (Burglary) → Executions: M 22 March, M 19 July, M 2 August |
| 1791 | W 2 March – Giles Covington (Aiding murder of David Charteris); John Kelly (Highway robbery) → Executions: M 7 March & M 21 March |
| 1792 | W 7 March – Joseph Tapp (Highway robbery) → Execution: M 26 March |
| 1793 | W 10 July – Robert Jenkinson (Horse theft) → Execution: M 29 July |
| 1794–1796 | No executions |
| 1797 | W 2 August – John Marshall (Horse theft); William Ure (Burglary); Thomas Andrews (Horse theft) → Executions: M 21 August |
| 1798 | W 7 March – James Carpenter (Burglary) → Execution: M 26 March |
| 1799 | No executions |
Public Executions: 1800–1863
Twenty men were hanged publicly in Oxford during this period.
19 March 1832: Two Remarkable Cases
- John Gibbs (32) was executed for setting fire to hayricks at Steeple Aston on 12 February.
- George Lay (19) was executed for violently robbing Mr Pullen of five sovereigns and a watch.
Jackson’s Oxford Journal noted a surprising turnout of young females in the crowd. The hangman’s name was not reported.
Other Notable Executions
- Thomas Clay: Hanged on 5 March 1836 for the murder of gamekeeper Thomas Cooper (shot on 3 November 1835 at Woodeaton).
- Guglielmo Kalabergo: Italian immigrant hanged on 21 March 1852 by William Calcraft for murdering his uncle at Banbury. He confessed to a Catholic priest; over 8,000 witnessed the execution. Newspapers anglicised his name to William.
Last Public Hanging in 1863
- Noah Austin (26) was hanged on the gatehouse roof on 24 March 1863 by William Calcraft, before 9,000–10,000 spectators. He had murdered his girlfriend’s father in Upper Heyford and confessed in the press.
Private Executions: 1872–1892
Seven men were executed privately during this period. Details appear in the gallows section above.
20th Century Executions at Oxford
Joseph Rose
Joseph Rose (25) murdered his cousin Sarah and their five-month-old daughter Isabella on 28 October 1918 near Newbury. Discovered by Ada Edge, Rose claimed they were attacked by a man named Harry. No evidence supported his claim. Rose was tried at Reading Assizes (16 January 1919) and, despite no weapon or motive, was convicted. He was hanged at Oxford Prison on 19 February 1919 by John Ellis, assisted by Edward Taylor—the first execution there in 27 years.
George Bailey
First Murderer Convicted by a Jury Containing Women
George Arthur Bailey (33), who poisoned his wife Kate Lillian Bailey (22) in 1920, was tried in January 1921 at Aylesbury before a mixed jury of three women—a historic first, captured in a Pathé Newsreel. Despite claiming suicide, Bailey’s criminal past and evidence of poison found on him led to his conviction and death sentence.
Henry Seymour – A Miscarriage of Justice?
His appeal was dismissed, and he was duly hanged at Oxford on Wednesday the 2nd of March by John Ellis and Edward Taylor. The LPC4 form recorded that he was rather short with a muscular neck. The drop of 7’1” proved sufficient to dislocate it, however. The same form also records his age as 33, although it is given as 22 elsewhere.
The Murder of Annie Louisa Kempson
The body of 58-year-old Annie Louisa Kempson was discovered by her brother at her home, “Boundary House,” in the St Clements area of Oxford. She had been battered and stabbed to death and robbed of a few pounds.
It is thought that the murder took place on the morning of Saturday, the 1st of August 1931. Annie was due to stay with a friend in London on the Sunday. When she didn’t arrive, her friend phoned Annie’s brother, Albert Reynolds, who lived nearby. He went to Annie’s home on Monday the 3rd, and managed to gain entry.
The Chief Constable of Oxfordshire, Charles Fox, called in Scotland Yard to help in the investigation. Over 300 people were interviewed. Annie’s body was autopsied by Sir Bernard Spilsbury. He put the time of death at around 10 a.m. on the Saturday, supported by the fact that there were breakfast things out on the kitchen table and her bed was unmade. A delivery boy got no answer when he tried to deliver some shoes to Annie at around 11 a.m.
Suspect: Henry Seymour
In the house, the police discovered a business card bearing the name of Henry Seymour. Seymour, 39, was a commercial traveller for a company called Tellus, selling door to door. He became the sole suspect and was traced to Brighton, where he was arrested on the 15th of August. The murder weapon or weapons were never recovered.
Seymour was tried at the Oxfordshire Assizes between the 20th and 25th of October before Mr. Justice Swift. He adamantly denied any involvement in the crime.
He admitted that he had been in Oxford on the Friday and had been staying in the Greyhound Hotel in Aylesbury all the preceding week. This was confirmed by the landlord. He had missed the last bus back to Aylesbury on Friday night and had stayed with Alice Andrews, leaving her at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. She testified that she saw him with a hammer and chisel, although he said it was a hammer and screwdriver. Seymour caught the 11:03 a.m. bus back to Aylesbury, and the bus stop was about a 20-minute walk from Alice’s house. Witnesses confirmed that he was indeed on the bus.
Conflicting Testimony
The defence introduced several witnesses who testified to seeing Annie alive after 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. William Law saw her in Pembroke Street at 11:20 a.m.; John Woodward served her in his shop between 12 and 1 p.m.; Frederick Taylor, who had known her for 20 years, saw her at 12:30 p.m.; and Kate Barron, who had known Annie all her life, saw her at 3 p.m.
The prosecution could offer no witnesses who had seen Seymour at Annie’s home on Saturday. Other than his business card, there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime.
It took the jury just 38 minutes to return a guilty verdict.
Despite witness testimony placing Annie alive after Seymour had left for Aylesbury, the Appeal Court denied his appeal. He was hanged at 8 a.m. on Tuesday the 10th of December 1931 by Thomas Pierrepoint and Alfred Allen.
A new book on the case, The Oxford Murder by Michael Tanner, suggests that there was indeed a miscarriage of justice.
George Thomas Pople
George Pople was a 22-year-old soldier in the South Wales Borderers’ Regiment who was on leave in December of 1931. He decided to use the time for a cycling tour, starting in Bath and then going on to London to stay with relatives.
As his leave drew to a close, he began the journey back to Brecon. By Saturday, the 19th of December, he had reached Burford in Oxfordshire when his cycle lamp gave out. He got off and started pushing the bike when along came 56-year-old Mabel Elizabeth Matthews on her bike with a working light. Pople pushed Elizabeth off the bike and stole her lamp before escaping.
She was still alive at this time and was discovered by two men at around 8:30 p.m., who flagged down a passing car. The car owner fetched a doctor, but Elizabeth quickly succumbed to her injuries. She had, to quote Sir Reginald Coventry KC, prosecuting, been “brutally maltreated” with 23 blows to her body.
The autopsy by Sir Bernard Spilsbury revealed she had suffered two blows to the back of the head, eleven broken ribs, a fractured jaw, and other injuries. A man’s mackintosh with sausage sandwiches in a pocket was found at the scene. The lamp was missing from Elizabeth’s bike.
Pople was stopped by police the following day in Abergavenny. The officer noted that his shoes were muddy. He was interviewed again and admitted taking the lamp. In his version of events, he reached out to grab it and accidentally knocked Elizabeth off the bike, causing her to crash into a telegraph pole.
He was tried at Gloucester before Mr. Justice Roche on the 1st and 2nd of February 1932. He maintained that Elizabeth’s death was an accident. The relative Pople had stayed with in London testified that he had given the accused the sausage sandwiches. Bloodstains matching Elizabeth’s group were found on Pople’s clothes.
The accident defence was dismissed by Sir Bernard Spilsbury’s testimony, and the jury convicted him.
On Wednesday, the 9th of March 1932, Pople was led to the gallows and hanged by Thomas Pierrepoint and Henry Pollard. There were just a handful of people outside the prison, and by 8:10 a.m. they had dispersed after reading the notices of the execution.
Ernest Hutchinson
Hutchinson was a 43-year-old unemployed man living with a married mother of two, 37-year-old Gwendoline Annie Warren.
Gwendoline had moved out of her family home in June 1932 and gone to live with Hutchinson in a rented house in Haywood Avenue, Maidenhead, Berkshire. They quarrelled over his lack of work and income, and on the weekend of the 10th and 11th of September, things came to a head. Hutchinson suffocated Gwendoline under a mattress and other bedding.
Twelve-year-old Ronald Warren had visited his mother on Saturday the 10th and then stayed with his aunt for the rest of the weekend. He returned to Haywood Avenue on Wednesday the 14th, but Hutchinson would not let him in. He went back to his aunt, Miss Fleet, and told her what had happened. She and Ronald returned to the house, but again couldn’t get an answer.
With the help of a neighbour, Miss Fleet gained entry and discovered Gwendoline’s body. The police were called and began searching for Hutchinson, who was arrested in Southend on the 15th of September in the company of a prostitute.
Hutchinson claimed that they had argued on the night of the 10th, after which Gwendoline had slept alone in the spare bedroom. The next morning, he claimed to have discovered her body. He said the front door had been unlocked and assumed that her husband, William, had come in and murdered her. He also claimed to have been too upset to report the death and stayed in the house with the body for three days. He told neighbours Gwendoline had gone to Birmingham and took items from the house, which he sold.
The trial was held at Oxford from the 14th to 16th of October before Mr. Justice MacKinnon. Sir Bernard Spilsbury testified that Gwendoline had suffered multiple blows from a blunt object but died from suffocation. Hutchinson’s barrister, Mr. Micklethwait, related the defendant’s version of events to the court.
The jury were not impressed and returned a guilty verdict after an hour and ten minutes. Hutchinson reportedly smiled when the verdict was delivered.
He was hanged on Wednesday the 23rd of November by Alfred Allen and Henry Pollard, with a Mr. Stanley observing. Hutchinson weighed 162 lbs. and was given a drop of 6’6½”.
Harold Hill
Doreen Hearne, aged 8, and Kathleen Trundell, aged 6, left school as usual at 4 p.m. on Wednesday the 10th of November 1941. Around 4:15 p.m., they were seen by fellow students climbing into an army truck. Thirteen-year-old Gordon Page noted the truck’s identification number and that it had a Remembrance Day poppy in the grille.
A huge search was mounted by police and volunteers. On the 22nd of November, the girls’ bodies were found in Rough Wood in Penn, Buckinghamshire—four miles from their home. Both had been strangled and repeatedly stabbed in the throat and chest, but neither had been sexually assaulted.
Investigations showed the truck was based at an army camp at Haselmere Lodge in Suffolk. A child witness identified 26-year-old Harold Hill at an identity parade as the driver. Hill was overheard telling another soldier, “You saw me at 4:20 p.m.” — before officers had revealed the time of the abduction.
Further evidence mounted: 20 unexplained miles on the truck’s odometer, a tunic with blood stains, a handkerchief with Hill’s laundry mark at the scene, fingerprints on a gas mask, and matching tyre tracks.
Hill was arrested and tried at the Old Bailey before Mr. Justice Humphreys from the 2nd to the 5th of March 1942. His defence of schizophrenia was rejected by the jury. He was hanged at 8:00 a.m. on Friday the 1st of May 1942 by Tom and Albert Pierrepoint.
George Russell
94-year-old Minnie Freeman Lee lived alone at a large house named “Wynford” in Raypark Avenue in Maidenhead in Berkshire. There were local rumours that she was wealthy, although these were unfounded.
On Monday the 1st of June 1948, the milkman noticed that his previous delivery was still on the doorstep and, knowing this was unlike Minnie, he called the police.
They forced an entry and searched the house, finally finding Minnie’s body in a trunk. She had been battered about the head, tied up, gagged and asphyxiated. The house had been ransacked, but police were able to find a good partial fingerprint. It is thought that the murder took place on Saturday the 29th of May 1948.
When compared to those of known local criminals, the fingerprint was a match to 45-year-old George Russell. He was arrested in St. Albans but denied any involvement in the crime. When confronted with the fingerprint, he admitted visiting the house looking for work as a gardener. During his questioning he allegedly said to the detective, “Did I murder this poor woman for something she was supposed to have and had not?”
Russell was tried at Reading on the 15th and 16th of October 1948 before Mr. Justice Hallett. The fingerprint and Russell’s statement were enough to convince the jury.
Russell was transferred to Oxford for execution and hanged at 8 a.m. on Thursday the 2nd of December by Albert Pierrepoint and Steve Wade. The LPC4 Form recorded that Russell weighed 142 lbs and was given a drop of 7’ 8”, which caused fracture/dislocation of the vertebrae and left marked bruising and a rope groove.
Oliver George Butler
On Tuesday the 12th of August 1952, 23-year-old Oliver Butler became the last man to be hanged at Oxford. He had been convicted of the murder of his girlfriend, 21-year-old Rose Meadows. Rose was found strangled in a field near her home at Horley, near Banbury, in 1952. The couple had met at the Northern Aluminium factory in Banbury where they both worked.
Butler was married, but Rose’s mother could see that he really loved her daughter and let him move in with them. Around noon on the 19th of May 1952, Rose and Butler went for a walk together. At 3.30 p.m., Butler went to a railway signal box and asked the signalman to call the police, as he had strangled his girlfriend. The signalman noted Butler’s distressed state and by the time PC Robinson arrived, he was crying.
Butler told the police that Rose had said one day he would go back to his wife and she would meet another man. He put his hands round her throat, allegedly to frighten her and persuade her to stay with him. She laughed at him and dared him to strangle her. Sadly, he did.
He was tried at Stafford before Mr. Justice Hallett on the 4th of July 1952. The prosecution case rested heavily on Butler’s statement to police. Butler claimed her death was an accident and that he had confessed to police while he was still overwhelmed with grief. Summing up, the judge told the jury:
“It may well be that you think that this is as plain a case as you are ever likely to find of intentional murder and intentional confession.”
The jury found Butler guilty, but made a recommendation to mercy. His appeal was rejected on the 18th of July and, three days before the execution, the Home Secretary, Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, announced that there were no grounds for a reprieve.
A petition for a reprieve had been organised by Tommy Haskins, secretary of the Banbury branch of the National Union of General and Municipal Workers, of which both Butler and Rose were members.
Butler was reportedly kept in the prison hospital and only moved to the condemned cell the night before the execution. He was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint and Harry Smith at 8.00 a.m. on the Tuesday morning. Some 50 people had gathered outside the prison to see the execution notices posted.
List of Executions at Oxford Gaol (1800 – 1952)
| Date | Name | Age | Crime | Hangman |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28/07/1800 | Edward Thorne | — | Murder of Amy Jacob | — |
| 23/03/1801 | Jesse Wiggins | — | Sheep theft | — |
| 25/03/1805 | Thomas Davis | — | Uttering | — |
| 10/07/1815 | James Bannister | — | Murder of wife | — |
| 24/03/1817 | William Archer | — | Arson | — |
| 03/08/1818 | Richard Wiggins | — | Sheep theft | — |
| 03/08/1818 | John Bradley | — | Highway robbery | — |
| 05/08/1822 | John Matthews | — | Highway robbery | — |
| 02/08/1824 | William James & Henry Pittaway | — | Murder of James Milton | — |
| 20/03/1826 | William Clack | — | Horse theft | — |
| 26/03/1827 | Richard Webb | — | Horse theft | — |
| 13/08/1827 | George Allum | — | Robbery | — |
| 24/03/1828 | Thomas Shaglor | 22 | Robbery | — |
| 19/03/1832 | John Gibbs | 32 | Arson | — |
| 19/03/1832 | George Lay | 19 | Highway robbery | — |
| 05/03/1836 | Thomas Clay | — | Murder of Thomas Cooper | WC (Calcraft) |
| 23/03/1840 | Charles Morley | 34 | Murder of Fanny Phillips | WC |
| 22/03/1852 | Guglielmo Kalabergo | — | Murder of his uncle, John Kalabergo | WC |
| 24/03/1863 | Noah Austin | 26 | — | WC |
| 18/03/1872 | Edward Roberts | 35 | Murder of Ann Merrick | WC |
| 01/04/1878 | Henry Rowles | 26 | Murder of Mary Allen (fiancée) | WM (Marwood) |
| 09/05/1887 | Charles Smith | 63 | Murder of wife | JBy (Berry) |
| 15/11/1887 | Joseph Walker | 46 | Murder of wife | JBy |
| 17/07/1888 | Robert Upton | 61 | Murder of wife | JBy |
| 17/03/1892 | Frederick Eggleton & | 35 | Murder of Joseph Crawley & William Puddephatt | JBn (Billington) |
| Charles Raynor | 31 | — | JBn | |
| 19/02/1919 | Joseph Rose | 25 | Murder of Sarah & Isabella Rose | JE (Ellis) |
| 02/03/1921 | George Bailey | 22 | Murder of wife, Kate Lillian Bailey | JE |
| 10/12/1931 | Henry Seymour | 39 | Murder of Annie Louise Kempson | TP (Pierrepoint) |
| 09/03/1932 | George Pople | 22 | Murder of Mabel Matthews | TP |
| 23/11/1932 | Ernest Hutchinson | 43 | Murder of Gwendoline Warren | AA (Allen) |
| 01/05/1942 | Harold Hill | 26 | Murder of Doreen Hearne & Kathleen Trundell | TP |
| 02/12/1948 | George Russell | 45 | Murder of Minnie Lee | AP (A. Pierrepoint) |
| 12/08/1952 | Oliver Butler | 24 | Murder of Rose Meadows | AP |
Hangman Abbreviations
- WC – William Calcraft
- WM – William Marwood
- JBy – James Berry
- JBn – John Billington
- JE – John Ellis
- TP – Thomas Pierrepoint
- AA – Alfred Allen
- AP – Albert Pierrepoint
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