Shepton Mallet Prison was built in 1610 and is the country’s oldest jail.
It is a grim stone structure and is still operational.
It housed French prisoners of war during the Napoleonic Wars and during World War II, Cell 10 was used to protect some of the nation’s treasures including the Domesday Book, a copy of the Magna Carta, and the logs of Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory.
It was the place of execution for the county of Somerset from 1889, having taken over from Taunton, and seven civilian executions took place there up to 1926, reflecting the historical shifts recorded in our gazetteer of execution sites from the late 18th century to abolition in 1964.
Civilian Executions at Shepton Mallet (1889–1926)
Seven civilian prisoners were hanged at Shepton Mallet following the transfer of execution duties from Taunton:
- Samuel Rylands (13/03/1889): Suffered on the 13th of March 1889 for the murder of a little girl, becoming the first person hanged here.
- Henry Dainton (15/12/1891): Hanged a little over two years later for the murder of his wife at Bath.
- Charles Squires (10/08/1893): Executed for killing a child, utilising the long drop method.
- Henry Quarterly (10/11/1914): A further four men were hanged in the years 1914–1926. The first of these executions was that of Henry Quarterly on Tuesday the 10th of November 1914 for shooting dead his neighbour, Henry Pugsley. Thomas Pierrepoint officiated at his hanging.
- Verney Asser (05/03/1918): Followed Quarterly to the gallows on Tuesday the 5th of March 1918. Asser was an Australian soldier stationed at Sutton Veny during World War I, who had shot a fellow soldier, Acting Corporal Joseph Durkin. He was tried at Devizes in Wiltshire in January 1918 and subsequently hanged by John Ellis, assisted by William Willis.
- William Bignall (24/02/1925): Robert Baxter hanged William Bignall on the morning of Tuesday the 24th of February 1925 for the murder of his girlfriend, Margaret Legg.
- John Lincoln (02/03/1926): On Tuesday the 2nd of March 1926 the last civilian execution took place at Shepton Mallet when Thomas Pierrepoint hanged John Lincoln for the murder of Edward Richards at Trowbridge in Wiltshire.
Shepton Mallet as an American Military Prison During World War II
During World War II, part of the prison was taken over by the American government for use as a military prison and as the place of execution for American servicemen convicted under the provisions of the Visiting Forces Act (1942), which allowed for American military justice to be enacted on British soil.
To enable these executions to take place, a new brick-built extension was added to one of the prison’s wings.
The two-storey red brick structure looks totally out of place against the weathered stone walls of the original building.
A new British-style gallows was installed on the first floor of the building and two cells within the main building were converted into a condemned cell.
Eighteen military executions were carried out at Shepton Mallet, representing 17% of the 96 executions of American servicemen serving in the European and North African Theatres of Operations (ETO).
(Figures of 19 and even 21 executions in the UK have been given in some accounts but are definitely not correct.)
Of these 18 men, nine were convicted of murder, six of rape, and three of both crimes.
Their racial mix was ten African American, three Latino, and five white—their average age was 21.5 years.
Seventeen were Privates and one was a Corporal. None ranked higher than this.
Much has been made of the ethnic background of these men, but very little of what they were convicted of.
Also, much is made of the alleged poor quality of the trials that these men received.
In at least two cases, men had their death sentences commuted (Thomas Bell, who had been convicted of rape, and George Fowler, see below).
Bear in mind that a conviction for murder in Britain at this time carried a mandatory death sentence and that it was not unusual for civilian murder trials to only take a day or two.
Rape did not carry the death penalty in British law but did in US military law.
Execution by shooting was not permitted for murder in Britain but was under US military law, as examined in our study of death by firing squad.
Rape was punishable by death in most of the southern states of America, and in fact the last execution for rape in the USA took place in May 1964 when Ronald Wolfe was put to death in the Missouri gas chamber.
Just over 300 rape executions (where the victim lived) were carried out in the United States between 1941 and 1964.
Summary of the US Military Executions
Here is a brief account of the cases:
1. Private David Cobb (12/03/1943)
Private David Cobb, a 22-year-old Black G.I., was the first to be hanged, on the 12th of March 1943.
Cobb, from Dothan, Alabama, was stationed at Desborough Camp in Northamptonshire and had been on guard duty for some time during Sunday the 27th of December 1942, when he was reprimanded by 2nd Lieutenant Robert J. Cobner.
He protested and Cobner ordered the sergeant of the guard to arrest Cobb.
Cobb threatened the man, who backed off, so Cobner unwisely decided to attempt the arrest himself.
Cobb fired his rifle at Cobner, fatally injuring him.
He was tried by US court-martial at Cambridge on the 6th of January 1943, his trial occupying less than one day.
His death sentence was confirmed in due course and reviewed by the authorities before he was executed by Thomas and Albert Pierrepoint within the new execution facility at Shepton Mallet.
2. Private Harold Smith (25/06/1943)
Private Harold Smith, a 20-year-old from LaGrange, Georgia, had gone AWOL (absent without leave) in London in January 1943 and with another young soldier was staying in a hotel enjoying the town until their financial resources dried up.
He then returned to Chisledon Camp near Swindon to find his own unit had been posted elsewhere.
He found a loaded pistol and then got into an altercation with Private Harry Jenkins, whom he shot dead.
He also fired at another soldier before escaping back to London, where he was arrested by a British policeman.
He was handed over to American authorities and was court-martialled at Bristol on the 12th of March 1943.
He made a full statement admitting his guilt and was duly hanged on the 25th of June 1943 by Thomas and Albert Pierrepoint.
3. Private Lee A. Davis (14/12/1943)
Twenty-year-old Lee A. Davis was another young Black G.I. who was convicted of murder during the war.
The killing took place near Marlborough in Wiltshire, as two young women walked back from the cinema.
Davis asked the girls what they were doing and one, Muriel Fawden, said she was returning to the hospital where she worked as a nurse.
They tried to get away from Davis, who shouted after them:
“Stand still, or I’ll shoot.”
He instructed the terrified girls to go into some bushes beside the footpath.
Muriel’s companion, Cynthia Lay, decided to make a run for it and Davis shot her dead.
He now forced Muriel into some bushes and raped her, but surprisingly did not kill her.
She was able to give a full statement to the police, and as a result all the rifles of the American soldiers stationed nearby were examined.
Davis’s rifle was found to have been fired, and forensic tests matched the shell cases found near Cynthia to it.
Davis admitted he had been at the scene of the crime but said he had only meant to fire over the heads of the girls.
He was court-martialled at Marlborough on the 6th of October for the murder and the rape, both crimes carrying the death penalty under US military law.
He was hanged on the 14th of December 1943 by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Alexander Riley.
4. Private John Waters (10/02/1944)
John Waters, from Perth Amboy in New Jersey, was, at 39, rather older than the rest of these soldiers.
He had been seeing a local woman, 35-year-old Doris Staples, in Henley-on-Thames where he was stationed.
Their relationship was deteriorating, and on the 14th of July 1943 he went to the draper’s shop where she worked and shot her five times.
The police arrived while Waters was still on the premises, and a short siege began which ended when the police threw a teargas canister into the shop and broke down the door.
Seeing that he was cornered, Waters shot himself, but did not make a very good job of it.
In due course he came to trial at Watford, Hertfordshire (on the 29th of November 1943) and was convicted and sentenced to death for Doris’s killing.
He was hanged on the 10th of February 1944 by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Alexander Riley.
5. Private J. C. Leatherberry (16/03/1944)
J. C. Leatherberry, a 22-year-old from Hazlehurst, Mississippi, was executed for the murder of Colchester taxi driver Henry Hailstone on the evening of the 5th of December 1943.
Hailstone’s taxi was found abandoned and parked facing the wrong way, which the police thought unusual and made them wonder if it had been parked by a foreigner who drove on the other side of the road.
In the car was a bloodstained jacket with Hailstone’s driving licence in the pocket.
When the area around the car was searched, a bloodstained overcoat was found with a nametag inside belonging to Captain Walker.
When interviewed, Captain Walker told police that the coat had been stolen, along with his Rolex watch, by a Black soldier on the day of the murder.
However, a gas mask had been left behind during the robbery, bearing the identifier of J. Hill.
Hill was traced and said he had lent the gas mask to fellow soldier George Fowler.
Fowler was arrested, and when his belongings were searched a pawn ticket was found for the missing Rolex.
Fowler also admitted that he and Leatherberry had been involved in the murder.
Their motive appeared to be to steal the car. Fowler maintained that it was Leatherberry who had strangled the driver.
Both were convicted at their court-martial at Ipswich on the 19th of January 1944 and both received the death sentence.
However, Fowler’s sentence was commuted, as the court accepted that Leatherberry was the principal and because Fowler had given evidence.
Fowler was returned to a military prison in the USA to serve his life sentence, while Leatherberry was sent to Shepton Mallet to be hanged by Thomas and Albert Pierrepoint on the 16th of March 1944.
6. Private Wiley Harris Jr. (26/05/1944)
Twenty-five-year-old Private Wiley Harris Jr., from Greenville, Georgia, was another Black soldier, stationed in Belfast in Northern Ireland.
He had gone out with his friend Private Robert Fils to a bar for the evening, where they met a pimp called Harry Coogan who offered them the services of a young woman.
Harris accepted, and he and the woman went to a nearby air-raid shelter to have sex, with Coogan keeping watch outside as this activity was illegal.
As they were getting started, Coogan shouted that the police were approaching.
Harris and the woman dressed and emerged from the shelter to find that there were no police, whereupon Harris demanded his money back.
A struggle ensued between Harris and Coogan in which Coogan punched Harris.
This caused the fight to escalate to the point where Harris stabbed Coogan 17 times.
The court-martial was not prepared to accept self-defence in view of the number of stab wounds, and Harris was convicted.
He was hanged by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Alexander Riley, on the 26th of May 1944.
7. Private Alex F. Miranda: Death by Musketry (30/05/1944)
Twenty-year-old Alex F. Miranda, from Santa Ana, California, became the first American serviceman to suffer “death by musketry”—as the US Army officially designated execution by firing squad—at Shepton Mallet.
He had been convicted of violation of the 92nd Article of War (murder) and was executed by an eight-man firing squad in the prison grounds on Tuesday the 30th of May 1944 for the murder of his sergeant, Sergeant Thomas Evison, at Broomhill Camp in Devon.
Miranda had gone out drinking and behaved disruptively, prompting his arrest by civilian police who returned him to camp.
There he became aggressive, directing his violence toward Sergeant Evison, who was reportedly asleep at the time.
Receiving no response from the sleeping sergeant, Miranda shot him dead.
The location of Miranda’s court-martial is unknown, as is the reason why he was sentenced to be shot rather than hanged, bearing in mind that both David Cobb and Harold Smith had also killed fellow American soldiers.
Hanging was generally the preferred method of the US military, as it was considered a more ignominious death than shooting.
8 & 9. Private Eliga Brinson and Private Willie Smith (11/08/1944)
Twenty-five-year-old Eliga Brinson from Tallahassee, Florida, and 22-year-old Willie Smith from Birmingham, Alabama, were hanged together on Friday the 11th of August 1944.
Both men had been convicted by a US court-martial of the aggravated rape of an English woman in Wiltshire.
They were executed side by side on the two-leaf gallows by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Albert Pierrepoint.
10. Private James E. Hendricks (09/09/1944)
Private James E. Hendricks was executed by hanging on the 9th of September 1944 following his court-martial conviction for the shooting murder of an English civilian farm worker during an attempted robbery.
His execution was carried out by Thomas Pierrepoint and assistant.
11. Private Madison Thomas (12/10/1944)
Private Madison Thomas was hanged on the 12th of October 1944 after being convicted of rape under US military jurisdiction.
Thomas Pierrepoint officiated on the gallows.
12. Private Benjamin Pyegate: Second Execution by Firing Squad (28/11/1944)
Private Benjamin Pyegate became the second soldier to be executed by firing squad at Shepton Mallet on Tuesday the 28th of November 1944.
Pyegate was convicted of the murder of fellow American serviceman Private First Class James E. Cooper, whom he fatally stabbed following a barracks dispute.
He was shot by an eight-man military firing squad detail within the prison grounds.
13 & 14. Private John H. Babers and Private John C. Williams (30/01/1945)
Privates John H. Babers and John C. Williams were hanged together on the 30th of January 1945.
Both soldiers had been convicted of murder and robbery, and suffered death simultaneously on the gallows under the supervision of Thomas Pierrepoint.
15. Private General Lee Grant (28/02/1945)
Private General Lee Grant was hanged on the 28th of February 1945 for rape.
He was executed by Thomas Pierrepoint and assistant.
16. Private Sylvester Flamer (27/03/1945)
Private Sylvester Flamer was executed on the gallows on the 27th of March 1945 following his conviction by court-martial for rape.
17. Private William Harrison (07/04/1945)
Private William Harrison was executed on the 7th of April 1945 after being convicted of murder and rape.
He was hanged by Thomas Pierrepoint.
18. Private George E. Smith Jr. (15/06/1945)
Private George E. Smith Jr. was the final soldier executed at Shepton Mallet, hanged on the 15th of June 1945 for the murder of Sir Eric Teichman, a distinguished British diplomat.
Sir Eric had discovered Smith poaching on his estate at Honingham Hall in Norfolk and challenged him, whereupon Smith shot him through the head with a service carbine.
Smith was executed on the gallows by Thomas Pierrepoint, concluding military capital punishments at the facility.
Later History and Closure
Following the end of the Second World War, the prison was returned to the British authorities and later served as a British Military Corrective Training Centre and civilian Category C prison until its formal decommissioning in March 2013, decades after the abolition of capital punishment in Britain.
Today, the site is preserved as a visitor attraction and heritage destination.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was Shepton Mallet Prison built?
Shepton Mallet Prison was established in 1610 as a county House of Correction, making it the oldest operational prison in the United Kingdom prior to its decommission in 2013.
How many executions took place at Shepton Mallet Prison?
A total of 25 judicial executions took place at Shepton Mallet: 7 civilian hangings between 1889 and 1926, and 18 American military executions during World War II between 1943 and 1945.
What was the Visiting Forces Act 1942?
The United States of America (Visiting Forces) Act 1942 was emergency legislation passed by the British Parliament that granted US military courts-martial exclusive criminal jurisdiction over American servicemen stationed in the UK, allowing capital sentences for murder and rape to be executed on British soil.
How were US servicemen executed at Shepton Mallet?
Of the 18 American soldiers executed at Shepton Mallet, 16 were hanged on an internal two-leaf gallows built in a red-brick extension block by British civilian hangmen Thomas and Albert Pierrepoint, while two (Alex F. Miranda and Benjamin Pyegate) were shot by an eight-man US Army firing squad in the prison grounds.
Who was the last person executed at Shepton Mallet Prison?
The last civilian executed was John Lincoln, hanged on March 2, 1926, by Thomas Pierrepoint for murder. The last person executed overall was US soldier Private George E. Smith Jr., hanged on June 15, 1945, for the murder of British diplomat Sir Eric Teichman.
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