Wandsworth Prison opened in November 1851, being originally called The Surrey House of Correction.
Like Pentonville Prison, it was built on the “Panopticon” design to enable the “separate system” to be used for 700 prisoners in individual cells, each with toilet facilities.
It was designed by D. R. Hill and constructed on a 26-acre site at a cost of £140,319 11s 4d.
The main part of the prison, having four wings radiating from the centre, was for male prisoners with a smaller separate building for females.
From 1870, conditions at Wandsworth deteriorated and the toilets were removed from the cells to make room for extra prisoners and the practice of “slopping out” introduced, which was to remain in force until 1996.
With the closure of Horsemonger Lane Gaol, its execution duties were transferred to Wandsworth in 1878 and an execution shed was constructed in one of the yards.
There was only one condemned cell at Wandsworth at this time, which sometimes necessitated the use of a hospital wing cell when there was more than one prisoner under sentence of death. It is thought that Kate Webster was held there.
In total, 135 prisoners were put to death here from 1878 to 1961, comprising 134 men and one woman.
The eighteen 19th-century executions were all for murder.
A further 117 men were hanged there in the 20th century comprising 105 murderers, 10 spies (one in World War I and nine in World War II), and two traitors, John Amery and William Joyce, after the end of World War II hostilities.
The Gallows at Wandsworth
“The Cold Meat Shed” (1878–1911)
“The Cold Meat Shed” was the first execution chamber at Wandsworth and contained the gallows transferred from Horsemonger Lane Gaol on its closure in 1878.
This execution shed was sited near the coal yard at the end of A Wing.
The beams were 11 feet above the trapdoors, which opened into a 12-foot-deep brick-lined “pit” dug into the ground, operating in accordance with the evolution of the long drop in the 20th century.
This facility was to remain in use up to 1911.
Together with one of the original white-painted uprights, one could see the lever, open trapdoors, and one of the plank bridges (boards) laid across the drop for the warders to stand on whilst supporting the prisoner.
The 1911 Gallows Facility
During 1911, a new facility was constructed between E Wing and F Wing adjacent to the condemned cell.
It was a two-storey building with the platform and beam on the first floor and a gate on the ground floor for removal of the body.
The first execution on this gallows was that of Frederick Thomas on the 15th of November 1911.
The 1937 Execution Suite
The final execution suite, using three cells, one above the other in E Wing, was constructed in 1937, reflecting the specialized structural conversions detailed in our gazetteer of execution sites from the late 18th century to abolition in 1964.
This facility had two condemned cells, back to back, mirror imaged, with three ordinary cells knocked into one, plus a bathroom and visitation area.
The first condemned cell was separated from the execution room by a lobby.
Prisoner access to the condemned cells was via an external metal staircase, so that those under sentence of death would not go into the main prison where they could be seen by other prisoners.
Alfred Richards was the first to be hanged here, on the 12th of July 1938.
As at Pentonville, the top floor contained the beam with three floor traps through which hung down chains for attachment of the ropes.
The beam was fitted with three chain adjusting blocks, with the centre one for use for single executions and the outer two for double ones.
The first floor contained the 9 feet long by 5 feet wide trapdoors and the operating lever.
Two other ropes hung down for the warders to hold onto as they stood on the plank bridges over the drop to support the condemned man.
There were also handrails on the wall for use by the warders in double executions.
The ground floor cell was the “drop room” and had a gate to the yard through which the body was brought out to be taken to the mortuary.
When Sid Dernley assisted at an execution there in the 1940s, he recalled how clean and tidy the execution room was, even the wooden floor being varnished.
The gallows was last tested in January 1993 and dismantled on the 24th of May 1993.
It was tested every six months because the death penalty remained a theoretical possibility for treason, piracy with violence, and mutiny in the Armed Forces.
Today, the former Condemned Cell B is a rest room for staff.
Hangmen at Wandsworth
A distinguished succession of British executioners carried out death sentences at Wandsworth:
- William Marwood: Carried out the first four executions between 1878 and 1882.
- Bartholomew Binns: Hanged the next prisoner following Marwood.
- James Berry: Dealt with six men between 1885 and 1891.
- James Billington: Hanged nine men from 1895 to 1901 before handing execution duties over to his sons.
- William and John Billington: Each carried out four executions at the prison.
- Henry Pierrepoint: Hanged six men at Wandsworth.
- Thomas Pierrepoint: Executed 27 men at the facility.
- Albert Pierrepoint: Carried out no fewer than 48 executions up to 1955.
- John Ellis: Hanged eight men.
- Robert Baxter: Carried out nine hangings.
- Alfred Allen: Hanged one man in 1936.
- Thomas Phillips: Executed two men between 1939 and 1940.
- Steve Wade: Albert Pierrepoint’s assistant, hanged one man in 1953.
- Harry Allen: Carried out the last four hangings at Wandsworth.
Executions at Wandsworth
Wandsworth initially only took condemned prisoners from Surrey, but with the ending of executions at Lewes after 1914, also took those condemned in Sussex, and later those from Kent when the execution facility at Maidstone was closed down in 1930.
As at Pentonville, the number of executions per year in the 20th century fluctuated considerably.
There were none at all in 1908, 1913/14, 1919/20, 1926/27, 1929, and 1931–1933.
However, the war years of 1939–1945 were very busy with no fewer than 37 hangings in the seven full years between January 1939 and December 1945.
A further 31 executions took place in the following 17 years.
The first execution at Wandsworth was that of 31-year-old Thomas Smithers on the 8th of October 1878.
Smithers was hanged by William Marwood for the murder of his girlfriend, Amy Judge, at Battersea on the 22nd of July of that year.
His execution was followed by that of Kate Webster in 1879 for the brutal murder of her mistress, Mrs. Julia Martha Thomas, at Richmond. She was the only woman ever executed at Wandsworth Prison.
Spies and Traitors
World War I Espionage
One man was hanged at Wandsworth during World War I for spying under the Treachery Act of 1914.
He was Robert Rosenthal on the 15th of July 1915. Rosenthal had been reporting British ship movements to the German Admiralty.
The 11 other men convicted of spying during World War I were all sentenced to death by firing squad and shot at the Tower of London.
They were housed at Wandsworth until the day before their execution, when they were transferred to the Tower.
World War II: The Treachery Act 1940
Soon after the beginning of World War II, the government, in an effort to deal with an expected influx of German spies, introduced The Treachery Act of 1940 which stated that:
“If, with intent to help the enemy, any person does, or attempts or conspires with any other person to do any act which is designed or likely to give assistance to the naval, military or air operations of the enemy, to impede such operations of His Majesty’s forces, or to endanger life, shall be guilty of felony and shall on conviction suffer death.”
Under this Act, nine men were hanged at Wandsworth, in addition to John Amery and William Joyce who were hanged for treason.
(A further five spies were executed at Pentonville and one shot at the Tower of London.)
The Struggle with Karel Richter
In his autobiography, Albert Pierrepoint recalls how one of these spies gave him and the warders a serious fight in the condemned cell.
He refers to this man as Otto Schmidt, but in fact it was Karel Richter, whom he executed on the 10th of December 1941.
Richter, a large and powerful man, threw himself head-first against the cell wall when he realised that the time had come and then, when he had recovered somewhat, fought with Pierrepoint, Harry Allen, and the warders until Pierrepoint managed to get his hands strapped behind him and began to lead the procession out to the gallows.
Richter’s arms were so strong that he managed to burst the leather strap and had to be further restrained.
Just as Pierrepoint had finished the preparations on the gallows and was in the act of pushing the lever, Richter jumped and loosened the noose, causing it to catch under his top lip instead of remaining under his jaw.
However, his neck was still broken by the force of the 6-foot-7-inch drop.
Executions for High Treason
In addition to the wartime spies, two men were to hang for treason at Wandsworth, tried and convicted under the ancient Treason Act 1351:
John Amery (19/12/1945)
John Amery was the son of a British Cabinet Minister, Leo Amery, and the brother of Julian Amery.
He went to Berlin in 1942 where he made anti-British radio broadcasts and visited prisoner-of-war camps, attempting to recruit Allied soldiers into the British Free Corps to fight for Germany on the Russian front.
With the collapse of Axis forces in Italy, 33-year-old Amery was captured in Milan in July 1945 and flown back to Britain to face trial for high treason.
He appeared at the Old Bailey on the 26th of November 1945 and pleaded guilty to all counts, the entire court proceeding lasting just eight minutes.
He was transferred to Wandsworth to await execution, where he was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Harry Critchell, on Wednesday, the 19th of December 1945.
William Joyce: “Lord Haw-Haw” (03/01/1946)
William Joyce, notoriously nicknamed “Lord Haw-Haw” because of his mocking upper-class drawl and trademark opening phrase “Germany calling, Germany calling,” made frequent Nazi propaganda broadcasts from Berlin throughout the conflict.
Joyce was an American citizen by birth who had moved to Britain and joined the British Union of Fascists before fleeing to Germany in August 1939.
He was captured near Flensburg in May 1945 and tried at the Old Bailey.
His defence argued that as an American citizen he owed no natural allegiance to the British Crown.
The prosecution countered successfully that by possessing and renewing a British passport, he extended his obligation of allegiance to the Crown during wartime.
His appeal was dismissed by the House of Lords, and he was hanged at Wandsworth by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Alexander Reilly, at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, the 3rd of January 1946.
The following day, the last execution for treason in the United Kingdom took place at Pentonville Prison, that of Theodore Schurch.
Notable Murder Cases
George Chapman (Severin Klosowski) (07/04/1903)
Thirty-eight-year-old Polish-born George Chapman (whose real name was Severin Klosowski) poisoned three of his consecutive common-law wives:
- Isabella Mary Spink (1897);
- Elizabeth Taylor (1901);
- Maude Eliza Marsh (October 1902).
The physician attending Maude noticed striking similarities between her clinical symptoms and those of another woman he had previously treated, suspecting foul play.
Dr. Stoker was proved right when an autopsy confirmed lethal quantities of tartar emetic (an antimony-based compound).
Exhumations of his previous two partners revealed identical antimony poisonings.
Chapman was convicted at the Old Bailey after ten minutes of jury deliberation, collapsed in the dock, and was hanged by William Billington on the 7th of April 1903.
The Stratton Brothers (23/05/1905)
The case of 20-year-old Albert Ernest Stratton and 22-year-old Alfred Stratton marked the first capital murder conviction in British legal history secured primarily through forensic fingerprint identification.
The brothers were convicted of the brutal robbery-murder of elderly shopkeeper Thomas Farrow and his wife Ann at their paint shop in Deptford High Street.
A greasy thumbprint found on an empty cash box matched Alfred Stratton’s right thumb, sealing their conviction.
Both brothers were hanged together on the gallows at Wandsworth on May 23rd, 1905, by William Billington.
Derek Bentley (28/01/1953)
Nineteen-year-old Derek William Bentley was hanged at Wandsworth on the 28th of January 1953 for the murder of Police Constable Sidney Miles during a warehouse break-in at Croydon.
Although the fatal shot was fired by his 16-year-old accomplice Christopher Craig (who was too young to face capital punishment under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933), Bentley was convicted under the doctrine of joint enterprise.
Controversy raged over police claims that Bentley had shouted, “Let him have it, Chris!”
Despite severe developmental delays and a recommendation to mercy from the jury, Home Secretary Sir David Maxwell Fyfe refused a reprieve.
Bentley was executed by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Harry Allen.
He was posthumously granted a royal pardon in 1993, and his murder conviction was formally quashed by the Court of Appeal in 1998.
Victor John Terry: The Final Execution (25/05/1961)
Twenty-year-old Victor John Terry became the final person to be executed at Wandsworth Prison on Thursday, the 25th of May 1961.
Terry had shot and killed bank security guard Alan John Sullivan during an armed bank robbery in Worthing, Sussex.
His defense of diminished responsibility was rejected by the jury at Lewes Assizes.
He was hanged by Harry Allen, assisted by Leslie Newsham.
Following Terry’s execution, capital sentences in England were carried out at other facilities until the abolition of capital punishment in Britain in 1965.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Wandsworth Prison open?
Wandsworth Prison opened in November 1851 as the Surrey House of Correction, constructed on a 26-acre site to a radial panopticon design by architect D. R. Hill.
How many people were executed at Wandsworth Prison?
Between 1878 and 1961, 135 prisoners were executed at Wandsworth: 134 men and one woman (Kate Webster in 1879). Of these, 18 took place in the 19th century and 117 in the 20th century.
Where were the gallows located within Wandsworth Prison?
Wandsworth utilized three successive execution sites:
- “The Cold Meat Shed” (1878–1911) near the coal yard at the end of A Wing;
- A two-storey building between E and F Wings (1911–1938);
- A three-storey execution suite built inside E Wing in 1937, featuring two condemned cells, an internal trapdoor apparatus, and a ground-floor drop room.
Who were the most infamous individuals executed at Wandsworth?
Notable executions include serial poisoner George Chapman (1903), the Stratton brothers (1905, the first UK capital case solved by fingerprints), John Amery (1945, treason), William Joyce (“Lord Haw-Haw”, 1946, treason), and Derek Bentley (1953).
Who was the last person executed at Wandsworth Prison?
Victor John Terry, aged 20, was the last person hanged at Wandsworth on May 25, 1961, executed by Harry Allen for the armed robbery and murder of a bank guard in Worthing.
When was the Wandsworth gallows dismantled?
Although executions ended in 1961, the gallows suite in E Wing was maintained and tested every six months because the death penalty remained theoretically available for treason and piracy. The apparatus was last tested in January 1993 and finally dismantled on May 24, 1993.
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