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From 1837 to 1901 Queen Victoria presided over the world’s biggest empire – and during her 64-year reign approximately 1,100 judicial hangings were carried out in Great Britain and Ireland. Here we present a month-by-month calendar of the fascinating stories behind some of them, set frequently against a background of dire poverty, short trials and public executions... Victorian Hangings: July July 4th 4/7/1839 George Willis – Woolwich, south-east London The sergeant major’s heavy boots thundered to a standstill in front of private George Willis. “You’re scruffy, lad!” he yelled, poking the soldier’s buttons with his swagger stick. “Put him on a charg... more » July 4th 4/7/1842 Thomas Cooper – central London Cats in Clerkenwell, central London, had a bad time when 23-year-old Thomas Cooper was around. Cooper was fascinated by firearms and used the local cats for target practice. Cautioned by a police offi... more » July 4th 4/7/1859 Samuel Adams – north London No one was unduly surprised when Elizabeth Adams decided to leave her husband. Described as “a deformed shoemaker, dirty, dissipated and ferocious,” he had a terrible temper. But Samuel Adams, who liv... more » July 5th 5/7/1852 Michael and Peter Scanlane – Cupar, Fife Mid-century life seemed hard for two Irish brothers, Michael and Peter Scanlane, aged 25 and 22 respectively, when they came from County Mayo to start jobs in a lime works in Fife in Scotland. They as... more » July 6th 6/7/1857 Thomas Mansell – Dover A pair of soldier’s boots, worn in the recently concluded Crimean War, was at the centre of a murder at Western Heights Barracks, Dover, on August 27th, 1856. In front of a group of other soldiers th... more » July 7th 7/7/1896 Charles Wooldridge – Windsor Whatever the law of the land and, ultimately, the hangman himself, did to Trooper Charles Wooldridge, 30, of the Royal Horse Guards, they could not take away his indirect contribution to English liter... more » July 8th 8/7/1839 William Marchant – west London When 21-year-old Elizabeth Poynton arrived to start work at her new job in Sloane Street, Chelsea, the rest of the staff drew in their breath in wonder. For the new girl was strikingly beautiful – “a ... more » July 11th 11/7/1899 Joseph Parker – Northampton Suicide pacts that don’t work inevitably land the survivor on a murder charge, and such was the case when Joseph Parker, 24, a blacksmith, shot dead his girl friend Mary Meadows, 26, and then failed t... more » July 16th 16/7/1842 Patrick Byrne and Timothy Woods – Clonmel Anger over tenant eviction in Ireland was the reason for two Republican murders, whose perpetrators were hanged together outside Clonmel Prison on Saturday, July 16th, 1842. Timothy Woods, 20, was co... more » July 17th 17/7/1900 Alfred Highfield – central London They were young lovers – they had been going out together since he was 15 and she was 13 – so no one was surprised when they decided to marry. The date was fixed for August 1900, when he was 21 and sh... more » July 19th 19/7/1893 Amie Meunier – Bromsgrove, Worcestershire The little shop run by Charlotte Pearcey, 21, at her cottage at Lickey End, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, wasn’t much bigger than a cupboard, but it served as a focal point for the village. Consternatio... more » July 19th 19/7/1899 Mary Ansell – St. Albans The face of Caroline Ansell, an inmate of Watford mental asylum, lit up with glee. Another cake had arrived from her sister Mary – the second this month. She shared the treat round the ward, and promp... more » July 20th 20/7/1865 Patrick Kilkenny – Robertstown, County Dublin Criminal law worked at breakneck speed in the Victorian century. Take Patrick Kilkenny. He killed his girl friend Margaret Farquhar, on a roadside at Robertstown, County Dublin, on June 9th, was convi... more » July 21st 21/7/1896 Philip Matthews, Frederick Burden and Samuel Smith – Winchester The triple execution of three men at Winchester Prison on Tuesday, July 21st, 1896, was the last of its kind to be held in Britain. Triple executions were thought to be cruel – condemned prisoners oft... more » July 23rd 23/7/1842 Richard Edwards – Merthyr Tydfil “I gave my mother a blow on the face because Peggy, my wife, cried out that my mother was beating her. My mother fell down under the blow. She did not speak. She groaned for a time. Peggy and two of m... more » July 23rd 23/7/1847 Michael Crawley – Stratford, east London Life was just one long argument in the Crawley household in Wells Street, Stratford, east London, in 1857. The last row, all over a penny’s worth of nails, ended up in murder, when Michael Crawley, 62... more » July 25th 25/7/1856 William Brown – Melton Mowbray You’d imagine that even a hardened criminal might want to settle down after coming back home from a transportation sentence for theft. But William “Peppermint” Brown returned to England after serving ... more » July 25th 25/7/1857 John Lewis – Merthyr Tydfil Coming home late from his office at Merthyr, solicitor John Morgan was met by one of his live-in servants, John Lewis, in a state of great agitation. “Sir, my wife’s had a terrible accident!” Lewis c... more » July 25th 25/7/1893 George Cook – west London A cop who turns into a killer? Well, it has been known. It happened for instance in June 1893, when a shepherd crossing the common land that in those days was opposite Wormwood Scrubs Prison found the... more » July 25th 25/7/1899 Edward Bell – Spalding, Lincolnshire Where does a man who is unhappy in marriage look to have an affair? Edward Bell, 26, looked no further than his next-door neighbour, Mary Hudson. Soon after their affair began, Bell’s 30-year-old wife... more » July 26th 26/7/1892 John Gurd – Devizes The wedding day was only a week away when Florence Adams announced to her fiancé: “I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to marry you after all.” John Gurd, 29, was flabbergasted. After a moment’s thoug... more » July 27th 27/7/1837 Edward Aylward and William McGrath – County Carlow Two brothers hired as hit-men were told by their paymaster, William McGrath, 27: “I want you to kill my brother Richard. He’s inherited some land on the banks of the River Barrow, left by my late fath... more » July 27th 27/7/1849 John Ward – Thorpe, Lincolnshire Mrs. Martha Ward was beside herself with anger when her son John, 26, told her he wanted to marry Susan Baggs, one of the family servants. “Marry a servant wench?” she exploded. “Never! Have some thou... more » July 27th 27/7/1850 Patrick Howe and Bridget Keogh – County Clare Unmarried gentleman landowner Arthur O’Donnell had no family who lived with him and only one female servant at his home in County Clare. The servant, Bridget Keogh, 32, was the local beauty in her vil... more » July 27th 27/7/1897 Joseph Bowser – Donnington, Lincolnshire All their married lives the Bowsers, who farmed 800 acres at Donnington in Lincolnshire, had quarrelled with each other – quarrels fuelled by their joint drinking habit. Matters came to an end on May ... more » July 28th 28/7/1865 Edward Pritchard – Glasgow “A terrible madness and the use of ardent spirits” was the reason why Dr. Edward Pritchard became a double-murderer – at least, it was the reason he gave out in the death cell. It had always been the ... more » July 29th 29/7/1857 Charles Finch – Rivenhall, Essex Back from the Crimean War, where he fought with valour, Charles Finch suspected that his girl friend, Harriet Freeborn, had been sleeping with a man in London while he was on active service. He armed ... more » July 31st 31/7/1849 Dennis and Martin Curley – Mullingar Pointing his finger dramatically at the judge, the condemned man declared: “I lay a curse upon you, and upon those who have given evidence against me, none of whom will be in peace until they are dead... more » July 31st 31/7/1839 John Driver – Newark A day at a horse show in Newark, and an evening spent drinking in the village pub at Caunton, Nottinghamshire, was the curtain-raiser for 26-year-old labourer John Driver’s date with the scaffold. Aft... more »
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