Poor little Hannah Gould! She was only seven years old, and her father beat her mercilessly when she didnt do the housework to his satisfaction. One day in December 1861, Hannah fell short in her duties and her father, Jonathan Gould, 39, coming home drunk as usual, went berserk. Seizing his razor, he half cut her throat, dragged her outside and repeatedly dashed her semi-conscious body against the wall of their house in South Place, Windsor town centre, until she was a lifeless, crumpled doll.
In February 1862, Gould appeared at Reading Assizes, where he admitted manslaughter. I cant remember anything, he told the jury. I was so drunk. Unimpressed, they found him guilty of murder, and on Friday, March 14th, 1862, 4,000 people came to see him hanged outside Reading Prison. It was the last public execution in the town.