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George Smith (executioner)
George Smith (1805–1874), popularly known as Throttler Smith, was an English hangman from 1840 until 1872. He was born in Rowley Regis in the English West Midlands, where he performed the majority of his executions. Although from a good family he became involved with gangs and petty crime in his early life, and was imprisoned in Stafford Gaol on several occasions for theft. Career as a hangman, 1840–1872 Smith learned his trade as an assistant to William Calcraft. His first engagement as Calcraft's assistant was the public execution of James Owen and George Thomas outside Stafford Gaol. Smith was a prisoner at Stafford at the time of Owen and Thomas' execution, and Calcraft appointed Smith for the task because his regular assistant had turned up drunk. In addition, he assisted Calcraft at the first two private hangings in England, of Thomas Wells and Alexander Mackay in 1868. He later obtained the post of public executioner for Staffordshire although he continued to work with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Executioner
An executioner, also known as a hangman or headsman, is an official who executes a sentence of capital punishment on a legally condemned person. Scope and job The executioner was usually presented with a warrant authorising or ordering him to ''execute'' the sentence. The warrant protects the executioner from the charge of murder. Common terms for executioners derived from forms of capital punishment—though they often also performed other physical punishments—include hangman (hanging) and headsman (beheading). In the military, the role of executioner was performed by a soldier, such as the ''provost''. A common stereotype of an executioner is a hooded medieval or absolutist executioner. Symbolic or real, executioners were rarely hooded, and not robed in all black; hoods were only used if an executioner's identity and anonymity were to be preserved from the public. As Hilary Mantel noted in her 2018 Reith Lectures, "Why would an executioner wear a mask? Everybody k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rowley Regis
Rowley Regis ( ) is a town and former municipal borough in Sandwell in the county of the West Midlands, England. It encompasses the three Sandwell council wards of Blackheath, Cradley Heath and Old Hill, and Rowley. At the 2011 census, the combined population of these wards was 50,257. History The history of Rowley Regis can be traced back to the 12th century, when a small village grew around the parish church of St. Giles, southeast of Dudley. Rowley was part of the Royal hunting grounds - Regis was added to the name of Rowley in around 1140 to signify it was that part of Rowley belonging to the King. It began to develop substantially during the 19th century. In 1933, Rowley Regis became a borough, and incorporated the communities of Blackheath, Old Hill, and Cradley Heath. These places were all within the ancient parish of Rowley Regis, which (despite being in the county of Staffordshire) was in the diocese of Worcester. The parish contained the manors of Rowley Regis a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Midlands (region)
The West Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of International Territorial Level for statistical purposes. It covers the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. The region consists of the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire. The region has seven cities; Birmingham, Coventry, Hereford, Lichfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton and Worcester. The West Midlands region is geographically diverse, from the urban central areas of the West Midlands conurbation to the rural counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire which border Wales. The region is landlocked. However, the longest river in the UK, the River Severn, traverses the region southeastwards, flowing through the county towns of Shrewsbury and Worcester, and the Ironbridge Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Staffordshire is home to the industrialised Potteries conurbation, including ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stafford Gaol
HM Prison Stafford is a Category C men's prison, located in Stafford, Staffordshire, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. In 2014 it became a sex offender-only jail. History His Majesty's Prison at Stafford was originally constructed and opened in 1793. It was substantially enlarged by a building development programme of works in the 19th century. HMP Stafford became a sex offender-only prison in 2014. Early history In 1812, forger William Booth was publicly executed outside the jail. A badly-tied rope allowed him to fall to the floor, unharmed. He was hanged a second time, fatally, later that day. Among its early prisoners was George Smith, who served several sentences for theft in the facility and began his later work as a hangman while still a prisoner, assisting William Calcraft. He officiated at several executions in the prison later in his life, including that of the convicted poisoner William Palmer in 1866. Prisoner of war facility ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Calcraft
William Calcraft (11 October 1800 – 13 December 1879) was a 19th-century English hangman, one of the most prolific of British executioners. It is estimated in his 45-year career he carried out 450 executions. A cobbler by trade, Calcraft was initially recruited to flog juvenile offenders held in Newgate Prison. While selling meat pies on streets around the prison, Calcraft met the City of London's hangman, John Foxton. After Foxton's death in 1829 the government appointed Calcraft the official Executioner for the City of London and Middlesex. Following this, his executioner services were in great demand throughout England. Nevertheless, some considered Calcraft incompetent, in particular for his controversial use of the short-drop hanging method in which the condemned were slowly strangled to death, instead of having their necks broken. Because with Calcraft's methods the condemned took several minutes to die, to hasten death Calcraft would sometimes dramatically ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wench Is Dead
''The Wench Is Dead'' is a historical crime novel by Colin Dexter, the eighth novel in the Inspector Morse series. The novel received the Gold Dagger Award in 1989. Plot summary In 1859, the body of a young woman was found floating in the Oxford Canal; her death led to a sensational murder trial, and two men were eventually hanged for the murder. In 1989, Inspector Morse is recovering from a bleeding ulcer in Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital. Morse is given a book by the wife of a recently deceased patient at the hospital. The little book called ''Murder on the Oxford Canal'' tells the story of the murder of Joanna Franks aboard the canal boat ''Barbara Bray''. Morse is soon convinced that the two men hanged for the crime were innocent and sets out to prove it from the confines of his bed. Explanation of the title The title of the novel comes from Christopher Marlowe's play '' The Jew of Malta''; the following quotation serves as the epigraph to the novel: :FRIAR BARNAR ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Palmer (murderer)
William Palmer (6 August 1824 – 14 June 1856), also known as the Rugeley Poisoner or the Prince of Poisoners, was an English doctor found guilty of murder in one of the most notorious cases of the 19th century. Charles Dickens called Palmer "the greatest villain that ever stood in the Old Bailey". Palmer was convicted for the 1855 murder of his friend John Cook, and was executed in public by hanging the following year. He had poisoned Cook with strychnine and was suspected of poisoning several other people including his brother and his mother-in-law, as well as four of his children who died of "convulsions" before their first birthdays. Palmer made large sums of money from the deaths of his wife and brother after collecting on life insurance, and by defrauding his wealthy mother out of thousands of pounds, all of which he lost through gambling on horses. Early life and suspected poisonings William Palmer was born in Rugeley, Staffordshire, the sixth of eight children of Sar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Locality"; downloaded froCheshire West and Chester: Population Profiles, 17 May 2019 it is the most populous settlement of Cheshire West and Chester (a unitary authority which had a population of 329,608 in 2011) and serves as its administrative headquarters. It is also the historic county town of Cheshire and the second-largest settlement in Cheshire after Warrington. Chester was founded in 79 AD as a " castrum" or Roman fort with the name Deva Victrix during the reign of Emperor Vespasian. One of the main army camps in Roman Britain, Deva later became a major civilian settlement. In 689, King Æthelred of Mercia founded the Minster Church of West Mercia, which later became Chester's first cathedral, and the Angles extended and stren ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Shrowsbury' or 'Shroosbury', the correct pronunciation being a matter of longstanding debate. The town centre has a largely unspoilt medieval street plan and over 660 listed buildings, including several examples of timber framing from the 15th and 16th centuries. Shrewsbury Castle, a red sandstone fortification, and Shrewsbury Abbey, a former Benedictine monastery, were founded in 1074 and 1083 respectively by the Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, Roger de Montgomery. The town is the birthplace of Charles Darwin and is where he spent 27 years of his life. east of the Welsh border, Shrewsbury serves as the commercial centre for Shropshire and mid-Wales, with a retail output of over £299 million per year and light industry and distribution c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whitnash. It has ancient origins and an array of historic buildings, notably from the Medieval, Stuart and Georgian eras. It was a major fortified settlement from the early Middle Ages, the most notable relic of this period being Warwick Castle, a major tourist attraction. Much was destroyed in the Great Fire of Warwick in 1694 and then rebuilt with fine 18th century buildings, such as the Collegiate Church of St Mary and the Shire Hall. The population was estimated at 37,267 at the 2021 Census. History Neolithic Human activity on the site dates back to the Neolithic, when it appears there was a sizable settlement on the Warwick hilltop. Artifacts found include more than 30 shallow pits containing early Neolithic flints and pottery ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Worcester, England
Worcester ( ) is a cathedral city in Worcestershire, England, of which it is the county town. It is south-west of Birmingham, north-west of London, north of Gloucester and north-east of Hereford. The population was 103,872 in the 2021 Census. The River Severn flanks the western side of the city centre. It is overlooked by Worcester Cathedral. Worcester is the home of Royal Worcester Porcelain, composer Edward Elgar, Lea & Perrins, makers of traditional Worcestershire sauce, the University of Worcester, and '' Berrow's Worcester Journal'', claimed as the world's oldest newspaper. The Battle of Worcester in 1651 was the final battle of the English Civil War, during which Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army defeated King Charles II's Royalists. History Early history The trade route past Worcester, later part of the Roman Ryknild Street, dates from Neolithic times. It commanded a ford crossing over the River Severn, which was tidal below Worcester, and fortified by the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Undersheriff
An undersheriff (or under-sheriff) is an office derived from ancient English custom that remains in, among other places, England and Wales and the United States, though performing different functions. United States In American law enforcement, the undersheriff is the person second in charge of a sheriff's office. In some departments, the title of undersheriff is official, while in others, a different official title is used for the second person in charge. For example, in many small departments, the title of chief deputy sheriff is often used for the second in command; however, in some large departments, the undersheriff is second in command and in turn oversees several chief deputies. Vice versa, sometimes undersheriff ranks below chief deputy depending on the sheriff’s department. The undersheriff and chief deputy titles are in some cases used to describe the same individual. In some places, the undersheriff is the prison warden of the county jail. The New York City Sherif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
