The Bloody Code

John Amy Bird Bell

• On 1st August, 1831, an illiterate pauper was hanged by the neck until dead

• Four thousand people came to see him hang in Maidstone, Kent

• Afterwards his body was dissected by surgeons

•He was 14 years old

“At the trial the prisoner exhibited

the utmost indifference to his fate, and appeared to entertain no fear

for the consequences of his

guilt.”

The Sentence:

DEATH BY HANGING

At half-past eleven o'clock on Monday morning the wretched malefactor ceased to exist, and

his body was given to the surgeons of Rochester for

dissection.

“He exhibited some emotion

when he was informed that a

part of the sentence was that his body

should be given over to the

surgeons to be dissected.”

Bird had attacked and murdered a 12 year old boy who was collecting money for his disabled father.

The victim had been stabbed in the throat with a knife and robbed of nine shillings.

Bird admitted he had planned the crime with his brother.

Despite what you may think, it was rare for people as young as this to be hanged in 1831.

One hundred years earlier, it was a different matter altogether….

William Jennings, aged 12, was hanged at

Tyburn on Monday, the 12th of March 1716,

having been convicted of housebreaking at

the February Sessions.

15 year old James Booty (age also given as 12) suffered at Tyburn on Monday, the 21st of May 1722 for the rape

of a 5 year old girl.

15 year old Elizabeth Morton was hanged at

Nottingham on the 8th of April 1763 for the

murder of two of her

employer’s children.

Four juveniles were hanged at Tyburn on Monday, the 20th of May 1717. They were 18 year old

Martha Pillow who had been convicted of stealing in a shop, 17 year old Thomas Price and 18 year old Joseph Cornbach for housebreaking and 17

year old Christopher Ward for burglary.

15 year old Elizabeth Marsh was convicted of

the murder of her grandfather. She was hanged in public on Monday, the 17th of

March, 1794.

Possibly the youngest children ever executed in Britain were Michael Hammond and his sister, Ann, whose ages

were given as 7 and 11 respectively in a book published in 1907. Previously, no claims as to their precise ages had

been made, although they were referred to as being “under age,” without specifying what this term actually meant, and

as “the Boy and the Girl” as they were both small.

They were reportedly hanged at (Kings) Lynn on Wednesday, the 28th of September 1708 for theft. The local

press did not, however, consider the executions of two children newsworthy! A painting of the two being taken in

the cart to the gallows appears in Paul Richard’s book ”King’s Lynn”.

It was reported that there was violent thunder and lightning after the execution and that their hangman, Anthony Smyth,

died within a fortnight of it.

The Bloody Eighteenth Century?

Why was hanging the answer to everything in the 1700s?

The Bloody Code

No of crimes carrying the death penalty16885017651601815225

No. of crimes carrying the death penalty

1688 50

1765 160

1815 225

Some of the crimes carrying the death penalty in the 1700s

•stealing horses or sheep •destroying turnpike roads •cutting down trees •pick pocketing goods worth more than one shilling •being out at night with a blackened face •unmarried mother concealing a stillborn child •arson •forgery •stealing from a rabbit warren•rape •murder

"being in the company of Gypsies for one month"

"strong evidence of malice in a

child aged 7–14 years of age"

"blacking the face or using a disguise whilst committing a

crime"

Plus…

WHY?

• the attitudes of the wealthy men who made the law were unsympathetic. They felt that people who committed crimes were sinful, lazy or greedy and deserved little mercy.

Lord Chief Justice

1802-18

Edward Law

WHY?

• since the rich made the laws they made laws that protected their interests. Any act which threatened their wealth, property or sense of law and order was criminalised and made punishable by death.

Lord Chief Justice

1756-88

William Murray

WHY?

• the law was harsh to act as a deterrent. It was thought that people might not commit crimes if they knew that they could be sentenced to death.

Was it effective?

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

1701-25

1726-50

1751-75

1776-1800

1801-1825

Death Sentences

Executions

Death sentences and executions,

London

1701-1825

It is no coincidence that during the period 1776-1800 the English ruling class were fearing a revolution like in France….

The End of the Bloody Code

• Sir Samuel Romilly speaking to the House of Commons on capital punishment in 1810, declared that

"..[there is] no country on the face of the earth in which

there [have] been so many different offences according to law to be punished with

death as in England."

Whilst executions for murder, burglary and

robbery were common, the death sentences of minor offenders were often not carried out.

In 1808 Romilly had the death penalty

removed from pick- pocketing and other trivial offences and started reform that continued over the

next 50 years.

Gibbeting (the public display of executed

corpses) was abolished in

1832 and hanging in chains was abolished in

1834.

In 1861, the Criminal Law Consolidation Act further reduced the number of capital crimes to four:

•murder

•treason

•arson in royal dockyards

•piracy with violence

Public executions were abolished in

1868

From 1868 onwards, all hangings in Britain took place inside prison, on gallows like this one at HMP Wandsworth.