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HANGING

All you that in the condemned hole do lie,
Prepare you, for tomorrow you shall die;
Watch all and pray; The hour is drawing near,
That you before the Almighty must appear.

Examine well yourselves; in time repent,
That you may not to eternal flames be sent.
And when St. Sepulchre's Bell in the morning tolls,
The Lord above have mercy on your souls.

These words were part of a ritual enacted at Newgate prison. On the last evening, as midnight struck, a bell was rung and the words were chanted twice to those who were to be executed at Tyburn.

Hanging as a method of execution goes back to probably the Saxon period (circa 400 AD) in Britain, although it was used by the Persians at the height of their empire. British hangmen can be traced back to the 1300's when Thomas de Warblynton was recorded as a Hangman in the 1360's. Full records began in the 1500's with Cratwell and ended with Steve Wade and Harry Allen in 1964. As with so many customs, hanging was exported by the Pilgrims to the New World and as the British Empire grew, was introduced in many of the commonwealth countries.

Early methods of hanging were simply a slip knot in a rope which was placed around the neck and the loose end thrown or tied to a tree branch. The criminal was then pulled up and slowly strangled to death. A refinement of this was that the criminal was forced to climb a ladder and then the ladder was taken away leaving him suspended in mid-air. Another method was the used of a cart, where the prisoner was placed in the noose and the cart drawn from under his feet. In the 1800's another method was developed, whereby a machine was developed to hoist the prisoner aloft using weights. One variant of this was that as the prisoner stepped onto a metal plate, his weight triggered a device in which iron pellets ran down a channel, which in turn triggered the pulling weights, thus the prisoner "executed himself". As the number of executions grew, the tree was replaced by purpose built gallows, consisting usually of two post joined by a crossbeam, with the rope suspended from the beam. Virtually every major town and city in Britain had it's own gallows.

Although by the late 1700's the "drop" had been introduced, many sufferers still strangled as the drop was merely a substitute for the cart or ladder. It was not understood at the time the principle of "strike force" and the positioning of the knot. The first well-known practitioner of the drop was William Calcraft. His successor, William Marwood, who was often quoted as saying "Calcraft hanged them, I execute them", introduced the "long" drop. This was experimental and relied on Marwood's experiments and experience. Marwood realised that each person required a different drop, based on the prisoner's weight, which would dislocate the cervical vertebrae resulting in "instantaneous" death. The drop should produce a force of 1260 foot/pounds, the length of the drop was calculated by dividing this figure by the weight of the prisoner. Therefore, a prisoner weighing 112 pounds (eight stones) would be given a drop of 11.25 feet. This basic formula was also refined as time went on, taking into account the victim's age, physical condition and stature. In the early days the drop, however, it was not foolproof and there are documented cases where too long a drop was used, resulting in the decapitation of the prisoner. Marwood also introduced a metal ring which replaced the slip knot in the traditional noose. A leather washer prevented the ring from slipping during the execution. Marwood then experimented with the positioning of the "knot" and it was found the by placing the knot under the left ear or under the angle of the left jaw. This would jerk the head backwards at the end of the drop and instantly sever the spinal cord and dislocate the cervical vertebrae. As his skill and experience blossomed, Marwood devised a simple leather belt which pinioned the victim's arms in such a manner as to prevent him raising his hands to loosen the noose prior to the drop. As time went by, Hanging became a more of a science, and by the 20th century, a hanging bag containing the hangman's equipment was being carried by the incumbent post holder. It was also becoming a fast process; by the time Albert Pierrepoint was in residence as the official Hangman, the time taken for a victim to be taken from the condemned cell to his death was approximatly fifteen seconds, a far cry from the old processions from Newgate to Tyburn!!