Albert PierrepointĪlbert Pierrepoint (1905-1992) was only 11 when his answer to a grade-school essay assignment of his future plans read, “When I leave school I should like to be the Official Executioner.” Young Albert wanted to join the family business his father and uncle both served as official executioners. The last executions in England took place in 1964. In 1965, the death penalty for murder was suspended in England, Wales, and Scotland and, in 1969, permanently abolished by the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act. The death penalty was ended in Northern Ireland under the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Actof 1973. elsewhere, the executioner and his assistant would quickly enter the cell of the prisoner and tie his arms behind his back. The prisoner was led to the scaffold and placed directly atop the trap door. The assistant tied the legs of the prisoner while the executioner put a white cotton hood over his head and fitted the noose around his neck. The area was cleared, a lever was pulled, and the prisoner fell through the trap door. The entire process took about 15 seconds, from the time the cell was entered to the death of the prisoner. The long-drop method of hanging was used in the UK after the 1870s. The prisoner was dropped a pre-determined length, based on height and weight. The objective was to quickly break the neck. The night before an execution, the executioner and his assistant would determine the appropriate drop for the condemned individual, working from a scaffold adjacent to the prisoner’s cell. They would “hang” a sandbag of the same weight as the prisoner to test the scaffold and stretch the rope the next morning they would adjust the drop to compensate for the rope’s stretching and then reset the scaffold’s trap door.Īt the appointed time, 9 a.m. In the United Kingdom, the maximum penalty for criminal offenses until the mid-twentieth century was death by hanging the profession and duties of executioner and assistant executioner were well established. However, executioner was not a full-time position and members of the profession also held day jobs to earn a living. The official list of qualified executioners was maintained by the Home Office. To become an executioner, a candidate would interview with prison officials and undergo a medical examination. Successful candidates would then receive six days of technical training and, finally, attend an execution to test their nerves. Executioners earned £15 and assistants earned £3 per hanging. Executioners who failed to be discreet about their profession could be removed from the list at any time. Two of the more macabre pieces of the Hyder Collection are the life masks of Albert Pierrepoint and Syd Dernley, two English hangmen. Life masks are plaster molds, distinguished from death masks by the fact that life masks are crafted while the subject is living.
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