Amazing True Stories of Female Executions

[Pages:288]Amazing True Stories of Female Executions

The Ultimate Collection of Grisly Tales from the Gallows, Guillotine and Gas Chamber

by

Geoffrey Abbott

Yeoman Warder (retd), HM Tower of London, Member of Her Majesty's Bodyguard

of the Yeomen of the Guard Extraordinary

s u m m e r s d a l e

First published as `Lipstick on the Noose' in 2003.

This edition copyright ? Geoffrey Abbott 2006

The right of Geoffrey Abbott to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,

mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

While every effort has been made to trace copyright in all material in this book, the author apologises if he has inadvertently failed to credit any such ownership,

and upon being notified, it will be corrected in future editions.

Summersdale Publishers Ltd 46 West Street Chichester West Sussex PO19 1RP UK



Printed and bound in Great Britain.

ISBN 1 84024 367 8

With thanks to Christopher Holmes of Christopher Holmes Photography, Kendal, for assistance with the illustrative material.

Front cover shows the execution of Mary Ansell.

Bulk purchases and special editions: Discounts are available for bulk purchases of this book, and for customised editions with your company's logo. Contact sales@ for more information.

OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR

Amazing True Stories of Execution Blunders

A Beefeater's Grisly Guide to the Tower of London, Hendon, 2003 Ghosts of the Tower of London, Hendon, 1989 Great Escapes from the Tower of London, Hendon, 1998 Beefeaters of the Tower of London, Hendon, 1985 Tortures of the Tower of London, David & Charles, 1986 The Tower of London As It Was, Hendon, 1988 Lords of the Scaffold, Hale 1991/Dobby, 2001 Rack, Rope and Red-Hot Pincers, Headline, 1993 / Dobby, 2002 The Book of Execution, Headline, 1994 Family of Death: Six Generations of Executioners, Hale, 1995 Mysteries of the Tower of London, Hendon, 1998 The Who's Who of British Beheadings, Deutsch, 2000 Crowning Disasters: Mishaps at Coronations, Capall Bann, 2001 Regalia, Robbers and Royal Corpses, Capall Bann, 2002 Grave Disturbances: The Story of the Bodysnatchers, Capall Bann, 2003 William Calcraft, Executioner Extraordinaire!, Dobby, 2003

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Geoffrey Abbott joined the Royal Air Force as an aero-engine fitter prior to the Second World War. He saw active service in North and East Africa, Somalia and India, post-war in the Suez Canal Zone, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Cyprus, Malta, Iraq and the Gulf States, and later served with NATO in France, Germany and Holland. After 35 years' service with the RAF he retired in 1974 with the rank of Warrant Officer. On becoming a Yeoman Warder (`Beefeater'), he lived in the Tower of London and was sworn in at St James' Palace as a Member of the Sovereign's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard Extraordinary, and by Justices of the Peace as a Special Constable of the Metropolitan Police.

His qualifications for writing this book are unquestionable. He once spent some time in the condemned cell of Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow, and later stood on the `drop' trapdoors in the execution chamber (as a fact-finding author of course, rather than a convicted criminal). He also had the experience of having a noose placed round his neck by a hangman, the late Syd Dernley, a man endowed with a great, if macabre, sense of humour!

Geoff now lives in the Lake District where he acts as consultant to international TV and film companies, and he has appeared in several documentaries on UK and American television channels. By invitation, he has also written the entries on torture and execution for the latest edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. In addition to being Sword Bearer to the Mayor of Kendal, Cumbria, he is also learning to become a helicopter pilot.

Geoffrey Abbott

To Michelle and Maria with thanks for their continued active encouragement, without which my pen is completely non-productive!

CONTENTS

Introduction..............................................................................8 Martyrs, Murderesses and Madwomen...................................9 Appendix 1: Types of Torture................................................238 Appendix 2: Types of Punishment and Execution..............246 For the Record.......................................................................276 Select Bibliography.................................................................278 Index.......................................................................................280

AMAZING TRUE STORIES OF FEMALE EXECUTIONS

INTRODUCTION

The Law, in its wisdom, did not differentiate between men and women when it came to passing sentence of death on those found guilty of capital offences, and so in these pages you will read how, in some countries, many women were first tortured on the rack, in the boots, by the bridle, the water torture or the thumbscrews. They were whipped and exposed to public humiliation in the pillory; they died by the rope, axe, and sword; by the electric chair, the gas chamber, the firing squad; by being pressed beneath heavy weights or boiled to death, by lethal injection or burned at the stake; by being drowned, or beheaded by the guillotine or Scottish Maiden. Nor, afterwards, were they all given a decent burial; some were dissected, others skinned to provide bizarre souvenirs.

A few, such as Margaret Clitheroe and Alice Lisle, were martyrs; some, such as Marie Brinvilliers and Mary Ann Cotton, were serial murderesses; others, like Elizabeth Barton and Mary MacLauchlan, were mentally unbalanced and, in more civilised times, would instead have been given the necessary psychiatric treatment.

Some executions were botched either by the executioners or by the equipment involved, yet despite the appalling ordeal they faced, some women were incredibly brave, some resigned to their fate; a few fought with the executioner, others were hysterical or in a state of collapse; some indeed were totally innocent, yet nevertheless were put to death.

But even the Law with all its sombre overtones has its lighter side, and so the cases are interspersed with quirky quotes.

8

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