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Notable Hangings
Date Of Office - 1907 - 1923 1. Herbert Rowse Armstrong was hanged on the 31 May 1922 at Gloucester Prison for the murder of his own wife. When she died it was believed to be from Gastritis. Had the doctor examined her more closely he may have realised that she had not died from Gastritus but from arsenical poisoning. She was buried and that might have been the end of it had it not been for the fact that having once got away with it Armstrong decided to use the same method again. After a dispute with a rival solicitor named Oswald Martin, Armstrong invited him to tea on the pretence of finding a solution to the dispute. Martin was passed a scone which had been heavily laced with arsenic The effect of this was to make Martin violently ill on his return home. Martins father in law was the towns chemist and was aware of the purchases that Armstrong had made of arsenic Tests were done and the authorities notified. Armstrong was arrested on suspicion and his wifes body exhumed.

2. Frederick Rothwell Holt was hanged on the 13 April 1920 at Strangeways Prison. In the early morning of christmas eve 1919 the 26 year old body of Kitty Breaks was found among the sand dunes at St Annes near Blackpool. She had been shot three times with a revolver. Holt's revolver and gloves were lying nearby Her lover was arrested and charged with her murder.

3. Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen was hanged on the 23 November 1910 at Pentonville Prison for the murder of his wife Cora Crippen. When the police started to search the house in Hilldrop Crescent they discovered some loose bricks in the cellar floor. On prising up the bricks they discovered a heap of human flesh and hair, but no bones. Medical examination of the remains gave the information that the corpse was that of a stout female, who bleached her hair and who had had an abdominal operation. Traces of hyoscine, in sufficient quantities to indicate a lethal dose, were found in various organs. More on Crippen

4. Edith Jessie Thompson was hanged on the 9 January 1923 at Pentonville Prison for her part in the murder of her husband Percy who was stabbed to death. Edith had been having an affair with Frederick Edward Frances Bywaters for a long time. Frederick had been away for some time and had just returned to England from the Far East in September 1922, with the couple meeting immediately. On 3rd October 1992 the Thompsons were returning home from an evening at the theatre. Around midnight the Thompsons were walking back to their Ilford home along Belgrave Road. They were near the junction with Kensington Gardens when a man in an overcoat and hat overtook them in a hurry. He pushed Edith out of the way and she fell, banging her head. A struggle ensued in which Percy was stabbed. Freddy was arrested the next evening and Edith was detained later the same night.

5. George Ball was hanged on the 26 February 1914 at Walton Gaol for the murder of his employer. The body of 40 year old Christina Bradfield had been sewn inside a sack and was then discarded into the water of the canal. It was found the following day obstructing one of the lock gates and when examined was found to have been battered with several savage blows from a blunt instrument.

6. Henry Julius Jacoby was hanged on the 5 June 1922 at Pentonville Prison for the murder of Lady White. He told police that he had intended to steal from the hotel rooms where he worked and had taken a hammer with him to 'use if necessary'. He had found the door to Lady White's room unlocked and had entered. She had woken up and he had beaten her to stop her raising the alarm.<
br> 7. Louis Voisin was hanged on the 2 March 1918 at Pentonville Prison

8. John Davis was hanged on the 1 January 1907 at Warwick Gaol

9. George Mackay was hanged on the 29 January 1913 at Lewes Prison

10. John Williams was hanged on the 19 March 1012 at Knutsford Gaol

11. Tom Caler was hanged on the 14 April 1920 at Cardiff Gaol

12. Frederick Henry Sedden was hanged on the 18 April 1912 at Pentonville Prison

13. Bert Salisbury was hanged on the 11 May 1920 at Walton Gaol

14. Fifty year old William Henry Palmer was hanged on the 19 July 1911 at Leicester Prison for the murder of Mrs Ann Harris.  She was a widow who lived in Walcote, Leicestershire.

15. Roger David Casement was hanged on the 3 August 1916 at Pentonville Prison

16. Susan Newell was hanged on the 10 October 1923 at Duke Street Prison. In June 1923 30-year-old Susan Newell was apprehended whilst trying to dispose of the body of a 13-year-old newspaper seller. He had been strangled. Susan Newell explained that she was trying to protect her husband who, she said, had killed the lad the evening before. When checks were made witnesses were found who had seen the boy going into the Newell's tenement that morning and Janet, who was Susans eight year old daughter innocently recounted how her mother had killed the lad in a rage because she didn't want to pay for the papers. She was charged and found guilty.

17. Henry Thompson was hanged on the 22 November 1910 at Walton Gaol

18. George Smith was hanged on the 13 August 1915 at Maidstone Prison for the celebrated brides in the bath murders. Alice Burnham, Beatrice Constance Annie Mundy and Margaret Elizabeth Lofty were all killed the same way. His method was quite innovative. Waiting until his wife was taking a bath he would enter the bathroom and take hold of her feet. He would then pull her feet suddenly pulling her body through the water and ensuring her head was immersed. As she was pulled through the water it caused a sudden rush of water to enter the nose and throat. This action stimulated the vagus nerve which connects the brain and the heart. The stimulation of this nerve caused it to send a signal to the heart to stop causing death. To all intents and purposes it would then look as if she had drowned in her bath. 


More on Crippen

Crippen, Dr Hawley Harvey One of the most celebrated twentieth-century cases. Cora Crippen, who was born Kunigunde Mackamotzki, was a domineering woman who preferred to be known by her stage-name of Belle Elmore. Unfortunately her singing talents were not as great as she liked to believe them to be, though she did manage to maintain a career of sorts in the music hall.
Her flamboyantly dressed, ample figure was only matched by her meanness, though both were tolerated by her diminutive husband. Crippen had qualified in America as a doctor in 1885 and, at the time, worked for a patent medicine company. In September 1905, the Crippens moved to 39 Hilldrop Crescent, where Belle took in paying guests. She also had 'gentleman friends' who visited her while her husband was at work. Crippen found consolation for this treatment in the arms of Ethel le Neve, a typist who had worked for Crippen for over seven years. By 1910 Ethel and Crippen had been lovers for three years.
On 17 January 1910, Crippen had ordered five grains of hyoscine, a narcotic poison, from a New Oxford Street chemist. The poison was collected by Crippen on the 19, who signed the register. On 2 and 9 February Crippen pawned some of his wife's jewellery for &pound;3;195. On the 2 Mrs Crippen should have attended a weekly meeting of the Music-Hall Ladies Guild, however, Ethel turned up with two letters signed by Belle, but not in her handwriting, explaining that she had had to return to America because of a relative's illness and that she would have to resign from the Guild.
As time passed, Belle's friends thought it was strange that they failed hear from her. On 20 February, Crippen and Ethel turned up at a dinner and ball that had been organised by the Guild and, on 12 March, Ethel moved into Hilldrop Crescent. Calling themselves Mr and Mrs Crippen, they went to France for five days, leaving on 16 March and staying over Easter. The day they departed, Mrs Martinetti, a music hall friend of Cora's, received a telegram sent from Victoria Station that said 'Belle died yesterday at six o'clock... Shall be away a week. Peter.' Crippen was known to his acquaintances as 'Peter'. Crippen told people that his wife had died in America and had been cremated.
All went well until 28 June when Mr and Mrs Nash, more friends of Belle, questioned Crippen about his wife's death. They had recently returned from a music hall tour of the States and were dissatisfied with Crippen's explanation. Mr Nash got in touch with a friend of his at Scotland Yard. Chief Inspector Walter Dew was asked to investigate. Dew visited Crippen who told him that he had made up the stories about his wife's demise to cover up the fact that she had left him for another man and he didn't want to face the scandal involved.
Dew left satisfied with the explanation but, after the following weekend, decided to pay Crippen another visit. He was astounded to learn that Crippen had instructed his partner to wind up their business and that he was going to be absent for some time. Dew also learned that Crippen had had the office boy purchase some clothing suitable for a boy.
Dew returned to Hilldrop Crescent and during an exhaustive search of the building discovered some loose bricks in the cellar floor. On prising up the bricks they discovered a heap of human flesh and hair, but no bones. Medical examination of the remains gave the information that the corpse was that of a stout female, who bleached her hair and who had had an abdominal operation. Traces of hyoscine, in sufficient quantities to indicate a lethal dose, were found in various organs. An arrest warrant was issued for Crippen and le Neve on 16 July. On 20 July the 'SS Montrose' sailed from Antwerp bound for Quebec. The ship's commander, Captain Kendall, noticed two of his passengers, Mr Robinson and his 'son', John, and had his suspicions aroused by their unusually affectionate behaviour. Two days later he radioed to the ship's owners voicing his suspicions. It was the first time that wireless was used in a murder hunt. As the ship steamed into Quebec, a pilot boat came alongside. On board was Dew, dressed as a pilot. He had sailed on board the 'SS Laurentic', a faster ship, and reached Canada before them. Dew arrested them both and they were returned to London.
The trial of Dr Crippen opened on Tuesday, 18 October 1910. Crippen's defence was that there was no proof that the remains in the cellar were those of a woman, never mind those of his wife. After a trial lasting four days the jury were out for only 27 minutes before returning with a guilty verdict and he was sentenced to death. The trial of Ethel le Neve began on 25 October and lasted one day. She was acquitted. Crippen was hanged in Pentonville Prison on 23 November 1910 by John Ellis.