Sorry for the blurry cover image. I liked this cover so much more than the cover that this book currently has (a boring noose). This cover is illustrated by the painting, The Execution of Lady Jane Grey from 1833. It’s hard to see it here, but the painting shows two ladies in waiting grieving on the left, one collapsed and holding Jane Grey’s outer clothing. Lady Jane, in her white petticoats and blindfold, kneels, groping for and being guided down to the block by the Lieutenant of the Tower. To the right stands a waiting figure, his hand lightly waiting on the handle of a resting axe, a knife and bindings tucked into his belt. Lady Jane, who had been Queen of England for nine days before being deposed by her aunt, Mary Tudor, was 17 years old.

You will notice that the executioner is not dressed as we picture the traditional executioner, with dark clothing, a black bag mask with two eyes cut in it, preserving anonymity. This executioner’s face is shown – and demonstrates what The National Gallery’s website describes as compassion – he is brightly dressed, and wears the tools of his trade professionally.

This book is a thoroughly-researched exploration of the profession of executioners. It spans the time from ancient Egypt, using the story of Joseph¹ and continues through modern executions as of 1996 (when the book was originally published). It covers the various trends in execution, from strangling and the noose, to the guillotine, to the electric chair – calling out specific examples of historical hangmen.

Take Jack Price, one of the more famous names in hangmen. When his father died as a small child, he became a rag-picker then went to sea, where he learned about ropes, returning to his profession as hangman in Tyburn. After serving many years, he took up drinking and drunkenly assaulted a woman. And was then sentenced to hang, himself, refusing to admit his crime.

The book also tells the stories of the hangman’s victims. The Reverend William Dodd, a compelling sermonizer with a wide following, was a generous host to his upscale friends. To cover the debts he ran up, he forged the signature of a noble benefactor on a note of L4,300. Arrested, his patron refused to press charges, but the magistrate wanted to set an example. The jury found him guilty. He spoke persuasively, begging mercy from the court and the king. Unlike Lady Jane Grey, who faced her death with courage (“‘”What shall I do? Where is the block?”), Dodd crumbled, riding to the gallows in a coach with another prisoner to be executed, his head in his elderly father’s lap. A throng of thousands came to watch him, weeping and removing their hats in his honor. Rumors spread that his friends would try to revive him when he was cut down and that they tried without success. “Dodd was dead, as was young Joseph Harris, for whom there was no outcry, no letter to the king. Harris had robbed a stagecoach of two half-guineas and a few shillings.”

That quote captures the tone that the author uses throughout this book. If you are looking for something to titillate you, this is not the book for you. This book captures the grim reality of incompetent hangmen, of hangmen trying to be professional, of righteous executioners holier than thou – and of the people who suffered under their watch, often literally due to their incompetence. The famous Jack Ketch, the executioner whose name became synonymous with executioners, earned his fame by managing to mangle the necks of two renowned noblemen condemned for their beliefs. After hacking away more than six times at one of them, he complained that the man had not tipped him enough. The other nobleman tipped him generously and begged for a clean death, leaving money with his servants to tip again afterwards and received a death as gory as his predecessor.

It also covers the courage and – in some cases – the flair of the people being executed. During the 1700s in England, when hangings were public in order to “discourage” bad behavior, famous highwaymen went to the gallows with flair, saluting the cheering crowds as they were transported through the packed streets, quoting poetry on the gallows stage, and kissing their mistresses passionately before facing the rope. Compare this to the scene at the start of the that Pirates of the Caribbean movie (I can’t be bothered to remember which one, was it the second or the third?) where the poor, accused of piracy, some of them children, were lined up to be executed by a heartless government, singing a sad dirge.

This is a well-written book, filled with stories of honest executioners, doing their best to complete their jobs fairly as they are assigned to kill thousands (during religious conflicts, usually) throughout their lives; of dishonest executioners; of the evolution of the trade; and the people who suffered at their hands.

1. Of technicolor dreamcoat. ↩︎