Abstract
Five years before the haunting image of ‘Jack the Ripper’ would infect the psyche of Victorian society, the English public was captivated by another killer who, incidentally, also went by the trade name of ‘Jack’. Yet unlike the mysterious, sadistic and elusive London murderer, this other Jack — himself a killer of sorts — was well-known to the Metropolitan police, to the local authorities, and even to the Home Office: in fact, he was on their payroll. This other Jack, known popularly as ‘Jack Ketch’, was none other than the common hangman whose real name was William Marwood. A shoemaker and leather craftsman by trade, Marwood had served as London’s executioner since 1874. But when he died on 4 September 1883, word spread quickly that a rather unsavoury job vacancy had emerged.
This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Earlier versions of this article were presented to audiences in Toronto and Winnipeg. I would like to thank Peter Bailey,John Beattie, Mark Gabbert, Stephen Heathorn and the editors of this collection for their many helpful comments and suggestions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
V.A.C. Gatrell, The Hanging Tree: Execution and the English People, 1770–1868 (Oxford, 1994), 602–3.
G. Abbott, Lords of the Scaffold: A History of the Executioner (1991), 135–6.
G.D. Robin, ‘The Executioner: his place in English society’ British Journal of Sociology, 15 (1964), 234–53; T.W. Laqueur, ‘Crowds, carnival and the state in English executions, 1604–1868’, in A.L. Beier et al. eds, The First Modern Society: Essays in English History in Honour ofLawrence Stone (Cambridge, 1989), 322; Gatrell, Hanging Tree, 99–100; P. Spierenburg, The Spectacle of Suffering (Cambridge,1984), 13–18; R. Van Diilmen, Theatre of Horror: Crime and Punishment in Early Modern Germany, trans. E. Neu (Oxford, 1990); R. Evans, Rituals of Retribution: Capital Punishment in Germany, 1600–1987 (Oxford, 1996), 53–64.
Gatrell, Hanging Tree, 604; J.M. Beattie, Policing and Punishment in London, 1660–1750 (Oxford, 2001), 129–30, 155–6.
PRO HO 144/18/46327/126. On Marwood as a ‘man of science’, see H. Engel, Lord High Executioner: An Unashamed Look at Hangmen, Headsmen, and their Kind (Toronto: Key Porter, 1996), chap. 4.
D. Cooper, The Lesson of the Scaffold (1974), 174n; H. Bleackley, The Hangmen of England (1929), 51.
V.A.C. Gatrell, ‘The decline of theft and violence in Victorian and Edwardian England’, in V.A.C. Gatrell, B. Lenman and G. Parker eds, Crime and the Law: The Social History of Crime in Western Europe since 1500 (1980), 286–9; T.R. Gurr, ‘Historical trends in violent crime: a critical review of the evidence’, Crime & Justice: An Annual Review ofResearch, 3 (1981), 310–11.
Gatrell, Hanging Tree; R. McGowen, ‘Civilizing punishment: the end of the public execution in England’, JBS, 33 (1994), 262, 274–5.
James Berry, My Experiences as an Executioner, ed. H. Snowden Ward (1972), 18.
Letter from J. Hart, 7 September 1883. John H. Duckworth of Lancashire also noted in his letter ‘unlike Marwood I am no bragger’ (6 September 1883).
On British masculinities, see M. Roper and J. Tosh, eds, Manful Assertions: Masculinities in Britain since 1800 (1991); J. Tosh, ‘What should historians do with masculinity? Reflections on nineteenth century Britain,’ HWJ, 38 (1994), 179–202.
McGowen, ‘Civilizing punishment’, 280; G.T. Smith, ‘Civilized people don’t want to see that kind of thing: the decline of public physical punishment in London, 1760–1840’, in C. Strange ed., Qualities ofMercy: Justice, Punishment, and Discretion (Vancouver, 1996), 28–9.
Sir R. Ensor, England 1870–1914 (Oxford, 1936), 105–10; D. Beales, From Castlereagh to Gladstone, 1815–1885 (1969), 232–7; D. Read, The Age of Urban Democracy: England 1868–1914 revised ed. (1994), 215, 228.
For wages for skilled labour, see K.T. Hoppen, The Mid-Victorian Generation, 1846–1886 (Oxford, 1998), 21, 63 (table 3.1). For other wages cited, see Return of Rates of Wages in the Mines and Quarries in the United Kingdom (1891), Cmd. 6445, xxxiii; Return of Rates of Wages Paid by Local Authorities and Private Companies to Police (1892), Cmd. 6715, ix. The report notes that ‘the minimum rate for constables remains about the same as in 1886, but the maximum has advanced 5s. per week’ (xv).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2004 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Smith, G.T. (2004). ‘I Could Hang Anything You Can Bring Before Me’: England’s Willing Executioners in 1883. In: Devereaux, S., Griffiths, P. (eds) Penal Practice and Culture, 1500–1900. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230523241_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230523241_12
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-43269-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-52324-1
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)