‘For the Benefit of Example’: Crime-Scene Executions in England, 1720–1830

Poole, Steve

doi:10.1057/9781137444011_3

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The first of these is in some ways a reasonable elision since, as Poole has pointed out, it was common in some parts of the country for both execution and display to be carried out at the scene of crime. 46 However, by the eighteenth century it was more usual for the condemned to be executed at a customary place of execution, often a permanent gallows erected in a prominent urban location, and then removed for enclosure in irons and transportation to a specified place near the scene of the crime for gibbeting. The confusion between gallows or scaffold on one hand, and gibbets on the other is only one popular confusion about the nature of post-execution punishment in Britain.…”

Section: As a Successful Or A Failed Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conclusions: Ethics, Bullet Points and Other Ways of Telling

Tarlow

Lowman

2018

Harnessing the Power of the Criminal Corpse

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The bodies of the dead are often contentious sites for contemporary ethical decision making. A number of those ethical anxieties either have their roots in the deep past, or can usefully be examined in light of the history of how dead bodies have changed in meaning and value. The case of the soldiers ‘shot at dawn’ during the First World War for cowardice or desertion illuminates the way that both criminality and the meaning of a dead body can change after death. Finally this chapter draws out some of the main conclusions of the project, and reviews some of the possible interpretive frameworks within which the history of the criminal corpse during the period of the Murder Act might be understood.

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Section: As a Successful Or A Failed Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conclusions: Ethics, Bullet Points and Other Ways of Telling

Tarlow

Lowman

2018

Harnessing the Power of the Criminal Corpse

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“…42 Poole demonstrated that the standardisation of execution practices in England after 1783 was by no means driven by one central policy and that the processional culture persisted for some time thereafter, even on the doorstep of the capital. 43 Furthermore, from a reading of reports detailing crime scene executions in the early nineteenth century, it is evident that, rather than solely being a necessary part of the execution, the procession was a focal part of the whole spectacle and the desire for more severity in the face of increased levels of capital punishment outweighed more modern concerns for efficiency. For example, when John Henderson was executed in Cupar in 1830, 15,000 people travelled from all over the county of Fife for the event.…”

Section: Staging the Public Executionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Spectacle of the Scaffold

Bennett

2017

Capital Punishment and the Criminal Corpse in Scotland, 1740–1834

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The focus of Part I of this volume was to gain an understanding of the implementation of the death sentence in Scotland. It provided an exploration of the contextual and judicial drivers that impacted upon its use and quantitative analyses of focal periods to enhance our knowledge of Scotland's capital punishment history between 1740 and 1834. Part II will now turn to present a qualitative exploration of public executions in Scotland and an investigation into the changing nature of capital punishment and execution practices across the period. It will also examine the implementation of the post-mortem punishments of dissection and hanging in chains, and situate their usage within the broader bodily punishment narrative.The current chapter will provide some insight into the spectacle of the scaffold in Scotland between the mid-eighteenth and early nineteenth century by drawing upon the extensive source materials gathered, including newspapers and execution broadsides, which offer rich qualitative details of the scene at the public execution. The opening section will begin by questioning the role of the key actors of the event, namely the condemned criminals and the concourse of spectators gathered to witness them suffer their lamentable fate. The multitude of behaviours and responses that the execution spectacle could generate will also be considered. Following this exploration of the scene at the gallows, the chapter will examine the changes made to the logistics of the public execution including those related to its location. In Edinburgh, between 1660 and 1784, executions were conducted at the Grassmarket following a procession CHAPTER 5

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“…To understand the mechanism of massacres through space and time, a common de nition must be formulated to provide for a solid working ground. The two editors of the volume do specify in the Introduction the de nition which they deem the most appropriate, 2 and it is, interestingly, towards this de nition that all the chapters of the volume lean.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…However, authorities o en struggled with the details, balancing contemporary views about crime and punishment with the practicality of the logistics of executions and with their perceived need for optimum visibility and e ect. 2 Speci cally, location was deemed important; considerations included the city limits, how to enhance dramatic impression, how to ensure su cient space for onlookers and the symbolic meanings of the location. 3 In nineteenth-century colonial areas too, the assertion of state power was a motivator in the administration of the death penalty, as chie y illustrated in Chapters 6 and 8.…”

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confidence: 99%