The Spectacle of the Scaffold

Abstract

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

Scottish Women and the Hangman’s Noose

“…The reason for this likely lies in the fact that Kilday found that around half of the women were also indicted as 'resetters', who would pass on the stolen goods, and in three quarters of the total cases they were also charged with assault. 69 Therefore, it is probable that most of these women were convicted of either assault or reset of theft which were lesser crimes than robbery itself and did not carry a capital punishment.…”