William Calcraft was a 19th-century English hangman. It is estimated in his 45-year career he carried out 450 executions. Among his executions were Marie and Frederick Manning, the first husband and wife to be hanged together since 1700. Calcraft carried out the last public execution in Britain in 1868.
About William Calcraft in brief
William Calcraft was a 19th-century English hangman. It is estimated in his 45-year career he carried out 450 executions. Among his executions were Marie and Frederick Manning, the first husband and wife to be hanged together since 1700. Some considered Calcraft incompetent for his controversial use of the short-drop hanging method in which the condemned were slowly strangled to death. Calcraft carried out the last public execution in Britain on 26 May 1868, when he hanged the Fenian Michael Barrett in front of Newgate Prison for his part in the Clerkenwell Outrage. During his tenure of office the Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868 was passed, requiring that all executions must be conducted in private. The number of executions Calcraft is estimated to have carried out is unrecorded, but it has been estimated at 450, making him one of the most prolific of British executioners. He was a cobbler by trade, but had also worked as a nightwatchman at Reid’s brewery in Cler Kenwell, London. He made his money by selling sections of the rope used to hang his victims, for which he charged between five shillings and £1 per inch.
He also received an allowance for cats o’ nine tails and birch rods, and supplemented his income by selling section of rope used for each execution. He died in 1874 at the age of 83, and is buried in St Paul’s Cathedral, London, with his wife and two children. He is survived by his wife, two children and a step-daughter. The couple had a son and a daughter, both of whom were born in the 19th century, and two step-granddaughters, who were also executed by Calcraft in 1868. CalCraft was also the father of a number of young people, including a son-in-law, a grandson and a great-grandson. He had one great-great-grandchild, who died in a car accident in the early 20th century. He has also been described as one of Britain’s best-loved executioners, along with his great-uncle, the Earl of Northampton, and his nephew, the Duke of Northamptonshire, who was also an executioner. The last of Calcraft’s executions was the hanging of James Godwin, on 25 May 1874 in Dundee, on the orders of the Queen.
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This page is based on the article William Calcraft published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 04, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
