In an age virtually without police, the machinery of law was uncompromising and brutal. In total, 240 offences were punishable by death, and hanging was prescribed for accessories as well. Punishments ranged from standing in the pillory to branding and whipping to burning (for particularly shameful crimes, like treason). A number of 18th century theorists believed hanging was not punishment enough for felons and proposed, "breaking on the wheel" instead. In 1752, a law was passed that required "some further Terror and peculiar mark of Infamy be added to the Punishment of Death" for murder. The convicted murderer was to be kept on bread and water in a special cell, and after execution, his body was to hang in chains before the public, then go to the surgeons for dissection.
Juries were generally loath to convict people for property crimes, since the penalty of death seemed disturbingly harsh. In fact, many victims declined to pursue matters through the legal system out of a sheer unwillingness to see the perpetrators hanged for their offence. However, imprisonment was not considered a reasonable alternative to capital punishment, since it placed young criminals into contact with older, hard-bitten ones, encouraging partnerships. The ingenious idea of transportation became an alternative punishment beginning around 1718. Criminals were deported to the remote colonies of Maryland and Virginia on the American shore and, later in the century, were sent off to settle New South Wales, Australia. In the 18th Century there was no professional police force and if you were a shopkeeper who was robbed it was your duty to get the offender before the justices. The community had to help each other. Communications were difficult and newspapers were always giving warnings about where thieves were operating. The punishments which were handed out seem harsh to us today when we have a more enlightened and flexible way of doing things," said Barry. "But people then believed strongly that death was a right punishment. But public hangings were not a solemn occasion. They drew huge crowds, there was drinking, entertainment, and trouble. Public humiliation and pain were other strands of punishment to persuade the individual not to re-offend. It must have been an extraordinary sight to see men and women stripped to the waist, tied to the back of a cart and whipped through the streets of Newcastle. There are many examples of criminals reviving after hanging for an hour or more on the gallows.
The bodies of the executed were made available for medical dissection and a report tells of one 19-year-old man who revived on the surgeon's table after a hanging in Newcastle only to be despatched with a wooden mallet. Peter Patterson, aged 74, was hanged at Morpeth in 1761 for taking part in a riot. The rope broke and he had to be hanged a second time.
Alice Williamson, aged 68, was hanged on Newcastle Town Moor in 1758 for burglary. In 1776 postman Robert Knowles was also hanged on the Town Moor for stealing from the post. The last person to be hanged in Newcastle was one Ambrose Quinn, aged 28, in 1919. The last public execution in Newcastle was at Carliol Square prison in 1863 when a George Vass was hanged aged just 19.
The executioner, dressed in a demonic-red uniform, expertly beheaded the convict before showing their head to the screaming mob. Soldiers, servants and city guards, positioned in close order, announced the end of the gloomy dreary spectacle with drums. Setting fire to a building, damaging property, and mugging were considered very serious crimes. Those guilty of murder or personal injury received capital punishment; executions would be immediately carried out. Detention usually ended with the premature death of the convict, as hardly anyone could survive in the conditions prevailing in prisons. Quick links to the topics covered here: -
During the 18th century the number of crimes punishable by death rose to about 200. Some, such as treason or murder, were serious crimes, but in other cases people could be sentenced to death for what we would think of as minor offences. For example, the death sentence could be passed for picking pockets, stealing bread or cutting down a tree. These were the kinds of crime likely to be committed by those in most desperate need. In time of war it was often difficult to recruit, especially to the navy, as people knew how hard the conditions were on board ship. Some prisoners were therefore sentenced to serve in the forces.
