"Great Britain is that peculiar country in Europe," Arthur Koestler once wrote, "where people drive on the left side of the road, measure in inches and yards, and hang people by the neck until dead." Hanging has indeed been a peculiarly British institution. During the 18th century, while capital punishment was being restricted elsewhere, the number of capital offenses under England's criminal law, which was commonly known as the "bloody code," increased fivefold, to more than 220. They included everything from associating with gypsies to stealing turnips.
The gallows and the gibbet were almost as commonplace as the village church, and "hanging days" were occasions for revelry. In London at the "Tyburn tree" (the present location of Marble Arch), crowds of 100,000 or more assembled to watch the festivities. Distinguished visitors to the ceremonies at Newgate prison were often invited to remain for breakfast. "And if there were no more than six or seven hanged," according to one chronicler, the guests "would return grumbling and disappointed ... After breakfast was over, the whole party adjourned to see the 'cutting down.' " In 1800, a boy of ten was sentenced to death for "secreting notes" at the Chelmsford post office because, the judge noted, his act suggested "art and contrivance." The following year, a youth of 13 was hanged for stealing a spoon. The hangmen were as popular as movie stars are today.
Reform came surprisingly late. Not until 1908 was the death penalty abolished for children under 16, and not until 1931 for expectant mothers. In 1957, a new homicide act sought to limit the use of capital punishment in murder cases to hardened criminals. Harold Wilson's newly elected Labor government in 1965 pushed through Parliament a law abolishing capital punishment in murder cases on an experimental basis for five years.
Final Debate. As the trial period nears its end, a nationwide debate has gone on over whether or not to make the abolition permanent. Police and prison officers lobbied for a return to hanging. Most Britons seemed to side with them; polls showed that as many as 84% of the public were in favor of bringing back the hangman. One dissenter was Albert Pierrepoint, the retired public executioner, who had hanged some 450 persons in his day. "I have very strong personal feelings about this," he told the tabloid Sun. "I hope Jim Callaghan gets his way."
It was Home Secretary Callaghan who led the fight against hanging in the House of Commons last week. "There are times when Parliament has to act in advance of public opinion and give a lead," he said. He pointed out that before 1965, the actual number of executions in Britain had averaged only two a year—hardly enough to affect "the credibility of law and order." Most Laborites favored abolition of the death penalty, and many Tories opposed it. But in the balloting, numerous Tories, including Opposition Leader Ted Heath, voted with the majority. By 343 to 185, the Commons voted to end capital punishment, except for a few rare state offenses: arson in Her Majesty's dockyards, piracy on the high seas, and treason.