1715: Seven at Tyburn
November 2nd, 2017 Headsman
Paul Lorrain, the Ordinary of Newgate, enlivened his report of a November 2, 1715 mass hanging at Tyburn with an interesting accounting that gives us a spreadsheet’s-eye view of death penalty volume for the time.
The malefactors in question on this occasion numbered seven, and were not greatly distinguished from others of their age unless it were by their sheer ordinariness. All committed property crimes, stealing from burgled houses, shops, and gentlemen’s pockets, netting thereby
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Five pound-weight of Dy’d Silk, and the like quantity of raw Silk, a Silk-Gown
a Callico-Quilt
18 China Dishes, 6 China Cups, 2 Silver-Salts, 8 Silver Spoons
2 Damask and 12 Diaper Table-cloths, 12 Damask and 24 Diaper Napkins
180 Poundweight of Inkle
16 Gold-Rings, a Gold Necklace, a Coral, 4 Silver Thimbles, and 15 l. in Money
A snuffbox
For this trove, seven lives: just another day at the Triple Tree during the Bloody Code.
Lorrain’s odd addition on this occasion is a resource of some historical value vis-a-vis that Bloody Code, and also one that reveals the minister’s bean-counting soul. (Salaried at just 35 quid per year, Lorrain bequeathed an estate of £5,000 at his death thanks to his diligence in profiteering with execution-day crime-and-repentance potboilers.)
“When I first enter’d upon this arduous and melancholy Office, in the Beginning of the Mayoralty of the Right Honourable Sir THOMAS ABNEY, Knight, I found no less than 65 Persons that had lain for a great while before under Condemnation, viz. 52 Pirates (who were for the most part Foreigners) and 13 other Criminals,” Lorrain writes in a footnote. “Of the Pirates, 24 were Hanged at one time at the Execution-Dook in Wapping, and of the 13 other Malefactors, 8 were Executed at Tyburn.”
What he says next we’ve formatted from a charming little spreadsheet that Lorrain supplied his readers. It’s entirely unclear to me why he did this; perhaps, as with this very blog reproducing his work three centuries later, it was simply to break up the tedium.
| In the Mayoralty of … | Condemn’d | Repriev’d | Dy’d after Condemnation, and before their Execution | Executed |
| Sir Thomas Abney, Kt. | 118 | 48 | 4 | 66 |
| Sir William Gore, Kt. | 49 | 36 | 0 | 13 |
| Sir Samuel Dashwood, Kt. | 38 | 20 | 0 | 18 |
| Sir John Parsons, Kt. | 35 | 18 | 0 | 17 |
| Sir Owen Buckingham, Kt. | 44 | 28 | 0 | 16 |
| Sir Thomas Rawlinson, Kt. | 33 | 28 | 0 | 5 |
| Sir Robert Bedingfield, Kt. | 23 | 5 | 0 | 18 |
| Sir William Withers, Kt. | 34 | 16 | 0 | 18 |
| Sir Charles Duncomb, Kt. | 39 | 29 | 0 | 10 |
| Sir Sam Garrard, Kt. & Bart | 36 | 28 | 0 | 8 |
| Sir Gilbert Heathcote, Kt. | 36 | 23 | 0 | 13 |
| Sir Robert Beachcroft, Kt. | 43 | 28 | 0 | 15 |
| Sir Richard Hoare, Kt. | 60 | 35 | 0 | 25 |
| Sir Samuel Stanier, Kt. | 108 | 48 | 1 | 59 |
| Sir Will. Humphrys, Kt. & Bart | 76 | 38 | 0 | 38 |
| Total | 772 | 428 | 5 | 339 |
On this day..
- 1984: The Hondh-Chillar Massacre - 2020
- 1675: Boyarina Morozova, Old Believer - 2019
- 1907: Afanasi Matushenko - 2018
- 1803: Ludovicus Baekelandt, Vrijbos bandit - 2016
- 1483: Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham - 2015
- 82 BCE: The defeated populares of the Battle of the Colline Gate - 2014
- 1984: Velma Barfield, the first woman in the modern era - 2013
- 1801: James Legg, crucified ecorche - 2012
- 1972: Evelyn Anderson and Beatrice Kosin, missionaries - 2011
- 1920: James Daly, Connaught Rangers mutineer - 2010
- 1924: Ali Reshti and Sayyid Husain, to placate America - 2009
- 2001: Mona Fandey, witch doctor - 2008
- 1963: Ngo Dinh Diem - 2007
Entry Filed under: 18th Century,Capital Punishment,Common Criminals,Crime,Death Penalty,England,Execution,Hanged,History,Theft
Tags: 1710s, 1715, london, november 2, paul lorrain, Tyburn
