1913: Frederick Seekings, the last hanged in Cambridgeshire
November 4th, 2019 Headsman
The last man hanged in Cambridgeshire was Frederick Seekings on this date in 1913, for the drunken murder of his lover.
“Of limited intellect and a demon in drink,”* this Brampton laborer staggered out of Bell Inn on the 28th of July, 1913 with his eventual victim, Martha Beeby.** Both were deep in cups and argument, stumbling drunkenly to the ground as they vociferated until the innkeeper’s son helped steady them on their way.
Later that night, both were found sprawled out together alongside that same road: Frederick splayed over Martha, and Martha dead of a slashed throat. Frederick’s unconvincing claim that she’d done it to herself only confirmed his own guilty conscience; only the fact that he’d been drunk himself presented itself as a mitigating circumstance, but the Crown disputed his true degree of intoxication and the defence failed to persuade the jury to settle on mere manslaughter.
He was hanged by Thomas Pierrepoint in an execution shed at Cambridge County Gaol† in the city of Cambridge November 4, 1913, with little fanfare. There’s been no fanfare at all for 106 subsequent years, for neither city nor shire have since returned to the gallows in any capacity.
According to the Capital Punishment UK Facebook page (corroborated by its commenters), “The gallows from Cambridge was displayed in Madame Tussaud’s wax works in Blackpool in the 1980’s and consisted of two uprights with a crossbeam, bearing the Royal Coat of Arms, set over the double leaf trapdoors.” If there’s a photo of this relic available online, I have not been able to locate it.
* Quote is from the scholarly annotations to Malcolm Lowry‘s lost-then-rediscovered novel of Cambridge, In Ballast to the White Sea, which passingly alludes to the hanging.
** Frederick and Martha cohabited and she commonly went by his surname, Seekings — but they never married, and Martha actually had a never-annulled marriage to a different man.
† Tangentially, Cambridge-curious readers might enjoy this tour of the prison’s early 19th century executions.
On this day..
- 1912: Alexander Kompovic, "nurderer" - 2020
- 1807: Henry Niles - 2018
- Corpses Strewn: The Virginius Affair - 2017
- 1873: Four Cuban rebel generals - 2017
- 1895: Emma Williams, Frank Tinyana, and Jackey - 2016
- 1949: Arthur Bruce Perkins, "I knew I could never face her again" - 2015
- 1881: A day in the death penalty around the U.S. - 2014
- 2005: Hastings Arthur Wise, workplace shooter - 2013
- 2005: Brian Steckel, the Driftwood Killer - 2012
- 1818: Matthew Clydesdale, galvanic subject - 2011
- 1778: Abraham Carlisle and John Roberts, triggering Benedict Arnold's betrayal? - 2010
- 1793: The smitten Adam Lux - 2009
- 1841: Hermano Pule and his surviving followers - 2008
- 1936: Edgar André - 2007
Entry Filed under: 20th Century,Capital Punishment,Common Criminals,Crime,Death Penalty,Diminished Capacity,England,Execution,Hanged,History,Milestones,Murder
Tags: 1910s, 1913, alcohol, cambridge, family, frederick seekings, martha beeby, november 4
