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The thirteen Sheffielders Hanged


RichardB

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13 people were hanged at York Tyburn for Sheffield crimes, one executed for a burglary at York. The most famous of these was Spence Broughton (46), highwayman, gibbeted on Attercliffe Common.

My particular favourite was John Hoyland, aged 77 whose crime in 1793 was bestiality, he was executed Saturday 9th August 1793. He was a harmless 77 old man, brought up in a large family. For years he was the subject of his sons violence - they regularly thrashed him so he

"frequently was weeks together with bruises upon him".

He was accused by two labourers of copulating with an ass. Few in town doubted the charge was false and for the sake of "blood money". He was, however, convicted and sentenced to death.

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Shocking..

I am glad I wasn't around to see the gibbeting too - I wonder who did it and how they could have done it without being sick

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After Broughton, the gibbeting most people have heard of is Frank Fearn who was hung in irons on Loxley Common.

"This crime seemed to be of such a desperate character that the judge who sentenced Fearn’s body to be dissected appears to have altered it. The following order was sent to the governor of the Castle, as copied from the register now in York Castle –

I do hereby order that the execution of Francis Fearn be respited until Tuesday, the 23rd of July, (1782) , and that his body (instead of being anatomised) shall be afterwards hanged in chains on a gibbet, to be erected on some conspicuous spot, on Loxley Common, in the pairsh of Ecclesfield, in the county of York, at a convenient distance from the highway.

J. EYRE

Frank’s body was brought from York in irons, and gibbeted accordingly. The post was taken down by Mr Payne, of Loxley, on whose land it stood, in the year 1807, having remained there twenty-five years." (From Criminal chronology of York Castle With a register of the criminals capitally convicted and executed at the County Assizes Commencing March 1st 1379 to 1867)

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13 people were hanged at York Tyburn for Sheffield crimes, one executed for a burglary at York. The most famous of these was Spence Broughton (46), highwayman, gibbeted on Attercliffe Common.

My particular favourite was John Hoyland, aged 77 whose crime in 1793 was bestiality, he was executed Saturday 9th August 1793. He was a harmless 77 old man, brought up in a large family. For years he was the subkect of his sons violence - they regularly thrashed him so he

"frequently was weeks together with bruises upon him".

He was accused by two labourers of copulating with an ass. Few in town doubted thw charge was false and for the sake of "blood money". He was, however, convicted and sentenced to death.

Oh Lord! I have Hoyland's in my family tree :(

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Simple, stay off Skeness Beach and avoid horse racing like the plague! lollollol

lollollol used to be a riding instructor in another life, fortunately the Hoyland's were ancestors through marriage and not blood

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On 16th April, after Spence Broughton had been hanged, his body was taken back to the place of his crime, Attercliffe Common, where it was hung in a gibbet. The event was hugely anticipated by Sheffield’s people, suggesting that Broughton’s case had become famous. Broughton’s body reportedly attracted 40,000 visitors on the first day; to the great benefit of the landlord of the nearest pub, the Arrow, he claimed that passing trade to see Broughton’s body made him a fortune. Broughton’s body soon became a local landmark, remaining in the gibbet until 1827.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/myths_legend...article_1.shtml

Also going to post this on the Pubs and Clubs section : the Arrow :o)

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This list stars a bit earlier and I've left out the ones already mentioned.

Going back a bit further there was

Monday, July 23rd, 1673 – Miles Beckett, aged 21, a native of Heslington, near York; Jane Thompson, aged 23, a native of Fulford, near York; and Thomas Thomlinson, aged 22, a native of Clifton, near York, were executed at the Tyburn without Micklegate Bar, for coining guineas at Sheffield. The body of Jane Thompson was buried in St George’s churchyard, Bean Hill, without Fishergate Postern, and the bodies of Beckett and Thomlinson were interred behind the Castle walls near the river Foss.

Saturday, August 19th, 1786 – William Sharp, labourer, aged 26, and William Bamford, labourer, aged 28, were executed at the Tyburn without Micklegate Bar for robbing Duncan McDonald of Sheffield, button-maker, by breaking into his house and carrying away a number of horn combs, a silver threepenny piece and fourpence in copper. Sharp was a native of Conisbro’, and Bamford, a native of Clifton.

Saturday, April 17th, 1790 – John Stevens, Thomas Lastley, George Moore, Edward Williams, John Gill and James Hartley were executed at the Tyburn without Micklegate Bar, and their bodies interred the same evening. The crimes for which they suffered were as follows –

Stevens and Lastley were button-makers at Sheffield. They, together with John Booth and Michael Bingham, also button-makers, were charged by John Wharton, small shopkeeper, in the Brighouses, with robbing him on the highway, in the town of Sheffield, on the Lady’s Bridge, on Saturday night, August 29th, 1789, and taking from him a basket containing a shoulder of mutton, one pound of tobacco, half a stone of soap, seven pounds of butter, and fourpence in money. (There’s a full account of the crime if anyone’s interested).

Saturday, April 12th, 1800 – John McWilliams, aged 28, for forgery at Sheffield; Sarah Bayley, aged 25, for paying forged notes and William Dalrymple, aged 35, for robbing Mr Green’s bank at Malton. The three culprits were executed at the Tyburn without Micklegate Bar, in the presence of a large number of spectators

Saturday, August 13th, 1825 – Isaac Charlesworth, aged 22, was executed for violently assaulting and robbing Joshua Cropper, of Halifax, taking from him £1 14s. The assault was committed on the highway in the parish of Sheffield.

Monday, March 30th, 1829 – Martin Slack suffered death for the wilful murder of a female bastard child, at Sheffield.

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Guest bangtidy

Yes ive read similiar things about the loxley commons!

http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/kirk6479/mycustompage0018.htm

good read,

we use to run the commons for the cross country at school it was kinda spooky come to mention it now,

notsure i would have if i knew what i knew now very scary...

Also I read the Sheffield gangwars book by J.P Bean and it tells u of the Fowler brothers who was convicted of murder in sheffield,

and hung at leeds i believe on seperate days!? its still debated if they actually was guilty...

and also the great victorian musician/ cat burglar Charles Peace was hung at leeds...

does anyone know anymore details of Peace and i believe i read he had a hideout up near rivelin/lodge moor is this true??

Charles Peace:

http://www.historybytheyard.co.uk/charlie_peace.htm

http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/armley.html

any more info about him would be great!

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Yes ive read similiar things about the loxley commons!

http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/kirk6479/mycustompage0018.htm

good read,

we use to run the commons for the cross country at school it was kinda spooky come to mention it now,

notsure i would have if i knew what i knew now very scary...

Also I read the Sheffield gangwars book by J.P Bean and it tells u of the Fowler brothers who was convicted of murder in sheffield,

and hung at leeds i believe on seperate days!? its still debated if they actually was guilty...

and also the great victorian musician/ cat burglar Charles Peace was hung at leeds...

does anyone know anymore details of Peace and i believe i read he had a hideout up near rivelin/lodge moor is this true??

Charles Peace:

http://www.historybytheyard.co.uk/charlie_peace.htm

http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/armley.html

any more info about him would be great!

This was posted in the 'other place' today if you're interested

"The Sheffield WEA are offering a local history course on Charlie Peace

The course begins on Weds 21st January, 7pm - 9pm and runs for 10 weeks.

The course venue is The Circle, Rockingham Lane just off Division Street - part of Charlie's old stamping ground

The cost of the ten week course is £55 but zero if you are unwaged or in receipt of benefits

If you are interested in attending the course you can find more info or enrol by telephone on: 0114 242 3609

or bunging off an e mail to: yorkshumber@wea.org.uk

Here is the blurb for the course

Charlie Peace: Criminal Fall, Cultural Rise.

The course is a ten week investigation into the life of one of the most notorious criminals of the nineteenth century. Using primary and secondary evidence we examine Peace within the context of nineteenth century Sheffield and against a backdrop of Victorian crime and penal reform. We examine Peace's burglary in Sheffield, his murder of a police constable in Manchester, the Dyson killing , arrest in London and his subsequent sensationalised trial. The second part of the course examines media coverage of Peace through the mediums of film, newspapers, comics, penny dreadfuls, museum commemoration and music hall. The course draws upon the disciplines of History, Criminology and Media Studies."

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Who were the rest of the unfortunate 13 ?

(Obvious question)

Refer once again to the book "The Sheffield Hanged 1750 - 1864" by David Bentley (available at good LOCAL bookshops) which I have previously mentioned in the pinned Murder thread.

This has details of all the Sheffield hanged in this period.

There are more in his second book "The Sheffield Murders 1865 - 1965"

The significance of these dates are,

1750, probably the earliest available records with any amount of detail of the crimes

1865, hanging as a punishment for murder and other felonies was taken behind prison walls and was no longer a public exhibition

1965, hanging as a punishment was abolished.

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Saturday, April 17th, 1790 – John Stevens, Thomas Lastley, George Moore, Edward Williams, John Gill and James Hartley were executed at the Tyburn without Micklegate Bar, and their bodies interred the same evening. The crimes for which they suffered were as follows –

Stevens and Lastley were button-makers at Sheffield. They, together with John Booth and Michael Bingham, also button-makers, were charged by John Wharton, small shopkeeper, in the Brighouses, with robbing him on the highway, in the town of Sheffield, on the Lady’s Bridge, on Saturday night, August 29th, 1789, and taking from him a basket containing a shoulder of mutton, one pound of tobacco, half a stone of soap, seven pounds of butter, and fourpence in money. (There’s a full account of the crime if anyone’s interested).

This was in fact a horrific and tragic injustice, - my old friend Leader tells us the whole of this sad tale, and according to his account all that was taken from the basket was the mutton.

Compassionate sympathy.....had been more legitimately and largely excited a few years before on behalf of two unfortunate Sheffield men executed in 1790, for the offence of stealing, on Lady's Bridge, a basket containing a shoulder of mutton and a few groceries, from a man named Wharton. Their fate afforded a strong pracrtical argument in favour of a mitigation of the cruel criminal code, for the affair was believed to be really only a rough and foolish joke on the part of Wharton's fellow workmen-button makers, in the employment Mr. John Hoole, Lady's Walk (Sheflield Moor).

Five of them had been drinking together, when Wharton started to do some marketing. The others followed him, watched him make his purchases, had more beer with him, and then " for a lark," took the opportunity, when he had momentarily put down his basket on the way home, to run off with it. They carried it to the Barrel, Pinstone Street, and, without touching the other articles, had the mutton cooked. Thinking that Wharton would follow and share in the supper, for they had told him where they were going, they made up among themselves enough money to pay for the meat.

But Wharton, angered at his loss, had gone off with exaggerated complaints of the desperate crime to Buggy Eyre, the constable. So his four companions- Stevens, Lastly, Booth, and Bingham -were apprehended on a charge of highway robbery. Bingham was acquitted; the other three were condemned to the gallows; but Booth's sentence was commuted to transportation for life. Petitions on behalf of the remaining doomed men, signed by the Master Cutler and many leading inhabitants, were promptly forwarded to London. A reprieve was in consequence sent down to York; but it did not arrive until two days after the unfortunate men had been hanged.

Lastly, on the scaffold, addressed a great crowd of spectators, declaring that Wharton well knew there was no intention to rob.

The fury of the populace was boundless. It was directed against Wharton and the constable Eyre, who were both accused of having over-coloured the case for the sake of £1OO " blood money." The anger was augmented by the arrival in Sheffield of Booth, who, reaping advantage from the miscarriage of his companions' reprieve, received an unconditional pardon; and by a letter, written on the eve of execution by the condemned men to their shopmates, protesting entire innocence of criminal intent.

Wharton tried to throw the odium on Eyre, declaring that all he had wanted was to recover his goods, and that it was the constable who insisted on treating the case seriously. But this availed him nothing. In addition to his trade, he kept a shop at the corner of Chapel Street, Bridgehouses, and here an angry crowd assembled, intent on lynching him. They raised before his door a gibbet, with his effigy hanging upon it, and they would have torn him in pieces, but that, disguising himself in women's clothes, he made his escape. He went to Manchester, and was seen in Sheffield no more. Disappointed of their prey, the mob wreaked their vengeance on his house, smashing every window and committing such damage as to make it scarcely habitable.

And not the first time a wholly innocent Sheffielder has been hanged. The poor lad who was made a scapegoat for burning Wilkinson's haystacks was also hanged for 'blood money'.

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