View source for Albert Pierrepoint

{{short description|English executioner (1905–1992)}}
{{featured article}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Albert Pierrepoint
| image              = Albert Pierrepoint, English hangman.jpg
| image_size         = 
| alt                = Pierrepoint, wearing a hat, and about to light a cigar
| caption            = 
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1905|3|30|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Clayton, West Yorkshire|Clayton]], [[West Riding of Yorkshire]], England
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1992|7|10|1905|3|30|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Southport]], [[Merseyside]], England
| death_cause        = 
| employer           = [[His Majesty's Prison Service]]/Her Majesty's Prison Service
| occupation         = [[Executioner]], [[pub]]lican
| spouse             = {{marriage|Annie Fletcher|29 August 1943}}
| father             = [[Henry Pierrepoint]]
| relatives          = [[Thomas Pierrepoint]] (uncle)
}}
'''Albert Pierrepoint''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɪər|p|ɔɪ|n|t}} {{respell|PEER|point}}; 30 March 1905&nbsp;– 10 July 1992) was an English [[Executioner|hangman]] who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father [[Henry Pierrepoint|Henry]] and uncle [[Thomas Pierrepoint|Thomas]] were official hangmen before him.

Pierrepoint was born in [[Clayton, West Yorkshire|Clayton]] in the [[West Riding of Yorkshire]]. His family struggled financially because of his father's intermittent employment and heavy drinking. Pierrepoint knew from an early age that he wanted to become a hangman, and was taken on as an assistant executioner in September 1932, aged 27. His first execution was in December that year, alongside his uncle Tom. In October 1941 he undertook his first hanging as lead executioner.

During his tenure he hanged 200 people who had been convicted of [[war crime]]s in Germany and Austria, as well as several high-profile murderers—including [[Gordon Cummins]] (the Blackout Ripper), [[John Haigh]] (the Acid Bath Murderer) and [[John Christie (murderer)|John Christie]] (the Rillington Place Strangler). He undertook several contentious executions, including [[Timothy Evans]], [[Derek Bentley]] and [[Ruth Ellis]] and executions for [[High treason in the United Kingdom|high treason]]—[[William Joyce]] (also known as [[Lord Haw-Haw]]) and [[John Amery]]—and [[Treachery Act 1940|treachery]], with the hanging of [[Theodore Schurch]].

In 1956 Pierrepoint was involved in a dispute with a [[Undersheriff|sheriff]] over payment, leading to his retirement from hanging. He ran a pub in [[Lancashire]] from the mid-1940s until the 1960s. He wrote his memoirs in 1974 in which he concluded that [[capital punishment]] was not a deterrent, although he may have changed his position subsequently. He approached his task with gravitas and said that the execution was "sacred to me".{{sfn|Pierrepoint|1977|p=187}} His life has been included in several works of fiction, such as the 2005 film ''[[Pierrepoint (film)|Pierrepoint]]'', in which he was portrayed by [[Timothy Spall]].
{{TOClimit|3}}

==Biography==
===Early life===
[[File:Henry Pierrepoint.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Head and shoulders image of Henry Pierrepoint, facing the camera|Albert's father [[Henry Pierrepoint|Henry]]]]
Albert Pierrepoint was born on 30 March 1905 in [[Clayton, West Yorkshire|Clayton]] in the [[West Riding of Yorkshire]]. He was the third of five children and eldest son of [[Henry Pierrepoint]] and his wife Mary ({{nee|Buxton}}).{{sfn|Bailey|2004}} Henry had a series of jobs, including a butcher's apprentice, clog maker and a carrier in a local mill, but employment was mostly short-term.{{sfn|Fielding|2008a|p=3}}{{sfn|Klein|2006|p=13}} With intermittent employment, the family often had financial problems, worsened by Henry's heavy drinking.{{sfn|Bailey|2004}}{{sfn|Klein|2006|pp=13–14}} From 1901 Henry had been on the list of official executioners.{{sfn|Klein|2006|p=13}} The role was part-time, with payment made only for individual hangings, rather than an annual stipend or salary, and there was no pension included with the position.{{sfn|Klein|2006|p=19}}

Henry was removed from the list of executioners in July 1910 after arriving drunk at a prison the day before an execution and excessively berating his assistant.{{sfn|Klein|2006|pp=16–17}} Henry's brother [[Thomas Pierrepoint|Thomas]] became an official executioner in 1906.{{sfn|Marston|2009|p=219}} Pierrepoint did not find out about his father's former job until 1916, when Henry's memoirs were published in a newspaper.{{sfn|Klein|2006|p=14}} Influenced by his father and uncle, when asked at school to write about what job he would like when older, Pierrepoint said that "When I leave school I should like to be public executioner like my dad is, because it needs a steady man with good hands like my dad and my Uncle Tom and I shall be the same".{{sfn|Fielding|2008a|p=127}}{{sfn|"Obituary: Albert Pierrepoint". ''The Times''}}{{efn|The Pierrepoints were not the first family of official executioners. There were several before them, including [[James Billington (executioner)|James Billington]] and his three sons, [[Thomas Billington (executioner)|Thomas]], [[William Billington|William]] and [[John Billington (executioner)|John]];{{sfn|Bailey|1989|p=166}} Gregory Brandon and his son, [[Richard Brandon|Richard]];{{sfn|Morgan|2017}} and the Otway family.{{sfn|Bailey|1989|p=41}} [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] refers to "hereditary hangmen" in ''[[Coriolanus]]''.{{sfn|Bailey|1989|pp=166–167}}}}

In 1917 the Pierrepoint family left [[Huddersfield]], West Riding of Yorkshire, and moved to [[Failsworth]], near [[Oldham]], [[Lancashire]]. Henry's health declined and he was unable to undertake physical work; as a result, Pierrepoint left school and began work at the local Marlborough Mills.{{sfn|Bailey|1989|p=167}} Henry died in 1922 and Pierrepoint received two blue exercise books—in which his father had written his story as a hangman—and Henry's execution diary, which listed details of each hanging in which he had participated.{{sfn|Klein|2006|p=21}} In the 1920s Pierrepoint left the mill and became a [[drayman]] for a wholesale grocer, delivering goods ordered through a travelling salesman. By 1930 he had learned to drive a car and a lorry to make his deliveries; he later became manager of the business.{{sfn|Klein|2006|p=22}}

===As assistant executioner, 1931–1940===
[[File:Facsimile of British hangman's equipment.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A noose, weights and chains set up to give an idea of the set up of a gallows|Facsimile of British hangman's equipment, shown at [[HM Prison Wandsworth|Wandsworth Prison]] museum]]
On 19 April 1931 Pierrepoint wrote to the [[Prison Commission (England and Wales)|Prison Commissioners]] and applied to be an assistant executioner. He was turned down; there were no vacancies.  He received an invitation for an interview six months later. He was accepted and spent four days training at [[HM Prison Pentonville|Pentonville Prison]], London, where a dummy was used for practice. He received his formal acceptance letter as an assistant executioner at the end of September 1932.{{sfn|Klein|2006|pp=22–24}}{{sfn|Fielding|2008a|p=126}} At that time, the assistant's fee was {{nobreak|£1 11[[Shilling|s]] 6[[Penny (English coin)|d]]}} per execution (equivalent to £{{formatnum:{{inflation|UK|1.975|1932|r=0}}}} in {{Inflation-year|UK}}, when adjusted for [[inflation]]).{{inflation-fn|UK}} Another {{nobreak|£1 11s 6d}} was paid two weeks later if his conduct and behaviour were satisfactory. The executioner was chosen by the county [[high sheriff]]—or more commonly delegated to the [[undersheriff]], who selected both the hangman and the assistant.{{sfn|Robin|1964|pp=239 and 241}} Executioners and their assistants were required to be discreet and the rules for those roles included the clause:

<blockquote>He should clearly understand that his conduct and general behaviour should be respectable, not only at the place and time of the execution, but before and subsequently, that he should avoid attracting public attention in going to or from the prison, and he is prohibited from giving to any person particulars on the subject of his duty for publication.{{sfn|Fielding|2008b|pp=161–162}}</blockquote>

[[File:British Execution Box, No 8.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A box, c.3 ft long, 1 ft deep and 1 ft wide, containing all the equipment needed by an executioner, including ropes, block and tackle, straps, etc.|Execution Box number eight, containing all the equipment needed for an executioner; shown at Wandsworth Prison museum]]
In late December 1932 Pierrepoint undertook his first execution. His uncle Tom had been contracted by the government of the [[Irish Free State]] for the hanging of Patrick McDermott, a young Irish farmer who had murdered his brother; Tom was free to select his own assistant as it was outside Britain, and took Pierrepoint with him. They travelled to the [[Mountjoy Prison]], Dublin for the hanging. It was scheduled for 8:00&nbsp;am, and took less than a minute to perform. Pierrepoint's job as assistant was to follow the prisoner onto the [[Gallows|scaffold]], bind the prisoner's legs together, then step back off the trapdoor before the lead executioner sprang the mechanism.{{sfn|Bailey|1989|pp=167–168}}{{sfn|Gowers|1953|pp=249–250}}

For the remainder of the 1930s Pierrepoint worked in the grocery business and as an assistant executioner. Most of his commissions were with his uncle Tom, from whom Pierrepoint learned much. He was particularly impressed with his uncle's approach and demeanour, which were dignified and discreet;{{sfn|Klein|2006|pp=26–27}} he also followed Tom's advice "if you can't do it without whisky, don't do it at all."{{sfn|Pierrepoint|1977|p=110}}

In July 1940 Pierrepoint was the assistant at the execution of [[Udham Singh]], an Indian [[revolutionary]] who had been convicted of shooting the colonial administrator [[Michael O'Dwyer|Sir Michael O'Dwyer]].{{efn|Singh had been incensed by the 1919 [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre|Amritsar massacre]], for which he blamed O'Dwyer, the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab at the time. He offered little defence at his trial and stated "I just shot to make protest. I have seen people starving in India under British Imperialism. I done it&nbsp;... I am not sorry&nbsp;... it was my duty."{{sfn|Madra|2008}}}} The day before the execution, [[Stanley Cross (executioner)|Stanley Cross]], the newly promoted lead executioner, became confused with his calculations of the drop length, and Pierrepoint stepped in to advise on the correct measurements; Pierrepoint was added to the list of head executioners soon after.{{sfn|Fielding|2008b|p=180}}{{sfn|Klein|2006|pp=28–29}}

===As lead executioner, 1940–1956===
In October 1941 Pierrepoint undertook his first execution as lead executioner when he hanged the gangland killer Antonio "Babe" Mancini.{{sfn|Fielding|2008b|p=180}} He followed the routine as established by [[Home Office]] guidelines, and as followed by his predecessors. He and his assistant arrived the day before the execution, where he was told the height and weight of the prisoner; he viewed the condemned man through the "Judas hole" in the door to judge his build. Pierrepoint then went to the execution room—normally next to the condemned cell—where he tested the equipment using a sack that weighed about the same as the prisoner; he calculated the length of the drop using the [[Official Table of Drops|Home Office Table of Drops]], making allowances for the man's physique, if necessary.{{efn|If the drop was too short, the condemned man was liable to be strangled to death; too long and there was a risk of decapitation. If the drop was calculated correctly, the prisoner's neck should be broken, resulting in a quick death.{{sfn|Fielding|2008b|p=12}}}} He left the weighted sack hanging on the rope to ensure the rope was stretched and it would be re-adjusted in the morning if necessary.{{sfn|Gowers|1953|pp=249–250}}{{sfn|Fielding|2008b|pp=11–13 and 197}}{{sfn|Klein|2006|pp=34–35}}

[[file:Hangman's fracture.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=Two x-rays, showing the normal position of the neck, and then a typical break as it would be caused by a hangman's noose|[[X-ray]] of the [[cervical spine]] with a [[hangman's fracture]]. Left without annotation, right with. The C2 (red outline) is moved forward with respect to C3 (blue outline).]]
On the day of the execution, the practice was for Pierrepoint, his assistant and two prison officers to enter the condemned man's cell at 8:00&nbsp;am. Pierrepoint secured the man's arms behind his back with a leather strap, and all five walked through a second door, which led to the execution chamber. The prisoner was walked to a marked spot on the trapdoor whereupon Pierrepoint placed a white hood over the prisoner's head and a noose around his neck. The metal eye through which the rope was looped was placed under the left jawbone which, when the prisoner dropped, forced the head back and broke the spine. Pierrepoint pushed a large lever, releasing the trapdoor. From entering the condemned man's cell to opening the trapdoor took him a maximum of 12 seconds. The neck was broken in almost exactly the same position in each hanging—the [[hangman's fracture]].{{sfn|Fielding|2008b|pp=14–15}}{{sfn|Klein|2006|pp=35–36}}

====War-related executions====
During the [[Second World War]] Pierrepoint hanged 15 German spies, as well as US servicemen found guilty by [[courts martial]] of committing capital crimes in England.{{sfn|Bailey|2004}} In December 1941 he executed the German spy [[Karel Richard Richter|Karel Richter]] at [[HM Prison Wandsworth|Wandsworth Prison]]. When Pierrepoint entered the condemned man's cell for the hanging, Richter stood up, threw aside one of the guards and charged headfirst at the stone wall. Stunned momentarily, he rose and shook his head. After Richter struggled with the guards, Pierrepoint managed to get the leather strap around Richter's wrists. He burst the leather strap from eye-hole to eye-hole and was free again. After another struggle, the strap was wrapped tightly around his wrists. He was brought to the scaffold where a strap was wrapped around his ankles, followed by a cap and noose. Just as Pierrepoint pushed the lever, Richter jumped up with bound feet. As Richter plummeted through the trapdoor, Pierrepoint could see that the noose had slipped, but it became stuck under Richter's nose. Despite the unusual position of the noose, the prison medical officer determined that it was an instantaneous, clean death.{{sfn|Hayward|2013|p=253}} Writing about the execution in his memoirs, Pierrepoint called it "my toughest session on the scaffold during all my career as an executioner".{{sfn|Pierrepoint|1977|p=135}} The broken strap was given to Pierrepoint as a souvenir; he used it occasionally for what he thought were meaningful executions.{{sfn|McLaughlin|2004|p=113}}

In August 1943 Pierrepoint married Anne Fletcher after a courtship of five years. He did not tell her about his role of executioner until a few weeks after the nuptials when he was flown to [[Gibraltar]] to hang two saboteurs; on his return he explained the reason for his absence and she accepted it, saying that she had known about his second job all along, after hearing gossip locally.{{sfn|Klein|2006|pp=30–32}}

[[File:The Liberation of Bergen-belsen Concentration Camp 1945 - Portraits of Belsen Guards at Celle Awaiting Trial, August 1945 BU9745 (crop).jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A man and a woman in a prison garden|[[Irma Grese]] and [[Josef Kramer]], both officials at [[Bergen-Belsen concentration camp]], awaiting trial; both were executed by Pierrepoint.]]
In late 1945, following the liberation of the [[Bergen-Belsen concentration camp]] and [[Belsen trial|the subsequent trial]] of the camp's officials and functionaries, Pierrepoint was sent to [[Hamelin]], Germany to carry out the executions of eleven of those sentenced to death, plus two other German [[war criminals]] convicted of murdering an [[RAF]] pilot in the Netherlands in March 1945. He disliked any publicity connected to his role and was unhappy that his name had been announced to the press by [[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|Field Marshal]] [[Bernard Montgomery|Sir Bernard Montgomery]]. When he flew to Germany, he was followed across the airfield by the press, which he described as being "as unwelcome as a lynch mob".{{sfn|Pierrepoint|1977|p=142}}{{sfn|Klein|2006|pp=62–70}} He was given the honorary military rank of [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|lieutenant colonel]] and, on 13 December, he first executed the women individually, then the men two at a time.{{sfn|Bailey|1989|p=170}}{{efn|Pierrepoint subsequently received an anonymous letter every Christmas for several years with a £5 note and the word "Belsen".{{sfn|"Obituary: Albert Pierrepoint". ''The Daily Telegraph''}}}} Pierrepoint travelled several times to Hamelin, and between December 1948 and October 1949 he executed 226 people, often over 10 a day, and on several occasions groups of up to 17 over 2 days.{{sfn|Klein|2006|pp=78–80}}

[[File:The traitors Amery and Joyce.png|thumb|upright|left|alt=Two images, a formal picture of John Amery, facing the camera, and one of William Joyce on a hospital stretcher.|Two of those convicted of treason and hanged by Pierrepoint, [[John Amery]] ''(left)'' and [[William Joyce]] ''(right)'']]

Six days after the Belsen hangings in December 1945, Pierrepoint hanged [[John Amery]] at Wandsworth Prison. Amery, the eldest son of the cabinet minister [[Leo Amery]], was a Nazi sympathiser who had visited [[prisoner-of-war camp]]s in Germany to recruit allied prisoners for the [[British Free Corps]];{{efn|Thirty men joined the organisation as a result of Amery's visits.{{sfn|"Amery, John (1912–1945)". ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''}}}} he had also broadcast to Britain to encourage men to join the Nazis. He pleaded guilty to treason.{{sfn|"Amery, John (1912–1945)". ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''}} On 3 January 1946 Pierrepoint hanged [[William Joyce]], also known as [[Lord Haw-Haw]], who had been given the death sentence for [[High treason in the United Kingdom|high treason]], although it was established that Joyce was born an American citizen, and therefore it was questionable if he was subject to the charge.{{sfn|Nicholas|2017}}{{sfn|Bailey|1989|p=171}} The following day Pierrepoint hanged [[Theodore Schurch]], a British soldier who had been found guilty under the [[Treachery Act 1940]].{{sfn|Fielding|2008b|p=193}} Joyce was the last person to be executed in Britain for treason;{{sfn|Head|2016|p=99}} the death penalty for treason was abolished with the introduction of the [[Crime and Disorder Act 1998]].{{sfn|Barnett|2014|p=458}} Schurch was the last person to be hanged in Britain for treachery, and the last to be hanged for any offence other than murder.{{sfn|Head|2016|p=99}}

In September 1946 Pierrepoint travelled to [[Graz]], Austria, to train staff at [[Graz-Karlau Prison|Karlau Prison]] in the British form of long-drop hanging. Previously, the Austrians had used a shorter drop, leaving the executed men to choke to death, rather than the faster long-drop kill. He undertook four double executions of prisoners, with his trainees acting as assistants.{{sfn|Fielding|2008a|p=202}}{{sfn|Bailey|1989|p=172}} Despite Pierrepoint's expertise as an executioner and his experience with hanging the German war criminals at Hamelin, he was not selected as the hangman to carry out the sentences handed down at the [[Nuremberg trials]]; the job went to an American, [[Master sergeant#United States|Master Sergeant]] [[John C. Woods]], who was relatively inexperienced. The press was invited to observe the process, and pictures were later circulated which suggested the hangings had been poorly done. [[Wilhelm Keitel]] took 20 minutes to die after the trapdoor opened; the trap was not wide enough, so some of the men hit the edges as they fell—more than one person's nose was torn off in the process—and others were strangled, rather than having their necks broken.{{sfn|Bailey|1989|p=172}}{{sfn|Fielding|2008a|pp=202–203}}

====Post-war executions====
[[File:Albert_Pierrepoint_notebook.jpg|thumb|right|Albert Pierrepoint's notebook, where he listed the personal details of the people he executed, including [[Lord Haw-Haw]], and the [[Hanging#Long_drop|drop length]] (in feet and inches) each received during their hanging]]
After the war Pierrepoint left the delivery business and took over the lease of a pub, the Help the Poor Struggler on Manchester Road, in the [[Hollinwood, Greater Manchester|Hollinwood]] area of Oldham.{{sfn|Boseley|1992|p=32}} In the 1950s he left the pub and took a lease of the larger Rose and Crown at [[Much Hoole]] near [[Preston, Lancashire]].{{sfn|Bailey|1989|p=179}} He later said that he changed his main occupation because:

<blockquote>I wanted to run my own business so that I should be under no obligation when I took time off.&nbsp;... I could take a three o'clock plane from Dublin after conducting an execution there and be opening my bar without comment at half past five.{{sfn|Pierrepoint|1977|p=149}}</blockquote>

[[File:Ernest-Gowers-1920.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=Gowers in suit and tie, sitting for a formal photograph|[[Ernest Gowers|Sir Ernest Gowers]] in 1920; Gowers was the chairman of the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment]]
In 1948 Parliament debated a new [[Criminal Justice Act 1948|Criminal Justice Bill]], which raised the question of whether to continue with the death penalty or not. While the debates were proceeding, no executions took place, and Pierrepoint worked solely in his pub. When the bill failed in the [[House of Lords]], hangings resumed after a nine-month gap. The following year, the [[Home Secretary]], [[Chuter Ede]], set up a [[Royal Commission]] to look into capital punishment in the UK.{{sfn|Gowers|1953|pp=v–iv}} Pierrepoint gave evidence in November 1950 and included a mock hanging at Wandsworth Prison for the commission members.{{sfn|Hodgkinson|Rutherford|1996|p=194}} [[Royal Commission on Capital Punishment report (1953)|The commission's report]] was published in 1953 and resulted in the [[Homicide Act 1957]] which reduced the grounds for execution by differentiating between capital and non-capital charges for homicide.{{sfn|Hodgkinson|Rutherford|1996|p=194}}

From the late 1940s and into the 1950s Pierrepoint, Britain's most experienced executioner, carried out several more hangings, including those of prisoners described by his biographer, Brian Bailey, as "the most notorious murderers of the period&nbsp;... [and] three of the most controversial executions in the latter years of the death penalty."{{sfn|Bailey|2004}} In August 1949 he hanged [[John Haigh]], nicknamed "the Acid Bath Murderer", as he had dissolved the bodies of his victims in [[sulphuric acid]]; Haigh admitted to nine murders, and tried to avoid hanging by saying he drank the blood of his victims and [[Insanity defense|claiming insanity]].{{sfn|Fielding|2008a|pp=221–222}} The following year Pierrepoint hanged [[James Corbitt]], one of the regular customers at Pierrepoint's pub; the two had sung duets together and while Pierrepoint called Corbitt "Tish", Corbitt returned the nickname "Tosh". In his autobiography, Pierrepoint considered the matter:

<blockquote>As I polished the glasses, I thought if any man had a deterrent to murder poised before him, it was this troubadour whom I called Tish, coming to terms with his obsessions in the singing room of Help The Poor Struggler. He was not only aware of the rope, he had the man who handled it beside him, singing a duet.&nbsp;... The deterrent did not work. He killed the thing he loved.{{sfn|Pierrepoint|1977|pp=164–165}}</blockquote>

In March 1950 Pierrepoint hanged [[Timothy Evans]], a 25-year-old man who had the vocabulary of a 14-year-old and the mental age of a ten-year-old.{{sfn|Klein|2006|p=125}} Evans was arrested for the murder of his wife and daughter at their home, the top floor flat of 10&nbsp;Rillington Place, London. His statements to the police were contradictory, telling them that he killed her, and also that he was innocent. He was tried and convicted for the murder of his daughter.{{efn|At the time, capital cases were only carried out for one murder, even if there was evidence for more deaths.{{sfn|Klein|2006|p=131}}}} Three years later Evans's landlord, [[John Christie (murderer)|John Christie]], was arrested for the murder of several women, whose bodies he hid in the house. He subsequently admitted to the murder of Evans's wife, but not the daughter. Pierrepoint hanged him in July 1953 in Pentonville Prison, but the case showed Evans's conviction and hanging had been a [[miscarriage of justice]]. The matter led to further questions on the use of the death penalty in Britain.{{sfn|"Christie, John Reginald Halliday (1899–1953)". ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''}}

In the months before he hanged Christie, Pierrepoint undertook another controversial execution, that of [[Derek Bentley]], a 19-year-old man who had been an accomplice of Christopher Craig, a 16-year-old boy who shot and killed a policeman. Bentley was described in his trial as:

<blockquote>a youth of low intelligence, shown by testing to be just above the level of a feeble-minded person, illiterate, unable to read or write, and when tested in a way which did not involve scholastic knowledge shown to have a mental age between 11 and 12 years.{{sfn|"Bentley (Deceased), R v [1998] EWCA Crim 2516 (30 July 1998)"}}</blockquote>

At the time the policeman was shot, Bentley had been under arrest for 15 minutes, and the words he said to Craig—"Let him have it, Chris"—could either have been taken for an incitement to shoot, or for Craig to hand his gun over (one policeman had asked him to hand the gun over just beforehand). Bentley was found guilty by the [[English law]] principle of [[Common purpose|joint enterprise]].{{sfn|"Bentley (Deceased), R v [1998] EWCA Crim 2516 (30 July 1998)"}}{{sfn|Klein|2006|pp=121–122}}

Pierrepoint hanged [[Ruth Ellis]] for murder in July 1955. Ellis was in an abusive relationship with David Blakely, a racing driver; she shot him four times after what her biographer, Jane Dunn, called "three days of sleeplessness, panic, and pathological jealousy, fuelled by quantities of Pernod and a reckless consumption of tranquillizers".{{sfn|Dunn|2008}}{{sfn|Hancock|2000|pp=108–109}} The case attracted great interest from the press and public. The matter was discussed in [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]] and a petition of 50,000 signatures was sent to the Home Secretary, [[Gwilym Lloyd George]], to ask for a reprieve; he refused to grant one. Ellis was the last woman to be hanged in Britain.{{sfn|Rhodes James|1987|p=420}}{{sfn|Hancock|2000|p=171}} Two weeks after Ellis's execution, Pierrepoint hanged Norman Green, who had confessed to killing two boys in the [[Wigan]] area; it was Pierrepoint's last execution.{{sfn|Fielding|2008a|pp=265–266}}

===Retirement and later life===
In early January 1956 Pierrepoint travelled to Manchester for another execution and paid for staff to cover the bar in his absence. He spent the afternoon in the prison calculating the drop and setting up the rope to the right length. That evening the prisoner was given a reprieve. Pierrepoint left the prison and, because of heavy snow, stayed overnight in a local hotel before returning home. Two weeks later he received from the instructing [[Undersheriff|sheriff]] a cheque for his travelling expenses, but not his execution fee. He wrote to the Prison Commissioners to point out that he had received a full fee in other cases of reprieve, and that he had spent additional money in employing bar staff. The Commissioners advised he speak to the instructing sheriff, as it was his responsibility, not theirs; they also reminded him that his conditions of employment were that he was paid only for the execution, not in the case of a reprieve. Shortly afterwards he received a letter from the sheriff offering £4 as a compromise. On 23 February he replied to the Prison Commissioners and informed them that he was resigning with immediate effect, and requested that his name be taken from the list of executioners.{{sfn|Fielding|2008a|pp=268–271}}{{sfn|Klein|2006|pp=191–192 and 194}}

There were soon rumours in the press that his resignation was connected with the hanging of Ellis.{{sfn|Bailey|1989|p=182}} In his autobiography he denied this was the case:

<blockquote>At the execution of Ruth Ellis no untoward incident happened which in any way appalled me or anyone else, and the execution had absolutely no connection with my resignation seven months later. Nor did I leave the list, as one newspaper said, by being arbitrarily taken off it, to shut my mouth, because I was about to reveal the last words of Ruth Ellis. She never spoke.{{sfn|Pierrepoint|1977|p=207}}</blockquote>

Pierrepoint's autobiography does not give any reasons for his resignation—he states that the Prison Commissioners asked him to keep the details private.{{sfn|Pierrepoint|1977|p=207}} The Home Office contacted the Sheriff of Lancashire, who paid Pierrepoint the full fee of £15 for his services, but he was adamant that he was still retiring. He had received an offer for £30,000 to £40,000 from the ''[[Empire News|Empire News and Sunday Chronicle]]'' to publish weekly stories about his experiences.{{sfn|Klein|2006|pp=195–196}}{{efn|£30,000 to £40,000 in 1956 equates to approximately £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|30000|1956|r=-4}}}} to £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|40000|1956|r=-4}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}, according to calculations based on [[Consumer Price Index (United Kingdom)|Consumer Price Index]] measure of inflation.{{sfn|Clark|2018}}}} The Home Office considered prosecuting him under the [[Official Secrets Act 1939]], but when two of the stories appeared that contained information that contradicted the recollections of other witnesses, they did not do so. Instead pressure was put on the publishers who stopped the stories.{{sfn|Fielding|2008a|pp=273–274}}

[[File:Life mask and hand casts of Albert Pierrepoint.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Two cases at Wandsworth Prison Museum. One contains a life mask of Pierrepoint, the second contains a cast of his hands|Pierrepoint's life mask and hand casts, at the [[HM Prison Wandsworth|Wandsworth Prison]] museum]]
Pierrepoint and his wife ran their pub until they retired to the seaside town of [[Southport]] in the 1960s. In 1974 he published his autobiography, ''Executioner: Pierrepoint''. He died on 10 July 1992, aged 87, in the nursing home where he had lived for the last four years of his life.{{sfn|Fielding|2008a|pp=273–274}}{{sfn|Klein|2006|pp=214 and 228}}

==Views on capital punishment==
In his 1974 autobiography, Pierrepoint changed his view on [[capital punishment]], and wrote that hanging:

<blockquote>...&nbsp;is said to be a deterrent. I cannot agree. There have been murders since the beginning of time, and we shall go on looking for deterrents until the end of time. If death were a deterrent, I might be expected to know. It is I who have faced them last, young lads and girls, working men, grandmothers. I have been amazed to see the courage with which they take that walk into the unknown. It did not deter them then, and it had not deterred them when they committed what they were convicted for. All the men and women whom I have faced at that final moment convince me that in what I have done I have not prevented a single murder.{{sfn|Pierrepoint|1977|pp=207–208}}</blockquote>

In a 1976 interview with [[BBC Radio Merseyside]], Pierrepoint expressed his uncertainty towards the sentiments, and said that when the autobiography was originally written, "there was not a lot of crime. Not like there is today. I am now honestly on a balance and I don't know which way to think because it changes every day."{{sfn|Coslett|2008}} Pierrepoint's position as an opponent of capital punishment was questioned by his long-time former assistant, [[Syd Dernley]], in his 1989 autobiography, ''The Hangman's Tale'':

<blockquote>Even the great Pierrepoint developed some strange ideas in the end. I do not think I will ever get over the shock of reading in his autobiography, many years ago, that like the Victorian executioner [[James Berry (executioner)|James Berry]] before him, he had turned against capital punishment and now believed that none of the executions he had carried out had achieved anything! This from the man who proudly told me that he had done more jobs than any other executioner in English history. I just could not believe it. When you have hanged more than 680 people, it's a hell of a time to find out you do not believe capital punishment achieves anything!{{sfn|Dernley|Newman|1990|p=199}}</blockquote>

==Approach and legacy==
Pierrepoint described his approach to hanging in his autobiography. He did so in what Lizzie Seal, a [[Reader (academic rank)|reader]] in [[criminology]], calls "quasi-religious language", including the phrase that a "higher power" selected him as an executioner.{{sfn|Seal|2016|p=10}} When asked by the Royal Commission about his role, he replied that "It is sacred to me".{{sfn|Pierrepoint|1977|p=187}}{{sfn|Klein|2006|p=105}} In his autobiography, Pierrepoint describes his ethos thus:

<blockquote>I have gone on record&nbsp;... as saying that my job is sacred to me. That sanctity must be most apparent at the hour of death. A condemned prisoner is entrusted to me, after decisions have been made which I cannot alter. He is a man, she is a woman, who, the church says, still merits some mercy. The supreme mercy I can extend to them is to give them and sustain in them their dignity in dying and death. The gentleness must remain.{{sfn|Pierrepoint|1977|p=201}}</blockquote>

Brian Bailey highlights Pierrepoint's phrasing relating to hangings; the autobiography reads "I had to hang Derek Bentley", "I had to execute John Christie" and "I had to execute [[Louisa May Merrifield|Mrs Louisa Merrifield]]". Bailey comments that Pierrepoint "never had to hang anybody".{{sfn|Bailey|2004}}{{sfn|Pierrepoint|1977|p=201}}

The exact number of people executed by Pierrepoint has never been established. Bailey, in the ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', and Leonora Klein, one of his biographers, state it was over 400;{{sfn|Klein|2006|p=227}} Steven Fielding, another biographer, puts the figure at 435—based on the Prison Execution Books held at [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]];{{sfn|Fielding|2008a|pp=294 and 306}} the obituarists of ''[[The Times]]'' and ''[[The Guardian]]'' put the figure at 17 women and 433 men.{{sfn|"Obituary: Albert Pierrepoint". ''The Times''}}{{sfn|Boseley|1992|p=32}} ''[[The Irish Times]]'' puts the figure at 530 people,{{sfn|Campbell|1992|p=7}} ''[[The Independent]]'' considers the figure to be 530 men and 20 women,{{sfn|Richardson|1992}} while the BBC states it is "up to 600" people.{{sfn|Coslett|2008}}

In addition to his 1974 autobiography, Pierrepoint has been the subject of several biographies, either focusing on him or alongside other executioners. These include ''Pierrepoint: A Family of Executioners'' by Fielding, published in 2006,{{sfn|Klein|2006|p=243}} and Leonora Klein's 2006 book ''A Very English Hangman: The Life and Times of Albert Pierrepoint''.{{sfn|Seal|2016|p=7}} There have been several television and radio documentaries about or including Pierrepoint,{{sfn|Seal|2016|p=6}}{{sfn|Bailey|1989|p=183}} and he has been portrayed on stage and screen, and in literature.{{efn|
<!-- TO ENSURE the list does not become bloated, the book/film/song must be ABOUT Pierrepoint or have him as a named character, have a RELIABLE SOURCE and either the work or the artiste must have their own article-->
In print:
* ''Murder at Wrotham Hill'' (2012), [[Diana Souhami]]'s account of the 1946 murder of Dagmar Petrzywalski, includes Pierrepoint, contrasting his role as the executioner of Petrzywalski's murderer with his work hanging Nazi war criminals in the same period.{{sfn|Morrison|2012}}

On film:
* Pierrepoint is portrayed by [[Edwin Brown (actor)|Edwin Brown]] executing [[Timothy Evans]] in the 1971 film ''[[10 Rillington Place]]''. Pierrepoint served as an uncredited technical adviser on this film, to ensure the authenticity of the hanging scene.{{sfn|Seal|2016|p=6}}
* In the 1991 film ''[[Let Him Have It]]'', Pierrepoint is played by [[Clive Revill]], executing Derek Bentley.{{sfn|"'Let Him Have It' (1991)". British Film Institute}}
* [[Timothy Spall]] portrayed him in the 2006 film ''[[Pierrepoint (film)|Pierrepoint]]''.{{sfn|"Pierrepoint (2006)". British Film Institute}}

On television:
* In 2016 John Paul Hurley portrayed Pierrepoint in the BBC production of ''[[Rillington Place]]'' starring [[Tim Roth]] and [[Samantha Morton]].{{sfn|"Rillington Place". BBC}}
}}

On Pierrepoint's resignation, two assistant executioners were promoted to lead executioner: [[Robert Leslie Stewart|Jock Stewart]] and [[Harry Allen (executioner)|Harry Allen]]. Over the next seven years they carried out the remaining thirty-four executions in the UK.{{sfn|Bailey|1989|p=187}} On 13 August 1964 Allen hanged Gwynne Evans at [[HM Prison Manchester|Strangeways Prison]] in Manchester for the [[murder of John Alan West]]; at the same time, Stewart hanged Evans's accomplice, Peter Allen, at [[HM Prison Liverpool|Walton Gaol]] in Liverpool. They were the last hangings in English legal history.{{sfn|Twitchell|2012|p=285}}{{sfn|Block|Hostettler|1997|p=11}} The following year the [[Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965]] was passed, which imposed a five-year moratorium on executions.{{sfn|Twitchell|2012|p=285}} The temporary ban was made permanent on 18 December 1969.{{sfn|Block|Hostettler|1997|p=267}}

==See also==
* [[Locations of executions conducted by Albert Pierrepoint]]
* [[List of executioners]]

==Notes and references==

===Notes===
{{notes}}

===References===
{{reflist|colwidth=25em|refs=}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin}}

====Books====
* {{cite book|last1=Bailey|first1=Brian|title=Hangmen of England: History of Execution from Jack Ketch to Albert Pierrepoint|year=1989|publisher=Virgin Books|location=London|isbn=978-0-4910-3129-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Barnett|first=Hilaire|title=Constitutional & Administrative Law|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzScBQAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|year=2014|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-1-317-44622-4}}
* {{cite book|last1=Block|first1=Brian P.|last2=Hostettler|first2=John|author-link2=John Hostettler (author)|title=Hanging in the Balance: A History of the Abolition of Capital Punishment in Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rCDbCgAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|year=1997|publisher=Waterside Press|location=Hook, Hampshire|isbn=978-1-872870-47-2}}
* {{cite book|last1=Dernley|first1=Syd|author-link1=Syd Dernley|last2=Newman|first2=David|title=The Hangman's Tale|year=1990|publisher=Pan Books|location=London|isbn=978-0-3303-1633-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Fielding|first=Steve|title=Pierrepoint: A Family of Executioners|year=2008a|publisher=John Blake Publishing|location=London|isbn=978-1-8445-4611-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Fielding|first=Steve|title=The Executioner's Bible: The Story of Every British Hangman of the Twentieth Century|year=2008b|publisher=John Blake Publishing|location=London|edition=Kindle|isbn=978-1-8445-4422-6}}
* {{cite book|last1=Gowers|first1=Ernest|author-link1=Ernest Gowers|title=Royal Commission on Capital Punishment 1949–1953: Report|date=1953|publisher=Her Majesty's Stationery Office|location=London|oclc=226990460}}
* {{cite book|last=Hancock|first=Robert|title=Ruth Ellis: The Last Woman to Be Hanged|year=2000|publisher=Orion|location=London|isbn=978-0-7528-3449-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Hayward|first=James|title=Double Agent Snow: The True Story of Arthur Owens, Hitler's Chief Spy in England|year=2013|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-85720-854-5|location=London}}
* {{cite book|last=Head|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Head (academic)|title=Crimes Against the State: From Treason to Terrorism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sxkpDAAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|year=2016|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-1-317-15793-9}}
* {{cite book|last1=Hodgkinson|first1=Peter|last2=Rutherford|first2=Andrew|title=Capital Punishment: Global Issues and Prospects|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zQsUTyP7TUkC&pg=PP1|year=1996|publisher=Waterside Press|location=Winchester, Hants|isbn=978-1-872870-32-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Klein|first=Leonora|title=A Very English Hangman: The Life and Times of Albert Pierrepoint|year=2006|publisher=Corvo Books|location=London|isbn=978-0-9543255-6-5}}
* {{cite book|last1=McLaughlin|first1=Stewart|title=Execution Suite: A History of the Gallows at Wandsworth Prison 1879–1993|year=2004|publisher=HMP Wandsworth|location=London|isbn=978-0-9551-0801-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Marston|first=Edward|title=Prison: Five Hundred Years of Life Behind Bars|year=2009|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|location=London|isbn=978-1-905615-33-9}}
* {{cite book|last1=Pierrepoint|first1=Albert|title=Executioner: Pierrepoint|year=1977|orig-year=1974|publisher=Coronet|location=London|isbn=978-0-3402-1307-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Rhodes James|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Rhodes James|title=Anthony Eden|year=1987|publisher=Macmillan|location=London|isbn=978-0-333-45503-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Twitchell|first=Neville|title=The Politics of the Rope: The Campaign to Abolish Capital Punishment in Britain, 1955–1969|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tMkjUerXEsYC&pg=PP1|year=2012|publisher=Arena Books|location=Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk|isbn=978-1-906791-98-8}}

====Journals====
* {{cite ODNB|title=Amery, John (1912–1945)|date=2006|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/37112|ref={{sfnRef|"Amery, John (1912–1945)". ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''}}}}
* {{cite ODNB|last1=Bailey|first1=Brian|title=Pierrepoint, Albert, (1905–1992)|date=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/38768}}
* {{cite ODNB|title=Christie, John Reginald Halliday (1899–1953)|date=2013|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/37280|ref={{sfnRef|"Christie, John Reginald Halliday (1899–1953)". ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''}}}}
* {{cite ODNB|last=Dunn|first=Jane|title=Ellis [née Neilson], Ruth (1926–1955)|volume=1|date=2008|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/56716}}
* {{cite ODNB|last1=Madra|first1=Amandeep Singh|title=Singh, Udham (1899–1940)|date=2008|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/73200}}
* {{cite ODNB|last1=Morgan|first1=Basil|title=Brandon, Richard (d. 1649)|date=2017|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/3266}}
* {{cite ODNB|last1=Nicholas|first1=Siân|title=Joyce, William Brooke (known as Lord Haw-Haw) (1906–1946)|date=2017|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/37621}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Robin|first1=Gerald D.|title=The Executioner: His Place in English Society|journal=The British Journal of Sociology|date=September 1964|volume=15|issue=3|pages=234–253|jstor=588468|doi=10.2307/588468}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Seal|first1=Lizzie|title=Albert Pierrepoint and the Cultural Persona of the Twentieth-Century Hangman|journal=Crime, Media, Culture|date=2016|volume=12|issue=1|pages=83–100|url=https://sussex.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Albert_Pierrepoint_and_the_cultural_persona_of_the_twentieth-century_hangman/23428355/1/files/41142287.pdf|issn=1741-6590|doi=10.1177/1741659015603623|s2cid=147231485}}

====News articles====
* {{cite news|last1=Boseley|first1=Sarah|title=Obituary: Albert Pierrepoint|work=The Guardian|date=13 July 1992|page=32}}
* {{cite news|last1=Campbell|first1=Denis|title=Capital punishment achieved 'nothing but revenge'|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=13 July 1992|page=7}}
* {{cite news|last1=Coslett|first1=Paul|title=Albert Pierrepoint|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/articles/2006/04/27/pierrepoint_lasthangman_feature.shtml|access-date=31 August 2018|publisher=BBC|date=19 August 2008}}
* {{cite news|last1=Morrison|first1=Blake|title=''Murder at Wrotham Hill'' by Diana Souhami – Review|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/23/murder-wrotham-hill-souhami-review|access-date=30 August 2018|work=The Guardian|date=23 November 2012}}
* {{cite news|title=Obituary: Albert Pierrepoint|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=13 July 1992|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/law-obituaries/5768567/Albert-Pierrepoint.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090721021726/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/law-obituaries/5768567/Albert-Pierrepoint.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 July 2009|access-date=12 October 2018|ref={{sfnRef|"Obituary: Albert Pierrepoint". ''The Daily Telegraph''}}}}
* {{cite news|title=Obituary: Albert Pierrepoint|work=The Times|date=13 July 1992|page=15|ref={{sfnRef|"Obituary: Albert Pierrepoint". ''[[The Times]]''}}}}
* {{cite news|last1=Richardson|first1=Robert|title=Obituary: Albert Pierrepoint|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-albert-pierrepoint-1532999.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101015115258/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-albert-pierrepoint-1532999.html |archive-date=2010-10-15 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|access-date=31 August 2018|work=The Independent|date=13 July 1992}}

====Websites====
* {{cite web|title=Bentley (Deceased), R v [1998] EWCA Crim 2516 (30 July 1998)|url=http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/1998/2516.html|publisher=British and Irish Legal Information Institute|date=30 July 1998|access-date=29 August 2018|ref={{sfnRef|"Bentley (Deceased), R v [1998] EWCA Crim 2516 (30 July 1998)"}}}}
* {{cite web|last1=Clark|first1=Gregory|title=The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)|url=https://www.measuringworth.com/ukearncpi/|access-date=31 August 2018|publisher=MeasuringWorth|date=2018}}
* {{cite web|title='Let Him Have It' (1991)|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7a61e6f6|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170310005048/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7a61e6f6|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 March 2017|publisher=British Film Institute|access-date=30 August 2018|ref={{sfnRef|"'Let Him Have It' (1991)". British Film Institute}}}}
* {{cite web|title=Pierrepoint (2006)|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8b9738d6|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160717112100/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8b9738d6|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 July 2016|publisher=British Film Institute|access-date=30 August 2018|ref={{sfnRef|"Pierrepoint (2006)". British Film Institute}}}}
* {{cite web|title=Rillington Place|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0861pnj|publisher=BBC|access-date=30 August 2018|ref={{sfnRef|"Rillington Place". BBC}}}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5035690.stm BBC story on the qualities needed of an executioner]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierrepoint, Albert}}
[[Category:Albert Pierrepoint| ]]
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1992 deaths]]
[[Category:British publicans]]
[[Category:English executioners]]
[[Category:People from Clayton, West Yorkshire]]
[[Category:20th-century English businesspeople]]
[[Category:English autobiographers]]