General Chat

YOUNGEST CHILD TO BE HANGED
Some of the cases that led to the gallows.
The youngest person to be executed at Maidstone was 14 year old John Any Bird Bell who was hanged on the 1st of August 1831 by William Calcraft in front of the prison, for the murder of 13 year old Richard Taylor in a wood in the parish of Chatham. John Bell and his 11 year old brother James, killed Richard Taylor for the sum of 9 shillings (45p) which he was collecting from the Parish on behalf of his disabled father. Bell was tried on Friday, the 29th, of July, his brother James being the principal witness for the prosecution. The jury did not even need to retire to find a guilty verdict, although they requested mercy for him in view of his age and lack of education. At this time, the law required that murderers be hanged two days after sentence unless this would mean that the execution would take place on a Sunday, which in this case it would have. So the tearful boy was led out to be hanged just after 11.00 a.m. on the Monday morning, using the "New Drop" scaffold erected for the first time outside the main gate of the prison. His execution was witnessed by some 5,000 people. His body was given to surgeons at Rochester for dissection.
http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/maidstone.html

A sad case all round Dizzy

Its seems very quick from sentance to death doesnt it?

Teresa

BUT THEY USED HIS 11 YEAR OLD
BROTHER AS A WITNESS FOR THE PROSICUTION,
I WONDER HOW HE LIVED WITH THAT

It's interesting, DIzzi - we look back and think it's quite barbaric to hang kids and yet how many people in this country call for execution to be brought back when children are convicted of killing children?

he wasnt the youngest to be hanged hun, but i agree with ice, not a nic topic to be honest :(

xx

I disagree - it's a horrible subject but so is the Holocaust and war and death but they all need to be discussed and remembered and I personally think this is exactly the sort of place it should be discussed, on the chat part of a genealogy and history site.

I agree with Uggers , I dont particularly like reading graphic descriptions of medical conditions on here but we get them anyway , seen much more distressing stuff than this ..anyway we are all adults are we not ? bad things happen whether we like it or not .

I agree with Uggers and Amy, distressing yes and as a mother
upsetting but this was the way of the world back then. I have read
for decades the detective magazines and they had a few pages on
this about children back then, punishment harsh for even stealing
bread.

Emmax

Its not nice reading about it but fact is fact and it happened.many other things happened then and still do today,Stoning,removing hands Whipping etc,not here but in other countries mainly under Sharia Law. but the Chinese are pretty good at disposing of people and offspring if they have more than the one allocated child,it just upsets people.**M**.

I DID'NT PUT THIS HERE TO SHOCK OR UPSET ANYONE BUT TO ME THIS IS GENEOLGY
FAMILY HISTORY,SOCIAL IMPLICATION,,,,,
UNPLEASANT..YES
BUT I HAVE STORIES IN MY FAMILY TREE THAT ARE
HORRIFIC TO ME DO I LEAVE IT OUT SO NO ONE
EVER KNOWS THE TRUTH ,
IF THIS HAPPENED TODAY WOULD YOU READ THE NEWSPAPERS OR WATCH IT ON TV,
I ONLY CAME ACROSS IT THROUGH RESEARCH

I agree with Uggers. It's a good topic. You all seem to like history as you do your family trees, Sometimes you may find that one of you past family members did something bad, and was found guilty, and so it was that they was hanged. This is no different from that.
How many times have seen something in the News & said to yourself or another, they should bring back hanging for that.

HI ICE
IT WAS A C&P WORD FOR WORD I TAKE TOO LONG TO TYPE
WHEN I DO TREE'S FOR FOLK AND I DO A LOT AT THE MOMENT IM WORKING ON FIVE ONE BACK NOW
TO 1200,I ALWAYS LOOK FOR OTHER THINGS BESIDE A STRAIGHT BDM,
I HAVE JUST ADDED BOOTHS POVERTY MAP FOR ONE SO THEY CAN GET AN IDEA OF HOW MUICH OF A HARD LIFE THEY HAD ,
EVEN MY OWN DAD BORN 1916 WAS BORN IN THE STREET OF PROSTTUTES AS IT WAS KNOWN AT,ITS DOWN ON THE FAMILY INFO AND THAT SHOCKED A FEW RELATIONS, I DIDNT DO IT TO SHOCK BUT MAKE US REALISE
JUST HOW LUCKY WE ARE
I MADE IT CLEAR AT THE BEGINING OF THE THREAD WHAT IT WAS ABOUT,
NO UPSET INTENDED
DIZZI

I used to have a boyfriend who would never read or watch anything that was not 'nice', even, or perhaps especially, the news. But bad things have to be faced, especially if in doing so we learn how to stop them happening again.

HI ROSE
THERE USED TO BE A LONG SERIES CALLED THE WORLD AT WAR IT WAS HARD ,TRUE AND SHOCKING MY OH SAID EVERYONE SHOULD BE MADE TO WATCH IT TO LEARN FROM IT.
I DIDNT MEAN A FUSS BUT THOUGHT IT WOULD BE READ AS A HISTORICAL ISSUE,,,,AND MAYBE MAKE US THINK ,,,A WEE BIT

HI DIZZI, I WATCHED 'THE WORLD AT WAR' (THE FIRST TIME IT WAS ON LOL) IT WAS HARROWING BUT NECESSARY TO KNOW I THINK, IT GAVE ME A CLEARER PICTURE OF THE TIMES MY PARENTS LIVED THROUGH AND A LIFE LONG INTEREST IN WW2, PARTICULARLY THE HOLOCAUST,,,WHY AND HOW SOMETHING SO AWFUL COULD HAVE HAPPENED IN THE 'CIVILISED' WORLD IN THE 2OTH CENTURYAND ESPECIALLY WHY IT MUST NEVER BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN AGAIN, BECAUSE OF BIGOTRY AND IGNORANCE.

XX

Think its a good topic Dizz. Im a mother too and yes it is upsetting in that respect. But this is a family history site and hanging is a subject some of us have reasons to be interested in. Life Uggers said the holocaust is also upsetting but its still taught in schools and rightly so. The war thats upsetting too yet affects each and everyone of us. Leave it Dizz its a very apt subject for a family history board x

I AGREE TOTALY ROSE
IF WE DONT LEARN FROM THE PAST
WHAT THE HELL OF A CHANCE HAVE DO OUR GRAND KIDS AND THEIR FUTURE GRANDKIDS HAVE