BRITISH HANGMAN KILLED HIMSELF AFTER HANGING MORE THAN 200 MURDERERS

Edwardian executioner who hanged more than 200 criminals was afraid of killing chickens

 

By Cameron Roy

 

Daily Mail

Sep 1, 2024

 

John Ellis was an Edwardian executioner who was known for his calm and professional approach as he went about his job as Britain's top hangman for 12 years

 

John Ellis was an Edwardian executioner who was known for his calm and professional approach as he went about his job as Britain's top hangman for 12 years.

The Rochdale-born man executed more than 200 criminals during that time, including one of the most notorious murderers in British history - Dr Crippen.

He had no qualms about travelling across the country to hang people, but it appears the animal lover would struggle to kill his chickens, a new book has claimed.

Neil R Story, the historian and author, has obtained a secret scrapbook Ellis kept during his entire career as the Home Office's hangman from 1901 and 1924.

The newly discovered booklet recounts numerous executions and newspaper cuttings, as well as Ellis's notes about the last moments of criminals. 

Mr Story believed Ellis had 'extreme faith' in the criminal justice system and saw the gruesome job as his chance to 'do his bit'.

 

The Rochdale-born man executed more than 200 criminals during that time, including one of the most notorious murderers in British history - Dr Crippen (pictured) 

Ellis had no qualms about travelling across the country to hang people, but it appears the animal lover would struggle to kill his chickens, a new book has claimed

 

He claims Ellis was always dressed smartly and was a keen breeder of chickens and dogs, but the animal lover and found it quite hard to kill his chicken. 

The document also recounts final words as well as some grisly details such as how long a rope needed to be for the perfect 'drop'. 

Mr Storey told The Telegraph: 'When I saw the scrapbook at auction I knew what it was. The family didn't talk about him after his death and I think the scrapbook was put away in a drawer and was moved in a house clearance. 

'It was known to exist and there was rumour and myth, so to find it was enormous. It is unique in the annals of British crime.'

John Gwilliam, a grandson on Ellis, said in the Discovery channel TV documentary The Executioners, that it was a surprise to the whole family when he decided to become an executioner. 

Before becoming an executioner Ellis was a butcher and he couldn't even bear to wring the chickens' necks in the family smallholding. 

Mr Gwilliam said: 'The family was horrified.

Mr Ellis's father, a wealthy man owning a number of shops, even threatened to deny his son his inheritance if he went through with it - a threat he later carried out.

Mr Ellis qualified in 1901 and soon rose to become assistant hangman, the second most senior hangman in the country.

He took the top spot in 1912 and seemed to cope with the pressure of the job by convincing himself of the condemned's guilt, and he would even sit in on trials.

Mr Gwilliam said: 'He wanted to know he was right', according to The Manchester Evening News.

His career highlights included most famously Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen who murdered his opera singer wife Cora in their home in London in July 1910.

Mild-mannered Dr Crippen was found guilty of poisoning and dismembering his wife - before burying her mutilated body under his basement floor.

 

Crippen was convicted and hanged for the murder of his wife, stage actress Cora aka Belle Elmore (pictured), at Pentonville Prison in London in November 1910

A disguised Dr Crippen (second from right) is escorted off a ship after his arrest for the murder of his wife

A wanted poster for information leading to the apprehension of Dr. Crippen. He was wanted for the murder of his wife Cora. Crippen was eventually caught and hanged

Mild-mannered Dr Crippen was found guilty of poisoning and dismembering his wife - before burying her mutilated body under his basement floor (pictured, Dr Crippen and his mistress Ethel Le Neve on trial in London in 1910)

 

Dr Crippen immediately moved his lover Ethel into the couple's home in Holloway, North London. 

When Cora's friends alerted the police about his wife's disappearance, Dr Crippen and Ethel fled to Canada disguised as father and son on the SS Montrose. The gruesome crime gripped Britain and a huge manhunt ensued.

Wanted posters famously helped catch the illicit couple when the ship's captain noticed Dr Crippen and Ethel and alerted the police using the newly invented wireless telegraph.

Crippen was convicted and hanged for his wife's murder at Pentonville Prison in London in November of that year.

The American was put to death after a trial at the Old Bailey which captivated the Edwardian public at the time.

However it was not the hanging of Dr Crippen that had the greatest impact of Ellis, it was two hangings far later on in his career.

He hanged pretty 29-year-old Edith Thompson on the cold, grey morning of January 9, 1923.

Together with her younger lover Freddie Bywaters, who would be dispatched simultaneously at Pentonville Prison, less than half a mile away, she had been found guilty of murdering her husband, Percy Thompson. 

The salacious details of this sensational crime of passion had gripped the nation that festive season, but it was the manner of Edith's own death that was to haunt Ellis. 

Yet even he admitted to being rattled by Edith's 'total emotional collapse' and her 'cries and semi-demented body movements' as he entered the condemned cell at precisely 9am and pinioned her hands behind her back.

 

Crowds outside Holloway Prison on the cold, grey morning of January 9, 1923, where Edith Thompson was to be hanged for the murder of her husband, Percy, by chief executioner John Ellis

That Edith strayed from the marital path was all the more shocking for a woman from her deeply traditional, working-class background. Pictured around 1920

Together with her younger lover Freddie Bywaters (left), Edith Thompson (centre) had been found guilty of murdering her husband, Percy (right)

Percy Thompson and wife Edith Thompson

Three stab wounds were found to Percy's neck, one passing up through the floor of his mouth and another, which was fatal, severing his carotid artery. Pictured: Detective Sergeant Hancock with the knife used to murder Percy Thompson in 1922

 

Whether because of the sedatives she had been given, or through sheer terror, she fell unconscious and had to be carried the few yards to the scaffold by Ellis's two assistants and two male warders who had been brought in from Pentonville, their female counterparts being regarded as too delicate to have to deal with such grim occasions.

'As soon as they reached the trap-doors I put the white cap on her head and face, and slipped the noose over all. It was a pitiable thing to see the woman being held up on her feet,' Ellis later recalled.

'Her head had fallen forward on her breast, and she was utterly oblivious of all that was going on . . .

'I sprang to the lever. One flick of the wrist, and Mrs Thompson disappeared from view.'

Less than 12 months later, Ellis gave up his job with no explanation and later killed himself, cutting his throat with a razor. 

Some said he had never got over the trauma of sending Edith Thompson to an end that was all the more shocking because it now seems likely she was innocent.

Her case was often cited in the debates about capital punishment, which led to its abolition in 1965.

Neil R Story's The Hangman's Scrapbook will be released at the end of September. 

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DR CRIPPEN, EVIL MURDERER OR VICTIM OF A MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE? 

American born Dr Harvey Crippen moved to Holloway in north London with his second wife Cora. She disappeared following a party at the couple's house in January 1910.

Friends of Mrs Crippen became suspicious after seeing Crippen's mistress, who moved into the house, wearing her clothes and jewellery.  

An initial search by Scotland Yard found no evidence of any foul play, however, Dr Crippen fled with his mistress to Canada. 

After he disappeared, Scotland Yard conducted three further searches of the property where they recovered human remains.  

Crippen and his mistress were travelling on the SS Montrose when the captain of the vessel, who was keeping up-to-date with the news on the newly installed wireless, telegraphed Scotland Yard. 

Crippen's mistress, Ethel Le Neve, was travelling disguised as a young boy. 

An inspected boarded a faster vessel and raced Crippen across the Atlantic, arresting him upon his arrival in Canada. 

Had he boarded a vessel to New York, he would have probably escaped punishment. 

Crippen was returned to the Old Bailey where he was found guilty of murder after less than 30 minutes and hanged in Pentonville Prison in November 1910. 

The human remains recovered by Scotland Yard were badly decomposed and more than 100 years after their recovery, it is believed that the bones belonged to a man.

Attempts have been made by distant relatives of Dr Crippen to exonerate him, however his body remains inside the walls of Pentonville Prison. 

A study reported in the Journal of Forensic Science in America by scientist David Foran said: 'Based on genealogical and DNA research, the tissue used to convict Dr Crippen was not that of Cora.

‘Further DNA testing showed the tissue was male. All we can say scientifically is, the tissue did not come from Cora.

‘One possibility is that Crippen murdered someone else and those were the remains discovered. Another possibility is that the celebrated investigators planted the evidence.’