Post by sclcookie on Jun 2, 2006 1:08:30 GMT -5
National Archives reveal Attlee cabinet split over hanging -- Ministers
feared public backlash against abolition; Files show prison doctors'
dilemma on smoking
Files from the National Archives today throw new light on the postwar
Labour government's attitude to hanging, and how 30 years earlier prisons
finally agreed that it was permissible to provide a condemned man with a
dozen cigarettes a day.
At Birmingham prison in 1918, the governor was asked if he would allow a
condemned man to smoke. The medical officer recommended that "he be
supplied with at least a dozen cigarettes daily".
After some debate it was decided that "the practice is usually to allow a
condemned man to smoke during his exercise and also in the condemned
cell", if it was recommended by the medical officer.
The cabinet secretary's notebook of November 18 1947 records discussion in
Clement Attlee's Labour cabinet on the criminal justice bill and capital
punishment. Nye Bevan said: "I don't mind CP [capital punishment] in more
primitive civilisations." Sir Stafford Cripps insisted he could not vote
in favour of prolonging it. Philip Noel-Baker said it would be difficult
to abolish in the colonies, but Attlee replied that it was the
responsibility of the government to give advice.
Herbert Morrison warned: "Must watch public opinion ... not convinced that
it wants this change". Ernest Bevin suggested suspending the death penalty
for 5 years.
A file of applications made in 1938 to 1939 for the post of executioner
and assistant executioner shows those accepted for a six-day training
course received 9s 2d (46p) for their board and a third-class railway
ticket home. The fee for a hanging was 1 11s 6d, which was doubled if the
job was satisfactorily conducted. "I am not afraid of anything," wrote one
applicant, Alexander Riley, a scaffolder from Manchester. "I'm a British
subject and all my parents think I'm quite capable of carrying out any
duties."
Henry Kirk, from Catford, south-east London, was turned down but later
hired during the war. The governor of Brixton prison wrote of him: "He
appears to have a somewhat morbid interest in the work, aroused through
having a friend who carried out many executions in Arabia."
Another applicant, AC Gill, a butcher from Harrogate, was "known to have
loose morals", according to the local police. D Clifford, who also
applied, was described scathingly by an assistant executioner: "He lets
his tongue run away with him when in drink and as I know him he is not to
be trusted with any business concerning the above duties."
The governor of Portsmouth prison found one applicant "rather
nerve-strained after serving 10 years in submarines ... an awkward,
clumsy, rather obese man. Very cheerful type of Irishman." He did not get
the job.
In 1943 the efficiency of Thomas Pierrepoint was questioned. The governor
of Liverpool prison said he allowed "only the barest margin of safety in
assuring himself that the assistant was clear of the trapdoor before
pulling the lever".
(source: The Guardian)
feared public backlash against abolition; Files show prison doctors'
dilemma on smoking
Files from the National Archives today throw new light on the postwar
Labour government's attitude to hanging, and how 30 years earlier prisons
finally agreed that it was permissible to provide a condemned man with a
dozen cigarettes a day.
At Birmingham prison in 1918, the governor was asked if he would allow a
condemned man to smoke. The medical officer recommended that "he be
supplied with at least a dozen cigarettes daily".
After some debate it was decided that "the practice is usually to allow a
condemned man to smoke during his exercise and also in the condemned
cell", if it was recommended by the medical officer.
The cabinet secretary's notebook of November 18 1947 records discussion in
Clement Attlee's Labour cabinet on the criminal justice bill and capital
punishment. Nye Bevan said: "I don't mind CP [capital punishment] in more
primitive civilisations." Sir Stafford Cripps insisted he could not vote
in favour of prolonging it. Philip Noel-Baker said it would be difficult
to abolish in the colonies, but Attlee replied that it was the
responsibility of the government to give advice.
Herbert Morrison warned: "Must watch public opinion ... not convinced that
it wants this change". Ernest Bevin suggested suspending the death penalty
for 5 years.
A file of applications made in 1938 to 1939 for the post of executioner
and assistant executioner shows those accepted for a six-day training
course received 9s 2d (46p) for their board and a third-class railway
ticket home. The fee for a hanging was 1 11s 6d, which was doubled if the
job was satisfactorily conducted. "I am not afraid of anything," wrote one
applicant, Alexander Riley, a scaffolder from Manchester. "I'm a British
subject and all my parents think I'm quite capable of carrying out any
duties."
Henry Kirk, from Catford, south-east London, was turned down but later
hired during the war. The governor of Brixton prison wrote of him: "He
appears to have a somewhat morbid interest in the work, aroused through
having a friend who carried out many executions in Arabia."
Another applicant, AC Gill, a butcher from Harrogate, was "known to have
loose morals", according to the local police. D Clifford, who also
applied, was described scathingly by an assistant executioner: "He lets
his tongue run away with him when in drink and as I know him he is not to
be trusted with any business concerning the above duties."
The governor of Portsmouth prison found one applicant "rather
nerve-strained after serving 10 years in submarines ... an awkward,
clumsy, rather obese man. Very cheerful type of Irishman." He did not get
the job.
In 1943 the efficiency of Thomas Pierrepoint was questioned. The governor
of Liverpool prison said he allowed "only the barest margin of safety in
assuring himself that the assistant was clear of the trapdoor before
pulling the lever".
(source: The Guardian)