Surrey Executions

A record of crimes in Surrey during the nineteenth century for which the culprits paid the ultimate price.

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Surrey Executions lists in chronological order all the criminals hanged in the county during the nineteenth century. It opens in the era of the Bloody Code, when there were more than two hundred capital crimes on the statute book and executions took place in public on the roof of Horsemonger Lane Gaol, often with crowds of several thousand watching. In the early years of the century, the condemned were guilty of crimes such as highway robbery, rape, arson and sheep theft. Others included Colonel Despard and his fellow conspirators who were executed for treason and coiners Benjamin and Sarah Herring, the first of two married couples to stand together on the scaffold. It was not until 1836 that William Harley became the last Surrey villain to hang for a crime other than murder. The notorious murders described include those committed by Frederick and Maria Manning who murdered a friend, Dr Lamson who poisoned his brother-in-law, Catherine Webster who killed her employer and baby farmer Margaret Waters. In the closing years of the Victorian age, executions were carried out away from the public gaze, behind the walls of Wandsworth Gaol. This thoroughly researched work is enhanced by contemporary illustrations to provide a fascinating read.