EXECUTION OF HENRY WAINWRIGHT
On Tuesday morning the convict Henry Wainwright was executed within the precincts of the gaol of Newgate for the murder Harriet Lane. immense crowd of people had collected in the Old Bailey from an early hour, although not one of them had the slightest chance of witnessing the execution. The capital sentence was executed in the presence of Mr. Alderman and Sheriff Knight, Mr Sheriff Breffit, Mr Under Sheriff Baylis, Mr. Under-Sheriff Crawford. Mr Sidney Smith, the Governor, Mr. Under-Sheriff and the Rev. Lloyd Jones, the Ordinary of Newgate. A limited number of strangers and representatives of the press were also present. The gallows had been erected within the goal yard and was peculiar in construction and appearance: it being roofed over, lighted with lamps at each end, and having a deep pit, over which a chain and noose were suspended. In front of the scaffold, but well away from it, the spectators comparatively few in number were placed; and a picked body of the City of London police were in attendance to maintain order if necessary.
As the clock the church of St. Sepulchre chimed the hour of eight a procession which had been formed within the prison emerged into the open space leading to the scaffold. First came the Governor of Newgate; then the Sheriffs and Under-Sheriffs in their official robes, and carrying their wands of office ; next the convict, with the executioner Marwood by his side; and lastly, the Reverend the Ordinary, reading as he went the opening sentences of the burial service. The prisoner, who had apparently been dressed with scrupulous care, bore himself at this awful crisis with conspicuous fortitude : and as he stepped upon the drop, fronting the spectators, his handsome features were lighted with an expression of resignation, unmixed with anything approaching bravado.
After the white cap had been drawn over his face, and while the noose was being adjusted, the bearing of deep emotion was distinctly visible through the folds the cap. The necessary preparations were speedily made by the executioner, and, all things being in readiness, the fell at touch or signal with an awful shock, echoing for moment or two all over the prison yard.
The body fell depth of exactly 6ft. 6in. that being by a coinc
idence, the convict’s own height. Judging from the tension of the rope for some considerable interval after the bolt had been drawn, the prisoner must have died hard as saying goes. After the body had hung the accustomed interval, it was taken down, and Mr. John Rowland Gibson, the prison surgeon, having certified that life was then extinct, it was placed in coffin and subjected, later in the day, to coroner’s inquest, in compliance with recent legislation. Towards evening, in accordance with long usage, the remains were buried within the precincts of the gaol, it being integral part of the sentence. After the convict had ceased to live a black flag was hoisted, conformably with the statutory practice of late years, (from the roof of the prison indicate the outside world that the dread sentence of the law bad been carried into effect).
BNA © Poole & Dorset Herald – Thursday 23 December 1875
