The Noose of Samuel Burrows, page 20
Burrows experienced a period of great change and revolt during his lifetime. Most of the crimes committed by those that he executed were a product of that change, ranging from the impact of the industrial and agricultural revolutions to the impact felt by many during the Napoleonic Wars and the cost to the country that they imposed. Desperation and the impact of economic recessions and inflation saw many resort to criminal activity at a time when fear of revolution was severely controlled by the noose. When reform eventually came, Burrows became the victim of a system that was once previously lucrative. While he believed that criminals should face the ultimate sanction, successive governments instead phased out the role of public executions in favour of transportation.
Chester’s memory continues to fade further. Over time, histories would be written often excluding the likes of Burrows and even the victims who stood on the gallows high above the Cestrian crowds. Yet these lives are important to help our understanding, not only of everyday life in Georgian England, or even in the history of crime and punishment, but to also remind us that the noose of Samuel Burrows itself had a story to tell.
Notes
Chapter 1: The Hangman’s Burden
1. Yarwood, Derek, Cheshire’s Execution Files, p.89.
2. The Chester Courant, 26 August 1826.
3. Ibid.
4. Charles Burrows was sentenced to transportation to Van Diemen’s Land on 12 April 1824 for stealing stockings. Chester Gaol Registers 1808–1865 (ZQAQ/3 Cheshire Record Office).
5. Yarwood, Derek, Cheshire’s Execution Files, p.89. The reference is a rough estimate of how many criminals Burrows was believed to have executed but given his travelling around parts of the country this is on the lower side.
6. Much of the information here comes from the broadside ‘The Conversion and Death of Samuel Burrows’, which has been reproduced in Yarwood, Derek, Cheshire’s Execution Files. It states how Reverend W. Clarke was on hand to provide spiritual guidance as Burrows was slowly dying in Brook Street.
7. Reverend W. Clarke held a number of positions within the city, including New City Gaol and St John’s Hospital.
Chapter 2: Life Before the Noose
1. There are numerous examples of Samuel Burrows getting in trouble with the law, which can be found in both of Chester’s local newspapers (The Chester Courant and Chester Chronicle) as well as Chester Gaol Registers 1808–1865 (ZQAQ/3 Cheshire Record Office).
2. ‘The Conversion and Death of Samuel Burrows’.
3. Diocese of Chester Parish Register of Marriages c.1538–1910. Samuel signs his name, proving a certain level of education. Mary Williams marks her name with a cross.
4. A History of the County of Chester: Volume 5 Part 1, The City of Chester: General History and Topography. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 2003. British History Online, Institute of Historical Research.
5. Samuel Burrows was highlighted as a parish beadle in a number of sources including Hutchinson, J.R., The Press-Gang: Afloat and Ashore, (E.P. Dutton & Co., 1914), p.251.
6. Champness, John, Thomas Harrison Georgian Architect of Chester and Lancaster, 1744–1829 (University of Lancaster, 2005).
7. Executions at Northgate Gaol highlighted on https://chester.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Execution_at_Chester
8. Yarwood, Derek, Cheshire’s Execution Files, p.94.
Chapter 3: The Men Who Hanged Twice
1. It had been eight years since Chester hosted a public execution, with the last being in 1801 in which Aaron Gee and Thomas Gibson were executed at Northgate Gaol for the uttering of counterfeit bank notes.
2. The New City Gaol was completed in 1807, with inmates being transferred from Northgate Gaol soon after.
3. The Chester City Gaol is often said to be one of the first to install a ‘drop’, or mechanical gallows. https://chester.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Execution_at_Chester
4. The Tale of John Clare is best told by Dark Chester’s tour guide David Atkinson. YouTube: Chester Heritage Festival, Dark Chester – The Tale of John Clare.
5. A History of the County of Chester: Volume 5 Part 1, The City of Chester: General History and Topography. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 2003. British History Online, Institute of Historical Research.
6. Comprehensive detail of the Woolpack Inn, https://chesterwalls.info/woolpack.html
7. Yarwood, Derek, Cheshire’s Execution Files, pp.135–136.
8. Wade, Stephen, Britain’s Most Notorious Hangmen, Chapter 7, Samuel Burrows.
9. Walliss, John, Crime and Justice in Georgian Cheshire: The Chester Court of Great Sessions, 1760–1830 (Journal of European History of Law Vol. 6/ 2015 No. 1), p.47.
10. Chester Courant, 12 May 1809.
11. Hurren, Elizabeth: Dissecting the Criminal Corpse: Staging Post-Execution Punishment in Early Modern England, p.81.
12. Ibid.
13. Chester Courant, 12 May 1809.
14. ‘A Walk on the Darker Side of Vale Royal’, Warrington Guardian, 24 October 2001.
Chapter 4: A Done Deal
1. Williams, M.R. (2001). Rowlands, Griffith (1761–1828), surgeon. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 21 July 2024, from https://biography.wales/article/s3-ROWL-GRI-1761
2. Ibid.
3. Lancaster Gazette, 12 May 1810.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. The Sun (London), 7 May 1810.
7. Tarlow, Sarah & Battell Lowman, Emma, Harnessing the Power of the Criminal Corpse, pp.87–88.
Chapter 5: Rage Against the Machines
1. Cheshire Special Commission, 25 May 1812. A Calendar of the Criminal Prisoners in the Custody of Matthew Hudson, Constable of His Majesty’s Gaol, The Castle of Chester (HO 42/123 National Archives).
2. The Fourth Report of the Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline and the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders.
3. Cheshire Special Commission, 25 May 1812. A Calendar of the Criminal Prisoners in the Custody of Matthew Hudson, Constable of His Majesty’s Gaol, The Castle of Chester (HO 42/123 National Archives).
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. The Luddite Bicentenary 1811–1817. This website includes a number of primary sources, including newspaper reports, posters, letters and reports. https://ludditebicentenary.blogspot.com/2012/04/4th-april-1812-rising-tensions-in.html
8. The Philanthropist, Or, Repository for Hints and Suggestions Calculated to Promote the Comfort and Happiness of Man: Volume 2, p.316.
9. The Luddite Bicentenary 1811–1817. https://ludditebicentenary.blogspot.com/2012/04/4th-april-1812-rising-tensions-in.html
10. Reward poster for arson at William Radcliffe’s warehouse (HO 40/1/1 National Archives).
11. https://ludditebicentenary.blogspot.com/2012/04/14th-april-1812-rioting-loom-breaking.html
12. Cheshire Special Commission, 25 May 1812. A Calendar of the Criminal Prisoners in the Custody of Matthew Hudson, Constable of His Majesty’s Gaol, The Castle of Chester (HO 42/123 National Archives).
13. Sale, Kirkpatrick, Rebels Against The Future: The Luddites And Their War On The Industrial Revolution: Lessons For The Computer Age, p.132.
14. Cheshire Special Commission, 25 May 1812. A Calendar of the Criminal Prisoners in the Custody of Matthew Hudson, Constable of His Majesty’s Gaol, The Castle of Chester (HO 42/123 National Archives).
15. Ibid.
16. Chester Courant, 16 June 1812.
17. Details of Burrows’ stature can be found in his description following his arrest. Chester Gaol Registers 1808–1865 (ZQAQ/3 Cheshire Record Office).
18. Wade, Stephen, Britain’s Most Notorious Hangmen, Chapter 7.
19. Chester Chronicle, 16 June 1812.
Chapter 6: A Very Public Ordeal
1. Nield, Maureen, Rope Dance: A Sensational Murder in Regency Cheshire Re-opened, pp.7–10.
2. The Sun (London), 27 August 1812.
3. The Testimony of Hannah Evans. The Trial at Large of John Lomas and Edith Morrey for Petit Treason ... at Chester ... the 21st Day of August 1812 (207013 Cheshire Record Office).
4. Nield, Maureen, Rope Dance: A Sensational Murder in Regency Cheshire Re-opened, pp.14–15.
5. Ibid., p.20.
6. Ibid., p.47.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Lomas’s Letter to his Father, pp.70–71.
10. Ibid., p.49.
11. Ibid., pp. 50–51.
12. Teddy Bock, a cryer of dying speeches (woodcut), appears in Nield, Maureen, Rope Dance: A Sensational Murder in Regency Cheshire Re-opened, p.52.
13. ‘John Lomas’s Sorrowful Lamentation and Last Farewell to the World’. Re-published in Nield, Maureen, Rope Dance: A Sensational Murder in Regency Cheshire Re-opened, p.73.
14. Ibid.
15. Nield, Maureen, Rope Dance: A Sensational Murder in Regency Cheshire Re-opened, p.51.
16. Death Warrant of John Lomas & Edith Morrey (QAB 5/8/9 Cheshire Record Office).
17. Phillipson, Tacye, Anatomy: A Matter of Death and Life, p.93.
18. Nield, Maureen, Rope Dance: A Sensational Murder in Regency Cheshire Re-opened, p.51.
19. Ibid., p.65.
20. Yarwood, Derek, Cheshire’s Execution Files, p.98.
21. Ibid., p.59.
22. Ibid., pp.60–61.
Chapter 7: The Tragedy of Miss Porter
1. A History of the County of Chester: Volume 5 Part 1, The City of Chester: General History and Topography. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 2003. British History Online, Institute of Historical Research.
2. Wood, Chris, Famous Last Words: Confessions, Humour and Bravery of the Departing. (Chapter 18).
3. Ibid.
4. Chester Chronicle, 30 April 1813.
5. Ibid.
6. Yarwood, Derek, Cheshire’s Execution Files, p.99.
7. Wood, Chris, Famous Last Words: Confessions, Humour and Bravery of the Departing. (Chapter 18).
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Lancaster Gazette, 3 July 1813.
Chapter 8: This Time It’s Personal
1. Broadside detailing the execution of William Wilson 1814 (231588 Cheshire Record Office).
2. Crime and Punishment in Chester (Chester Records Office).
3. Hutchinson, J.R., The Press-Gang: Afloat and Ashore, p.251.
4. Ibid., pp.251–252.
5. Ibid., p.252.
6. Ibid., p.220.
7. Broadside detailing the execution of William Wilson 1814 (231588 Cheshire Record Office).
8. ‘The examination of Samuels Burrowes at the City of Chester, Butcher, Late Beadle of the said City and Mary, his wife’. Admiralty and Ministry of Defence, Navy Department: Correspondence and Papers. Letters from Captains, Surname B. Folios 185–186. William Birchall. (ADM 1/1532/101A National Archives).
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. https://chester.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Grosvenor_Museum. For more information regarding ‘The Honourable Incorporation of the King’s Arms Kitchen’, consult Steve Howe’s excellent virtual tour of Chester https://chesterwalls.info
13. Broadside detailing the execution of William Wilson 1814 (231588 Cheshire Record Office).
14. Ibid.
15. Reports on criminals: correspondence: Report of W. Garrows on 1 individual petition (Matthew Hudson) on behalf of William Wilson. (HO 47/53/17 National Archives).
16. Chester Courant, 30 May 1814.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.
Chapter 9: The Devil’s Bank Notes
1. Roberts, Matthew, Satan’s Bank Note (History Today, September 2017).
2. Ibid.
3. Broadside describing the fate of Joseph Allen (231596 Cheshire Records Office).
4. McGowen, Randell, Managing the Gallows: The Bank of England and the Death Penalty, 1797–1821, pp.241–282.
5. Ibid.
6. Prisoners’ Letters to the Bank of England, 1781–1827 [F25/1/145] Thomas Rushton, Giltspur Street Compter, 13 May 1802.
7. https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/rushton/thomas/108333
8. McGowen, Randell, Managing the Gallows: The Bank of England and the Death Penalty, 1797–1821, p.282.
9. Yarwood, Derek, Cheshire’s Execution Files, p.123.
10. Broadside describing the fate of Joseph Allen (231596 Cheshire Records Office).
11. Yarwood, Derek, Cheshire’s Execution Files, p.121.
12. Broadside describing the fate of Joseph Allen (231596 Cheshire Records Office).
13. Chester Chronicle, 2 May 1817.
14. www.regencyhistory.net/blog/1816-year-without-sumhttps://www.regencyhistory.net/blog/1816-year-without-summermer
15. Broadside describing the fate of Joseph Allen (231596 Cheshire Records Office).
16. Chester Chronicle, 2 May 1817.
17. Hurley, Paul, ‘Market trader paid the ultimate price for forging bank notes’, Knutsford Guardian, 22 August 2021.
Chapter 10: The Road to Near Ruin
1. Chester Chronicle, 22 September 1820.
2. English Chronicle and Whitehall Evening Post, 23 September 1823.
3. Hughes, Thomas, The Stranger’s Handbook to Chester and its Environs, pp.80–81.
4. 33–37 Clwyd Street, Ruthin is now a flower shop but was previously the Red Lion Inn where Burrows stayed the evening prior to the execution of John Connor, https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/33738#?xywh=-53%2C-1%2C4105%2C2456
5. Jones, John, a/ac John Jones. Can newydd yn rhoddi hanes John Connor, Gwyddel 32 oed, yr hwn a ddienyddiwyd yn Rhuthun, Llun 15 Ebrill 1822, am yspeilio ac ymgais llofruddio, ar y ffordd rhwng Gwrecsam a Marchwiail/J. Jones, Treffynnon. Trefriw: Argraffwyd gan J. Jones, 1822. Print. (The National Library of Wales).
6. www.peoplescollection.wales/items/33738#?xywh=-53%2C-1%2C4105%2C2456
7. The Sun (London), 20 April 1822.
Chapter 11: Five Days Racing and a Hanging
1. Chester Gaol Registers 1808–1865 (ZQAQ/3 Cheshire Record Office).
2. Peter Crawley, Pioneer bare-knuckle boxer, nicknamed ‘Rumpsteak’ and ‘Young Rump Steak’, whose trade was a meat butcher.
3. Peter Crawley vs Southern’s Bully. Crawley Victory on 7 May 1822 in Chester.
4. Yarwood, Derek, Cheshire’s Execution Files, p.161.
5. London Packet and New Lloyd’s Evening Post, 13 May 1822.
6. Ibid.
Chapter 12: On the Road Again
1. Chester Chronicle, 3 January 1823. Burrows was arrested in 1822 but waited in Chester Castle for the next Assizes.
2. Gatrell, Vic, The Hanging Tree: Execution and the English People, p.422.
3. Glasgow Sentinel, 2 October 1822.
4. Griffith, Owen, a/ac John Jones. Cerdd alarus, yn rhoddi hanes am Lewis Owen, yr hwn a ddienyddwyd ar Forfa Seiont, gerllaw Caerynarfon, ar ddydd Mercher Medi 4ydd, 1822 : efe a garcharwyd am amcan lladd Mr. Sturdy (Supervisor), Conwy ... Cenir ar ‘Fryniau’r Iwereddon/ [gan] Owain ap Cyffin, Migmint ; Meirion, a’i cant. Llanrwst: Argraffwyd John Jones, 1825. Print. (The National Library of Wales).
5. Ibid.
6. Glasgow Sentinel, 2 October 1822.
7. Ibid.
Chapter 13: Dead Man’s Clothes
1. Yarwood, Derek, Cheshire’s Execution Files, p.103.
2. Leigh J., Trial, Conviction and Execution of Samuel Fallowes, for the Wilful Murder of Betty Shawcross: Before Chief Justice Warren & Serjt Marshall, at Chester on Friday, April 11, 1823, p.27.
3. Yarwood, Derek, Cheshire’s Execution Files, p.165.
4. Ibid., p.167.
5. Ibid., p.168.
6. Leigh J., Trial, Conviction and Execution of Samuel Fallowes, for the Wilful Murder of Betty Shawcross: Before Chief Justice Warren & Serjt Marshall, at Chester on Friday, April 11, 1823, p.3.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid., p.5.
9. Ibid., p.9.
10. Ibid., p.11.
11. Ibid., p.21.
12. Ibid., pp.23–24.
13. Ibid.
14. Yarwood, Derek, Cheshire’s Execution Files, p.185.
15. Leigh J., Trial, Conviction and Execution of Samuel Fallowes, for the Wilful Murder of Betty Shawcross: Before Chief Justice Warren & Serjt Marshall, at Chester on Friday, April 11, 1823, p.26.
16. Ibid., p.27.
17. Ibid.
Chapter 14: The Changing Tide
1. Chester Courant, 15 April 1823.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Devereaux, Simon, Execution, State and Society in England, 1660–1900, Chapter 8, The ‘Bloody Code‘ Diminished, 1822–1830.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Hughes, Thomas, The Stranger’s Handbook to Chester and its Environs, pp.80–81.
11. A History of the County of Chester: Volume 5 Part 2, The City of Chester: Culture, Buildings, Institutions. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 2003. British History Online, Institute of Historical Research.
12. The Judgement of Death Act 1823. ‘That from and after the passing of this Act, whenever any Persons shall be convicted of any Felony, except Murder, and shall by Law be excluded the Benefit of Clergy in respect thereof, and the Court before which such Offender shall be convicted shall be of Opinion that, under the particular Circumstances of the case, such Offender is a fit and proper Subject to be recommended for the Royal Mercy, it shall and may be lawful for such Court, if it shall think fit so to do, to direct the proper Officer then being present in Court to require and ask, whereupon such Officer shall require and ask, if such Offender hath or knoweth any thing to say why Judgment of Death should not be recorded against such Offender; and in case such Offender shall not allege any Matter or Thing sufficient in Law to arrest or bar such Judgment, the Court shall and may and is hereby authorized to abstain from pronouncing Judgment of Death upon such Offender; and instead of pronouncing such Judgment to order the same to be entered of Record, and thereupon such proper Officer as aforesaid shall and may and is hereby authorized to enter Judgment of Death on Record against such Offender, in the usual and accustomed Form, and in such and the same Manner as is now used, and as if Judgment of Death had actually been pronounced in open Court against such Offender, by the Court before which such Offender shall have been convicted.’
