Derby Ghosts



	Executions in Derbyshire 1341 A woman and two men were hanged and gibbeted for murdering one of the King's purveyors at Asheover. 1556 August 1 Joan Waste was burnt as a heretic in Windmill Pit, on the Burton Road, at Derby. (She was a blind woman, who, during the reign of Edward VI, had attended the services of the Church. After Queen Mary came to the throne she was accused before the Bishop of the Diocese of maintaining that the Sacrament was only a memorial or representation of the body of Christ, and the elements were mere bread and wine. This opinion she was required to renounce; but, persisting in it, she received sentence of condemnation. After a sermon in the church she was led to the stake on the Burton Road, and there burned, holding Roger Waste, her brother, by the hand, praying and desiring those around her to pray. 1578 Peter Graves of Bubnall, Thomas Robinson of Wirksworth, Eleanor Wright of Bakewell, Edward Morrys of Chesterfield and Christopher Harrison of Monyash were hanged at Derby. 1588 July 24 Three Roman Catholic priests, Nicholas Garlick, Robert Ludlam, and Richard Sympson, suffered martyrdom at Derby, being hanged drawn and quartered, their remains displayed at St. Mary's Bridge. 1591 Seven unknown persons were hanged at Derby. 1599 A man named Okey was hanged in the Town Hall in Derby. 1601 A woman was burnt at Windmill Pit for poisoning her husband. 1608 Five men and a woman executed at Tapton Bridge, Chesterfield, the Assizes having been held at Chesterfield owing to the prevalence of the plague at Derby. 1608 Henry Bannel hanged at Derby for the murder of Roger Moore. 1609 The Stafford Sisters were executed in Derby for witchcraft. 1645 Richard Cockrum was hanged at the gallows in Nun's Green for killing a girl named Mills, a servant at the Angel Inn, in the Cornmarket, Derby. 1665 March 14 Woman pressed to death in the County of Derby, as a mute. (This awful punishment was pronounced on those who refused to plead and remained mute. Before the inflection of the sentence the accused was warned three times of the penalty which would attend obstinate silence, and allowed a short time for consideration. If the prisoner still persisted in silence, the Judgement of Penance, as it was termed, was thus pronounced: "That you be taken back to the prison whence you came to a low dungeon into which no light can enter; that you be laid on your back on the bare floor, with a cloth round your loins, but elsewhere naked; that there be set on your body a weight of iron, as great as you can bear - and greater; that you have no sustenance save, on the first day three morsels of the coarsest bread, on the second day three draughts of stagnant water from the pool nearest the prison door, on the third day again three morsels of bread as before, and such bread and such water alternately from day to day until you die". This is the last known instance of this awful penalty being carried into effect). 1698 Girl in farm service at Swanwick burnt for murdering her master. This was the last case in Derbyshire of death by burning at the stake. 1705 John Crossland and his eldest son were hanged for horse stealing. The hangman was John jnr - his youngest son. 1723 A man was hanged at Derby for horse stealing. 1725 Three men, (Rock, Lyon and Shaw), were hanged at Derby for counterfeit coining. 1726 A man was hanged at Derby for horse stealing. 1727 Two men were hanged at Derby for horse stealing. 1732 March 23 John Hewitt and Rosamund Clerenshaw executed for poisoning Hannah Hewitt at Derby. (They were executed in their shrouds). 1734 A woman was hanged at Derby for rick burning. 1735 A J.Smith was hanged in Derby for burglary. 1738 March 2 Richard Woodward hanged at Derby for highway robbery. 1740 April 9th William Dolphin was hanged at Derby for highway robbery. 1740 August 28th George Ashmore was hanged for coining. After the execution he was buried at Sutton-on-the-Hill. The body was removed the next day by body snatchers. 1741 August 1st Robert Bowler was hanged for shooting and dangerously wounding Robinson, a butcher at Belper. 1752 A man was hanged at Derby for sheep stealing. 1753 A man was hanged at Derby for sheep stealing and robbery. 1754 March 29th Mary Dilkes was hanged for the murder of her 'illegitimate' child. 1755 March Ann Williamson was hanged for picking pockets. 1756 J. Ratcliffe was hanged for horse stealing. 1757 Thomas Hulley hanged for returning from transportation. 1759 March Charles Kirkman was hanged for the murder of his infant child. 1763 J. Perry and Amos Mason were hanged for highway robbery. 1768 J. Low was hanged for housebreaking. 1768 Charles Pleasants was hanged for forgery. In the cart was his coffin made by his own hands. The gaoler allowed him to go to the gallows without having the rope around his neck. The executioner was a prisoner of his own choosing to whom he gave a handsome present. 1776 Matthew Cocklane was hanged and afterwards gibbeted for murdering Mary Vickers. He was the last person gibbeted in Derby. 1780 James Meadows, 30, from Handsworth near Birmingham, was hanged for highway robbery. 1780 August 27th William Buxton was hanged for highway robbery. 1782 March 28th James Williams was hanged for horse stealing. 1782 August 2nd John Shaw was hanged for breaking out of gaol. 1784 April 16th William Rose was hanged for horse stealing. 1785 April 1 William and George Grooby and James Peat, for burglary at Derby. ("It is now more than sixty years," says the Mercury, "since there were so many executed at one time upon our gallows; the persons who suffered then were named Rock, Lyon, and Shaw, and we believe their crime was counterfeiting the current coin of the realm. Peat wrote on the prison doors with chalk: 'Calm and Composed, my soul a journey takes; No guilt that troubles, nor a heart that akes.) 1786 John Shepard and William Stanley were hanged for house breaking. 1786 August James Halliburton was hanged for rape. 1787 April 9th John Porson was hanged for picking pockets. 1788 March 29 Thomas Grundy hanged for murdering his brother. (After execution his body was publicly dissected in the presence of a great number of spectators). 1790 13th August Joseph Allen was hanged for shop breaking. 1791 March William Rider was hanged for robbery. 1794 April James Murray was hanged for house breaking. 1795 April 10 Thomas Neville, for burglary. (He was carried to execution in a Mourning coach, attended by a hearse; where he assisted his executioner to fasten the rope to the tree, after which he drew his cap over his face and leapt from the cart into eternity) 1796 March 17th James Preston ,70, was hanged for the murder of a male child at Mickleover, Derby . 1800 August Thomas Knowles was hanged for uttering a note. 1801 August 14th Lacy Powell and John Drummond were hanged for highway robbery. 1801 James Gration, from Heage aged 28, was hanged for house breaking. 1801 John Evans, from Duffield aged 22 and John Dent from Coleorton ,47, were hanged for robbery and sheep stealing. 1802 August J. Mellor and J. Spencer, (cousins), were hanged for burglary. 1803 March 19 William Wells, for murder at Barlborough. (About a minute after he had been hanged the rope slipped and he fell to the ground; the executioner was therefore under the necessity of tying him up a second time. His body was given to the surgeons for dissection). 1804 R. Boothe and J. Parker were hanged for horse stealing. 1807 March 20th William Webster, 34, was hanged for poisoning Elizabeth Dakin and Mary Roe, in the parish of Hartington. 1807 Joseph West was hanged for forgery. 1812 April 10th James Tomlinson, 27, and Percival Cook, 26, were hanged on the New Drop in front of the County Gaol in Friargate for breaking into Mr. Hunt's house in Ockbrook. 1813 April 9 Paul Mason, Richard Hibbert and Peter Henshaw, for burglary. (They were executed on the new drop, in front of the County Gaol, before an immense crowd of spectators). 1815 March 8 Anthony Lingard, for murder. The last case of gibbetting in the County of Derby. (The body was afterwards removed to Wardlow Miers, and hung in chains near to the house where the crime was perpetrated. This was the last case of gibbetting in the County of Derby. Lingard's brother William was 11 years later sentenced at Derby Assizes for highway robbery and assault, and was reprieved. William Lingard committed the robbery within view of the gibbett on which the bleaching bones of his brother were hanging) 1817 August 15 John Brown, Thomas Jackson, George Booth and John King, for arson at North Wingfield. (In describing the execution the "Derby Mercury" of that date says: "As every fact which may tend to illustrate the principles of human action deserves notice, it is worth observing that a heavy shower happening whilst the doomed men were singing the hymn, two of them deliberately retreated to the shelter of an umbrella which was expanded on the drop, and a third placed himself under cover of the doorway. The inconvenience of being wet was felt and avoided by men who knew they had not five minutes longer to live !!"). 1817 November 7 Brandreth, Ludlam, and Turner, the "Pentrich Plotters", executed at Derby. The last instance of the old penalty of high treason, hanging, drawing and quartering. (Cavalry stood on guard during the execution. The prisoners were first dragged round the prison yard on hurdles, were then hanged for half an hour, and their bodies afterwards cut down. The executioner then struck the heads off the bodies and seizing the head of Brandreth by the hair, showed the ghastly countenance to the multitude, exclaiming: "Behold the head of the traitor, Jeremiah Brandreth. The crowd, "as if under the impulse of a sudden frenzy," separated in all directions, but equanimity was restored, "and the separation and exhibition of the remaining heads was witnessed with the greatest order and decorum". The executioners were masked and their names were kept a profound secret. The poet Shelley witnessed the scene. The block is still to be seen in Derby Prison, where its wood hangs damp always damp - so it has been averred - it has given rise to the tradition that the block of the unhappy men has not dried and never will). 1819 Thomas Hopkinson was hanged for highway robbery. Hopkinson had been tried with John Brown, Thomas Jackson, George Boothe and John King but had turned Kings Evidence. 1819 March 22 Hannah Bocking age 16 was hanged for poisoning another little girl, Jane Grant at Wardlow Miers within site of the gibbet containing Anthony Lingard's bones. 1822 Hannah Halley of Brook Street in Derby was hanged for murdering her infant child. She was the last woman hanged in Derby. 1825 George Batty was hanged for rape. This was the last execution carried out at the County Gaol in Friargate. 1833 April 20th John Leedham was hanged for bestiality. This was the first execution to take place in front of the new County Gaol in Vernon Street. 1843 Samuel Bonsall, William Bland, John Hulme, (alias Holmes, alias Starbuck, alias Jack the Sweep) were hanged for the murder of Martha Goddard. The execution took place from the top of the gatehouse in the County Gaol of Vernon Street 1847 April 1 John Platts, a butcher from Chesterfield was hanged for the murder of George Collis.. (This was a public execution in front of the County Gaol, and was witnessed by 20,000 people). 1852 Anthony Turner was hanged for the murder of Phoebe Barnes at Belper. 1861 George Smith aged 20 was hanged for the murder of his father. 1862 April 11 Richard Thorley, for the murder of Eliza Morrow. (The last public execution in Derby). 1873 Benjamin Hudson was hanged for the murder of his wife. 1880 John Wakefield was hanged for the murder of a 9 year old girl. 1881 Albert Robinson was hanged for the murder of his wife. 1881 November 21 Alfred Gough, for the murder of Eleanor Windley aged six, at Brimington. 1888 August 10 Arthur Thomas Delaney, for the murder of his wife at Chesterfield. 1889 George Horton was hanged for murdering his 8 year old daughter to gain £7 insurance money on her life. 1896 August 5th William Pugh was hanged for rape. 1898 December 21st John Cotton was hanged for the murder of his third wife. In the condemned cell he admitted to murdering the other two as well!!! 1902 July 30 John Bedford, for the murder of Nacy Price at Duckmanton. 1905 December 29 John Silk, for the murder of his mother at Chesterfield. 1906 December 27th Walter Marsh was hanged for the murder of his wife. 1907 July 16th William Slack was hanged for murder. This was the last execution to take place in Derby.