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| The Halifax Gibbet (Halifax) |
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Page 4 of 5 The small number of recorded victims testifies to the success of the deterrent. William Camden's "Descriptions of Britain" (published 1722) records that 'Halifax is becoming famous among the multitude by the reason of a law whereby they behead straightways whosoever are taken stealing'. Its notoriety grew further with the publication of John Taylor's poem of 1622, in which the famous Beggar's Litany 'From Hell, Hull and Halifax, Good Lord deliver us' referred to the notorious strictness of the law enforcers at Hull, the horrors of Hell, and the formidable Gibbet Law at Halifax. Taylor's poem continues: "At Halifax, the Law so sharpe doth deale, That whoso more than thirteen pence doth steale, They have a jyn [engine] that wondrous quicke and well Sends Thieves all headless unto Heav'n or Hell". Between 1541 and 1650, the official records show that some 53 recorded persons (men and women) were executed by the Halifax Gibbet. REGISTER OF PERSONS GIBBETTED AT HALIFAX 1286 John of Dalton 15th January 1539 Charles Haworth 20th March 1541 Richard Beverley of Sowerby 1st January 1542 Unidentified stranger 16th September 1544 John Brigg of Heptonstall 31st March 1545 John Ecoppe of Elland 5th December 1545 Thomas Waite of Northowram 6th March 1568 Richard Sharpe of Northowram ditto John Learoyd of Northowram 9th October 1572 Will Cockere 9th January 1572 John Atkinson ditto Nicholas Frear ditto Richard Garnet 19th May 1574 Richard Stopforth 12th February 1574 James Smith of Sowerby 3rd November 1576 Henry Hunt 6th February 1576 Robert Bairstow alias Fearnside 6th January 1578 John Dickenson of Bradford 16th March 1578 John Waters 15th October 1580 Bryan Casson 19th February 1581 John Appleyard of Halifax 7th February 1582 John Sladen 17th January 1585 Arthur Firth 4th October 1586 John Duckworth 27th May 1587 Nicholas Hewitt of Northowram ditto Thomas Mason (Vagrant) 13th July 1588 The wife of Thomas Roberts of Halifax 5th April 1589 Robert Wilson of Halifax 21st December 1591 Peter Crabtree of Sowerby 6th January 1591 Bernard Sutcliffe of Northowram 23rd September 1602 Abraham Stancliffe of Halifax 22nd February 1602 The wife of Peter Harrison of Bradford 29th December 1610 Christopher Cosin 10th April 1611 Thomas Brigg 19th July 1623 [?] Sutcliffe 23rd December 1623 George Fairbank ditto Anna Fairbank, daughter of George Fairbank 29th January 1623 John Lacy of Halifax (He escaped from the execution, but returned 7 years later where he was caught and executed immediately) 8th April 1624 Edmund Ogden of Lancashire 13th April 1624 Richard Midgley of Midgley 5th July 1627 The wife of John Wilson of Northowram 8th December 1627 Sarah Lum of Halifax 14th May 1629 John Sutcliffe of Skircote 20th October 1629 Richard Hoyle of Heptonstall 28th August 1630 Henry Hudson ditto The wife of Samuel Ettall 14th April 1632 Jeremy Bowcock of Warley 22nd September 1632 John Crabtree of Sowerby 21st May 1636 Abraham Clegg of Norland 7th October 1641 Isaac Illingworthof Ogden 7th June 1645 Jer. Kaye Taylor of Lancashire 30th December 1648 Jo. Wilkinson of Sowerby ditto Anthony Mitchell The only way that a condemned person could escape the Gibbet was to withdraw his or her head before the blade fell, and then escape across the parish boundary over the Hebble Brook (*-mile away). The felon could then go free provided that he or she did not return. At least one culprit escaped this way: a man named Dinnis managed the feat, and on his way out of the area was asked by several people if Dinnis was to be beheaded on that day. To his own humour, and the bemusement of the passers-by, Dinnis is said to have replied "I trow not", an expression that is still used by long-term residents of the area. John Lacy also achieved the feat on 29th January 1623, but foolishly returned to Halifax seven years later believing that having made it across Hebble Brook, he was pardoned of his crime that in any event would have been forgotten. Unfortunately for Lacy, neither assumption was correct and he was duly executed by the gibbet without further trial. The public house "The Running Man" celebrates Lacy's temporary reprieve. The last recorded victims were the Sowerby men Anthony Mitchell and John Wilkinson. Both men were found guilty of stealing on 19th April 1650, sixteen yards of russet-coloured Kersey from tenterframes owned by Samuel Colbeck of Warley (valued at one shilling per yard) and for stealing two colt horses from John Cusforth of Durker (in the Sandal parish near Wakefield) on 17th April 1650: their total haul was valued at ?5.8s. John Wilkinson was additionally convicted of stealing a piece of Kersey from tenterframes at Brearley Hall. As they were fond guilty on a Saturday, they were immediately put to death. |
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 02 May 2005 ) | |||||||