Editing Tyburn (section)

==Tyburn gallows==
{{Redirect|Tyburn Tree|Marc Almond album|The Tyburn Tree (Dark London)}}
[[File:Tyburn tree.jpg|right|thumb|The "Tyburn Tree"]]
Although executions took place elsewhere (notably on [[Tower Hill]], generally related to treason by gentlemen), the Roman road junction at Tyburn became associated with the place of criminal execution for the [[City of London]] and [[Middlesex]] after most were moved here from [[Smithfield, London|Smithfield]] in the 1400s.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Oliver |date=2018-01-25 |title='Strike, man, strike!' – On the trail of London's most notorious public execution sites |language=en-GB |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/england/london/articles/Londons-most-notorious-execution-sites/ |access-date=2020-10-26 |issn=0307-1235}}</ref> In the 12th century, the [[Sheriff of London]] had been given the jurisdiction in Middlesex, as well as in the City of London.<ref name=vch_middlesex>{{cite book |author= Victoria County History |title= A history of the County of Middlesex |volume= 2 |pages= 15–60 ¶12 |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22153 |access-date= 2 April 2012|author-link= Victoria County History }}</ref> Prisoners were taken in public procession from [[Newgate Prison]] in the city, via [[St Giles, London|St Giles in the Fields]] and [[Oxford Street]] (then known as Tyburn Road).  From the late 18th century, when public executions were no longer carried out at Tyburn, they occurred at [[Newgate Prison]] itself and at [[Horsemonger Lane Gaol]] in [[Southwark]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/horsemon.html|title=Horsemonger Lane Gaol|publisher=capitalpunishmentuk.org|accessdate=17 October 2020}}</ref>

The first recorded execution took place at a site next to the stream in 1196. [[William Fitz Osbert]], a populist leader who played a major role in an 1196 popular revolt in London, was cornered in the church of [[St Mary-le-Bow]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/chronicleofgreyf00londrich|title=Chronicle of the Grey friars of London|last1=London (England) Grey friars (Monastery)|last2=Nichols|first2=John Gough|date=1852|location=London|publisher=Camden Society|others=University of California Libraries|page=1|quote=...the yere of our lorde God M<sup>l</sup>clxxxxvj.  In this yere was one William with the long berde taken out of Bowe churche and put to dethe for herysey.}}</ref> He was dragged naked behind a horse to Tyburn, where he was [[hanged]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2024|reason=Preceding source does not describe manner or place of execution}}

In 1537, Henry VIII used Tyburn to execute the ringleaders of the [[Pilgrimage of Grace]], including Sir Nicholas Tempest, one of the northern leaders of the Pilgrimage and the King's own [[Bowbearer]] of the [[Forest of Bowland]].<ref>{{cite book |first=R. W. |last=Hoyle |title=The Pilgrimage of Grace and the Politics of the 1530s |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |date=2001}}</ref>

In 1571, the Tyburn Tree was erected near the junction of today's [[Edgware Road]], [[Bayswater Road]] and [[Oxford Street]], 200 m west of [[Marble Arch]]. The "Tree" or "Triple Tree" was a form of [[gallows]], consisting of a horizontal wooden triangle supported by three legs (an arrangement known as a "three-legged mare" or "three-legged stool"). Multiple criminals could be hanged at once, and so the gallows were used for mass executions, such as that on 23 June 1649 when 24 prisoners (23 men and 1 woman) were hanged simultaneously, having been conveyed there in eight carts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rictornorton.co.uk/gu17.htm |title=The Underworld and Popular Culture. Chapter 17: The Georgian Underworld |first=Rictor |last=Norton |website=rictornorton.co.uk |access-date=18 March 2018}}</ref>

After executions, the bodies would be buried nearby or in later times removed for [[dissection]] by [[anatomy|anatomists]].<ref>{{cite journal | pmc = 3162231 | pmid=21496014 | doi=10.1111/j.1469-7580.2011.01381.x |volume=219 |title=The study of anatomy in England from 1700 to the early 20th century |journal=Journal of Anatomy |pages=91–9 |last1 = Mitchell |first1 = P. D. | last2 = Boston |first2=C. | last3 = Chamberlain | first3 = A. T. |last4=Chaplin | first4 = S. | last5 = Chauhan |first5=V. |last6 = Evans | first6 = J. | last7 = Fowler |first7=L. |last8 = Powers | first8 = N. |last9 = Walker |first9=D. |last10 = Webb | first10 = H. |last11 = Witkin |first11=A. |year=2011 |issue=2}}</ref> The crowd would sometimes fight over a body with surgeons, for fear that dismemberment could prevent the resurrection of the body on Judgement Day (see [[Jack Sheppard]], [[Dick Turpin]] or [[William Spiggot]]).<ref>{{Cite book|title = Tyburn's Martyrs, Executions in England 1675–1775|last = McKenzie|first = Andrea|publisher = Hambledon Continuum, Continuum Books|year = 2007|isbn = 978-1847251718|location = London, England|pages = 20–21}}</ref>

The first victim of the "Tyburn Tree" was [[John Story (martyr)|John Story]] on 1 June 1571. Story was a [[Roman Catholic]] who was tried for and convicted of treason.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book|title = Tyburn's Martyrs, Executions in England 1675–1775|last = McKenzie|first = Andrea|publisher = Hambledon Continuum, Continuum Books|year = 2007|isbn = 978-1847251718|location = London, England|page = 6}}</ref> There is a plaque to the Catholic martyrs executed at Tyburn in the period 1535–1681 at 8 Hyde Park Place, the site of Tyburn convent.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/leisureandculture/greenplaques/ |title=City of Westminster green plaques |access-date=2011-07-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716210428/http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/leisureandculture/greenplaques/ |archive-date=16 July 2012}}</ref><ref>[https://www.tyburnconvent.org.uk/site.php?id=225 Tyburn Convent]</ref> Among the more notable individuals suspended from the "Tree" in the following centuries were [[John Bradshaw (judge)|John Bradshaw]], [[Henry Ireton]] and [[Oliver Cromwell]], who were already dead but were disinterred and hanged at Tyburn in January 1661 on the orders of the [[Cavalier Parliament]] in an act of posthumous revenge for their part in the beheading of King [[Charles I of England|Charles I]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=26189#s10 |title=Journal of the House of Commons: volume 8: 1660–1667 |year=1802 |pages=26–7 |author=House of Commons |author-link=British House of Commons }} Attainder predated to 1 January 1649 (It is 1648 in the document because of [[Old Style and New Style dates|old style year]])</ref>

The gallows seem to have been replaced several times, probably because of [[wear]], but in general, the entire structure stood all the time in Tyburn. After some acts of [[vandalism]], in October 1759 it was decided to replace the permanent structure with new moving gallows. These remained until the last execution in Tyburn, probably carried out in November 1783.<ref name="auto" /> On the night of Wednesday, 28 March 1759, part of the gallows was blown down.<ref>{{Cite news |date=31 March 1759 |title=LONDON |page=2 |work=[[Jackson's Oxford Journal]] |publisher=[[W. Jackson]] |issue=309 |publication-date=31 March 1759 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ |access-date=9 September 2023}}</ref> Further evidence of the fixed gallows's disrepair was noted on Friday, 22 June 1759 with the execution of Katharine Knowland, "When she came to Tyburn, all the crossbeams were pulled down; so she was tied up on the top of one of the upright posts, and hung with her back to it."<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 June 1759 |title=LONDON |page=2 |work=[[Jackson's Oxford Journal]] |publisher=[[W. Jackson]] |issue=321 |publication-date=23 June 1759 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ |access-date=9 September 2023}}</ref> One of the first mentions of the gallows being used again was on 7 October 1759, when four people were executed on the "new moving gallows" which afterwards was "carried off in a cart".<ref>{{Cite news |date=8 October 1759 |title=LONDON |volume=XVIII |page=2 |work=[[Aris's Birmingham Gazette]] |issue=933 |publication-date=8 October 1759 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ |access-date=9 September 2023}}</ref>
[[File:William Hogarth - Industry and Idleness, Plate 11; The Idle 'Prentice Executed at Tyburn.png|right|thumb|[[William Hogarth]]'s ''The Idle 'Prentice Executed at Tyburn'', from the ''[[Industry and Idleness]]'' series (1747)]]

The executions were public spectacles which attracted crowds of thousands. Spectator stands provided deluxe views for a fee. On one occasion, the stands collapsed, reportedly killing and injuring hundreds of people. A hanging as public spectacle was depicted by [[William Hogarth]] in his satirical print ''The Idle 'Prentice Executed at Tyburn'' (1747).

Tyburn was commonly invoked in [[euphemism]]s for capital punishment: for instance, to "take a ride to Tyburn" (or simply "go west") was to go to one's hanging, "Lord of the Manor of Tyburn" was the public hangman, "dancing the Tyburn jig" was the act of being hanged.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Clarke|first=Stephanie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ouAI1bTNZhEC&dq=take+a+ride+to+Tyburn&pg=PA139|title=Down, Dirty and Divine: A Spiritual Ride Through London's Underground|date=2012-08-16|publisher=Troubador Publishing Ltd|isbn=978-1-78088-299-4|language=en}}</ref> Convicts would be transported to the site in an open ox-cart from Newgate Prison. They were expected to put on a good show, wearing their finest clothes and going to their deaths with [[wikt:insouciance|insouciance]].{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}

[[File:TyburnStone.jpg|thumb|right|Stone marking the site of the Tyburn tree on the traffic island at the junction of [[Edgware Road]], [[Bayswater Road]] and [[Oxford Street]]]]

On 19 April 1779, clergyman [[James Hackman]] was hanged there following his 7 April murder of [[courtesan]] and [[socialite]] [[Martha Ray]], the mistress of [[John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich]]. The Tyburn gallows were last used on 3 November 1783, when [[John Austin (highwayman)|John Austin]], a [[highwayman]], was hanged;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Slee |first1=Christopher |title=The Guinness Book of Lasts |date=1994 |publisher=Guinness Publishing Ltd |location=Enfield, England |isbn=0851127835 |pages=192}}</ref> for the next eighty-five years, hangings were staged outside [[Newgate]] prison. Then, in 1868, due to public disorder during these public executions, it was decided to execute the convicts inside the prison.<ref name="oldbaileyonline.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/Punishment.jsp#death|title=Crime and Justice – Punishment Sentences at the Old Bailey – Central Criminal Court|website=oldbaileyonline.org|access-date=18 March 2018}}</ref>

The site of the gallows is now marked by three young oak trees that were planted in 2014 on a [[traffic island]] in the middle of Edgware Road at its junction with Bayswater Road. Between the trees is a [[roundel]] with the inscription "The site of Tyburn Tree".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://rcdow.org.uk/vocations/news/tyburn-tree-memorial-renewed/ |title='Tyburn Tree' Memorial Renewed |publisher=Diocese of Westminster |date=23 October 2014 |access-date=17 September 2022}}</ref> It is also commemorated by the Tyburn Convent,<ref name="tyconvlnk">[https://www.tyburnconvent.org.uk/ Tyburn Convent website]. Retrieved 10/8/07</ref> a Catholic convent dedicated to the memory of martyrs executed there and in other locations for the Catholic faith.

Although most historical records and modern science agree that the Tyburn gallows were situated where Oxford Street meets Edgware Road and Bayswater Road, in the January 1850 issue of ''[[Notes and Queries]]'', the book collector and musicologist [[Edward Francis Rimbault]] published a list of faults he had found in [[Peter Cunningham (writer, born 1816)|Peter Cunningham's]] 1849 ''Handbook of London'', in which he claimed that the correct site of the gallows is where 49 [[Connaught Square]] was later built, stating that "in the lease granted by the Bishop of London, this is particularly mentioned".<ref>[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11575 ''Notes and Queries'', Number 12, 19 January 1850 by Various] accessed 30 May 2007</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=The Site of Tyburn Gallows|journal=The Athenaeum|issue=4164|date=17 August 1907|pages=181–183|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__I_PcOFSw8C&pg=PA181}}</ref>