As can be seen on our Twitter page today marks the day that the last public execution took place in Britain.
Michael Barrett was convicted of killing a dozen people and injuring many more when a bomb left inside a wheelbarrow outside of a prison exploded in London December 1867. The terrorists responsible believed ‘it would bring down the wall, allowing Irish Republican prisoners to escape’.[1] Barrett was an Irish Republican who had previously been arrested for discharging a firearm; however at the Old Bailey in April 1868 he called witnesses who testified that he was in Scotland on the day of the Clerkenwell explosion, thus he got off free.[2] However this time he was not so lucky and he was to be hanged on the 26th May 1868.
The case was reported in numerous newspapers from the time, as can be seen from the clippings below. The Times wrote ‘never were there more numerous than this occasion’ and ‘none could look on the scene, with all its exceptional quietness, without a thankful feeling that this was to be the last public execution in England.’[3]
The Execution of Micheal Barrett. [4]
I thought I would add in an interesting story from Devon, even though it did not occur in May. John Lee or the man they could not hang was born in Abbotskerswell, Devon on the 15th August 1864 and is famous for surviving three attempts to hang him for murder.[5] The Babbacombe Murder, as it is known, occurred on the 15th November 1884, and saw Miss Emma Keyse (Lee’s employer) bludgeoned to death with an axe, her throat slashed with a knife and her house set on fire.
In the house at the time was Lee and two other servants, but ultimately it was Lee’s behaviour on the night, the fact that he was already under notice to quit the service of Miss Keyse and his recent conviction (of theft in 1883, where he was sentenced to hard labour at prison in Exeter) which landed him guilty.[6] Lee maintained his protests of being innocent saying to the judge at his trial, "the reason I am so calm is that I trust in the Lord and he knows I am innocent."[7] Lee was sentenced on the 23rd February 1885 at Exeter prison and famously survived three attempts to hang him.[8]
He served a life sentence at Portland Prison, and was released from on the 18th December 1907. He then went on to marry Jessie Augusta Bulled at Newton Abbot, Devon on the 22nd January 1909. Now this is where his story gets confusing. On the 28th of February 1911 John Lee allegedly travelled to America to start a new life with a woman claiming to be his wife, leaving a pregnant Jessie and his son behind in the Lambeth workhouse.[9] It is believed that Lee never became a legal citizen of America and died, aged 80, on the 19th March 1945.[10]
He served a life sentence at Portland Prison, and was released from on the 18th December 1907. He then went on to marry Jessie Augusta Bulled at Newton Abbot, Devon on the 22nd January 1909. Now this is where his story gets confusing. On the 28th of February 1911 John Lee allegedly travelled to America to start a new life with a woman claiming to be his wife, leaving a pregnant Jessie and his son behind in the Lambeth workhouse.[9] It is believed that Lee never became a legal citizen of America and died, aged 80, on the 19th March 1945.[10]
[1] True Crime Library, 'Michael Barrett', 2012. [Online] Available from: www.truecrimelibrary.com/crime_series_show.php?series_number=3&id=321. (Accessed 28/04/2012).
[2] Execution of the Day, 'Michael Barrett', 2012. [Online] Available from: www.eotd.wordpress.com/2008/05/26/26-may-1868-michael-barrett/. (Accessed 28/04/2012).
[3] The Times, Wednesday, May 27, 1868; pg. 9; Issue 26135.
[4] Liverpool Mercury etc (Liverpool, England), Tuesday, May 26, 1868; Issue 6343.
[4] Liverpool Mercury etc (Liverpool, England), Tuesday, May 26, 1868; Issue 6343.
[4] The Man They Could Not Hang, 'John Lee's Story', 2012. [Online] Available from: www.murderresearch.com/john-lees-story/. (Accessed 28/04/2012).
[5] Ancestry, 'John Babbacombe Lee', 2011. [Online] Available from: www.freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~alanelliott/Lee%20Family.HTML. (Accessed 28/04/2012).
[6] BBC, 'The Man They Could Not Hang', 2012. [Online] Available from: www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/southwest/series1/john-babbacombe-lee.shtml. (Accessed 28/04/2012).
[7] Old British News Research, 'Death Sentences 1880s', 2012. [Online] Available from: www.oldbritishnews.com/historic-databases/death-sentences-1880s/. (Accessed 28/04/2012).
[9] Ancestry, 'John Babbacombe Lee', 2011. [Online] Available from: www.freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~alanelliott/Lee%20Family.HTML. (Accessed 28/04/2012).
[10] The Man They Could Not Hang, 'John Lee's Story', 2012. [Online] Available from: www.murderresearch.com/john-lees-story/. (Accessed 28/04/2012).
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