John Foxton (also John Foxen, James Foxen and James Foxon) (c. 1769 – 14 February 1829) was an English hangman of the early 19th century, a position he held for forty years.
The executioner in the city of London at Newgate Prison, among those he executed were William Corder, whose trousers and stockings Foxton was able to claim by right, and John Thurtell.[1] On his death in 1829 he was succeeded by William Calcraft, who had previously been his assistant.[2]
He was also that James Foxen who, in 1818, and aged about 50 years of age,[3] became the official hangman at Newgate Prison, having previously assisted James Botting, the former holder of that post. Foxton/Foxen hanged 206 men and 6 women over the next 11 years. He was the hangman for the five Cato Street Conspirators who became the last to suffer hanging and beheading in Great Britain on 1 May 1820, for conspiring to murder several members of the Cabinet. Foxton was assisted by Thomas Cheshire in this high profile execution and an unnamed person who actually cut off the traitors' heads.[4]
John Foxton lived at 19 Booth Street, Hoxton, and from this address on 13 May 1828 he petitioned the Court of Aldermen requesting a pension as he had a weakness in his lungs caused by having performed his duties as an executioner in all weathers and now being bedridden. Being illiterate, his petition was signed with an 'X'. However, three months later he was well enough to hang William Corder in Suffolk.[3]
Foxton's last notable hanging was that of Quaker Joseph Hunton, who, along with three others, was hanged in December 1828 for forgery after a trial at the Old Bailey.[3]