George Smith (executioner)

George Smith (1805–1874), popularly known as Throttler Smith, was an English hangman from 1840 until 1866. He was born in Rowley Regis in the English West Midlands, where he performed the majority of his executions. Although from a good family he became involved with gangs and petty crime in his early life, and was imprisoned in Stafford Gaol on several occasions for theft.^[1]

Career as a hangman, 1840–1866

Smith learned his trade as an assistant to William Calcraft. His first solo engagement was the public execution of James Owen and George Thomas outside Stafford Gaol, although he continued to work with Calcraft around the country.^[2] Smith was a prisoner at Stafford at the time of Owen and Thomas' execution, and Calcraft appointed Smith for the task because his regular assistant had turned up drunk.^[3]

Smith's highest profile hanging was William Palmer, executed on 14 June 1856 after having been found guilty of poisoning John Parsons Cook, but popularly supposed to have murdered some 14 people including his mother-in-law to fund his gambling debts. Smith was paid £5 plus expenses to carry out the hanging.^[4] His final execution took place in 1866, once again at Stafford Gaol. The victim was a man named Collier, a poacher who had been found guilty of the murder of a local worthy. Unfortunately for Collier the rope slipped from the overhead beam of the gallows on Smith's first attempt, resulting in a five-minute delay before a replacement could be rigged.^[5]

References

Notes

Bibliography