John Horwood

John Horwood was convicted of murder in Bristol, England, in 1821. He was the first person to be hanged at Bristol New Gaol. His skeleton was retained, and most recently was kept hanging in a cupboard at Bristol University with the noose still around its neck. He was buried alongside his father on 13 April 2011 at 1.30pm, exactly 190 years to the hour after he was hanged.^[1]

Life

Horwood was an 18-year-old miner from Hanham and the tenth child of Thomas Horwood.^[2]

Death of Eliza Balsom and aftermath

Horwood's relationship with girlfriend Eliza Balsom ended in 1820. In 1821, he saw her with a new boyfriend and threw a stone which struck her on the temple. The stone only caused minor injury, but she was treated at the Bristol Royal Infirmary for a depressed fracture and Dr. Richard Smith decided to operate, causing a fatal abscess,^[3][4] and she died, four days later,^[5] on 17 February 1821.^[6]

Dr. Smith gave Horwood's name to the police.^[4] The trial took place at the Star Inn in Bedminster on 11 April 1821,^[6] and Smith testified against him.^[4] He was hanged two days later and his body was handed back to Smith for dissection. Smith also had the body skinned, tanned, and used to bind the papers in the case. This document is now kept in the M Shed museum in Bristol. It is embossed with a gallows motif.^[7] The practice of anthropodermic bibliopegy is known to have been practised since the 17th century, and it was common to use the murderer's skin in this manner during the 17th and 18th centuries.^[8]

Smith kept the skeleton at his home until his death, when it was passed to the Bristol Royal Infirmary and later to Bristol University.^[6]

The funeral was arranged by Mary Halliwell, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Horwood's brother.^[9] The coffin was draped in velvet and carried on a wheeled bier in the manner of funerals of the period of his death.^[10][5]

References