Death Sentence

Death sentence

A sentence of death was a widely used penalty imposed by the courts on guilty felons in 18th  & 19th century Britain.  Many of these sentences were commuted, either through the judiciary or by a successful petition for a royal pardon, which contributed significantly to the overcrowding of gaols, as explained by Tony Moore:

But reprieve from the gallows meant a long incarceration as a prisoner of His Majesty, and as the new laws for property took effect the country’s small number of gaols were swamped by the tide of commuted prison sentences. Transportation of criminals to colonies across the sea had begun in the seventeenth century, and evolved in the eighteenth century as a more humane alternative to the death sentence that removed the criminal with the finality of death, while cementing social control at home.[1]

Approximately 246 of the female convicts transported to Van Diemens Land had previously received a sentence of death in Britain. Their crimes ranged from the seemingly minor acts of stealing/robbery/burglary, coining/counterfeiting, house breaking, arson, highway robbery and wounding, to the more serious acts of attempted murder and murder. Perhaps the most obscure death sentence was handed down to Mary Ann Fielding in 1800 for ‘returning from transportation before her time had expired’.  Fielding was originally a convict on the Indispensable in 1796, transported to NSW for seven years for stealing shoes.  She was sent back to NSW on the Nile in 1801, ending up in VDL around 1808, having had her death sentence commuted to transportation for life. 

Of the female convicts who ended up in VDL, the earliest trial resulting in the death penalty was that of Ann Steel in 1787 for a felony (highway robbery). Steel was ‘respited during His Majesty’s pleasure’.[2] As an indication of how indiscriminate the penalty was, that same year Jane Tyler was just 11 years old when she was tried for stealing 5 guineas and sentenced to death. A statute passing in 1713 made the crime of stealing over 40/- a capital offence, and unfortunately for Tyler, it was legal to hang children over the age of seven years. [3] [4] Tyler was respited and transported, along with Steel, on the Lady Juliana to NSW in 1780, although she remained in NSW.

Two hundred and five of the convict women who ended up in Van Diemens Land had their sentences commuted to transportation for life, while eleven were commuted to seven years and twenty-four commuted to fourteen years transportation.

Hangings in VDL

Twenty-two female convicts were colonially punished with the judgement of a death sentence in Van Diemens Land.  In all but four of the cases, the sentences were commuted.  The method of execution was by hanging. If dissection or anatomisation was part of the sentence, the body was cut down and removed to the General Hospital for dissection for medical study in accordance with the English  Murder Act 1752.[5] [6] [7] [8]

The four women hanged in Van Diemens Land were:

Mary McLaughlan (Harmony 1830) in 1830, for the murder of her infant child.

Eliza Benwell (Hector 1835) in 1845 was charged with "feloniously, wilfully, and with malice aforethought," being present, "aiding, abetting, and assisting" in the murder of Jane Saunders on the18th of January last.[9] After hanging her body was dissected and anatomized..

Mary Sullivan (John William Dare 1852) in 1852, for the wilful murder of Clara Adeline Fraser. Her body was given up for dissection.

Margaret Galvin (Arabian 1847) in 1862 for the murder of her husband John Coghlin. Her body was dissected.

In the early years of the colony, hangings took place in public at the gallows set up on the docks in Hobart Town.[10]  

The Old Wharf, as its name implies, was the first constructed on the shores of the Derwent. At that time it only consisted of a small jetty, launches being used for conveying cargo to and from the vessels which lay out in the stream. A small island, which now does not exist, having been reclaimed from the river, was then used as the usual place of execution, and many a poor wretch has there on the gallows expiated his crimes. This island was named Hunter's Island, and is also, remarkable as the spot upon which Governor Collins landed and built a store. It was from this store that provisions and other requisites were, for some time, issued to the early settlers.[11]

By 1828 the gallows had moved to the Hobart Town gaol at the corner of Murray and Macquarie Street where they were on view to the public who were encouraged to attend as a deterrent.*   From the Colonial Times, it can be established that the old gallows were replaced in 1834:

We understand that the Reverend Mr. Bedford, having made some very strong representations to the Government that the old gallows was quite worn out, after a long and faithful service, a new one has been this week erected, which, from its huge proportions, bids defiance to every exertion that may be  made against it. Mr. Bedford's anxiety on all these matters of his duty is most laudable, and entitles him to the very highest praise!![12]

In 1856 the gallows were placed behind high walls and were no longer visible to the public:

First Private Execution under the New Act.-Yesterday Thomas Rushton and John Mellor, the bushrangers, convicted before Mr. Justice Home, at the late session of oyer and terminer and general gaol delivery of the supreme court, of shooting at Hugh Simpson, an overseer at St Peter's Pass, with intent, &c, underwent the extreme  penalty of the law within the walls of Her Majesty's gaol at Hobart Town, this being the first execution under the New Criminals Execution Act. The gallows was placed in a secluded portion of the yard behind the prison, the ground having been excavated to a depth of eight feet to admit of the requisite drop. The space was enclosed with a wooden fence and covering, to render the sad ceremony as private is possible.[13]

There was also a gallows outside the Launceston gaol which was removed in 1853 and rebuilt within the walls of the gaol.[14][15] A description of the structure of the Launceston gallows is given in the Colonial Times 11 June 1853:

One Step in Advance.-It is one of the happy results of the cessation of transportation to this colony, that instructions have been given to pull down the gallows at Launceston. Facing the river, the first object which met the stranger's eye was the permanent gallows, a substantial affair, built up with bricks and stone, and having a huge beam securely let into the walls ; altogether designed for any amount of service. But convictism has ceased, and it is rather significant that the removal of the gallows should be ordered immediately. [16]

Abolitionists and the public spectacle

Hangings in both Britain and Australia were traditionally conducted in public as a means of deterrent and entertainment. The hanging of Mary McLaughlan in Hobart in 1830 was a public spectacle, as was the 1845 hanging of Eliza Benwell, which attracted a crowd (reported by the Launceston Examiner 1 Oct 1845) estimated to be in excess of 5000 people:

By the middle of the eighteenth century the idea of capitally punishing women was increasingly met with public outcry, condemned by abolitionists as cruel and immoral. In Britain in 1847, Charles Gilpin, an abolitionist Quaker, designed a satirical poster inviting the public to ‘A Grand Moral Spectacle!’ to observe a young girl, Catherine Foster, aged 17, ‘publicly strangled in front of the County Jail, Bury Street, Edmonds’. Catherine Foster was the last woman to be hanged in Suffolk.[17]

The pregnant Charlotte Harris, (per Anna Maria 1852) sentenced to death in 1849, also galvanised the abolitionists, who endeavoured to enlighten the masses and employed shock-tactics, garnering petitions with over 4,000 signatures to further their cause.  After giving birth, Harris was eventually respited by Her Majesty, and transported per Anna Maria in 1852.

A petition was also raised against the hanging of 16-year old Mary Sullivan in Hobart in 1852 but was unsuccessful and her execution still attracted crowds of spectators

By 1862, Margaret Galvin’s hanging would take place behind the gaol’s wall, thus denying the curious public a morning’s entertainment:

Sentenced to death with respited sentences in Van Diemen’s Land

The following 18 women were sentenced to death in VDL/Tasmania between 1833 and 1879, with their sentences later commuted. Sixteen were convicts or had previously been convicts who were transported to Van Diemens Land, Mary Ann Ellington was a native of Tasmania, and 25 year-old Caroline Smith was born in England and arrived free with her family at age 2.  Full records are available from the Female Convicts in Van Diemens Land database.

* Researcher and Author, Richard P. Davis in his book The Tasmanian Gallows: A study of Capital Punishment, provides the figure of 260 executions from 1824 - 1836 (during the appointment of Governor Arthur), many of them men found guilty of sheep stealing.

[1] Moore, T. (2010), Death or Liberty rebels and radicals transported to Australia 1788-1868, Pier 9, p.35

[2] Northampton Mercury, Oct. 27, 1787

[3] https://triffitt2.wordpress.com/jane-tyler-1/

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_women_in_England

[5] The Tasmanian (Hobart Town, Tas. : 1827 - 1839) Friday 22 February 1833 p 7 Article

[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK513547/

[7] https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/convict-sydney/execution-and-dissection

[8] https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Murder_Act_1751

[9] Colonial Time, Friday 5 September 1845 p 3

[10] The Hobart Town Daily Mercury, Wednesday 13 January 1858 p 2

[11] The Hobart Town Daily Mercury, Wednesday 13 January 1858 p 2

[12] Colonial Times, Tuesday 6 May 1834 p 5

[13] Colonial Times, Wednesday 20 February 1856 p 2

[14] The Cornwall Chronicle, Saturday 7 January 1854 p 4

[15] THE GALLOWS. —The permanent gallows, which for so long a time disgraced the appearance of the Launceston gaol, is now entirely removed. The Cornwall Chronicle, Saturday 10 December 1853 p 3

[16] Colonial Times, Saturday 11 June 1853 p 2

[17] Charlotte Harris 1818-1862Convict conduct record CON41/1/32

Further Resources:

https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/Execution

Mary Sullivan by Don Bradmore

 By E. Crawford (Aug 2020)