Pierrepoint

A Family of Executioners

Steve Fielding

• Publisher: John Blake
• eBook ISBN:
  9781843585633
• Year: 2008

Between them, the three men in the fearsome Pierrepoint dynasty executed over 800 people during a career spanning more than half a century. Henry, his brother Thomas, and his son Albert, dispatched some of the most infamous criminals of the 20th century, and in the process earned a public notoriety that followed them throughout their eventful lives.For years, the three men were faced with the task -- prestigious to some, horrific to many others -- of being the last point of contact for the guilty and condemned. The Pierrepoints executed criminals the nation over before travelling to many countries including Egypt and postwar Germany, where they hanged Nazi war criminals, and gained a reputation as the world's most deadly practitioners of the art of hanging."Pierrepoint: A Family of Executioners" recounts the intriguing stories of the three men and the effect that their macabre occupation had on their personal lives. This definitive guide is filled with shocking inside tales from the official records and diaries kept by the Pierrepoint family. With revealing insights into the intense rivalry between fellow executioners, new light is shed on the menacing world of years gone by.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• The Sentence of Death
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Beginnings
• Chapter 2: Recollections
• Chapter 3: Keeping it in the Family
• Chapter 4: Rivalry and Changing Times
• Chapter 5: Our Albert and Uncle Tom
• Chapter 6: Wartime Executioner
• Chapter 7: Hangman’s Holiday
• Chapter 8: Fame and the Royal Commission Report
• Chapter 9: End of the Road
• Chapter 10: Twilight Years
• Appendices: 1. A Form of Service to be Used at an Execution
• Appendices: 2. List of Executed Persons
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgements
• Copyright