Profile of...
Albert Pierrepoint

Albert Pierrepoint, of Claydon, near Bradford, Yorkshire, was born in 1905 and died in 1992. He was registered on the Home Office list of approved executioners from 1932 until 1956.

Albert Pierrepoint was by far the most prolific hangman of the 20th century, having executed an estimated 433 men and 17 women in his 24 years of service in this country and abroad.

His tally of executions was greatly increased as a result of World War II, working in the UK, Germany and other European countries, including Cyprus and Austria.

Storyline

  • 1905

Albert Pierrepoint, of Claydon, near Bradford, Yorkshire, was born in 1905 and died in 1992.

  • 1932 to 1956

He was registered on the Home Office list of approved executioners from 1932 until 1956.

  • 1941

His first execution as “Number 1” was that of gangster Antonio “Babe” Mancini, at Pentonville Prison on 17th of October 1941. He was assisted in this by Steve Wade.

  • 1949

Albert gave evidence to the 1949 Royal Commission on Capital Punishment, chaired by Sir Ernest Gowers, and also demonstrated the technique used.

  • 1951

He learned his trade assisting his Uncle Tom. His first experience of the “trade” was as assistant to Tom in the hanging of Patrick McDermott at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin. Albert is credited with the quickest hanging on record when, assisted by Sid Dernley, he executed James Inglis in only severn seconds on 8th of May 1951 at Strangeways in Manchester.

  • 1955

On 13th of July 1955 at Holloway Prison, Ruth Ellis became the last woman to be hanged in Britain. Albert’s last execution was that of 25 year old Norman Green at Liverpool’s Walton Prison on Wednesday 27th of July 1955. Green had stabbed two children to death in separate murders in 1954 and 1955

  • 1956

Pierrepoint resigned over a disagreement about fees in 1956. He had gone to Strangeways on a bitterly cold day in January 1956 to hang Thomas Bancroft. He arrived at the prison only for Bancroft to be reprieved later in the afternoon. He claimed the full fee of £15 (more than £240 at today’s prices), but was offered just £1 in out of pocket expenses by the Under Sheriff of Lancashire. Pierrepoint appealed to his employers, the Prison Commission, who refused to get involved. The Under Sheriff sent him a cheque for £4 in final settlement. But to Albert this was a huge insult to his pride in his position as Britain’s Chief Executioner and so he tendered his resignation.

  • 1992

Albert Pierrepoint died in a nursing home in Southport, Lancashire, in 1992 at the age of 87.

  • 2006

His autobiography, “Executioner – Pierrepoint”, was made into a film, starring Timothy Spall, which was released in April 2006.

  • 2021

A riveting new book based on a true story is released: To Kill The Hangman… Pierrepoint