Once a person had been sentenced to death they were housed in the condemned cell of the prison they had been previously remanded to. The living area was normally two or three standard cells knocked into one and was usually no more than 15 feet from the gallows itself. Having the condemned cell on the first floor obviated the need for the pinioned prisoner to climb steps to the gallows. The wardrobe concealed the door to the execution chamber and was pushed out of the way by a warder at the last moment. Not all British prisons had the condemned cell in such close proximity to the gallows, however. Oxford for instance required the prisoner to walk some distance down a corridor to it.
Each county had a High Sheriff who was appointed for a year and who had the responsibility, amongst other things of carrying out the punishments ordered by the courts. In capital cases it was the sheriff’s responsibility to organise the execution and appoint the hangman. He also had to pay the hangman and later the assistant(s) and then claim the money back through “sheriff’s pleadings” from the Home Office. The sheriff would proceed with the foregoing, irrespective of the fact that there may be a reprieve, even at the last minute.
The Capital Punishment (Amendment) Act of 1868 required that the High Sheriff or the Under Sheriff be present at the execution. From 1891 the sheriff appointed the hangman from the Home Office list. Prior to that the hangman for London was generally used, i. e. James Berry, William Marwood and William Calcraft. Before Calcraft most counties still had their own hangman and he was generally appointed. The sheriff had the authority to admit witnesses and newspaper reporters to executions after they became private in 1868. This practice had ceased in most places by the early 1900’s. After the execution it was the sheriff’s duty to notify the Home Secretary that the execution had taken place.
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