The governor of the prison had responsibility for the security of the prisoner between sentence and execution and for preventing their suicide as far as possible by ensuring that there were adequate officers to look after the condemned person round the clock. Typically from 1847 teams of two or three warders would guard the prisoner in three eight hour shifts. It was normally the governor’s painful duty to tell the person that there had not been a reprieve and thus the execution was to take place on such and such a day. He had to be present at this and not all governors found this an easy task. The governor of Bristol Gaol fainted during the execution of 17 year old Sarah Thomas on the 20th of April 1849. The governor was also responsible for ensuring that the apparatus for the execution was set up in an appropriate place and that the execution was carried out in an efficient and humane manner. He would appoint two or more prison officers to accompany the prisoner to the gallows and support them if required. It may have been that these officers also acted as assistants to the hangman prior to 1900, although this cannot be confirmed.
Prison officers received an extra payment for assisting at executions and for helping with subsequent burial. In the 20th century, at least, the governor would send a report to the Home Office as to the conduct of the executioner and his assistant(s). This report had also to be signed by the prison doctor.
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