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Albion's Fatal Tree: Capital Punishment in England, 1688-1965

Module description

In this module we will examine the history of capital punishment in England from the rise of the “Bloody Code” in the late seventeenth century (when over 200 offences were made punishable by death) through to the end of public executions in 1868 and finally to the abolition of capital punishment in 1965. Changes in the law will be explored, as will the behaviour of the condemned at the gallows. We will consider how attitudes to the death penalty intersected with ideas about religion, gender and the body, and will assess the causes and consequences of changes in penal practice.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module aims to:

• Develop an understanding of capital punishment’s political, social and cultural significance in England from the late seventeenth to the twentieth century
• Interpret and explain the rise and fall of capital punishment in this period
• Reflect on how the history of capital punishment can develop our understanding of wider, important themes such as justice, violence, humanitarianism and the “civilizing process”
• The timeframe will require you to consider developments within a long-term context, and you will be asked to reflect on a series of key historiographical debates relating to the subject

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the main themes in the subject, together with a very close knowledge of the areas selected for essay and presentation work
• 2. Trace the changing nature of, and approaches to, capital punishment in England between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Analyse the key developments in a defined historical subject
• 4. Handle profoundly different approaches to history
• 5. Show an understanding of and deploy, complex historical terminology correctly

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Carry out independent study and group work, including the presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning
• 7. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment
• 8. Present arguments orally, and work in a group

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• The introduction and repeal of the “Bloody Code”
• Execution rates
• Pardoning
• The behaviour of the crowd and the condemned
• Attitudes to the death penalty
• The end of public executions
• The abolition of capital punishment
• Pardoning as an instrument of class rule
• Public opinion
• Media reporting of capital punishment
• Humanitarianism and social control

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Cooper, David D., The Lesson of the Scaffold (London, 1974).
• Devereaux, Simon, ‘Recasting the Theatre of Execution: The Abolition of the Tyburn Ritual’, Past & Present 202 (2009), 127–174.
• Gatrell, V. A. C., The Hanging Tree (Oxford, 1994).
• Hay, Douglas, ‘Property, Authority and the Criminal Law’, in Douglas Hay et al, Albion’s Fatal Tree (London, 1975), pp. 17–64.
• King, Peter, Punishing the Criminal Corpse, 1700–1840 (London, 2017).
• McKenzie, Andrea, Tyburn’s Martyrs (London, 2007).
• Potter, Harry, Hanging in Judgment (London, 1993).
• Radzinowicz, Leon, A History of English Criminal Law and its Administration from 1750 (London, 1948–1990).
• Seal, Lizzie, Capital Punishment in Twentieth-Century Britain (2015).

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11602 
• Capital Convictions at the Old Bailey, http://web.uvic.ca/~oldbail/index.php
• Capital Punishment UK, http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/
• The Digital Panopticon, https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/
• Dying Speeches & Bloody Murders: Crime Broadsides, http://broadsides.law.harvard.edu/
• Nineteenth-Century Collections Online, http://gdc.galegroup.com/gdc/ncco
• Old Bailey Online, https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• Harnessing the Power of the Criminal Corpse, https://simon-hapsich.squarespace.com/?r=6556307 
• Last Dying Words blog, https://lastdyingwords.com/

Key words search

Capital Punishment, Execution, Death, Corpse, Crime, Justice