Syd Dernley

Syd Dernley (29 December 1920 – 1 November 1994) was dubbed, as also has been Albert Pierrepoint, "the last British hangman", although in fact he was not (this title belongs jointly to Harry Allen and Robert Leslie Stewart). More accurately, he was the last surviving hangman, following the deaths of both Pierrepoint and Allen in 1992. He was a welder by trade, but was appointed assistant executioner by the Home Office in 1949, and participated in 20 hangings until he was replaced in 1954. Execution by hanging continued in Britain until 1964.

In 1950 he assisted Albert Pierrepoint in the hanging of Timothy Evans for the murder of his family, although Evans was pardoned posthumously in 1966 when it was discovered John Reginald Halliday Christie was probably the killer, as Christie's murders all carried a similar modus operandi to the deaths of Evans' family.

On 8 May 1951, Pierrepoint and Dernley escorted convicted murderer James Inglis to the gallows immediately adjacent, and hanged him without delay — the fastest hanging on record, taking only seven seconds from the time he was removed from his cell until his fatal 'long drop'.

On 27 April 1954, Dernley was removed from the Home Office list of Official List of Assistant Executioners. Dernley claimed that no reason was given for his removal but he suspected it was because of a crude comment he had made about the size of the penis of a hanged man after an execution in London in 1953.^[1]. Pierrepoint had alluded to such an incident (without mentioning Dernley by name) in his own autobiography but the real reason for Dernley's dismissal was undoubtedly because he had been convicted of publishing obscene material, and sent to prison for six months at the Nottinghamshire Quarter Sessions, along with being fined £50 and charged £25 costs. ^[2]

References

1. ^ Dernley & Newman, The Hangman's Tale: Memoirs of a Public Executioner, Trans-Atlantic Publications, 1990 ISBN 0-330-31633-8
2. ^ "Obscene Books And Photographs: Assistant Hangman Sent To Prison" The Times Wednesday, Apr 28, 1954; p. 5; Issue 52917; col B

• Interview with Dernley

Persondata
Name	Dernley, Syd
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	29 December 1920
Place of birth
Date of death	1 November 1994
Place of death

This United Kingdom biographical article related to crime is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: 1920 births 1994 deaths English executioners British crime biography stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая? Clavigo (film) Treaty of Rarotonga Look at other dictionaries: Syd Dernley — (* 29. Dezember 1920; † 1. November 1994) war ein britischer Henker von 1949 bis 1954. Leben Dernley war Schweißer von Beruf und bewarb sich bei der „Prison Commission“ um einen Platz auf der Liste der britischen Henker. Er wurde nach einer… …   Deutsch Wikipedia Dernley — Syd Dernley (* 29. Dezember 1920; † 1. November 1994) war ein britischer Henker von 1949 bis 1954. Leben Dernley war Schweißer von Beruf und bewarb sich bei der „Prison Commission“ um einen Platz auf der Liste der britischen Henker. Er wurde nach …   Deutsch Wikipedia Albert Pierrepoint — Infobox Person name = Albert Pierrepoint image size = caption = birth name = birth date = birth date|1905|03|30 birth place = North Bierley, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England death date = death date and age|1992|07|10|1905|03|30 death place =… …   Wikipedia Liste der Biografien/Deo–Des — Biografien: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q …   Deutsch Wikipedia Timothy Evans — (20 novembre 1924 9 mars 1950) était un jeune homme, probablement attardé mental, qui fut pendu au Royaume Uni en 1950 pour le meurtre de son bébé. Les événements suivant son exécution, notamment un livre clamant son innocence et sa grâce… …   Wikipédia en Français James Inglis — (1922 – 8 May 1951) was a British man executed for murder at the age of 29 years old.Having confessed to strangling Alice Morgan, a 50 year old prostitute in Kingston upon Hull on 1 February 1951 after a quarrel over payment, Inglis opted to… …   Wikipedia James Inglis — (* 1922; † 8. Mai 1951) war ein britischer Mörder. Seine Hinrichtung am Galgen im Strangeways Gefängnis (Manchester) durch Albert Pierrepoint gilt als die schnellste Erhängung aller Zeiten. Inglis hatte gestanden, die Prostituierte Alice Morgan… …   Deutsch Wikipedia Timothy Evans — Timothy John Evans (November 20, 1924 – March 9, 1950) was a Welshman who was hanged in the United Kingdom in 1950 for the murder of his infant daughter at 10 Rillington Place in London. Following serial killer John Christie s execution for the… …   Wikipedia Pierrepoint (film) — Infobox Film name = Pierrepoint caption = British theatrical quad director = Adrian Shergold producer = Christine Langan writer = Jeff Pope Bob Mills starring = Timothy Spall Juliet Stevenson Eddie Marsan music = Martin Phipps cinematography =… …   Wikipedia List of After Dark editions — After Dark was a British late night television discussion programme, produced by Open Media. It ran off and on Channel 4 between 1987 and 1997, and on the BBC in 2003. Here follows a complete list of all editions, with dates of live transmission… …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”