Halifax Gibbet

The Halifax Gibbet in the town of Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, was an early guillotine, or decapitating machine.

History

Halifax had held the right to execute criminals since 1280. Although there is early reference to a gibbet, including a report that the first person to be beheaded by it was one John of Dalton in 1286, formal records of victims did not begin until 1541, when the town acquired a fixed machine which used a heavy axe-shaped iron blade dropping from a height of several feet to cut off the head of the condemned criminal.

The Gibbet could be operated by either cutting the rope holding up the blade or by pulling out a pin which prevented it falling. It is reported that if the offender was to be executed for stealing an animal, the end of a rope was fastened to the pin holding the blade in place and tied to the animal, which was then driven off, causing the pin to pull out and the blade to drop. Otherwise, the Bailiff of the Lord of the Manor or his servant cut the rope. [Citation | last = Parker | first = John William | author-link = | last2 = | first2 = | author2-link = | title = | journal = The Saturday Magazine | volume = 5 | issue = | pages = p. 32 | date = July to December | year = 1834 | url = | doi = | id = ]

The Gibbet's reputation seems to have been greater than the facts, as between 1541 and 1650, the official records show that only 53 men and women were executed by the Halifax Gibbet. The Gibbet was taken down in 1650 after the execution of Anthony Mitchell and John Wilkinson, perhaps in response to the beheading for treason of King Charles I in 1649, but a replica was erected in 1974 on the original site at Gibbet Street. The original Gibbet blade is on display at Bankfield Museum in Halifax.

Halifax Gibbet Law

The "Halifax Gibbet Law" gave the Lord of the Manor of Halifax the power to try and execute any felon for thefts of the value of 13½ pence and up:

"If a felon be taken within the liberty of Halifax...either hand-habend (caught with the stolen goods in his hand or in the act of stealing), back-berand (caught carrying stolen goods on his back), or confess and (having confessed to the crime), to the value of thirteen pence half-penny, he shall after three markets...be taken to the Gibbet and there have his head cut off from his body."

Popular accounts

The Halifax Gibbet is referenced in Thomas Deloney's ballad "Thomas, of Reading" (1600) [cite book | last = Thoms | first = William John | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = A Collection of Early Prose Romances | publisher = W. Pickering | date = 1828 | location = London | pages = | url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jlZcXH4ywJoC&pg=PA59 | doi = | id = | isbn = ] , while the reputation of Halifax for strict law enforcement was noted by Daniel Defoe, who gave a detailed description in his "Travels", the antiquary William Camden and by the "Water Poet" John Taylor, who penned the Beggar's Litany "From Hull, from Halifax, from Hell, ... Good Lord deliver us".

The Halifax Gibbet was featured on The History Channel's "Surviving History" on 6/15/2008. The cast of the show recreated and tested a full scale, fully functioning Halifax Gibbet. [ [http://www.history.com/video.do?name=survivinghistory&bcpid=1591592464&bclid=1600116391&bctid=1592088973 Surviving History: Halifax Gibbet] , History.com, A&E Television Networks]

In a newspaper article in W. G. Sebalds novel Austerlitz, a man from Halifax is mentioned, who, after his wife's death, committed suicide by beheading himself with a home-built guillotine.

ee also

* Guillotine
* Scottish Maiden
* Capital punishment
* Decapitation

Notes

References

* [http://www.guillotine.dk/Pages/gibbet.html "The Halifax Gibbet" - Page by Jørn Fabricius]
* [http://www.calderdale.gov.uk/wtw/search/keywordsearch_it.jsp Calderdale History - Visual Archive] enter search term: gibbet
* [http://www.calderdale.gov.uk/leisure/museums-galleries/bankfield-museum/index.html Bankfield Museum, Halifax] original gibbet blade on display
* [http://www.yorkshirehistory.com/gibbet/index.htm Yorkshire History - Halifax Gibbet]