The Last Woman Hanged in England

[My Good Babushka]

Ruth Ellis of Basingstoke, Hampshire was the last woman to be hanged in England. She was hanged for the murder of her lover, David Blakely, at Royal Holloway Prison on the 13th of July 1955.

[intaglio]

1. Sadly, long before the abolition of CP

An interesting sidelight is in the words, said long before, from her executioner Albert Pierrepoint.

... in the moments before execution, "I think a woman is braver than a man... I have never seen a man braver than a woman."
From the review of "The Secret Executioner" The Guardian 2006

[CBGLuthier]

2. The great Timothy Spahl played Pierrepoint in a movie.

He seemed to be an interesting man, the hangman. Really believed in doing his job quickly and with as much mercy as possible. Contrast that to our current blood-soaked thrust for vengeance DP where folks cheered when a man was tortured to death.