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Albert Pierrepoint
Albert Pierrepoint (/ˈpɪərpɔɪnt/ PEER-poynt; 30 March 1905 – 10 July 1992) was an English hangman who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father Henry and uncle Thomas were official hangmen before him.
Pierrepoint was born in Clayton in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His family struggled financially because of his father's intermittent employment and heavy drinking. Pierrepoint knew from an early age that he wanted to become a hangman, and was taken on as an assistant executioner in September 1932, aged 27. His first execution was in December that year, alongside his uncle Tom. In October 1941 he undertook his first hanging as lead executioner.
During his tenure he hanged 200 people who had been convicted of war crimes in Germany and Austria, as well as several high-profile murderers—including Gordon Cummins (the Blackout Ripper), John Haigh (the Acid Bath Murderer) and John Christie (the Rillington Place Strangler). He undertook several contentious executions, including Timothy Evans, Derek Bentley and Ruth Ellis and executions for high treason—William Joyce (also known as Lord Haw-Haw) and John Amery—and treachery, with the hanging of Theodore Schurch.
In 1956 Pierrepoint was involved in a dispute with a sheriff over payment, leading to his retirement from the role of hangman. He ran a pub in Lancashire from the mid-1940s until the 1960s. He wrote his memoirs in 1974 in which he concluded that capital punishment was not a deterrent, although he may have changed his position subsequently. He approached his task with gravitas and said that the execution was "sacred to me". His life has been included in several works of fiction, such as the 2005 film Pierrepoint, in which he was portrayed by Timothy Spall.
Albert Pierrepoint was born on 30 March 1905 in Clayton in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He was the third of five children and eldest son of Henry Pierrepoint and his wife Mary (née Buxton). Henry had a series of jobs, including a butcher's apprentice, clog maker and a carrier in a local mill, but employment was mostly short-term. With intermittent employment, the family often had financial problems, worsened by Henry's heavy drinking. From 1901 Henry had been on the list of official executioners. The role was part-time, with payment made only for individual hangings, rather than an annual stipend or salary, and there was no pension included with the position.
Henry was removed from the list of executioners in July 1910 after arriving drunk at a prison the day before an execution and excessively berating his assistant. Henry's brother Thomas became an official executioner in 1906. Pierrepoint did not find out about his father's former job until 1916, when Henry's memoirs were published in a newspaper. Influenced by his father and uncle, when asked at school to write about what job he would like when older, Pierrepoint said that "When I leave school I should like to be public executioner like my dad is, because it needs a steady man with good hands like my dad and my Uncle Tom and I shall be the same".
In 1917 the Pierrepoint family left Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, and moved to Failsworth, near Oldham, Lancashire. Henry's health declined and he was unable to undertake physical work; as a result, Pierrepoint left school and began work at the local Marlborough Mills. Henry died in 1922 and Pierrepoint received two blue exercise books—in which his father had written his story as a hangman—and Henry's execution diary, which listed details of each hanging in which he had participated. In the 1920s Pierrepoint left the mill and became a drayman for a wholesale grocer, delivering goods ordered through a travelling salesman. By 1930 he had learned to drive a car and a lorry to make his deliveries; he later became manager of the business.
On 19 April 1931 Pierrepoint wrote to the Prison Commissioners and applied to be an assistant executioner. He was turned down; there were no vacancies. He received an invitation for an interview six months later. He was accepted and spent four days training at Pentonville Prison, London, where a dummy was used for practice. He received his formal acceptance letter as an assistant executioner at the end of September 1932. At that time, the assistant's fee was £1 11s 6d per execution (equivalent to £119 in 2025, when adjusted for inflation). Another £1 11s 6d was paid two weeks later if his conduct and behaviour were satisfactory. The executioner was chosen by the county high sheriff—or more commonly delegated to the undersheriff, who selected both the hangman and the assistant. Executioners and their assistants were required to be discreet and the rules for those roles included the clause:
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Albert Pierrepoint
Albert Pierrepoint (/ˈpɪərpɔɪnt/ PEER-poynt; 30 March 1905 – 10 July 1992) was an English hangman who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father Henry and uncle Thomas were official hangmen before him.
Pierrepoint was born in Clayton in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His family struggled financially because of his father's intermittent employment and heavy drinking. Pierrepoint knew from an early age that he wanted to become a hangman, and was taken on as an assistant executioner in September 1932, aged 27. His first execution was in December that year, alongside his uncle Tom. In October 1941 he undertook his first hanging as lead executioner.
During his tenure he hanged 200 people who had been convicted of war crimes in Germany and Austria, as well as several high-profile murderers—including Gordon Cummins (the Blackout Ripper), John Haigh (the Acid Bath Murderer) and John Christie (the Rillington Place Strangler). He undertook several contentious executions, including Timothy Evans, Derek Bentley and Ruth Ellis and executions for high treason—William Joyce (also known as Lord Haw-Haw) and John Amery—and treachery, with the hanging of Theodore Schurch.
In 1956 Pierrepoint was involved in a dispute with a sheriff over payment, leading to his retirement from the role of hangman. He ran a pub in Lancashire from the mid-1940s until the 1960s. He wrote his memoirs in 1974 in which he concluded that capital punishment was not a deterrent, although he may have changed his position subsequently. He approached his task with gravitas and said that the execution was "sacred to me". His life has been included in several works of fiction, such as the 2005 film Pierrepoint, in which he was portrayed by Timothy Spall.
Albert Pierrepoint was born on 30 March 1905 in Clayton in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He was the third of five children and eldest son of Henry Pierrepoint and his wife Mary (née Buxton). Henry had a series of jobs, including a butcher's apprentice, clog maker and a carrier in a local mill, but employment was mostly short-term. With intermittent employment, the family often had financial problems, worsened by Henry's heavy drinking. From 1901 Henry had been on the list of official executioners. The role was part-time, with payment made only for individual hangings, rather than an annual stipend or salary, and there was no pension included with the position.
Henry was removed from the list of executioners in July 1910 after arriving drunk at a prison the day before an execution and excessively berating his assistant. Henry's brother Thomas became an official executioner in 1906. Pierrepoint did not find out about his father's former job until 1916, when Henry's memoirs were published in a newspaper. Influenced by his father and uncle, when asked at school to write about what job he would like when older, Pierrepoint said that "When I leave school I should like to be public executioner like my dad is, because it needs a steady man with good hands like my dad and my Uncle Tom and I shall be the same".
In 1917 the Pierrepoint family left Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, and moved to Failsworth, near Oldham, Lancashire. Henry's health declined and he was unable to undertake physical work; as a result, Pierrepoint left school and began work at the local Marlborough Mills. Henry died in 1922 and Pierrepoint received two blue exercise books—in which his father had written his story as a hangman—and Henry's execution diary, which listed details of each hanging in which he had participated. In the 1920s Pierrepoint left the mill and became a drayman for a wholesale grocer, delivering goods ordered through a travelling salesman. By 1930 he had learned to drive a car and a lorry to make his deliveries; he later became manager of the business.
On 19 April 1931 Pierrepoint wrote to the Prison Commissioners and applied to be an assistant executioner. He was turned down; there were no vacancies. He received an invitation for an interview six months later. He was accepted and spent four days training at Pentonville Prison, London, where a dummy was used for practice. He received his formal acceptance letter as an assistant executioner at the end of September 1932. At that time, the assistant's fee was £1 11s 6d per execution (equivalent to £119 in 2025, when adjusted for inflation). Another £1 11s 6d was paid two weeks later if his conduct and behaviour were satisfactory. The executioner was chosen by the county high sheriff—or more commonly delegated to the undersheriff, who selected both the hangman and the assistant. Executioners and their assistants were required to be discreet and the rules for those roles included the clause: