Hanged at Pentonville

Over the years the high walls of London's Pentonville Prison have contained some of the most infamous criminals. Taking over from the dreaded Newgate Gaol at the turn of the century as the place of execution for north London and surrounding counties, over a hundred murderers and spies paid the ultimate penalty here. The history of execution at Pentonville began with the hanging of a Scottish hawker in 1902. Over the next sixty years the names of those who made the short walk to the gallows reads like a who's who of twentieth-century murder. They include the notorious Dr Crippen and Neville Heath, and the mass murderer John Christie, of Rillington Place, as well as scores of forgotten criminals: German spies, Italian gangsters, teenage tearaways, cut-throat killers - and many more. Steve Fielding has fully researched all these cases, and they are collected together here in one volume for the first time.

Résumé
The history of execution at Pentonville began with the hanging of a Scottish hawker in 1902. Over the next sixty years the names of those who made the short walk to the gallows reads like a who's who of twentieth-century murder. They include the notorious Dr Crippen, Neville Heath, mass murderer John Christie of Rillington Place, as well as scores of forgotten criminals: German spies, Italian gangsters, teenage tearaways, cut-throat killers and many more. Infamous executioners also played a part in the gaol's history: the Billington family of Bolton, Rochdale barber John Ellis and Robert Baxter of Hertford who, for over a decade, was the sole executioner at Pentonville. For many years the prison was used to train the country's hangmen, including members of the well-known Pierrepoint family, Harry Allen and Robert Leslie Stewart, the country's last executioners. Fully illustrated with photographs, news-cuttings and engravings, Hanged at Pentonville is bound to appeal to anyone interested in the darker side of London's history.