DURHAM EXECUTIONS. The Twentieth Century

Softcover. Widespread poverty continued to exist in Durham at the start of the 20th century. Improvement in working and housing conditions was slow. Wages in dominant industries associated with iron and coal were higher than those who still worked on the land, in service and elsewhere but, for most families, it was a hard existence. The social and economic context of capital crimes are apparent in many of the cases featured in this book. Alcohol-fuelled jealousy or the need for money was often the prelude to a meeting with the executioner. The voices against capital punishment became louder as the century progresses - but too late for the 55 men hanged at Durham, the last in 1958. Executions took place in private and, though witnessed, were not the great public spectacles of the past - but they provided good copy for the newspapers of the day and the hangmen maintained a celebrity status. Illus., Sources and Index. 176pp. softcover. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F.