Public Executions: From Ancient Rome to the Present Day by Nigel Cawthorne Read Free Book Online Page B

into his hand. After forgiving Thrift, Kilmarnock knelt down. Thrift advised him to remove his hands from the block 'lest they should be mangled or intercept the blow' then he stepped back, raised the axe, and waited for his lordship's signal. Dropping his handkerchief,
    'the earl of Kilmarnock had his head severed from the body at one stroke, all but a little skin which with a little chop was soon separated. He had ordered one of his warders to attend as his valet de chambre, and to keep down his body from struggle or any violent convulsive motion, but it was observed by those on the scaffold that the body, on the stroke, sprung backwards from the block and lay flat on its back, dead and extended, with its head fastened by that little hold which the executioner chopped off. So that it is probable that whenever the head is severed from the body at one stroke, it will always give that convulsive spring or bounce.'
    Kilmarnock had thoughtfully provided a little extra cash for fresh sawdust to be spread on the scaffold after his death so that Balmerino would not have to wade through the blood. However, Thrift's first swing, or Kilmarnock's bounce, had shifted the block and this would have unfortunate consequences for the second man.
    Thrift took a moment to change into a new white suit before Balmerino climbed onto the scaffold. Defiant to the last, he wore a blue coat with red facings – the uniform of Bonnie Prince Charlie's rebel army – along with a tartan hat to signify his allegiance to Scotland. This had to be worn under his wig as tartan had been banned after Culloden. He also wore a woollen undershirt which he said would serve as his shroud.
    In his speech from the scaffold, Balmerino calmly asked his friends to drink him 'ain degrae to heaven'. Addressing the crowds, he said that he had been brought up in 'true, loyal and anti-revolution principles'. The revolution he was referring to was the Act of Union between England and Scotland and the replacement of the Stuarts with the Hanoverian line. He called Bonnie Prince Charlie, the grandson of James II, a man of 'incomparable sweetness...affability...compassion...justice...temperance...patience...courage'. In Balmerino's eyes, this man was the legitimate king of Great Britain.
    Lords Balmerino and Kilmarnock are executed by John Thrift on Tower Hill, August 1746. Proceedings did not go well for Lord Balmerino
    Thrift asked Balmerino for forgiveness and he replied, 'Friend, you need not ask me to forgive you.' He gave Thrift three guineas (£3.15 or £400 in today's money) saying: 'I have never had much money, and this is all I have. I wish it were more, for your sake. I am sorry I can add nothing else but my coat and waistcoat', which he proceeded to take off and lay out on the scaffold. None of this helped to settle Thrift's nerves.
    Balmerino took a moment to decide which side of the block he should kneel on. Then, according to a contemporary report in the Newgate
Calendar,
'immediately, without trembling or changing his countenance, he knelt at the block, and having his arms stretched out, said: 'Oh Lord, reward my friends, forgive my enemies, and receive my soul', he gave the signal by letting his arms fall...' Balmerino's signal caught Thrift off balance '...but his uncommon firmness and intrepidity, and the unexpected suddenness of the signal so surprised the executioner, that although he struck the part directed, the blow was not given with strength enough to wound him very deep. Upon which it seemed as if he made an effort to turn his head towards the executioner, and the under-jaw fell and returned very quickly, like anger and gnashing the teeth...A second blow immediately succeeding the first rendered him quite insensible, and a third finished the work.'
    Thrift fared little better on 8 December, when he beheaded Charles Radcliffe, younger brother of the earl of Derwentwater, who was himself executed after the 1715 uprising. Radcliffe escaped from Newgate