John Ellis grave (4th October 1874 to 20th September 1932)

John was a barber and ran a small newsagents shop however for 23 years he was a hangman for the government from 1901 to 1924. He carried out (or was part of) 203 hangings.

Here I am at his grave in Rochdale's main cemetery not far from where he was born. Enduring mundane lowly jobs in mills and factories he decided to follow his father's trade by becoming a barber. He did this for a while before running a newsagent's shop to support his wife and children. He was uninspired by what town life had to offer. While working in the Eagle Mill in Balderstone he injured his back so badly he decided to look for less physically demanding work. Aged 22 he applied to be an executioner and the Home Office invited him to attend training at London's Newgate Prison so see if he had the stomach for it. He did and helped hang his first customer in Newcastle in December 1901. By the age of 30 he had been promoted to Chief Executioner.

Aged 36 he hanged his most famous customer - murderer Hawley Harvey Crippen (known as Doctor Crippen.) He also hanged Frederick Seddon (poisoner), diplomat Sir Roger Casement (treason), Herbert Rowse Armstrong (the only solicitor hanged for murder). The most famous woman he hanged was Edith Thompson in 1923. She and her lover were both hanged for murdering her husband even though there was no evidence Edith knew he would be stabbed to death. So distraught at the prospect of imminent death she collapsed and remained unconscious. John instructed four prison warders to hoist her into a chair. He put the noose over her neck and pulled the lever so she was dropped through the trap door without knowing it.

This death taunted John so much he put in his notice to leave in March 1924. He performed another eleven executions (which included another woman) before finally leaving the job. He started drinking heavily and tried to kill himself by shooting himself in the jaw. Suicide was a criminal offence then but Rochdale Magistrates Court were lenient and pretty much let him off. He continued boozing heavily though and eight years later succeeded in killing himself aged 57 by gashing his throat with a razor.

Like most executioners he left behind a death ledger but there was a scrapbook too detailing his personal accounts of those he executed, their crimes, their final conversations and reactions to their death which was minutes away. He also noted practical techniques he'd perfected to gain swifter deaths (all now made into a book - The Hangman’s Scrapbook by Neil Storey.)

He lies in Rochdale Cemetery and the only reference to previous visitors is a wreath at the foot of the headstone (though I spotted a white pebble on top.) Perhaps if he'd remained in mundane jobs he would not have been haunted enough to commit suicide in such a grisly way. I did a salute and left.