Simon Webb (2) (1954–)

I read this little book on the history of capital punishment in Britain the other week (July 2015). Judicial hanging is its main theme but it touches on burning, beheading, etc. It talks about forgotten matters such as the Halifax Gibbet and boiling people to death amongst other things. It covers some of the most gruesome passages of British history but not in a sensationalist way. The main story is of the development of better hanging techniques and of the hangmen who were sometimes drunks. show more I am in favour of capital punishment to some extent but this book shows how very difficult it is to come up with a method of execution that is anywhere near humane. show less

First World War Trials and Executions: Britain's Traitors, Spies and Killers 1914 – 1918

First World War Trials and Executions: Britain's Traitors, Spies and Killers 1914 – 1918 is a well researched book from the historian of Simon Webb. The book as it says in the title investigates all those the state put to death for various reasons and gives a short picture of the reason why and how they were executed.

What Webb does tell us that during World War 1 the number of executions fell, and show more that in all a total of 51 men were executed in England. Most of those executed were hanged, 80% of those were for murder, and a small number shot for espionage. Only one spy and one traitor were hanged during this period.

The book neatly brings those with similar crimes together in one chapter, so those that used cut-throat razors for example, seven men, told who they were, who the crime is committed against and where their execution was carried out. They do this for all the chapters, so you are able to dip in and out of the book.

There are also short chapters about the Executioners which is rather interesting and how they came to the position and why they left. For those of a gorier bent there is also a chapter on The Mechanics of Hanging.

This is an interesting, short history book that has been well research, well written and an ‘entertaining’ read that you can consume quickly. A book for all those interested in historic crimes and how things used to be. show less

Quaker author and incorrigible bookworm Simon Webb relates his own experience of depression, drawing on insights from the New Testament, the Quaker tradition and the depiction of melancholy in some of the world's great books.