The Hangman's Tale - memoirs of a public hangman

Syd Dernley with David Newman

Revue by Christine Hasan

The Hangman's Tale - memoirs of a public hangman

I don't really know what I expected from this book. Understanding of what makes someone become a hangman? Vindication of my views on the death penalty? The 'Yuck' factor? I do know that it left me with a feeling of having opened doors to reality that I would rather not have opened. The Hangman's Tale the autobiography of Syd Dernley; one of Her Majesty's hangmen in Great Britain during the early fifties. It comes across very clearly that Mr Dernley is very proud of the quality of his help in dispatching people from this world. His obvious lack of emotion is quite chilling and he makes a point of stressing that he held no salacious interest in the hangings themselves. The level of effort that went into making the hanging as quick and humane as possible really surprised me. Even though capital punishment was abolished in Great Britain as long ago as 1965, it was oddly reassuring to read how much care had been taken." The fact that it is so fast is a kindness to the man who has to go and to the people who have to present at an execution." The book is basically a potted history of what led up to the executions that Mr. Dernely attended, a re-run of the event itself, and a slight self aggrandizement. The final chapter deals with his views on capital punishment thirty five years after his last outing as a hangman. He presents a very profound argument in agreement with the death penalty. I found that given his unique position in history I could not fault his reasoning, even whilst I disagreed with it. Certainly a book worth reading for anyone interested in testing the depth of their aversion to the death penalty!!

Christine Hasan. Muharraq. Bahrain 28th October 2005

This book (ISBN: 0-33—31633-8 ) is published by Pan Books.