Pierrepoint: A Family of Executioners
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Product Description
Between them, the three men in the fearsome Pierrepoint dynasty executed over 800 people during a career spanning more than half a century. Henry, his brother Thomas, and his son Albert, dispatched some of the most infamous criminals of the 20th century, and in the process earned a public notoriety that followed them throughout their eventful lives.For years, the three men were faced with the task - prestigious to some, horrific to many others - of being the last point of contact for the guilty and condemned. The Pierrepoints executed criminals the nation over before travelling to many countries including Egypt and postwar Germany, where they hanged Nazi war criminals, and gained a reputation as the world's most deadly practitioners of the art of hanging."Pierrepoint: A Family of Executioners" recounts the intriguing stories of the three men and the effect that their macabre occupation had on their personal lives. This definitive guide is filled with shocking inside tales from the official records and diaries kept by the Pierrepoint family. With revealing insights into the intense rivalry between fellow executioners, new light is shed on the menacing world of years gone by.
About the Author
Steven Fielding is the author of several historical crime titles such as The Hangman's Record and The Murder Casebook Series. He has worked as the Historical Consultant on the Discovery Channel series The Executioners and has contributed to several magazines such as The Criminologist.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Want to know about the family of hangmen that were the Pierrepoints? Well don't start here, as this book gives exhaustive detail on all the people they hung, and those people's deportment on the way to the gallows, but it tells you absolutely nothing about the Pierrepoints and how they came to occupy their position in society, and surely a biography should do that? Instead you have page after page of who they hung, when they hanged them and what they'd done to be hanged. Very dull book save your money get the autobiography instead.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book should have been fascinating unfortunately it is far from this. I was hoping for insight into the executioner as a person and their feelings towards their job. Instead it is one long list of executions plumped out by facts of the crimes. Well written, I'm sure the author would write a fascinating true crime account, but ultimately not worth the time it took to read it.
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is an interesting tale of the Pierrepoint family, Henry, his brother Thomas, and son Albert, who all followed the same occupational sideline to boost the family income.
I was surprised at the apparent ease with which Henry secured a job as Assistant Executioner - he wrote a speculative letter to the Home Secretary, and within a month he was starting a week's training course to quite literally "learn the ropes"; he assisted at his first execution within nine months, and was chief executioner - fitting the noose and pulling the lever - in less than two years. After this, the family members were able to pass on inside information to each other on what the job involved and how it was done, so they had an advantage when it came to applying for vacancies - Henry taught Tom, who taught Albert, who in turn advised Robert Leslie Stewart (who conducted one of the last UK hangings in August 1964) who was the husband of one of the barmaids Albert employed in his pub.
Of necessity, the book becomes rather repetitive, usually with a description of the crime and of the condemned, the date and place of the execution, and any unusual event which occurred during the hanging and how much of a "drop" was given to each "client". Appendix 2 lists for each of the family's clients their name, age, date of execution, location, and identifies the chief and assistant executioners.
Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the book was several times disturbed by a lack of adequate proofreading. There are several references to a place called "Lunburg", which I presume was actually "Luneburg"; there's just plain carelessness
I was surprised at the apparent ease with which Henry secured a job as Assistant Executioner - he wrote a speculative letter to the Home Secretary, and within a month he was starting a week's training course to quite literally "learn the ropes"; he assisted at his first execution within nine months, and was chief executioner - fitting the noose and pulling the lever - in less than two years. After this, the family members were able to pass on inside information to each other on what the job involved and how it was done, so they had an advantage when it came to applying for vacancies - Henry taught Tom, who taught Albert, who in turn advised Robert Leslie Stewart (who conducted one of the last UK hangings in August 1964) who was the husband of one of the barmaids Albert employed in his pub.
Of necessity, the book becomes rather repetitive, usually with a description of the crime and of the condemned, the date and place of the execution, and any unusual event which occurred during the hanging and how much of a "drop" was given to each "client". Appendix 2 lists for each of the family's clients their name, age, date of execution, location, and identifies the chief and assistant executioners.
Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the book was several times disturbed by a lack of adequate proofreading. There are several references to a place called "Lunburg", which I presume was actually "Luneburg"; there's just plain carelessness
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Pierrepoint
My wife a collector of anything to do with "murder,hangman etc" watches all the programs on tv/documentories and she has read many books and this is another one once she started... Read more
Published 23 days ago by K. Tilson
a lot of words that say nothing
I was mildly disappointed reading this book as I expected to know more about the man and the Pierrepoint family and instead it was a body by body count. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Lyn Kimberling
A Bit Repetitive
Have to agree with other reviews that the presentation is a bit dry and covers a fair bit of territory from the author's previous "Executioner's Diary" work. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Northern Warrior
Crime against writing
This is withut doubt the most tedious and appalingly written book a I have ever read. Steve Fielding has written a book that clearly took him about a week to research. Read more
Published 10 months ago by benb
pierepoint saint or sinner
as with previous books i have read about albert pierrepoint this is a facinating read and insight into a man whom would have you believe he was just doing a job! Read more
Published 15 months ago by binz
Usual drivel from Fielding
Fielding is well noted for his ignorance of decent research. Indeed, in one of his earlier works over 1000 errors or omissions were noticed. Read more
Published 23 months ago by RipperExpert
Pierrrepoint: A Family of Executioners
This is not a very well written Book in my own opinion. In places the information is not correct, need I say more.
Published on 29 Jan 2010 by JOHN GREEN
Dull and poorly written
This is supposed to be a book about a family of executioners but is just an unimaginative and monotonous litany of executions by three hangmen who happen to be from the same... Read more
Published on 28 Dec 2008 by East Coast Scribbler
Pierrepoint Steve FIelding
Excellent book , thoroughly enjoyed reading it, factually brilliant , a must read for anyone interested in such a fascinating part of our history. Read more
Published on 2 Dec 2006 by Janet
Not as good as it should be.
I approached this book expecting to learn some intersting new revelations about the lives of the Pierrepoint men but instead found it a very dry recounting of almost every person... Read more
Published on 20 Sep 2006 by Robert Lawes
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