Tales of a Nineteenth Century Hangman and Those He Condemned

The Noose of Samuel Burrows: Tales of a Georgian Hangman

In October 1835, Samuel Burrows lay dying. Suffering from liver disease, the 63-year-old knew his time was short and confessed his sins. Reverend William Clarke offered religious guidance to salvage Burrows’s soul before God. Clarke knew the challenge before him; it wasn’t every day he comforted a man who had sent around 53 individuals to their maker.

Burrows felt little remorse. In his view, the law was the law, and t…