The Children England Sent to the Gallows

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Today, a small stone marker in the pavement is the only reminder that this was the site of London’s public hangings for nearly 600 years.

The Children England Sent to the Gallows were not always violent criminals. Some were poor, desperate, or caught inside a justice system where poverty and circumstance could carry terrible consequences.

A child accused of a serious crime could find himself before a magistrate and, under the Bloody Code, facing consequences that seem unimaginable today.

The Tyburn Tree was not a tree at all, but rather a wooden gallows where felons were executed in front of crowds that could number in the thousands. The 'tree' was a triangular-shaped scaffold with three beams, able to hang up to 24 people at once.

The first recorded execution at the site dates as far back as 1196, but the wooden gallows weren’t built until 1571. The strange structure became known as the Tyburn Tree.

In the mid 1700’s a person could be being hanged for stealing a handkerchief, cutting down a tree or for blackening their face at nigh time.

Living in England in the mid 1700’s, a person could be hanged for all these offences. From 1688 to 1815, law makers in England introduced the death penalty for a myriad of offences in a bid to deter property loss. Poaching of deer, stealing of rabbits, looting from shipwrecks, pickpocketing… every page of the statue book dripped with the threat of the hanging noose.

By 1800, there were over 220 property-related crimes in the English criminal law that were punishable by death. Historians referred to this era of criminal law as the “Bloody Code”.

Before the crowds gathered, the Tyburn Tree stood as one of England's most feared symbols of justice, punishment, and public spectacle.

In 1741, nineteen-year-old Elizabeth Hardy from Norwich was sentenced to hang for stealing goods worth 13 shillings and 6 pence (around $100 today). Abandoned by her husband and alone in London, she had been driven to theft out of desperation. She was given a last-minute reprieve at the gallows and her sentence was commuted to transportation instead.

Roderick Audrey was a young thief with a way with birds. At nine years old, he had mastered the art of training his pet sparrow to fly into London townhouses. He would knock on the door with tears in his eyes and beg the butler to let him in to retrieve his pet sparrow. Once he was inside, he would grab silver cutlery and stuff them down his pants. If he was seen before he could finish his thievery, he would run out of the house as if he was chasing his sparrow like the innocuous boy he appeared to be.

The Tyburn Tree has long vanished, but the stories remain. Elizabeth Hardy, Roderick Audrey, John Dean, and countless others once stood on the edge of history here.

Audrey was so prolific at his stealing that country towns and villages within ten miles of London soon knew that the boy who played with the sparrow was a thief. Audrey’s luck ran out in his teens. In 1714, he was arrested and sentenced to hang at Tyburn. Unlike Elizabeth Hardy, he did not get a reprieve. Audrey was sixteen years old when his life ended.

Children, specifically between the age of seven and twelve, could be sentenced to death if there was evidence of strong malice in them.

Among The Children England Sent to the Gallows was John Dean, a boy between eight and nine years old who was sentenced to death in 1629. He was hanged for setting fire to two barns. He was one of the youngest persons to be sentenced to death in England.

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Paul Rushworth-Brown is the author of three novels:

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As old loyalties fracture and hidden tensions rise, the Rushworth brothers are forced to confront a difficult truth: history is not only shaped by kings and power—but by ordinary people trying to endure the forces closing around them.

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Perfect for readers who love immersive historical fiction, gripping adventure, emotional storytelling, and unforgettable journeys through the past.

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"Dream of Courage-

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Dream of Courage is a gripping historical thriller filled with mystery, suspense, danger, adventure, and emotional intensity. Rich in atmosphere and historical realism, it continues the sweeping story of ordinary people trying to endure the forces of history closing around them.

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