By Tim Lambert
337 AD Crucifixion is abolished in the Roman Empire
1307 In Dublin a device for beheading people is mentioned
1401 In England a law makes burning the punishment for heresy
1431 In France Joan of Arc is burned
1531 In England a law makes boiling alive the punishment for poisoners
1547 Boiling alive is abolished in England
1735 The last man in Britain to be pressed to death dies in Horsham
1778 Bathsheba Spooner is the first woman hanged in the newly independent USA
1787 The first prisoners are transported from Britain to Australia
1790 Burning to death is abolished in Britain
1792 The guillotine is introduced in France
1827 Breaking on the wheel is abolished in Germany
1817 In Britain a woman is sentenced to the ducking stool for the last time but the water in the pond is too low to immerse her
1824 The scold’s bridle is last used in Britain
1829 Branding with hot irons is abolished in Britain
1837 The pillory is abolished in Britain
1857 In Britain hulks (old ships) are no longer used as prisons
1868 The last public execution in Britain takes place. Transportation of prisoners from Britain to Australia ends.
1870 In Britain hanging, drawing and quartering is abolished
1872 The stocks is abolished in Britain
1881 Flogging is abolished in the British army
1890 In USA William Kemmler became the first person to die in the electric chair
1898 The crank is abolished in British prisons. The treadmill is also abolished in British prisons.
1899 Martha Place is the first woman executed by electric chair
1924 In the USA the gas chamber is first used for an execution
1941 Josef Jakobs is the last person executed in the Tower of London
1948 In Britain birching is abolished for civilians (but not in prisons). In British prisons hard labour is abolished.
1955 Ruth Ellis is the last woman hanged in Britain
1964 The last executions are carried out in Britain
1965 In Britain capital punishment is abolished for an experimental period of 5 years
1967 Whipping and birching are made illegal in British prisons
1969 In Britain hanging is permanently abolished
1977 In the USA Gary Gilmore is shot by a firing squad. The guillotine is used for the last time in France.
1981 Capital punishment is abolished in France
1982 Lethal injection is first used as a means of execution in the USA
1987 Corporal punishment is abolished in state schools in Britain
1999 Corporal punishment is abolished in private schools in England
