Execution of Edward Pritchard H.M. Prison Gloucester Thursday 17th February 1887 aged 20 years Hanged by Berry Within seven weeks of the commission of the crime of murder under circumstances of much premeditation and atrocity Edward Pritchard aged only 20 years expiated, on Thursday morning, that crime on the gallows in H. M. Prison, Gloucester. The details of the murder have been reported ‘in full in an earlier edition, but briefly the facts were as follows:— Pritchard, who was of bad character and lived in Stroud, knew that his victim, an intelligent boy of 14 years, was sent every Friday in each fortnight by his employers to the Capital and Counties Bank in Stroud to pay in cheques and collect wages. On Friday afternoon, December 31st, young Henry James Allen was sent to the bank to collect money totalling £120 in gold, £61. 4. 7d. in silver and bronze and four £5 notes. The same afternoon Pritchard hired a pony and trap as he had done on the Friday fortnight before,and drove off hurriedly in the direction Allen had taken. Later on the boy was seen riding in the trap. About four o’clock in the afternoon Allen was found lying alone in Lodgemore Lane with terrible wounds on his head: he was at once taken to Stroud Hospital. The same evening Pritchard returned the trap after washing it: he explained the blood on the harness and rug by the statement he had been carrying meat. Pritchard went to the Eagle Inn at Pitchcombe and handed the landlord a bag to take care of for the night. The news of the robbery having reached the Eagle, the police were communicated with and Supt. Phillpott arrived the same night and arrested Pritchard on his return to the Eagle. Upon him was found the four five pound notes and a canvas bag containing £120 and in the black bag he had deposited with the landlord of the Eagle was £50 odd. The boy Allen lingered at the hospital in an unconscious state ‘til January 4th when he died. There were ten wounds on his head, nine of which had penetrated the skull. At the trial on January 26th it was proved that Pritchard had mentioned to one witness that he intended to have this money or to knock the boy’s brains out if he did not give it up; he was also seen by a neighbour on the day before sharpening a billhook with which the wounds were apparently inflicted. Justice Manisty, in sentencing the prisoner to death, said 'a more cruel and brutal murder was never committed'. In ordinary circumstances the execution of Pritchard would have taken place last Monday which was the day immediately following the third Sunday after his conviction, but he unexpectedly obtained a three day respite owing to the fact James Berry of Bradford, the Hangman, being retained for execution work at Leicester on Monday, Manchester on Tuesday and at Durham on Wednesday. Thursday was therefore the appointed day he was to be in Gloucester for Pritchard to die at the hand of the law. When Berry arrived in the prison he inspected the gallows to see they were in working order and at night fall took a stroll into the town. The prison, as is his custom, was his sleeping quarters for the night. The execution was strictly private except as regards the presence of officials and representatives of the press. Just before eight they all passed from an inner airing court into the execution chamber. There stood the black gallows, the raised beam streched across a vault which Anderson, the amateur and deputy hangman for Calcraft, had made for the triple hanging in January 1874. There was a movement and the procession with the unhappy Pritchard appeared at the threshold. His arms were pinioned by Berry. He then, with a firm tread, stepped up and onto the fatal trap door. Berry stooped down and strapped the culprit’s legs during which process Pritchard gazed in front and could see his open grave. Berry next put the white cap over his head, adjusted the noose, then quickly released the lever causing the trap door to collapse on its hinges. Pritchard was launched into the vault without fear or word. A drop of four feet six inches was allowed by Berry, who stated Pritchard weighed 10 stone 7 lbs. The Executioner’s office is by no means an unremunerative one, he has a retaining fee of £100 a year by the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex and his fee of £10 per execution plus travelling and hotel expenses paid by the Sheriff who engages him. The usual inquest required by law followed at 10 o’clock; immediately after this, the body (clothes on - which is the custom) was placed in the coffin and buried in the grave which Prichard had seen before him. The Jury donated their fee to the Children’s Hospital. Excerpts from The Gloucester Chronicle 1887 Murder of Edward Allen aged 14