It was to be the last public execution in the city and thereafter the murderer’s comeuppance was delivered in a corner of the exercise yard away from prying eyes.
Quite likely there was some opposition to this at the time because the gruesome spectacle provided free entertainment and large crowds would throng to the area outside the jail, many arriving early to get the best vantage points.
As it happened, the last person to swing was certainly no local celebrity.
William Ockold, who was either 69 or 70 years of age, lived in Oldbury, then within Worcestershire, and was a decrepit old drunk who had beaten his wife to death with a mop stick in one of the brutal thrashings that had been a mainstay of their half-century of married life.
Apparently, the couple were well known in their neighbourhood, the latter for certain peculiarities of conduct in working all night and playing all day.
They frequently went out together drinking and used to return home arm in arm, the worse for what they had taken.
Ockold professed to remember little of the incident although he did admit to giving his wife “a punch or two”.
But the bloodstained mop shaft did for him and although his counsel pleaded for clemency none was forthcoming.
The hangman was William Calcraft, one of England’s most prolific executioners who despatched 450 criminals in his 45-year career.
Something of a showman, crowds of up to 30,000 would turn out to watch him perform.
Although there would have been nowhere near that number for old Ockold’s departure as the entire population of Worcester was less than that.
Fortunately, the month of January has enjoyed some happier days over the centuries and here are a few from Worcester Civic Society’s History and Heritage Calendar.
January 15, 1959: Always worth ringing on the calendar because it was on that day in 1959 Worcester City beat Liverpool 2-1 in the FA Cup at St George’s Lane. When Dick White, the Reds’ centre-half, put into his own net in the 72nd minute to give City a two-goal lead you’d have thought Armageddon had arrived. The roar from the 15,000-plus crowd was like God bringing down thunder upon mankind.
January 17, 1814: Worcester’s most prolific novelist of some 50 novels, Ellen Price was born. She was the daughter of glove manufacturer Thomas Price who lived at Danesbury House in Sidbury. Ellen married Henry Wood in 1836 and wrote under the name of Ellen Wood or Mrs Henry Wood. Her most famous romantic novel was East Lynne, written in 1861. This became a Hollywood film and had an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture in 1931. Ellen died in February 1887 and is remembered by a memorial in Worcester Cathedral.
January 18, 1886: Bonaker Ward at Worcester Royal Infirmary in Castle Street was opened by Countess Beauchamp. The Rev William Bonaker of Evesham, who died on July 17, 1865, had left £8,762 in his will for the creation of a children’s ward at the hospital and this was the result.
The first Worcester Infirmary opened in Silver Street in 1746 with the ambition to provide for the sick and poor and for the relief of suffering and the search for medical knowledge. Then the newly-appointed Bishop of Worcester Isaac Maddox and local physician Dr John Wall led the campaign to establish a charity hospital in Worcester. At that time the city was prosperous and fashionable and many donations were given for this much-needed institution. Sermons, concerts and social events such as picnics were held to raise funds and many local landed gentry gave generously. Sir John Rushout and Edward Garlick were principal benefactors and wards were named after them.
January 28, 1772: Christopher Hebb was born. He was the first democratically-elected mayor of Worcester in 1836 to 1837 and became a reformer for good ethics in public office. A hospital surgeon by profession, he was admitted as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1794 at the age of only 22, conducting his practice from his home first in Mealcheapen Street then Britannia Square.
Hebb was president of the Worcester Literary and Scientific Society and translated the work of a French pathologist. He was appointed the first chairman of Worcester’s Municipal Charities and also served as a magistrate and alderman. His standing in the city was such that Hebb Street, which lies off The Tything at Britannia Square, was named after him.
January 29, 1958: Charles William Dyson Perrins died. Worcester is known all over the world either for sauce or for porcelain and both were nurtured by Dyson Perrins who was born in 1864. The Lea and Perrins Sauce partnership started on January 1, 1823 and Charles became a partner at the age of 30 in 1894. He grew the company until it was sold to HP Foods in 1930 and later to Heinz but today sauce is still being made at its Midland Road factory in Worcester. Charles became a director of Royal Worcester Porcelain in 1891 aged 27 and in 1898 loaned £ 20,000 and retained his controlling connections until 1954 when it became a public company yet with him as president. With its 250th anniversary celebrated in 2001 the factory had a long history, including having been awarded the Royal Warrant in 1789. Its famous craftsmanship is on display at the Museum of Royal Worcester.
A few more January happenings: Skating on the River Severn at Worcester when the temperature dropped to -28C (1891), a 77-round bare knuckle boxing championship on Pitchcroft between Irishman Jack Langan and Tom Spring of Fownhope, Herefordshire, (1824) and in 1802 a terrific storm blew the sails of a windmill at Kempsey so fast it caught fire.