Geordie Justice (old executions from around the North East).

 In 1594 Thomas Boste was hanged on the site where my former school stands, St Leonard's in Durham. While I remember vaguely a teacher mentioning it I never really looked into who he was and why he died. Thomas was born to a landowner and seemed to have a run-of-the-mill childhood. He converted to Catholiscism in 1576 in Reims. This of course was during Elizabeth 1 reign and as she was Protestant being a Catholic was a crime. However, in 1581 Thomas decided to return to the North of England and arrived in Hartlepool, from their he travelled to East Anglia. Thomas spent a few years travelling around and was later recorded being near Brancepeth Castle in Durham working as a missionary. For this reason he was wanted for arrest. For 10yrs Thomas evaded arrest until one day he was betrayed by a ''friend'' who told the authorities where to find Thomas. After a service (in which his so called friend attended) authorites gathered to arrest Thomas. Thomas was found in a prie...

  In 1752 a 19yr old soldier called Ewan MacDonald was convicted of murdering a man in a public house on the Bigg Market, Newcastle. How does a 19yr old come to condemned to death?  Ewan was a large man from the Scottish Highlands who wore a kilt with pride and honour. However, he was known to lash out if anyone spoke ill of his kilt and this gave him a reputation. Ewan was on a temporary stationing at Newcastle and he went out for some drinks. At some point that night after a few drinks an argument had started and escalated. It was saif that Ewan followed some men outside and stabbed Robert Parker through the neck and broke another man's arm. Some argued he was a killer, other argued it was self-defence. The 1752 Murder Act had come into law so people convicted had to be hanged within 2 days of judgement. Ewan was sentanced to be hanged, dissected and studied after being found guilty. As Ewan made his way up to the scaffold he tried to break free of all restraints. He almost ...

 In 1776 postman Robert Knowles was found guilty of stealing 2 bank notes from mail belonging to Robert Rankin (estimated to be worth around £50). Robert was placed in jail but complained he wasn't feeling very well and the guard allowed him to sit in the cell without any chains. Later that night the guard noticed a large bundle lying on the floor and opened the cell to check what the bundle was. Knowles slipped behind the guard and escaped by blocking the door. He was captured a few days later and sentanced to hang. Knowles acknowledged the justness of his sentance before he was hanged at Newcastle Town Moor.