A WOMAN’S EXECUTION

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 25, Issue 3759, 22 May 1936, Page 11

A WOMAN’S EXECUTION

MOTHER OF FIVE CHILDREN. London, April 18. The execution, at Winson Green Prison, Birmingham, on April 16, of Nurse Dorothy Nancy Waddingham was the climax of a drama which had been fought out for many months since the death of Miss Ada Baguley, for whose murder Nurse Waddingham —mother of five children—was sentenced to death at Nottingham Assizes on February 27.

She was the first woman to be hanged in this country since 1934. The police took precautions to prevent any unruly scenes outside the prison when the execution took place. More than 500 policeman were on duty, and cordons were drawn across the streets leading to the prison. Probably 5000 people assembled .outside. Mr. A. Pierrepoint was the executioner, assisted by his nephew, Mr. A. Pierrepoint. After the execution a queue filed past the notice on the gates. Mrs. Van der Elst, the anti-capital punishment advocate, had announced her intention of arranging a demonstration against the execution by means of loud speaker vans and aeroplanes, but the aeroplanes did not materialise. Inquiry at the Hounslow and Heston aerodromes showed that Mrs. Van der Elst had asked for six aeroplanes, but the authorities declined to accept her commission. Sandwichmen carrying boards on which were the words, “Stop this terrible crime of hanging the mother of five children,” paraded in the vicinity of the prison. Men distributed leaflets, and shortly afterwards Mrs. Van der Elst drove up in a limousine, followed by a green loud-speaker van. “This Barbaric Act.” On the sides of this were hung placards with the words, “I appeal to you to prevent the hanging of the mother of five children. This barbaric age" would hang a mother.” Mrs. Van der Elst's car was stopped by the police, and she was told she would have to move on. A gramophone in the loud-speaker car played “Abide With and “Nearer My God To Thee.” The crowd sang the hymns. Mrs. Van der Elst stayed in her car until the notice announcing that the execution had been carried out was affixed to the gates. Solicitor’s Last Appeal. Nurse Waddingham was told two days previously that the Home Secretary had refused to recommend her reprieve, having failed to discover any sufficient ground to justify him in advising his Majesty to interfere with the due course of the law. When she appeared at Nottingham Police Court Nurse Waddingham was also charged with the murder of Mrs. Louisa Baguley, mother of Miss Baguley, but this charge was not mentioned during her trial. Both women were patients at her nursing home. Real Name and Age. At the inquest on Nurse Waddingham—when a formal verdict was returned that she met her death by hanging, in accordance with the order of the court—a question arose as to her proper name and age. Mr. Douglas Cuthbertson, Birmingham city coroner, said: “We understood originally that this woman’s names were Dorothea Nancy Waddingham.”

Mr. Henry Collinson, the prison governor, said: “That was the name under which she carried on business and under which she was charged, but I understand that she was the widow of a Mr. William Leech.”

Dr. John Humphrey, the prison doctor, said Nurse Waddingham told him that her husband died some years ago as a result of cancer. There was also discussion as to the woman's age. Mr. Bright, under-sheriff of Nottingham, said she was 36 and an unregistered nurse, but Dr. Humphrey stated that he was given her age as 37, but now understood it to be 36. The coroner: It is given here as 35.