During his years as executioner between 1901 and 1924, John Ellis hanged over 200 men and women. Among them were some of the most infamous killers of the 20th century including Dr Crippen, John Dickman 'The Railway Murderer', George Smith 'The Brides in the Bath' murderer, Henry Jacoby, poisoners Frederick Seddon and Major Herbert Rowse Armstrong. Ellis also hanged Sir Roger Casement for treachery and carried out the execution of Edith Thompson, one of the most controversial hangings in the history of capital punishment.

British executioners kept their own legers recording brief details of those they hanged, John Ellis maintained just such a leger too but he is believed to be the only British executioner to have kept an additional scrapbook of his personal accounts of those he executed and their crimes and as such it is a unique volume in the annals of British crime and punishment.

Rediscovered after being lost for decades, John Ellis' scrapbook - its cuttings, manuscript texts, and annotations - have now been diligently transcribed and we can now read the book Ellis envisaged in his own words, and in doing so, we gain a remarkable insight into the life and executions one of Britain's most notable but least-known hangmen.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 How I Became a Hangman
• Chapter 2 Last Victim of the Newgate Scaffold
• Chapter 3 The Last Moment Confession of the Moat Farm Murderer
• Chapter 4 The First Time I Saw a Condemned Woman
• Chapter 5 Three Who Met Death with a Smile
• Chapter 6 Three Men Executed in Three Days
• Chapter 7 My First Job As Senior Executioner
• Chapter 8 The Last Request of John Dickman
• Chapter 9 Dr Crippen
• Chapter 10 The Most Trying Week in My Career
• Chapter 11 A Fight in the Condemned Cell
• Chapter 12 The End of Seddon the Poisoner
• Chapter 13 The Hooded Man
• Chapter 14 A Mistake and an Innovation
• Chapter 15 The Liverpool Sack Murderer
• Chapter 16 The Brides in the Bath Murderer
• Chapter 17 The Air Raid Murderer
• Chapter 18 The Worst I Ever Encountered
• Chapter 19 The Boy on the Gallows
• Chapter 20 The Hay Poisoner
• Chapter 21 My Dreadful Scene With Edith Thompson
• Appendix 1: The Execution Protocol
• Appendix 2: The Table of ‘Drops’
• Appendix 3: Roll of Executions credited to John Ellis
• Select Bibliography and Further Reading
• Acknowledgements
• Plates