Hanged at the Prison 3

 Quite how the residents living around the railway station felt about a prison on their doorstep we cannot tell.  Of course, when the prison opened there were no houses anywhere nearby, although within a few years of the St Albans Midland Station opening for business, and certainly by the mid 1880s, there were homes in Stanhope Road, Alma Road, Cavendish Road and Clarence Road.  It should also be observed that several homes nearby were occupied by employees of the railway and of the prison.

This week we learn of another prisoner with apparently no connection with St Albans, other than the event at which he met his end.  The crime in which George Anderson was involved took place at Waltham Cross. He too was unique in the roll call of prisoners at the county prison, in being the last man to be hanged in Hertfordshire, not, it needs to be said, because society had come to understand that the practice of capital punishment needed to undergo a change, but due to the expediency of this particular gaol closing its doors – or perhaps it should be expressed as opening its doors!  So, the prison's closure determined the final man in the county: George Anderson.

The crime took place in the summer of 1914, and to fully understand the events we need to connect related characters in the story.  Married couple Harriet and Joseph Whybrow were living at 213 High Street, Waltham Cross, with their five year old son Joseph.  (I know, these households containing members with the same personal names make for a difficult telling!). 

A classic image of old High Street, Waltham Cross

Also resident were Harriet's mother, also Harriet, and her stepfather, the above 56 year old George Anderson.  It is important to mention that George's wife – that is, Harriet's mother – had recently died.  George, a general labourer, had found coping with the loss of his wife difficult to manage, and as a coping mechanism was drinking excessively.  He was known as a hard worker, but with a short temper.  We seem to have all of the ingredients for something to go disastrously wrong.  Introduce an over-inquisitive next-door-neighbour and several other witnesses.

Anderson threatened his son-in-law Joseph Whybrow with an axe. Joseph and Harriet were young marrieds.  We are not informed of the reason for the axe threat, but we presume it is connected with the next fact, that Anderson was intimately associated with his step-daughter Harriet.  Their inquisitive neighbour had observed them "lying down facing each other"; presumably in some public place.  Anderson's behaviour had, since that point, become irrational and violent.

Harriet left the house to walk into the town, presumably of Waltham Cross.  Not far behind Anderson followed her.  Along one street in which he had been observed he took out a knife and cut Harriet's throat, subsequently walking away as if nothing had happened.  He later claimed that the incident was "an accident."

Anderson was remanded to Brixton Prison while evidence was collected. thence to St Albans Prison to await his trial, an event which lasted no more than four hours in total.

Execution took place on 23rd December 1913, without any crowd gathering outside.  The bell of St Paul's Parish Church rang on this occasion, and the only witnesses to the sound were a number of soldiers billeted at the prison under its new guise as a military establishment.