E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Hangman’s Wages.
13 1/2d. The fee given to the executioner at Tyburn, with 1 1/2d. for the rope. This was the value of a Scotch merk, and therefore points to the reign of James, who decreed that “the coin of silver called the mark-piece shall be current within the kingdom at the value of 13 1/2d.” Noblemen who were to be beheaded were expected to give the executioner from £7 to £10 for cutting off their head.
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“For half of thirteen-pence ha’penny wages
I would have cleared all the town cages,
And you should have been rid of all the stages
I and my gallows groan.”
The Hangman’s Last Will and Testament. (Rump Songe.)
The present price (1894) is about £40. Calcraft’s charge was £33 14s., plus assistant £5 5s., other fees £1 1s., to which he added “expenses for erecting the scaffold.”
The present price (1894) is about £40. Calcraft’s charge was £33 14s., plus assistant £5 5s., other fees £1 1s., to which he added “expenses for erecting the scaffold.”
