Speakers' Corner is one of Britain's most famous places for public
debate and discussion. It is often seen as a shining symbol of
Britain's entry into liberal democracy.
The official story of the
origins of Speakers' Corner is now a familiar one …an Act of
Parliament passed in 1872 (The Royal Parks and Gardens Regulation
Act) allowed a space in the north-eastern corner of Hyde Park to be
given over for public speaking. Much of the credit for the eventual
passing of the 1872 Act is due to the activities of the Reform
League. The Reform League had pushed the question of the right to
speak freely in Hyde Park.
However the story as to the origins of Speakers' Corner does not
actually begin with the 1872 Act. In fact the space that the Reform
League appropriated for free speech in Hyde Park had already existed
as a public place to meet and discuss for centuries before.
The place known today as Speakers' Corner began life as a place for
public execution. In particular Speakers' Corner was home of the
notorious Tyburn hanging tree. Established as a site for execution
possibly as early as 1108, the first actual record of an execution
at Tyburn was in 1196.
Situated in the north-east corner of Hyde Park, this place for state
executions derived its name from a brook which ran beneath Brook
Street: Tye Bourne. The junction of Tyburn Road (now Oxford Street)
and Tyburn Lane (now Park Lane) provides its precise location. Today
a stone plaque on a traffic island near Marble Arch marks the place
where the gallows once stood.
After 1571 a triangular-shaped
gallows was erected which reached approximately six metres. The
triangular-shape reflected the need to hang more than a single
person. Each beam could accommodate eight people at once, so that
twenty-four could swing together in one go. As many as twelve
hanging days would occur each year.
The Description of Tyburn by John Taylor (the Water-Poet)
I have heard sundry men oft
times dispute
Of trees, that in one year will twice bear fruit.
But if a man note Tyburn, 'will appear,
That that's a tree that bears twelve times a year.
The gallows stood at Tyburn until 1759, when the official place of
execution for felons was moved to Newgate Prison. The removal of the
gallows did not please the people of London at all, as they had
always considered it ‘quite an outing’ to see a ‘good hanging’!
When Jack Sheppard, a highwayman, was hanged there, it was said that
the event attracted an audience of 200,000 people.
The acknowledged first highwayman,
Claude Duval, was hanged at Tyburn on 7th April 1669, and he was
mourned by a mass of weeping women, who later attended his
magnificent funeral.
Samuel Pepys the famous diarist, on 21st January 1664 noted a full
account of going to see the hanging of a man he knew, a Colonel
James Turner. He records that there were at least twelve to fourteen
thousand people there at Tyburn to see this man hang!
Hanging days were declared a public holiday for the labouring
classes. A social commentator of the day, noted that 'All the Way,
from Newgate to Tyburn, is one continued Fair, for Whores and Rogues
of the meaner sort'.
The actual hanging day itself would cause much excitement. The
ceremony would begin in the morning when the prisoners were handed
over to the Under Sheriff. Outside Newgate Prison gates the crowds
would already be arriving as the great bell of St. Sepulchre, heard
only on execution days, would announce the event.
The Idle 'Prentice executed at Tyburn by
William Hogarth (1747)
The condemned were taken to Tyburn on a cart and had to ride with
the hangman and the prison chaplin. Peace-officers would lead the
procession while immediately behind the cart marched a troop of
soldiers and behind them a posse of constables on horseback.
The procession passed through Holborn, St Giles and Tyburn Road
(Oxford Street). Stops made at inns on the way allowed prisoners the
chance to indulge in a drop or two of the hard stuff. It was not
uncommon for prisoners to arrive at the scaffold drunk and
disorderly.
When finally at the gallows, felons might speak to the crowd and
these speeches often would be directed right at the heart of the
state. Catholics, for example, took advantage of the blurred
division between treason and religion in their dying speech by
embracing the authority of the monarchy but retaining open
opposition to the Church of England. As such these martyrs opened up
a public theological debate. Some of those who listened to these
last speeches actually became convinced of their authenticity and
converted to the Catholic cause.
Speakers' Corner evolved from
these speeches which attempted to explain, justify and or to simply
give meaning to a life or lives. And so Tyburn developed into a
political arena for public debate and discussion. That remains, the
defining principles of Speakers' Corner rooted within the culture
that was the Tyburn Hanging Tree.
London is a rather a large city that required several places of
execution, prior of course to convicts and felons being deported
first to America and then to Australia. These have been broadly
summarised below;
Tyburn Gallows – for felons
The Tower of London - for traitors
Execution Dock at Wapping – for pirates
West Smithfield – for heretics, witches, servants who killed their
masters, and women who killed their husbands (also called "petty
treason")
East Smithfield – was often used to execute riverside thieves
DESTINATIONS UK