Throughout the centuries England and Britain had a dark history of execution and bloodshed.
Dozens of thousands of people were executed in a variety of different ways.
From hanging, drawing and quartering, to beheading with the axe on Tower Hill during the Tudor
Period, these all had the same outcome, to punish a criminal in the ultimate way.
Throughout the Tudor Period and reign of Henry VIII, 70,000 people were executed including
some of the King’s best friends and two of his wives.
Also many women found themselves accused of witchcraft, and they were hanged on gallows
all over the land.
But the final woman to be executed in Britain was Ruth Ellis, a young lady who had a rather
troubled life at times.
However she was sentenced to death for murdering her lover outside of a pub in London.
But what is the story of Ruth Ellis’ execution?
Remember to support our channel, please make sure to subscribe.
Ruth Ellis was born on the 9th October 1925 in North Wales.
After leaving school at the age of 14, she became a waitress, and then at the age of
17 she got pregnant.
She had slept with a married Canadian soldier who was based in Britain during the Second
World War.
She was then moved to a nursing hospital, and she gave birth to a son named Clare Andria
Neilson, who was also referred to as Andy.
The child’s father sent money back home for around a year, then this stopped.
Her child then went to life with Ruth’s mother, whilst Ruth went to work in a number
of jobs.
Ruth was an attractive lady, and she then fell into working in the nightclubs in London,
and fell into this work through nude modelling.
It paid a lot more than her other jobs previously did, and she then worked at the court club
in Duke Street in London, and whilst here she met a dentist who was much older named
George Ellis.
The couple then married and in 1951 Ruth gave birth to a daughter, and George refused to
accept this daughter, and the couple then split up.
Ruth after this returned to the nightclubs and dancehalls of London, and she managed
the Little Club in Knightsbridge which was very popular, and she did have a number of
celebrity friends.
To win her affections, clients would shower her in expensive lavish gifts also.
Whilst working here, she then met the 25 year old David Blakely, who was trying to build
a racing car at the time, and many racers met inside of the bar where Ruth worked.
As soon as they met, the couple hit it off and struck up a good relationship, however
when he moved into Ruth’s flat their relationship went off the rails.
The pair at times were head over heels in love with each other, but at other times the
pair were tense.
David was a violent and heavy drinker, and he punched Ruth a number of times.
He in January 1955 hit her so hard in the stomach, that Ruth had a miscarriage, and
David was a very jealous man who would accuse Ruth of having an affair with other men who
visited the club where she worked.
David also had affairs behind Ruth’s back, and Ruth then struck up a friendship with
Desmond Cussens, a former Lancaster Bomber Pilot who served in the RAF during the Second
World War.
She even moved in with Desmond for a short period after breaking things off with David,
but she could not keep herself away from David Blakely.
He continued to built his racing car with his friends, but during Easter 1955 he refused
to see Ruth.
Ruth then believed David was having an affair with a nanny and she became outraged with
jealousy.
On the 10th April 1955 Ruth travelled from Desmond’s home to the house of Anthony and
Carol Findlater, and she thought David was here.
When she arrived, David drove off in his car, and Ruth then walked to the Mandala pub where
David was parked up outside.
David Blakely remained in the pub until around 9:30, when Ruth called out to him as he left
and he ignored her.
However Ruth was armed with a Smith and Wesson Pistol, and she then pulled out this weapon
and fired a shot at him.
The first shot missed, and David began to run away, however Ruth then fired a second
shot which hit him, and David collapsed to the ground.
Ruth then stood over him, and fired three more bullets into him.
One of these was first at point blank range into his back.
She even shot a sixth shot which ricocheted and hit someone who was walking past at the
time.
An off duty policeman then arrested her, and Ruth was noted to have been calm and collected,
and also sober.
She was not intoxicated, and she confessed to murdering her former love.
She was then charged and psychiatrists looked at her for possible mental illness, and doctors
deemed her not mentally ill.
On the 20th June 1955 she was placed o trial and she pleaded not guilty.
She wanted her story out there, and she wanted to tell the jury how she had been abused by
the very man she murderered.
She would tell them how violent he was, and how his punches caused her miscarriage.
She said that, ‘it was obvious that when I shot him, I intended to kill her,’ and
this was the intention that was needed to secure a guilty murder charge.
Ruth believed that the jury would take pity on her as an abused woman, however the judge
passed the mandatory death sentence on her, and the jury only took 20 minutes to convict
her and find her completely guilty.
Ruth was sent back to Holloway Prison to await her execution, and she would be visited by
her mother.
She told her that she did not want a reprieve from the death sentence, however there were
many people calling for her sentence to be overturned.
This was denied, and her solicitor was dismissed, but those close to her asked her to come clean
as to how she got the gun.
On the 12th July 1955, the day before her execution, Ruth wanted to make a will.
Her lawyers asked her to reveal the whole story, but she told them that she had been
given the gun by Desmond Cussen who taught her how to use it the weekend before the murder.
She also said that Cussens had driven her to the murder scene, but then following this
the people she spoke to went to the Home Office to try and turn over her execution.
But this made Ruth’s guilt greater as it showed that the murder was premeditated, and
it was said that ‘We cannot have people shooting off firearms in the street.’
Ruth wrote a final letter to David’s parents saying ‘I have always loved your son, and
I shall die loving him.’
But on the day of her execution, Ruth Ellis was visited by Joost de Blank, who came to
her prison cell before it was time.
Before 9am on the 13th July, the executioner and hangman Albert Pierrepoint along with
his assistant came into Ruth’s cell, and they took her to the room adjacent to her
cell where she was hanged.
On the eve of her execution, 500 people had shown up outside the prison chanting and singing
to her, asking for a reprieve.
Some even managed to escape the police cordon, but Ruth had been weighed and measured, and
a drop of 8 feet 4 inches was required to snap her neck, and the gallows had been tested.
Pierrepoint would state that Ruth walked across to the gallows with her elbows held by her
side, and that she said nothing during her execution.
When she reached the trapdoor, a white hood was placed over her head, and then the noose
was secured around her neck.
Her legs were secured, and then Pierrepoint quickly pushed the level, and Ruth fell through
the trapdoor.
Her whole execution took no more than 15 seconds to when she was gathered in the condemned
cell, until she was declared dead after she was left hanging for an hour.
Following her execution, at 9:19 am, the prison guards placed a notice on the gates of the
prison saying Ruth ellis had been executed.
Today her story is one which is very controversial, and she was seen as a woman who was used by
men and was a victim of horrific domestic violence.
She was not right to kill a man, however she was a woman who was being treated terribly
by her lover.
Ruth Ellis was the final woman executed in Britain.
Thanks for watching
To support our channel please make sure to subscribe.
Thanks for watching