Duke Street Prison

Question 1

Info

Answer 1

This unassuming wall is an old prison wall, on the site of the old duke street prison, opened in 1798.
- the conditions were notoriously poor and it was prone to overcrowding

Question 2

Suffragettes

Answer 2

because duke street held female prisoners, many suffragettes were imprisoned here, including:

• Ethel Moorhead. she was the bane of the Scottish constabulary. a militant and arsonist, the woman who egged Winston Churchill, who attempted to blow up Burns Cottage, the cayenne pepper weilding, prison cell destroying, hunger striking suffragette.
• when arrested (a regular occurrence) in 1913 for militancy and sent to duke street, the not only knocked the prison governor’s hat straight off his head but instructed him to remind the authorities that it is not their ‘duty to endeavour to tame the suffragettes’.

Question 3

executions

Answer 3

executions were carried out at the prison from 1865 until 1928 and there were 12 in total.

Question 4

susan newall

Answer 4

most notable execution:

• in 1923 became the first woman to be executed in Scotland for over 50 years.
• newell strange a 13 year old post boy, chillingly she used her seven year old as an accomplice after forcing her to help pull the boy’s mutilated corpse along on a cart in search of a means to dispose of it.
• someone caught sight of a human foot trailing from the cart and the crime was exposed.
• at her execution newell managed to free her arms from her wrist straps and managed to pull off the white hood. hr executioner didn’t want to cause a fuss and decided to proceed without the hood as the noose was already in place. he pulled the lever and susan was hanged with her face in full view of the officials who were present.
• the became the last woman to hang in Scotland and was said to remain very calm during her execution, accepting her fate with courage and dignity, though she never admitted to her crime.