The Isle of Ely Summer Assizes, held at Wisbech on Friday, July 10, 1807, only had one prisoner to try, but he was ‘so shockingly depraved and hardened’ that his story bears retelling.
Richard Faulkner was 15 when, on February 15 1807, in an act of revenge, he killed George Burnham at Whittlesea (now spelt Whittlesey), Cambridgeshire. The victim, aged about 12 years old, was beaten to death after his mother splashed Faulkner with dirty water.
Faulkner was tried, convicted and sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead on the following Monday, 13 July. Faulkner did not take his sentence well. When incarcerated, the prisoner reacted so violently that the gaoler chained his feet and his hands to the wall of his cell.
He refused all ministrations from the clergy, stating that: ‘he knew that he must go to H—ll, but he would take care to be master of the d—l.’
From the day of his conviction until the following night, ‘he uttered the most horrid oaths and imprecations on all who came near…refused to listen to any religious advice or admonition.’
Concerned by the condemned boy’s lack of remorse and unwillingness to repent, the powers that be decided to act. The Ipswich Journal reported that Faulkner ‘threatened the clergymen who attended the gaol, or any one who dared to approach him.’
On the day before he was due to be executed, as he languished in his cell, ’two clergymen led between them, by the hands, into the cell,’ a boy of similar appearance to the murdered George Burnham.
Seeing the boy, who he apparently believed was the ghost of George Burnham, Faulkner ‘seemed so completely terrified, that he trembled every limb, cold drops of sweat profusely falling from him, and was…in such a dreadful state…that he intreated the clergymen to continue with him.’
The change that came over Faulkner was sudden and permanent. ‘In this happy transition he remained till his execution on Monday morning the 13th inst, having fully confessed his crime, and implored by fervent prayer the forgiveness of his sins from a merciful God!’
©Mark Young 2024
Sources
The Newgate Calendar
The Ipswich Journal
The Hull Packet; and East Riding Times
Hellish Fiends, and Brutish Men 
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