The Horrible Execution Of "John Sparshott"-He Was Hanged For Sodomy.

The Horrible Execution Of "John Sparshott"-He Was Hanged For Sodomy.

John Sparshott - hanged for sodomy.

19 year old John Sparshott (or Spershott) was the son of the village miller, John Sparshott Snr.  He was the third to last person hanged for the offence of sodomy in England and Wales.  He had been convicted of an “unnatural offence” committed at Mid Lavant near Chichester in West Sussex. 

 It would appear that in reality the crime was a homosexual rape of nine year old George Howard and this is why the case was taken so seriously. Sparshott was tried and convicted at the Sussex Assizes at Lewis on Monday the 10th of August 1835 before Mr. Justice Park.  The newspapers of the day reported the conviction and sentence but stated that “the evidence is unfit for publication”, as it was considered too revolting.

At noon on Saturday the 22nd of August 1835, Sparshott and 33 year old Richard Sheppard who had been convicted of three counts of burglary, were hanged on the “New Drop” gallows set up on the gatehouse roof of Horsham Gaol in East Street.

At 11 a.m. both men attended a service in the Gaol’s chapel and received the sacrament from the chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Torbutt.

 

 Outside the Gaol, some 300 people had gathered to witness the hanging.

The condemned were pinioned in the Press Room and then led up the steps to the gallows where the chaplain prayed with them.  Neither had any final statement and the hangman, William Calcraft, made the usual preparations.  When the drop fell both died without any apparent struggle.

The Times of the 25th of August records and condemns the fact that two young women ascended the gallows to have the hands of the men stroked against their necks to supposedly cure glandular problems.  This superstitious nonsense was still widely believed at the time.  

A broadside was published on the men’s cases.

After they had been suspended for one hour the bodies were then taken down and placed in coffins, covered with black cloth for return to their families.  Sparshott’s body was buried in the churchyard of St Nicholas, Mid Lavant.  This church is still in existence on Midhurst Road (A286).

Given the current interest in LBGT rights, it is interesting to read the transcript of Sparshott’s indictment.  It shows the prevailing disgust of homosexuality at this time. 

“The jurors for our Lord the King, upon their oath present, that John Sparshott of the parish of Mid Lavant in the county of Sussex, labourer, not having the fear of God before his eyes but being moved and reduced by the instigation of the Devil, and not regarding the order of nature, on the ninth day of July in the sixth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord William the Fourth, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, with Force and Arms, at the Parish aforesaid, in the county aforesaid, in and upon George Howard,  the younger in the peace of God and our said Lord the King, then and there being feloniously did make an assault – and then and there, feloniously wickedly diabolically and against the order of nature, had a venereal affair with the said George Howard and him, the said George Howard, then and there feloniously wickedly diabolically and against the order of nature, did carnally know and that detestable horrid and sodomitical crime called buggery with him, the said George Howard, 

then and there feloniously wickedly and diabolically and against the order of nature, did commit and perpetrate to the great displeasure of Almighty God to the great Scandal and disgrace of all mankind against the form of the Statute in such case made and provided and against the peace of our said Lord the King his Crown and Dignity.” On the 27th of November 1835, England’s last executions for sodomy took place when John Smith and John Pratt were hanged at Newgate.