Harry Allen (executioner)
| Harry Allen | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Harold Bernard Allen 5 November 1911 Denaby Main West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 14 August 1992 (aged 80) Fleetwood, Lancashire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Executioner, bus driver, publican |
| Employer | HM Prison Service |
| Spouse(s) | Marjorie Clayton (1933 to 1958) Doris Dyke (1963 to 1992) |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) | James Allen and Emma Allen, née Burns |
Harry Bernard Allen (5 November 1911 – 14 August 1992) was one of Britain's last official executioners, officiating between 1941 and 1964. He was chief executioner at 41 executions and acted as assistant executioner at 53 others, at various prisons in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and Cyprus. He acted as assistant executioner for 14 years, mostly to Albert Pierrepoint from 1941 to 1955.
In October 1955 Allen was appointed as Chief Executioner alongside Pierrepoint, although he did not execute anyone in this role until 10 May 1956, when he hanged two EOKA members in Cyprus. Pierrepoint was no longer available because he had resigned in February 1956. Allen's most controversial hanging came in April 1962, when James Hanratty was hanged for murder, despite efforts to clear his name. Allen also assisted in the execution of Derek Bentley in 1953, and he performed one of the last two executions in Britain, in 1964.
Born in Denaby Main, near Conisbrough in the West Riding of Yorkshire on 5 November 1911, Allen was brought up in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, and was educated at St Anne's Roman Catholic School in Burlington Street, Ashton. His first job was in the Transport Department at Park Bridge Iron Works, before he became a bus driver with Ashton Corporation, a job he continued to hold after he became an assistant hangman in 1941.
Allen applied for a job in the Prison Service in the 1930s but was turned down. He successfully applied to be put on the Home Office list of executioners and was often employed as an assistant executioner to Tom Pierrepoint, the uncle of Albert Pierrepoint. As a preliminary step, he witnessed his first execution at the age of 29 – that of William Cooper – on 26 November 1940 at Bedford Prison, describing it as a "very good, clean job, not as gruesome as I expected".
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