History, Culture and the Death Penalty: The British Debates, 1840 70
Mid Victorian Britain saw a debate over the death penalty the intensity of which was not matched until the mid twentieth century. On at least eight occasions between 1 840 and 1 869 the Commons voted on measures to abolish capital punishment.2 The topic was subjected to lengthy discussion in leading journals; major intellectual and literary figures joined the fray, many, at least initially, on the side of reform. A symbolically charged dispute, it elicited powerful emotions on both sides of the question. Despite repeated defeats in Parliament, the advocates of abolition were confident that victory lay within their grasp. In 1848 one reformer, George Thompson, optimistically predicted that "the time would soon come" for the final overthrow of the gallows.3 Another abolitionist announced his pleasure in observing "obsolete usages" giving way before "modern feelings."4 Many conservative commentators, in the 1 840s, feared the accuracy of these observations. The confidence felt by abolitionists was grounded in a particular interpretation of recent history and a faith in the