Darnall Man executes The King of England - Whitehall 30th January 1649
Whilst I was reearching another article, I came across this small paragraph from The Handbook of Yorkshire
"William Walker, a resident of the settlement, is one of several people rumoured to have been
the executioner of Charles I of
England. At the door of the chancel (St Peters Parish Church now Sheffield
Cathedral), in 1700, was buried William Walker of Darnall (a village about 3 m. from Sheffield), who is supposed (with whatever truth) to have been the executioner of Charles I. Walker was a person of considerable standing in the neighbourhood, and was at all events a violent republican, and the translator of a book entitled " Vindicire contra Tyrannos." '
Rather intrigued by this statement I had a search and found this article from
The Gentleman's Magazine of 1768
It is of course not conclusive proof. The executioner was hooded and possibly disguised hence the historical dispute about the identity of the executioner. And as the illustration shows more than one person was involved - the person to the left of the execution block can be seen holding the King's severed head aloft for all the crowd to see. But William Walker on his death-bed did state that he was the man who executed the King.
Sources
The Handbook of Yorkshire
The Gentleman's Magazine
This page was last updated on 25/11/14 16:34