Who was Raymond Humphries?

[Railway End 0]

Any photos out there of Tyburn that can be posted.

[shazzybird 10]

Perhaps your uncle Ted saw a ghost, Shazzy. Nothing would surprise me where Tyburn is concerned!

 

Not long ago to Unc could have been 4 years ago like me obviously no sense of time that's why we are always late for things

[norbold 7,167]

Any photos out there of Tyburn that can be posted.

 

There's a good one of him in "Speedway in the South East" I believe...

[Railway End 0]

Norbold didn't Tyburn have a beard?

[frigbo 524]

Norbold didn't Tyburn have a beard?

 

yes, It was a beauty too

[norbold 7,167]

Norbold didn't Tyburn have a beard?

 

In the photograph I have of him he has a little goatee type beard. I'll e-mail you a copy if you let me have your e-mail address.

[norbold 7,167]

Just another little contribution to the Tyburn Gallows debate and whether he really was an assistant hangman or not.

I came across this information on another web site:

 

"In 1964 the last two men in Britain were hanged for murder. The following year, parliament voted to abolish capital punishment, with overwhelming public support. The most famous public hangman, Albert Pierrepoint, had already retired with nearly 700 executions to his name. The passage of time has since seen the demise of every executioner and their assistants (Pierrepoint died in 1982). By 1994 Syd Dernley was the only former hangman alive in the UK."

 

If Tyburn Gallows died after 1994 it would suggest that he never really was an assistant hangman (or, of course, that the article on the web is wrong!). Have we established when Tyburn went to the great scaffold in the sky yet?

[kiwi 49]

He died aged 51

[Gemini 4,894]

After 1994?

Even I am interested now!

[kiwi 49]

found this on a site about the english hangmen

 

Assistant executioners.

There were many more names on the Home Office list of approved executioners over the period covered but they only acted as assistants and are, thus, not always recorded. Amongst the better known of these was Sid Dernley who assisted at 25 executions between 1949 and 1954 and also wrote a book called "The Hangman's Tale" detailing his experiences. Sid Dernley died in 1996.

[Grachan 7,364]

Reg Fearman tells a story on the History of Speedway video of how Tyburn Gallows made the national press and caused a bit of of a fuss by hanging an effigy of a Cradley rider on the centre green during a match against Cradley Heath, just at the time the anit-hanging lobby was in full swing.

[jaykay2 0]

I can remember cycling from my home in Baldock (Herts) to Rye House on Sunday afternoons, & Tyburn Gallows (aka Ray Humpries) was a regular then must have been around 1962, yes it was then cos i went to Wembly World Final & peter Craven won!

Seem to remember that Mike Broadbanks of Rye House was in the Final too! I think his dad (broadbanks senior) was the promoter at rye house in those days?

We used to go on the go-karts after the meetings & if you pulled the throttle cable where it was running under the seat from the pedal to the engine, you could get it to go faster, i think the pedal had a stop to keep the speed down. After the spedway meetings you would get a live group playing in the clubhouse, remeber seeing Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages there, scary lot they were too, Hey i am rambling now, i will shut up!!

cheers

john Kilcline

[shazzybird 10]

You don't have to keep quiet tell us you're speedway memories :!:

[Lioness 1,464]

I'd second that from a different point of view!

 

for Shazzy it brings back the past and memories she has, for a relative newbie like me it gives an insight into what went on in speedway before I became interested.

 

I might not post much in here(I can only go back 5 years so theres little point!) but I do get a lot out of reading other folks memories and it often makes me realise why some things are done the way they are now.

 

So thanks folks and keep posting whether you think they are rants or not!

[shazzybird 10]

for Shazzy it brings back the past and memories she has

 

You're right there Lioness, some of the tales make me cry, some make me cringe but most of all they make me realise how lucky I was to be a part of speedway in the 70's & 80's. My Dad and Uncle Ted when they get together they often talk about the meetings from years gone by and different things that happend.

When I was with a couple of Uncle Teds' friends they then talked about "the good old days" listening to them laughing and joking about different things, was great. Even talking to Mark Martin on msn never ever get fed up of listening to speedway memories of anyones, everyone has a story or two to tell from the past.