The Headsman has done a “themed set” of three executions out of Shropshire, UK. The first was my entry for Richard Overfield; the second was his for John Griffiths; the third was mine for John Newton.
The Newton case was a quite ordinary, even boring, domestic homicide. Newton found out his pregnant wife had been misappropriating household funds. He beat the crap out of her and went farther than he probably intended: the beating caused her to miscarry, and she died as a result. Nowadays this would, I think, be classified as second-degree murder or even manslaughter, since Newton did not intend to kill his wife and actually sought medical attention for her when he realized what he’d done. But this was the 1820s and back then, if you killed someone, they hanged you.
The Charley Project Blog 