List of people executed for homosexuality in Europe

Societal attitudes towards same-sex relationships have varied over time and place, from expecting all males to engage in same-sex relationships, to casual integration, through acceptance, to seeing the practice as a minor sin, repressing it through law enforcement and judicial mechanisms, and to proscribing it under penalty of death. The following individuals received the death penalty for it.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Executed individuals

Belgium
NameDateNotes
John de Wettre1292A "maker of small knives" condemned at Ghent and burned at the pillory next to St. Peter's[3]:17

France
NameDateNotes
Dominique Phinot1556Composer of the Renaissance[4]
Jean Diot6 July 1750The last two to be executed for sodomy in France
Bruno Lenoir

Germany
NameDateNotes
Katherina Hetzeldorfer1477German cross-dressing lesbian executed for heresy against nature after having used a dildo on two female partners.
Catharina Margaretha Linck1721Prussian cross-dressing lesbian executed for sodomy; her execution was the last for lesbian sexual activity in Europe.

Italy
NameDateNotes
Giovanni di Giovanni136515-year-old Italian boy charged with being "a public and notorious passive sodomite"[5][6]
Jacopo Bonfadio1550Humanist and historian[7]
Francesco CalcagnoVenetian Franciscan friar.[8]

Netherlands
NameDateNotes
Jillis Bruggeman9 March 1803Last person executed for sodomy in Netherlands[9]

Poland
NameDateNotes
Marcin Gołek9 November 1633Executed by burning[10]
Wojciech ze Sromotki

Spain
NameDateNotes
Margarida Borràs1460Cross-dressing transgender woman

Sweden
NameDateNotes
Lisbetha OlsdotterNovember 1679

Switzerland
NameDateNotes
Richard Puller von Hohenburg24 September 1482Swiss nobleman and knight
Hans Waldmann (mayor)6 April 1489Executed for multiple crimes, including sodomy

United Kingdom
See also: History of violence against LGBT people in the United Kingdom, Sodomy law § United Kingdom, and LGBT rights in the United Kingdom § Homosexuality as an offence
NameDateNotes
James Hunt25 August 1743Trial at Surrey assizes 4 August. Hanged at Kennington Common.[11]
Thomas Collins
Richard Arnold 15 September 1753 Convicted 31 August 1753 of felony and buggery for an act witnessed in the Swan Inn, Broad Street, Bristol. Both men were subsequently hanged.[12][13][14][15]
William Critchard[16]
Joseph Wright15 August 1755Trial at Coventry assizes.[17] Hanged on Whitley Common. Wright admitted that he had been guilty of sodomy, but never with Grimes, while Grimes said that he had never committed any such offence.[18]
Thomas Grimes
Francis Hayes[11]17 April 1761Trial at Kingston assizes 26 March. Hanged at Kennington Common. Hayes, a watchmaker, was convicted of an assault on his twelve-year-old errand boy. He had previously been pilloried twice for similar offences.[19]
William Dillon Sheppard[20]1 June 1761Trial at Bristol assizes 8 May. Hanged on St Michael's Hill. Dillon was an Irish Catholic, born in 1729, who was convicted of an assault on a nine-year-old boy. He protested his innocence to the last claiming that the charge was a "malicious report by some enemies".[19]
William Flinton[21]5 April 1762Trial at Kent assizes 19 March.
Richard Whatley[22]23 March 1776Trial at Hampshire assizes 5 March. Whatley, aged 41 and also known as Richard Churchill, was convicted of sodomy against Benjamin Dupre, a coachman employed by Lovell Stanhope. He admitted that he had attempted the offence (which took place at Avington), but had not actually committed it.[23]
Benjamin Loveday12 October 1781Trial at Bristol assizes.[20] Hanged on St Michael's Hill. Loveday worked as a waiter before keeping a public house on Tower Street, Bristol while Burke was a midshipman.[24]
John Burke
Thomas Ladd[11]10 April 1786Trial at Surrey assizes 22 March. Hanged on Peckham Common.
Thomas Crispin[25]17 August 1787Trial at Devon assizes 30 July. Hanged at Heavitree gallows near Exeter. Crispin, aged 45, was a potter from Pilton who had been living in a workhouse for seven years. His co-accused Hugh Gribble was reprieved owing to mental incapacity. Crispin acknowledged his guilt but showed no remorse.[26]
John Southwell3 April 1790Trial at Suffolk assizes 17 March. Hanged at Rushmere, Ipswich[27]
John Smith
William Powell[27]30 August 1797Trial at Suffolk assizes 9 August. Hanged at Bury St Edmonds at the age of 70.[28]
Joseph Bird[29]26 August 1803Trial at Warwickshire assizes.
Mathuselah Spalding aka Methuselah.[30][31]8 February 1804Trial at the Old Bailey, hanged at Newgate
David Robertson[32][33]13 August 1806Trial at the Old Bailey.
James Stockton aka Samuel Stockton[33]13 September 1806Trial at Lancaster assizes, hanged at Lancaster castle
Joseph Holland
John Powell
Isaac Hitchin[33]27 September 1806Trial at Lancaster assizes, hanged at Lancaster castle
Thomas Rix
William Billey[34]31 March 1808Trial at Kent Lent Assizes in Maidstone, executed on Penenden Heath
James Bartlett[35]4 April 1809Trial at Surrey Assizes, executed at Horsemonger Lane Gaol
Samuel Mounser[36][37]31 August 1810Trial at the Chelmsford Summer Assizes, from Stanford-le-Hope
Thomas White7 March 1811
Main article: Vere Street Coterie
Ensign John Newball Hepburn, in his forties, and Drummer Thomas White, 16, tried at the Old Bailey and hanged in front of Newgate Prison, London[38][39]
John Hepburn
David Thompson Myers[40][41]4 May 1812Acquitted in Lincolnshire but then convicted at trial at Peterborough, hanged at Fengate. The last man to be publicly executed in the city.
George Godfrey[42] 1 April 1813Hanged at Pennenden Heath
Henry Youens[43]18 August 1814Trial at the Kent Assizes in Maidstone, hanged at Penenden Heath
John Ottaway
Abraham Adams[44][45]26 July 1815Trial at the Old Bailey, hanged at Newgate alongside Elizabeth Fenning
John Atwood Eglerton[46]23 September 1816A waiter accused of sodomy with a stableboy, convicted after ten minutes in a trial at the Old Bailey, where he was hanged. William Beckford wrote in a letter about the case that "Tomorrow (according to the papers) they are going to hang a poor honest sodomite. I should like to know what kind of deity they fancy they are placating with these shocking human sacrifices. In a numerous list of thieves, assassins, housebreakers, violators ("a man for a rape") etc, he was the only one to be sent to the gallows; all the others were "respited during pleasure." The danger must be great indeed and everyone in the country must be running the risk of having his arse exposed to fire and slaughter".[47]
Robert Yandell[46]2 December 1816Trial at the Old Bailey, hanged at Newgate
George Siggins[48]21 August 1817Trial at Kent Assizes in Maidstone, executed on Penenden Heath
Joseph Charlton[49][50][51]14 April 1819A watchmaker aged 26 who was tried at the Guildhall, Newcastle and hanged at Morpeth. His funeral was attended by 2000 people.
John Markham[51][52][53]29 December 1819A pauper aged 26 who was an inmate at St. Giles’s workhouse, his hanging was heard by John Cam Hobhouse, who was being held at Newgate.
Thomas Foster[54]3 May 1820Trial at Kent Assizes and hanged at Penenden Heath
John Holland25 November 1822
William King
William North24 February 1823
William Arden21 March 1823
Benjamin Candler
John Doughty
Charles Clutton13 August 1824
Joseph Bennett20 April 1825
George Maggs
Daniel Woodward20 December 1826
Samuel Wright17 April 1830
John Stammers13 August 1830
Henry Nicholl12 August 1833
George Cropper26 December 1833
Thomas Rogers26 April 1834
William Hocking21 August 1834
John Sparsholt22 August 1835
John Smith27 November 1835The last two men to be hanged for sodomy in England
John Pratt

[55]

See also

References
  1. Herrup, Cynthia B. (1999). A House in Gross Disorder: Sex, Law, and the 2nd Earl of Castlehaven. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195125184.
  2. Norris, David (2009-05-17). "Changing Attitudes". Public Address at the service to mark international day against homophobia in Christ Church Cathedral. David Norris. Archived from the original on 2009-06-06. Retrieved 2009-11-29.
  3. Crompton, Louis (1981). Salvatore J. Licata; Robert P. Petersen (eds.). Historical Perspectives on Homosexuality. Haworth Press. ISBN 9780917724275.
  4. Jacob, Roger "Dominique Phinot", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed January 1, 2006), (subscription access)
  5. Rocke, Michael (1996). Forbidden Friendships, Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence. Oxford University Press. pp. 24, 227, 356, 360. ISBN 0-19-512292-5.
  6. Meyer, Michael J (2000). Literature and Homosexuality. Rodopi. p. 206. ISBN 90-420-0519-X.
  7. Official website commemorating 500 years since Bonfadio's birth Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Tucker, Scott (1997). The Queer Question: Essays on Desire and Democracy. Boston: South End Press. ISBN 978-0-89608-577-0. p. 46.
  9. "Schiedam herdenkt geëxecuteerde sodomist". Rijnmond.
  10. "Polscy homoseksualiści spaleni na stosie?". 27 July 2020.
  11. Surrey Assizes 1735-1799
  12. "Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: Bristol Gaol Delivery Fiats". rictornorton.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  13. "Homosexuality in 18th-cent. England: Newspaper Reports, 1752". rictornorton.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  14. "Homosexuality in 18th-cent. England: Newspaper Reports, 1753". rictornorton.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  15. "Map". OutStories Bristol. 2016-06-22. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  16. Also reported as William Critichett (alternative spelling given by Bristol Gaol delivery fiats), William Pritchard (newspaper reports, 1752) and William Crutchard (newspaper reports, 1753)
  17. Coventry Assizes 1735-1799
  18. "Homosexuality in 18th-cent. England: Newspaper Reports, 1755". rictornorton.co.uk.
  19. "Homosexuality in 18th-cent. England: Newspaper Reports, 1761". rictornorton.co.uk.
  20. Bristol Assizes 1735-1799
  21. Kent Assizes 1735-1799
  22. Hampshire Assizes 1735-1799
  23. "Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: Newspaper Reports, 1776". rictornorton.co.uk.
  24. "Homosexuality in 18th-cent. England: Newspaper Reports, 1780-1781". rictornorton.co.uk.
  25. Devon Assizes 1735-1799
  26. "Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: Newspaper Reports, 1787". rictornorton.co.uk.
  27. Suffolk Assizes 1735-1799
  28. "Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: Newspaper Reports, 1797". rictornorton.co.uk.
  29. "Catalogue description Report of Giles Rooke on Joseph Bird, convicted at the 'last' Warwickshire Assizes for..." August 21, 1803 – via National Archive of the UK.
  30. "Methuselah Spalding | The Digital Panopticon". www.digitalpanopticon.org.
  31. Rictor Norton (Ed.), "Newspaper Reports, 1804", Homosexuality in Nineteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook, 20 April 2008; enlarged 20 October 2014 http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1804news.htm
  32. Robertson, David, "The trial of David Robertson ... for an unnatural crime with George Foulston : tried before Sir Robert Graham ... on Saturday, May 24, 1806, at Justice-Hall, in the Old Bailey : with his remarkable address to the court, praying arrest of judgment : embellished with a striking likeness of the prisoner" (1806). British Trials. 2. https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/brittrials/2
  33. Rictor Norton (Ed.), "Newspaper Reports, 1806", Homosexuality in Nineteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook, 5 May 2008, updated 17 February 2013, enlarged 19 January 2016 http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1806news.htm
  34. Rictor Norton (Ed.), "Newspaper Reports, 1808", Homosexuality in Nineteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook, 5 May 2008; enlarged 25 Oct. 2014, 9 Jan. 2016 http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1808news.htm
  35. Rictor Norton (Ed.), "Newspaper Reports, 1809", Homosexuality in Nineteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook, 5 May 2008, updated 19 January 2012, enlarged 26 January 2016 http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1809news.htm
  36. Rictor Norton (Ed.), "Newspaper Reports, 1810", Homosexuality in Nineteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook, 13 January 2016, updated 3 December 2019 http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1810news.htm
  37. "The London Chronicle". J. Wilkie. September 6, 1810 – via Google Books.
  38. Davenport, Guy (2003), "Wos Es War, Soll Ich Werden" in The Death of Picasso, Shoemaker & Hoard, Washington, D.C., p. 334.
  39. "The London Chronicle". J. Wilkie. September 6, 1810 – via Google Books.
  40. Rictor Norton (Ed.), "Lord, Remember Me!", Homosexuality in Nineteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook, enlarged 7 Dec. 2014 http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1812myer.htm
  41. "DT Myers - Peterborough Execution (1812)". October 15, 2015.
  42. "Homosexuality in 19th-cent. England: Newspaper Reports, 1813". rictornorton.co.uk.
  43. Rictor Norton (Ed.), "Newspaper Reports, 1814", Homosexuality in Nineteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook, 7 November 2014 http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1814news.htm
  44. "Abraham Adams | The Digital Panopticon". www.digitalpanopticon.org.
  45. Rictor Norton (Ed.), "Newspaper Reports, 1815", Homosexuality in Nineteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook, 12 November 2014 http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1815news.htm
  46. Rictor Norton (Ed.), "Newspaper Reports, 1816", Homosexuality in Nineteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook, 12 November 2014, updated 15 April 2020 http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1816news.htm
  47. Rictor Norton, "William Beckford's Gay Scrapbooks", Gay History and Literature, updated 16 Nov. 1999 <http://www.rictornorton.co.uk/beckfor2.htm
  48. Rictor Norton (Ed.), "Newspaper Reports, 1817", Homosexuality in Nineteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook, 17 November 2014, updateed 18 April 2020 http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1817news.htm
  49. John Sykes, Local records; or, Historical register of remarkable events, which have occurred in Northumberland and Durham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Berwick-upon-Tweed, Volume 2, p. 118, 1866
  50. "The last dying words of Joseph Charlton ; of North-Shields, watch-maker who was executed at Morpeth, on the 14th of April 1819, for an unnatural offense". English Crime and Execution Broadsides - CURIOSity Digital Collections.
  51. Rictor Norton (Ed.), "Newspaper Reports, 1819", Homosexuality in Nineteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook, 11 December 2014, updated 2 March 2015 http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1819news.htm
  52. "Browse - Central Criminal Court".
  53. "ExecutedToday.com » 1819: John Markham, abominable offence".
  54. Rictor Norton (Ed.), "Newspaper Reports, 1820", Homosexuality in Nineteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook, 17 December 2014, enlarged 12 Jan. 2016 http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1820news.htm
  55. "Capital Punishment UK homepage". www.capitalpunishmentuk.org.


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