J. Calcraft,
Boot and Shoe Maker. Executioner to Her Majesty.
His successor, Marwood, sat on several occasions for his model.
WILLIAM MARWOOD, THE HANGMAN
Modeled from life.
The executioner would sometimes visit the studios when his spirits were low, and a pipe and a glass of gin and water—his favourite beverage—were always at his service.
Then he would go down to the Chamber of Horrors to see some of his old acquaintances around whose necks he had so delicately adjusted the fatal noose. He would stop before each one with a grim look, while his lips moved tremulously.
“Put me there,” he once said after he had given a sitting.
It was like a man choosing the site of his grave.