Trevor: Don't forget that the information on Ancestry and other web sites has been taken from parish registers and refers to burials, usually at the period concerned, in the parish churchyard. It is not a record of the cause of death and so does not cover executions as such, even if the burial was in the churchyard. However, he almost certainly was not buried there, but in the prison yard of Durham Gaol. Any record of that, as such, would be in the prison records (probably in TNA) but as a burial more or less had to follow from an execution, unless the body was sent to the surgeons to be "anatomised", I'm not sure whether even the prison would keep a separate register of burials. Unlike Newcastle, Durham City does not seem to have had a large public hospital at that period, and therefore there was no equivalent of Newcastle's Surgeons' Hall where dissections could be performed. I would therefore expect a burial in the prison yard to be the most likely explanation. Geoff Nicholson -----Original Message----- From: Trevor via <northumbria@rootsweb.com> To: ROOTSWEB: Northumbria <NORTHUMBRIA@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wed, 3 Sep 2014 5:19 Subject: [NMB] Execution records I cannot find official record for the execution of John Moses at Dryburn in 1803. I have searched Ancestry, Familysearch, Durham Records Online but cannot find a record (which doesn't mean to say that there isn't one - just that I haven't found it!) I have a footnote reference to his execution in An historical, topographical and descriptive view of the county palatine of Durham, by E. Mackenzie and [continued by] M. Ross: Volume 2. I'm sure there must be an official record - county, legal, national, etc - but I just don't know where to look. Any suggestions? BTW - that book is a free download from Google Books. Trevor (Melbourne) .. Please quote the minimum necessary to put your reply on context. Please introduce yourself at the top of every post. The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NORTHUMBRIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Geoff: Thank you for the input. I had an idea that, at that particular time, any such records would have been a palatinate matter rather than national. However, I will follow through with your suggestion to explore TNA. I will also search for newspapers on line. The fate of some executed prisoners ending on anatomists' dissection tables hadn't occurred to me; I rather thought (based on local custom here) that they would have been buried in the prison yard (with quicklime). Last night I read of one poor sod being sentenced to death by pressing. Messy business! Let me take this opportunity to thank you and other contributors for the marvellous input to guide my recent visit to Cumbria and Durham. I am much more familiar with the latter from earlier visits, but your commentary really enlightened my understanding of the Alston Moor area around Alston and Garrigill, especially. Trevor (Melbourne)