Joseph Allen was a farmer from Crowton, near Weaverham who was hanged on 10th May 1817. He was not guilty of anything other than passing forged Notes of the Bank of England. Unfortunately for him, this crime was at that time viewed far more seriously than many others, including murder. Murderers had a roughly one in ten chance of a reprieve. People convicted of forgery did not. It was a crime that mostly affected the rich in the community, and it was those very people who were the judge and jury in the courts. Forgers could expect little sympathy.
Prior to this crime he was of good character, and was able to obtain credit just by the mention of his name. He lived on the farm with his wife and seven young children, as well as his father and his mother.
At some point he seems to have fallen in with a bad crowd, and discovered the easy way of forging. Together with his brother Samuel, and another man, Jelley, they set about forging and passing forged notes. They were not very good at forging. They used the wrong colour ink, brown rather than black. They used the wrong kind of paper. They were soon apprehended but not until they had passed over £100 pounds worth of forged notes. When arrested Joseph Allen had a parcel of forged notes in front of him on his desk. A Bank of England Inspector, a Mr Glover, declared that all the notes were fakes, and had been printed on the same plate.
Jelley was tried at Lancaster, but escaped. Samuel Allen was sentenced to 14 years transportation. Joseph Allen’s trial lasted 5 hours, during which he insisted that he did not know the notes were forged. He was confident throughout his trial, but his optimism deserted him when the Death Sentence was passed.
On the morning of his execution he again made a solemn declaration that he did not know the notes were forged.
It was custom at that time for the prisoners to be ‘entertained’ on the morning of the execution by the Constable of the County Gaol, and his wife in their quarters at the castle. The prisoner would then be taken around the city in the open cart, visiting each ward, presumably so that everybody could see that justice was to be done.
He was taken in the open cart from the County Gaol at Chester Castle, to the City Gaol. He spent some time in prayer before the execution.
He was executed by Sammy Burrows.
The last person to be hanged for forgery in England was in 1829. In 1820 there were 46 people hanged for passing forged notes in England. On closer examination, many of the notes proved to be genuine.