HANGMAN'S WAGES

Domain	Definition
Literature	Hangman's Wages 131/2d. The fee given to the executioner at Tyburn, with 1 1/2d. for the rope. This was the value of a Scotch merk, and therefore points to the reign of James, who decreed that "the coin of silver called the mark-piece shall be current within the kingdom at the value of 13 1/2d." Noblemen who were to be beheaded were expected to give the executioner from 7 to 10 for cutting off their head. "For half of thirteen-pence ha'penny wages I would have cleared all the town cages, And you should have been rid of all the stages I and my gallows groan." The Hangman's Last Will and Testament. (Rump Songe. The present price (1894) is about 40. Calcraft's charge was 33 14s., plus assistant 5 5s., other fees 1 1s., to which he added "expenses for erecting the scaffold." Source: Brewer's Dictionary.
Slang in 1811	HANGMAN'S WAGES. Thirteen pence halfpenny; which, according to the vulgar tradition, was thus allotted: one shilling for the executioner, and three halfpence for the rope, --N. B. This refers to former times; the hangmen of the present day having, like ot. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.