The history of London is full of gore.  Crime and punishment relied on public acts of extreme violence, normally on a public stage. Plague and pestilence were common and rioting/insurrection formed a dangerous undercurrent throughout the many centuries the capital has been the centre of national life.  None of this is a particular surprise to most with even a passing interest in history but, what is not always known, is the slightly bizarre habit that those in power have of losing amputated body parts of those they have executed.

One of the weirdest stories of execution in history is that of Oliver Cromwell.  Largely because he wasn't executed and died peacefully in Whitehall of a urinary infection at the age of 59 in 1659.  After his death, his son inherited the Protectorate but the system crumbled relatively quickly with Charles II being invited to take the throne only a year later.  Charles had a natural (but somewhat blood thirsty) desire to take revenge on all of those that had signed his father's death warrant.  Some of these individuals were relatively easy to execute.  For example, Major General Thomas Harrison was arrested in May 1660, taken to Charing Cross and Hung Drawn and Quartered.  Samuel Pepys' entry in his diary for 13 October 1660 memorably states:

"I went out to Charing Cross to see Major-general Harrison hanged, drawn and quartered; which was done there, he looking as cheerful as any man could do in that condition."

If only we could all look as calm facing such circumstances. 

Perhaps a good example of how brutal the times were is the fact that Pepys, having watched a man hung and disembowelled alive would then write about his movements post execution:

"After that I went by water home, where I was angry with my wife for her things lying about, and in my passion kicked the little fine basket, which I bought her in Holland, and broke it, which troubled me after I had done it. Within all the afternoon setting up shelves in my study."

A Saturday that many would recognise (domestic argument followed by DIY), with the addition of an execution...

Of course, for Charles II, it was a challenge to obtain retribution against some of the really important regicides, including Cromwell.  Largely because they were already dead.  Not to be deterred, the remarkable decision was made to dig the individuals up and then hang, draw and quarter the decomposing bodies. Twenty four were "executed" in this way, which must have been something of a spectacle when you consider the status of the remains.

But that is not the end of the story of Cromwell's head.  After the "execution" this was cut off and stuck on a pole outside Westminster Hall where it remained for over 20 years until a storm knocked it off.  It was picked up, hidden in a cloak and then stuffed in a chimney breast whilst the City was searched in an attempt to recover it.  Over the next 300 years, the head would be exhibited for profit, sold and passed down in families until, eventually, it arrived back at Cromwell's old college in Cambridge (Sidney Sussex) where it was buried in secret as late as 1960.  Its exact location is a secret known only to a small number of fellows (and the details are passed down as they retire). Sidney still has a death mask of Cromwell in one of its rooms, I remember peering at the somewhat grotesque figure at a drinks reception but the head itself is now at peace.

But this story isn't really about Cromwell but a more obscure footnote, that of the fate of the Duke of Suffolk, Henry Grey.  The 1st Duke of Suffolk rose to fame at the height of the Tudor intrigues where power ebbed and flowed between families and Kings and Queens could be made and unmade in a matter of days.  Unfortunately for all involved, Suffolk wasn't particularly successful when it came to those political machinations in that unique period where power merged with religion to make a powder keg of  plots.

Suffolk was the father of Lady Jane Grey, the teenage girl who, at the age of 16 ,had been persuaded to be named as the successor to the dying Edward VI.  It was part of a misguided plan to keep the staunchly Catholic Mary I from the throne.  The move could have been successful but for a last minute change of heart by a group of Privy Councillors and a lack of determination of those that were left. 

Surprisingly, Mary, having stormed London and taken back her birth right didn't take the same route as Charles II and initially refused to execute Jane Grey or his father (she was fond of both) .   Unfortunately, for Lady Jane Grey it was not to last. 

Suffolk was yet again implicated in a further unsuccessful plot by Thomas Wyatt in 1554 .  This revolt was prompted by the incredible marriage of Mary I to Phillip II of Spain (something that caused an almost unimaginable level of uproar across the country, perhaps akin to if Prince William had decided to marry the daughter of Putin). 

Suffolk, despite having narrowly avoided execution the first time, again backed the losing horse and he (and his daughter) would pay the ultimate price of this failure.   Jane was executed in the Tower itself on Tower Green (one of three queens to meet the fate on the same spot).  Suffolk was taken out to execution hill 11 days later on a chilly morning on 23 February 1554 and beheaded. 

So what of his head?  Well the story here gets somewhat distorted but it appears that the head was smuggled away by Suffolk's wife to a small vault on the South side of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Minories in the City of London (just next to the Tower).  There it remained hidden until 1851 when the vault was opened to find the head surrounded in the oak sawdust that had accompanied it in the executioners basket.  The sawdust had apparently dried out and mummified the head turning the last grimace of Suffolk into a perpetual scream. 

On examination, the head itself was found to have a very close resemblance to the National Portrait Gallery picture of Suffolk.  Moreover, it had axe marks on the neck and the bones in the spine were clearly severed where the axe had struck the body and , for many years, it was possible to knock on the door of the verger of the Church of the Holy Trinity and ask to see the "head of the Duke of Suffolk".  You would then be taken to a glass case where you could examine the offending article. 

However, the Church of the Holy Trinity was deconsecrated in 1899 following a drop in the local congregation (and would eventually disappear during the Blitz, replaced by a sad looking park off Portsoken Street).   The head, however, was moved up the road to St Botolphs Church in Aldgate where, again, it could be viewed in a cupboard by any historian who asked (interestingly, not for view by tourists –although quite what historians were seeking to learn from examination is unclear!). 

As fashions change, the idea that a vicar would be showing a decapitated and mummified head became something of an issue.  The head moved again, this time to the vault of the church and out of view.  However, following redevelopment of the crypt into office space and a communal cafe/exhibition space, the head was finally buried at the back of the churchyard (in a secret location). 

Suffolk’s head has been lost, re-found, exhibited, photographed and moved around the City.  An unusual case of an odd item that was evidence of a brutal period in history.  I am not sorry that it is no longer on display but I do feel that its loss is another example of the removal of yet another unusual oddity in our city although I suspect that Suffolk (and the congregation of St Botolphs) can rest easier knowing it no longer resides along in a dusty cupboard.