Jack Ketch

England’s official executioner from 1663 to 1686.

History

Ketch became notorious for botching executions. His most infamous failure was the beheading of the Duke of Monmouth in 1685 — it took him five blows with the axe and possibly a finishing stroke with a knife. He reportedly apologized beforehand, saying he was nervous. The crowd nearly lynched him.

His name became a byword. “Jack Ketch” entered the language as a generic term for any executioner or hangman, and he became the hangman character in Punch and Judy puppet shows, a role that persisted for centuries.

In the novel

Ketch is a real presence at the executions the characters witness. For Bob Shaftoe and others who live near the margins of the law, he is not an abstraction but a specific person they might one day face on the scaffold.