William Palmer's Death Mask

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Date:June 1856

Description:Dr. William Palmer, born in Rugeley on 6th August 1824, was hanged at Stafford 14th June 1856. Christened by the Newspapers as "The Rugeley Poisoner" and "The Prince of Poisoners".

After William Palmer was publicly executed at Stafford on June 14th 1856 a plaster ‘death mask’ was made. At the time of his hanging it was the custom to make a death mask after someone had been executed. His head was "cropped close to the head" but not shaved. It is said that he did this because the prison authorities had taken his comb and brush off him. This would have been a precaution to stop him attempting to use them to commit suicide. He gave his hair to his relatives as a momento of him. After execution his head was shaved: this was standard practice in order to facilitate the making of the death mask.

The mask was made by Mr. Bridges, a phrenologist from Liverpool. A phrenologist is someone who studies external bumps of the skull as an indication of supposed various intellectual and emotional faculties. He decided that the skull was “a decidedly criminal one”.

The death mask is part of the collections of the William Salt Library.

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Donor ref:98.006.0001 (37/32824)

Source: Staffordshire Museum Service

Copyright information: Copyrights to all resources are retained by the individual rights holders. They have kindly made their collections available for non-commercial private study & educational use. Re-distribution of resources in any form is only permitted subject to strict adherence to the usage guidelines.