Camden History

On the 10 April 1955, the Magdala pub in South End Park, Hampstead, was the scene of a shooting that sent Ruth Ellis to the gallows. The last woman to be hanged in Britain, the outcry that followed Ruth’s execution was instrumental in bringing about significant changes to the law. Ruth was born in North Wales in 1926, when her father Arthur Hornby changed the family name to ‘Neilson’, which appears on Ruth’s birth certificate. Unable to get regular employment as a musician, Arthur became increasingly violent and abused Ruth and her sister Muriel. The family moved to war-time London in 1941 where 15 year old Ruth got waitressing and factory work. She moved on to acting lessons and singing in a band. But when she became pregnant by a French-Canadian soldier, Ruth discovered her lover had a wife back home, so they couldn’t marry. The baby, Clare Andre (Andy) McCallum, was born in 1944 and brought up by sister Muriel and Ruth’s mother. Ruth started working for Morris Conley, described as ‘...