Cornelius Parker

Twenty four year old Parker was a blacksmith's striker who shot dead his girlfriend, Mary Elizabeth Meadows. He stated at his trial that they had arranged to die together, but after shooting her twice he claimed he 'hadn't the heart to kill himself.' He pleaded insanity and it was revealed that he had tried to commit suicide at least three times. In the condemned cell, he confessed to a warder that he had planned the murder in advance, and that he had intended to kill her on a Friday night, but after they had been out drinking he postponed it until the next day. He was hanged in Northampton on the 11 July 1899  by James Billington.