James Hill

James Hill (otherwise Hinde, otherwise Actzen, also known as “John the Painter”) guilty of arson in that he maliciously set fire to and burned 20 tons of hemp (valued at £100), 10 cable ropes, each 100 fathoms long and 3 inches in circumference (valued at £80) and 6 tons of cordage (valued at £200), being naval stores, in a warehouse in Portsmouth dockyard.  On the morning of his execution he was taken by coach to Portsmouth gaol and then drawn in a procession round the dockyard.  The gallows was the mizzen mast, 55 feet high, of the Arethusa erected in the Hard near the dock gates.  After hanging an hour his body was taken down and put in chains.  It was then taken to Blackhouse Point where it was suspended on a new gibbet.