Official Table of Drops

The Official Table of Drops, issued by the British Home Office, is a manual which is used to calculate the appropriate length of rope for long drop hangings.

Following a series of failed hangings including those of John 'Babbacombe' Lee, a committee chaired by Henry Bruce (Baron Aberdare) was formed in 1886 to discover and report on the most effective manner of hanging. The committee's report was printed in 1888 and recommended a drop energy of 1,260 foot-pounds force (1,710 J).

In April 1892, the Home Office issued a Table of Drops based on an energy of 840 foot-pounds force (1,140 J) In practise, however, the hangmen ignored this table and awarded considerably longer drops.

A significantly revised edition of the Table of Drops was published in October 1913, allowing 1,000 foot-pounds force (1,400 J) of drop energy.

After 1939, nine more inches (23 cm) were added to the drop found by the 1913 Table. The Table continued to be used in the United Kingdom until the country suspended capital punishment in 1965. The UK has since abolished the death penalty altogether. The Table remains in use in former British colonies that have retained capital punishment by hanging, such as Singapore.

Body weight			1888 drop		1892 drop		1913 drop
Stone	lb	kg	ft	cm	ft	cm	ft	cm
14.0	196	89	6′5"	196	4'3½"	131	5′1"	155
13.5	189	86	6′8"	203	4'5"	135	5′3½"	161
13.0	182	82½	6′11"	211	4'7"	140	5′6"	168
12.5	175	79¼	7′3"	221	4'9½"	146	5′8½"	174
12.0	168	76¼	7′6"	229	5'0"	152	5′11½"	182
11.5	161	73	7′10"	239	5'2½"	159	6′2½"	189
11.0	154	70	8′2"	249	5'5"	165	6′6"	198
10.5	147	66⅔	8′7"	262	5'8½"	174	6′9½"	207
10.0	140	63½	9′0"	274	6'0"	183	7′2"	218
9.5	133	60¼	9′3"	282	6'3½"	192	7′6"	229
9.0	126	57	9′6"	293	6'8"	203	7′11"	241
8.5	119	54	9′9"	297	7'0½"	215	8′5"	257
8.0	112	51	10′0"	305	7'6"	229	8′6"	259

External links

• The Aberdare Committee
• Report of the Aberdare Committee
• The evolution of long drop hanging 19th century
• The evolution of long drop hanging 20th century