Robert Stewart, the only Scottish hangman, has emigrated to South Africa (Scottish Sunday Post 18.4.65). Stewart, aged 45, has been assistant hangman to Albert Pierrepoint since 1950 and has ‘assisted! at nine executions. He applied for the job as an executioner to the Home Office in 1950 and was put on the waiting list. After extensive tests at Pentonville Prison he was put through the final test by witnessing an execution.
After his appointment he would go to the prison at 4.00 p.m. the day before the execution. His family had to be always "respectable, behave well, and be smart when they went out", he told the Sunday Post. Apparently Mr. Stewart thinks his executioner days are over now that he is going to South Africa. ‘“hatever difficulties Mr. Stewart may have finding a job at his trade as an art metal worker, he can rest assured that the hanging industry in South Africa is almost a growth industry.
from a Scottish correspondent.