Famous Residents
- Josie Lawrence - British actress, was educated at Rowley Regis Grammar School (1970–75).
- Pete Williams - bass player with Dexys Midnight Runners between 1978 and 1981, was educated at Rowley Regis Grammar School (1971–1976).
- John Haden Badley - centenarian and founder of Bedales School grew up spending time at his family's country home "Foxcote" and visiting his uncle and cousins at Haden Hill; Carlton Palmer - former England and Sheffield Wednesday F.C. footballer (photographed below when he was Stockport County's player-manager in the early 2000s).
- George Smith 1805–1874 - hangman (period in office 1849–1872). George Smith was born in Rowley Regis in 1805 and was a prisoner himself at Stafford when he entered the “trade” as an assistant to Calcraft. His first job was assisting at the double hanging of James Owen and George Thomas outside Stafford Gaol on the 11 April 1840. He learnt the job and was able to perform executions himself, principally in the Midlands. Smith’s most famous solo execution was that of the Rugeley poisoner, Dr William Palmer for the murder of John Parsons Cook, before a large crowd at Stafford prison on 14 June 1856. Smith was to hang a further 14 men and one woman at Stafford, the last in August 1872. He assisted Calcraft at the first private hanging in England (of Thomas Wells see below) in August 1868. He was renowned for his long white coat and top hat which he wore at public hangings. Smith's son, also George, assisted at three executions at Stafford prison. Initially, it is said that he was hired by the Under Sheriff of Staffordshire to save the cost of bringing Calcraft up from London. With the advent of a good rail network, Smith, like Askern and Calcraft, could operate much further afield in later years. George Smith carried out two private executions, the last at Stafford on 13 August 1872, when he hanged 34-year-old Christopher Edwards for the murder of his wife.
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Famous quotes containing the words famous and/or residents:
“Marrying any man is risky. Marrying a famous man is kissing catastrophe.”
—John Colton (1886–1946)
“In most nineteenth-century cities, both large and small, more than 50 percent—and often up to 75 percent—of the residents in any given year were no longer there ten years later. People born in the twentieth century are much more likely to live near their birthplace than were people born in the nineteenth century.”
—Stephanie Coontz (20th century)