1955: Ruth Ellis Shoots Her Lover David Blakely Outside the Magdala Pub in Hampstead

Murdered racing driver and motor engineer David Blakely. Model Ruth Ellis, of Egerton Gardens, Kensington, in London, has been charged with the killing. 16/09/03: The tempestuous and violent nature of Ruth Ellis’s relationship with David Blakely which led to her gunning him down were revealed in documents from the time of her trial. Friend Jacqueline Dyer, who worked at the same Knightsbridge club as Ellis, revealed that Blakely ‘beat her unmercifully’. In a letter to the then Home Secretary Gwilym Lloyd-George, she said the most surprising thing about the shooting was that it was Ellis who pulled the trigger, not Blakely.

David Blakely (left) the racing driver who was killed by Ruth Ellis (right). 1955

Ruth Ellis’s Gun

Bullet holes can still be seen in the wall of the Magdala Tavern, Hampstead, London, where Ruth Ellis shot her lover David Blakely at point blank range on Easter Sunday 1955. Ruth Ellis pleaded guilty and became the last woman in Britain to be hanged. * on July 13th 1955.

The notices of Sheriff and Surgeon, announcing the execution of Mrs Ruth Ellis, are posted on the gates of Holloway Prison.

Alone, a somewhat tragic figure, Mrs Violet Van Der Elst, for years an active campaigner against capital punishment, stands apart from police officers outside Holloway Priosn in North London, on the day Ruth Ellis was hanged for the murder of David Blakely. Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be hung in Britain. Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be hung in Britain. Her death gave impetus to the anti-capital punishment lobby to continue to protest against executions. But it was to be nearly ten years before the last hangings in Great Britain, and the final abolition of the death penalty.

Mrs J Dyer, Mrs Ruth Ellis’s closest friend called at the prison this morning, before the hanging took place. Earlier Mrs Ellis’s brother Mr Juliean Neilson had called with flowers. Mrs Ellis was due to hang this morning at 9am for the murder of her lover David Blakeley on Easter Sunday. Throughout the night crowds chanted for the reprieve of Mrs Ellis until police were called in to disperse the crowd. People again gathered outside the Prison at dawn. Photo Shows : Mrs Jacqueline Dyer, the closest friend of Mrs Ruth Ellis who is due to hang this morning, arrives at the prison with flowers for her friend. Date: 13/07/1955

Abolition of capital punishment agitator Violet van Der Elst argues with a police officer outside Holloway Prison, London, July 13, 1955, after she had protested against the execution of Ruth Ellis for murder.

A line of police keeps the crowd from approaching the gates of Holloway Prison in London as Ruth Ellis is executed for the murder of her lover, racing car driver David Blakely. She was the last woman to be hanged in Britain.
Date: 13/07/1955