11. The London Underground was built before public hangings were abolished
The modern convenience of a subterranean railway system is for many a part of their daily life, and in cities which rely on them for public transportation they are an indispensable part of the infrastructure. When the earliest systems were built they were hailed as a significant step in the civilization of cities and a sign of the advancement of humanity, though the earliest subways predated the theories of Darwin regarding evolution and the general belief of the equality of all races. London’s subway system, officially called the London Underground and known with varying degrees of affection or disdain as the tube, began with experimental railways in 1863, and has been under improvement and expansion ever since.
In England in the 1860s, execution of criminals by hanging were still conducted in public, with the condemned subjected to the humiliation of being jeered and taunted as he or she prepared to meet their end on the gallows. It was possible in London of 1863 and beyond to use the proof of civilization called the Underground to sojourn to a public hanging and express contempt for the condemned in their last moments, along with fellow citizens. In 1866 a Royal Commission recommended that execution by hanging remain in effect for prescribed crimes, but that public hangings should be – ahem – suspended. The last public hanging in the UK occurred in 1868. That the subway system existed – at least in its earliest form – before the end of public executions in the United Kingdom is a surprising example of modern thinking being merged with the habits and practices of the past.