‘Nosey Bob’ the infamous hangman

An artist’s impression of Robert Howard - ‘Nosey Bob the Hangman’

By Kimberly Grabham

Robert Rice Howard was born in 1833, and died in February, 1906. He was Sydney’s State Executioner, the hangman, for 30 years.

He was previously employed as a taxi driver for many years and had an exclusive clientele. His taxi was even the mode of transport for the Duke of Edinburgh when he came to Sydney, in 1867.

Howard was considered of dashing appearance before an unfortunate accident disfigured him in the late 1860s when a horse kicked him in the face. This badly disfigured his nose. This deformation ruined his taxi business and he turned to drink.

The most unpopular job in the city was the role of Hangman, with the Government usually having difficulty finding someone to fill the role. Nosey Bob, as he was now referred to, assumed the role between the years 1873 (aged 40) through to 1903 (aged 70).

During his time in the role he hanged 64 people. Nosey Bob died aged 74, at his home in the sand hills of Bondi near Ben Buckler in 1906.

Bob was sent down to hang Cordini in Deniliquin during his time as Executioner.

This is an excerpt from an article written in the 18 July 1884 edition of the ‘North Australian’.

“A great deal of ill feeling has been aroused in Sydney at the unfriendly treatment, by the Hay people, of the hangman and his assistant, who had been engaged at the execution of Cordini at Deniliquin.

“A slight like this on one of the most favoured, and most obliging Sydney officials is not likely to be soon forgotten. Mr. Robert Howard, the N.S.W. finisher, is a gentleman who almost every day takes his seat among ladies in the Paddington tram, passes their fares, and gives them change, and otherwise makes himself most agreeable.

“Here is a telegram on the subject:- “The hangman arrived in Hay on the 17th, from Deniliquin with his assistant. They had their meals in Tattersall’s Hotel, but no one would sit at the table with them. They could get no beds, and the police had to accommodate them in the court-house. On Wednesday the hangman started to trudge through the mud to the railway station, but his assistant waited to get a ‘ lift ‘ in a cab. All the cabs refused to take him. He had therefore to walk to the station, and on Thursday he cleared. This kind of treatment is very ill-advised. Mr. Howard may be required at no distant date at Hay, and with this affair before us, we wouldn’t guarantee safe and comfortable despatch for any resident of those parts. It may be however, that we take an incorrect view of this knotty question-and therefore we’ll drop it.”

It is a terrible sign of the times that Mr Howard was treated in such a manner, but the fact that he was often treated like this, and in the area from which he came, is hypocrisy.

Originally published in The Riverine Grazier on September 20, 2023