Joseph Wall

Joseph Wall (1737–28 January 1802) was a British Army officer and Lieutenant Governor of Gorée, an island near Dakar, Senegal, who was executed in London for the fatal flogging of one of his soldiers. The former colonial administrator, who had previously been arrested for cruelty, was hanged outside Newgate Prison eight days after a one-day trial at the Old Bailey. Thousands of people came to watch the execution because of the notoriety of the case. Early life Wall was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1737, a son of Garrett Wall of Derryknavin, near Abbeyleix in Queen's County, who is described as "a respectable farmer on Lord Knapton's estates". At the age of 15, Joseph Wall was entered at Trinity College, Dublin. However, preferring a career to the life of a student, at the beginning of 1760 he joined the British Army as a cadet. He then volunteered for foreign service. Military and overseas service In 1762, Wall distinguished himself at the capture of Havana in Spanish Cuba during the Seven Years' War. By the time of peace in 1763, he had risen to the rank of captain. He obtained an appointment with the East India Company before beginning service in Bombay, India. By 1773, Wall had been appointed secretary and clerk of the council in Senegambia, West Africa. However, he was imprisoned by Lieutenant-governor Matthias MacNamara for the military offence of "cruelty". Later he would launch a civil action for this arrest, obtaining £1,000 in damages. Upon his release, Wall returned to Ireland "to hunt for an heiress". There he met a lady called Miss Gregory at an inn on his father's estate. However, he pressed his suit "in a style so coercive" that she prosecuted him for assault and defamation and "succeeded in his conviction and penal chastisement". After Wall killed an acquaintance due to "affairs of honour", he moved back to England. In London he spent his time between drinking establishments, gaming parlours and having amorous encounters.