NO FEWER THAN 11 men were sentenced to death on just one day at the Worcester Assizes held in the Guildhall exactly 200 years ago this week.

All were hanged at the County Jail within days. Berrow's Journal listed the unlucky prisoners as Benjamin Jones and Joseph Nobbs, convicted of housebreaking, Samuel Pain for stealing money, and William Huffall, Sampson Jones, John Cotton, William Nicholls, John Maggott and William Watkins for sheep stealing.

The other two who went to the gallows were brothers John and Richard Lane, convicted of killing their uncle, Thomas Good at Redmarley. The court heard how they planned the murder of their uncle to get their hands on the comparatively small amount of savings he possessed. They shot him from behind a hedge but failed to kill him outright and had to resort to repeatedly striking him with the gun-stock.

The Journal reported on the execution of the Lane brothers the day after their conviction: "After hanging the usual time, their bodies were conveyed to our Infirmary for dissection and anatomising."

Execution no doubt also awaited another Worcestershire man following an horrific find near Gloucester. The Journal of 1800 explained: "The body of Sarah Young, for whose supposed murder her husband was last month committed to our county gaol, has been taken out of the Severn about six miles below Gloucester. The hands of the unfortunate woman were tied down to her thighs and a bag was drawn over her head and upper part of her body. Upon examination she proved to be far advanced in pregnancy."

On a more humane note, the generous folk of Worcester had by this time in the year 1800 contributed enough cash to pay for a total of 41,936 meals to be distributed to the poor and needy of the city from the Christmas period onwards.

The committee responsible was continuing to produce "880 quarts of soup a day." The Journal listed the ingredients for that daily output: "220lbs of beef, 112lbs of split beans, 56lbs of ground rice, 20lbs of Scotch barley, 30lbs of onions, 12lbs of carrots, 10lbs of leeks, 18lbs of salt and 2lbs of black pepper."

This week 50 years ago, the Journal brought news of the appointment of a new Headmaster for the Royal Grammar School at Worcester to succeed Mr H.R Pullinger who was retiring.

Berrow's announced that the incoming Head was "A Distinguished Athlete" - 39 years-old A.G.K Brown who had won gold and silver medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. He had been second in the 400 metres final and a member of the winning British relay team. He had previously won the 400 metres at the World Student Games.

The Journal said Mr Brown was married to a Worcester girl and had four children. He had gained at MA at Cambridge University and been captain of the Oxford and Cambridge Bridge team who toured America in 1937. He was coming to Worcester after some years as Senior History Master at Cheltenham College.

As we know, Godfrey Brown was Head of the RGS from 1950 until 1978. He died in 1995 at the age of 79.

The same Journal edition of 1950 also announced another appointment - that of General Richard Nelson Gale CB, DSO, OBE, MC as Colonel of the Worcestershire Regiment. He had started his military service as a subaltern with the Worcesters in 1915.

Also on the Army front, there was news that the 300th Anti-Tank (Worcestershire Yeomanry) Regiment R.A was to revert to its old historic role as yeomanry and become a unit of the Royal Armoured Corps.

And times don't change much, judging by another Journal story of 1950. "Professor Seymour Barling, Chairman of the South Worcestershire Hospital Management Committee, has expressed concern at the steady growth in waiting lists for hospital beds.

He warned that patients might have to wait a year after being seen by a specialist before they could go into hospital. "This is a matter of the gravest concern to us and we hope means can be found to reduce waiting lists," stressed the professor. At the time, 1,250 people were on Worcester Royal Infirmary's waiting list.