Above, Governor Wall hanging on a gibbet with a cloth over his head

Above, Governor Wall hanging on a gibbet with a cloth over his head; below, Governor Wall ordering the flogging of a naked man who is tied to a block. Etching.

Wall was hanged in 1802 for flogging to death three soldiers without trial in Gorée, West Africa (The Gambia or Senegal) in 1782

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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.

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.

Wall was charged with three counts of murder from the events of 10 and 11 July, Serjeant Benjamin Armstrong, Serjeant George Paterson and Corporal Thomas Upton. On 20 January 1802, Wall was tried for the murder of Sgt Armstrong at the Old Bailey by a special commission presided over by the Chief Baron, Sir Archibald Macdonald, 1st Baronet. Although Wall addressed the court, he had the assistance of lawyer Newman Knowlys, a future recorder of London, and Sir John Gurney, in examining and cross-examining witnesses. The chief evidence for the prosecution was given by garrison surgeon Peter Ferrick and orderly-sergeant Evan Lewis, who were on duty during Armstrong's punishment. All the other officers had died. The commission decided there was no evidence that there was any mutiny and Wall's claims of justification was not sustained. On accounting as to why he fled, Wall stated that he had left the country in 1784 because he felt the prejudice against him at the time assured him he would not receive a fair trial. He also said the charges against him had been already disproved so the ones relating to Armstrong were unexpected.

The session at the Old Bailey lasted from 9 a.m. till 11 p.m. Its verdict was guilty. Great efforts to obtain a pardon were vainly made by his wife's relative, Charles Howard, 10th Duke of Norfolk, and the privy council held several deliberations on the case. After these appeals, Wall was ordered to be executed on Thursday, 28 January 1802.

On the day, Wall left the condemned cell in Newgate prison at 8 a.m. An immense crowd gave three cheers when he climbed a temporary scaffold outside the prison (known colloquially as the "New Drop"; it had been employed since 1783, when public hangings had ceased at Tyburn). The event is said to have created the largest public interest since the execution of murderer Elizabeth Brownrigg in 1767. Many at the time thought a riot would start if Wall received a pardon. After he was executed by the short drop method of hanging, the body was removed and only formally dissected (the corpse was not eviscerated). It was handed over intact to the family. Wall was buried at St Pancras Old Church in central London. Wall's fate was decided by public feeling. The British establishment feared it would be unwise to spare any officer condemned for brutality against his soldiers after many sailors had been executed following the Spithead and Nore mutinies in 1797.

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