George Johnson Armstrong

George Johnson Armstrong (1902 – 9 July 1941)[1] was the first British citizen to be executed under the Treachery Act 1940.[2] Only four other British subjects were executed under this Act; saboteur Jose Estelle Key (a Gibraltarian), Duncan Scott-Ford, Oswald John Job (born in London to German parents) and Theodore Schurch.

Armstrong was an engineer by occupation.[3] He was tried on 8 May 1941 at the Central Criminal Court (the Old Bailey in London) and convicted for communicating with the German Consul in Boston, Massachusetts, to offer him assistance before the United States entered the Second World War.

His appeal on 23 June 1941, at the Court of Criminal Appeal, was dismissed, and on 10 July 1941 at the age of 39 Armstrong was executed by hanging at HM Prison Wandsworth by Thomas Pierrepoint.[4]

References
  1. "British engineer hanged for treason", Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 9 July 1941, p. 3.
  2. CRIMINAL CASES: ARMSTRONG, George Johnson convicted at Central Criminal Court (CCC) on 8 May 1941 for treachery and sentenced to death; TREASON: George Johnson Armstrong: convicted of offences under Section 1 of the Treachery Act, 1940 and executed., National Archives.
  3. "Death Sentence Under Treachery Act", The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 May 1941, p. 16.
  4. "British Executions - George Johnson Armstrong". Retrieved 17 February 2012.

Further reading
  • John Bulloch, Akin to Treason, London: Arthur Barker Ltd., 1966.
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