Thomas Derrick was a soldier who went marauding in France. As a result of their trespasses, 24 men from his group, including Derrick, were sentenced to death for rape by the Earl of Essex. Because no executioner was present, Derrick’s superiors made him an indecent proposal. Derrick was promised a full pardon on the condition that he did the job. He accepted and executed his 23 fellow soldiers. Little did Derrick know that this event would start a life-long and prolific career as an executioner during which he put an end to the lives of more than 3,000 people. Derrick, in fact, revolutionised his profession by streamlining the “workflow” and adding technological features. He created a beam, a lift and various pulley systems to carry out his executions. Ironically, among the many whose lives Derrick took was also the man who once saved him from death. A song commemorating the event immortalised Derrick and made his name synonymous with the gallows:
Derrick, thou knowest at Calais I saved
Thy life, lost for a rape there done
As thou thyself can testify
Thine own hand three-and-twenty hung
By now thou seest myself is come
By chance into thy hands I lie
Strike out thy blow that I may know
Thou Essex loved at his good night
Gradually, however, the meaning of derrick shifted from the function of the construction to a description of its shape. Initially, derrick was used primarily in naval contexts as a sort of crane to lift goods on and off a ship. It was only in 1861 that the first reference was made to a derrick in relation to drilling. A Virginia newspaper reported about a fire in which “shanties, derricks, engine houses and dwellings” were destroyed. From then on the term became fixed to its most common present day meaning as an oil derrick.
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