Treason Act 1814 became simply hanging, which was the method of execution for murder. The original penalty for women was to be drawn to the place of execution and burned at the stake. Burning was abolished by the Treason Act 1790 in Great Britain and by the Treason by Women Act (Ireland) 1796 in Ireland. The 1814 Act also permitted the King to authorise the use of an alternative method, beheading, which was not abolished until 1973 (although obsolete long before then). The Act was amended by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 when the death penalty was abolished and replaced with imprisonment
Death by burning his reign. Just one year after his death, however, in 1401, William Sawtrey was burnt alive for heresy. Death by burning for heresy was formally abolished by King Charles II in 1676. The traditional punishment for women found guilty of treason was to be burned at the stake, where they did not need to be publicly displayed naked, whereas men were hanged, drawn and quartered. The jurist William Blackstone argued as follows for the differential punishment of females vs. males: However, as described in Camille Naish's "Death Comes to the Maiden", in practice, the woman's shift would burn away at