During the period 1826 to late 1833 Green was employed as a flagellator, or scourger, at Sydney, Port Stephens and the Hunter Valley, inflicting floggings on those who had received a sentence of corporal punishment.

[1] In early 1824 Green was charged with stealing textile fabric from the shop of James Sayer; he was convicted on 16 January 1824 at the Shrewsbury General Quarter Sessions (in Shropshire, in the West Midlands of England), and sentenced to transportation for life.

[5][6] In early 1826 Green was brought back to Sydney and housed at the Hyde Park Barracks, where he was employed as "a probationer flagellator", also known as a scourger or flogger, whose job was to inflict floggings on those who had received a judicial sentence of corporal punishment.

Out of a fear for his life, Green had the man brought before the Bench of Magistrates, but afterwards others spoke to him in a similarly threatening manner, such that he was afraid to "venture out to look after... cattle".

[20] The Sydney Monitor newspaper reported that Hughes "has been allowed to retire from his arduous duties, on a pension, after holding the situation for many years", adding that his successor, Green, "is well-known in the Colony, having officiated as scourger at almost every Government station".

[25][24][23] One early morning in August 1834, in a section of The Domain overlooking Sydney Cove, Green was caught by a police constable in a dalliance with a married woman named Bridget Horrigan.

The woman was charged with deserting her home and "entertaining an inveterate love for a gentleman connected with the finishing department of the law", as a result of which she was sentenced to two months' hard labour at the Parramatta Female Factory.

[36] The adoption in New South Wales of various English legal statutes in 1837 and 1838 included reforms that removed the mandatory death sentence for all but the worst crimes, which resulted in a dramatic decline in the number of executions.

At the trial Alien (named as Ellen) Green stated that she did not wish to proceed with the prosecution, as her husband "had been sufficiently punished" and had "behaved well to her and her children, both previously and subsequently to the assault charged".

[56] At Darlinghurst Gaol on 8 November 1842 Green and his assistant executed four prisoners – George Beavor, John Jones, Henry Sears and Nicholas Lewis (alias Head) – all of whom had been convicted of piracy and murder at the Norfolk Island penal settlement.

[71] The execution proceeded in a methodical manner: "After ascending the gallows, it took but little time on the part of the hangman to adjust the rope, which, having been done, the bolt was drawn, and the wretched culprit launched into eternity".

With a drop of ten feet, it was assumed his death "would be instantaneous; but owing to a slight disarrangement of the rope, at least two minutes elapsed before life was extinct".

[19] In a letter to the Sheriff about the matter, Keck wrote: "Should his services be required it will be easy to procure another [hangman] or he may again be reinstated and his present dismissal serve as a warning to him to conduct himself better for the future".

Bryan died by slow strangulation: "The unfortunate man thus remained hanging in the greatest agony for thirteen minutes, beating his breast with his hands, and ejaculating 'Oh!

After those witnessing the prisoner's agonising death began to show their displeasure, the Under-Sheriff addressed them, "to the effect that it was a melancholy sight, but that it was the unfortunate man's own fault by moving his head".

However the "revolting spectacle" roused considerable "public indignation"; it was reported that "a great deal of excitement was caused in the minds of the people by beholding the feet of the man touching the ground, and to this hour it is a prolific source of conversation, and in some cases of malediction against the executioner".

[19] In late October 1849 Green, accompanied by Under-Sheriff Prout and a police constable, travelled by the mail coach to Bathurst for the execution of Patrick Walsh, convicted of the murder of Benjamin Fox.

The Bathurst Free Press reported that Walsh's sufferings "were no doubt considerably abridged", with the "depth of fall having in all probability snapped the spinal cord".

[81] Wagner and Fitzgerald were hanged on 8 July 1850 from a temporary scaffold erected in front of Brisbane Gaol, in a position "but a few feet of the path ordinarily used by passengers in a thoroughfare".

The journalist for the Moreton Bay Courier concluded that Dundalli's death "seemed to be almost instantaneous after the fall", but added that it was "a most sickening sight to behold the cool and butcher-like conduct of the hangman, made necessary by nothing but the grossest neglect".

[98] In late-March 1855 a newspaper item claimed that Green "was disgusted" at the news of the appointment of Garrett Fitzgerald as Sub-Sheriff of New South Wales "and expressed his determination never again to exercise his hempen profession under such a dynasty".

[99] The New South Wales Sheriff, John O'Neill Brenan, wrote to the Colonial Secretary, Edward Deas Thomson, informing him that Green was insane and requesting permission to employ an assistant to accompany the hangman to Maitland.

Purves returned to Maitland on April 7 with news of Shepherd's reprieve, the day before Green and his assistant arrived expecting to carry out an execution.

Wallace informed Brenan that Green had been "pronounced insane" by a medical officer at Maitland Gaol and recommended that the executioner should be brought before a judge in order to obtain a warrant "for removal to a Lunatic Asylum".

On April 20 Wallace wrote to the Principal Gaoler at Darlinghurst requesting the relevant form and instructions for a petition to initiate the legal procedure of declaring Green to be insane.

[103] On April 30 Sheriff Brenan sought permission from the Colonial Secretary for Green to be committed to the Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum, a request approved on May 4.

The inspection of the dormitory for male inmates elicited the following comments: "The bedding was very clean, under the vigorous physical exertion of a lunatic, named Green – the hangman under the old régime... – who was energetically operating upon the floor with a mop".

[107][F] An entry in the Parramatta Hospital for the Insane Medical Case Book, dated 31 January 1879, recorded that Green "is robust and very active"; he "never speaks and is fanciful about his food and is quiet and industrious".

The report noted that Green "always carries a piece of cord and at every visit, he indicates by gestures that he would like to hang one of the officers", adding: "He produces the noose and points to the left ear, at the same time giving a click with his tongue and a final quiver of the feet, and plays many absurd tricks".

[16] Using the comprehensive New South Wales Capital Convictions Database as a source, Harrison estimated that 251 executions were carried out during Green's twenty-one-year career.