Named after Thomas Derrick, a prolific London hangman c. 1600, whose distinctive gallows frame resembled a crane.
A kind of crane with a movable pivoted arm; a framework over an oil well.
Named after Thomas Derrick, a notorious hangman at Tyburn in London around 1600. His gallows frame — a tall structure with a beam that lifted bodies — resembled the hoisting equipment that later took his name. Key roots: Derrick (English: "from Thomas Derrick, Elizabethan-era hangman at Tyburn; the gallows-like structure gave its name to hoisting apparatus. Name ultimately from Theodoric.").
Every oil derrick is named after an executioner. Thomas Derrick hanged over 3,000 people at Tyburn in the early 1600s. He was himself a convicted rapist who was pardoned by the Earl of Essex on the condition that he become the hangman — and he later hanged the Earl of Essex for treason. His gallows